Best Fantasy Football D/ST Streaming Options for Week 12: Buccaneers, Commanders, Dolphins, Browns

Welcome back to FantasySP’s weekly fantasy football defensive streaming options breakdown! As always, let’s start by looking back at last week’s results, which were decent in Week 11. Things weren't perfect, as the Packers didn’t get the sacks I was hoping for against the Bears’ new-look offense, finishing with just four points, and the Dolphins finished with five against the Raiders. But it was a relatively low-scoring week for DSTs around the league, and neither of those scores killed you. Meanwhile, the Rams tied for sixth on the week with eight points, and the Texans were easily the best defense of the week with 17. I’ll take those results any week. 

Unfortunately, we actually have very limited options for Week 12. Six teams are on bye, including a couple of teams we usually like to target. Most of the remaining juicy matchups are claimed by defenses that are already widely rostered. With that said, we still have a few top-tier options and a couple of sneaky picks. Let’s break them down.

Sync your league with the Fantasy Assistant to get rankings, waiver help, trade suggestions, optimal lineups, and more. Not sure Who You Should Start? We can help. Utilize our fantasy football trade analyzer for trades.

Week 12 Fantasy Football Defense Streaming Options

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (14.3% Rostered) @ New York Giants

The Buccaneers are one of just two truly solid streaming options for this week. The Giants have finally benched Daniel Jones, so let’s take a quick trip down memory lane with some of Tommy DeVito’s stats from last year. 

In 2023, DeVito was third in the league with an absurd 31.9% pressure-to-sack rate, as well as taking pressure on a league-leading 48.9% of his dropbacks. Do the math, and you see that he took a sack on 15.6% of his dropbacks — insanity. Pro Football Reference actually has him taking sacks more frequently, with an absurd 17.2% sack rate that would lead the league this year by 4%. That number is so bad that it doesn’t even matter that DeVito actually posted an elite 1.7% turnover-worthy-throw rate (which gets a lot less impressive once you consider his 6.6 ADOT). 

The Buccaneers’ defense isn’t great. In fact, they’re straight-up bad, giving up the third-most yards per game and sixth-most points per game of any team. But DeVito’s proclivity for taking sacks means that doesn’t matter. Tampa Bay’s offense should be able to get them a lead, at which point DeVito will have to drop back. When that happens, good things are in store for fantasy defenses.

Washington Commanders (28.4% Rostered) vs. Dallas Cowboys

The other top-tier streaming pick for this week is the Commanders, who draw the lucky straw of a matchup with Cooper Rush in Week 12. If you didn’t watch last night’s disaster, here’s an update on the Cowboys’ offense with Rush under center: terrible. Among 40 quarterbacks with at least 100 plays so far this season, Rush beats out only Spencer Rattler with a truly heinous -0.29 EPA per play. 

In terms of the numbers that really juice fantasy scoring (turnovers and sacks), Rush hasn’t been as exciting a target as I would have thought. He actually ranks above average in pressure-to-sack rate and is only barely below average in turnover-worthy-throw rate. However, once we account for his four fumbles, things get a bit more exciting — PFF has him ranked fourth-worst among qualified QBs in turnover-worth-play rate. He also took five sacks last night after only taking one in his first start, so he’s not trending well in that metric, either.   

At the end of the day, the Cowboys offense was bad with Dak Prescott, and Rush is a massive downgrade under center. If it weren’t for KaVontae Turpin breaking a huge play on Monday, Dallas would have a grand total of nine points in Rush’s two starts. The Commanders’ defense has settled as a below-average unit after a hot start, but they’re good enough to take advantage of this matchup. 

Miami Dolphins (50.5% Rostered) vs. New England Patriots

I’m cheating here by including the Dolphins at just barely over 50% rostered, but the options are so thin this week (just wait until you see my final selection) that I’m willing to bend the rules. Even with Drake Maye under center, the Patriots have been a favorable matchup for opposing defenses this season. In fact, Maye leads qualified QBs in turnover-worthy-play rate, with six interceptions and four fumbles (three lost) in his six career starts.

On the sack front, Maye is actually doing well from a pressure-to-sack perspective. But the Patriots’ O-line is so abysmal that he still has the 10th-highest sack rate in the league at 8.21%. He has taken at least one sack in every one of his career starts, with at least three in four of five games in which he has played the majority of snaps. 

For their part, the Dolphins’ defense has been surprisingly solid so far this season. They rank above average in EPA per play, points per game, yards per game, and yards per play allowed. This is especially impressive considering the few weeks they played without Tua Tagovailoa, during which their offense did them exactly zero favors. In a week desperate for viable streaming options, Miami is definitely worth considering if they are available in your league. 

Cleveland Browns (35.0% Rostered) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Listen, I don’t feel any better about writing this than I’m sure you do reading it. After an elite 2024 campaign, the Browns’ defense has been undeniably below average this season. That’s not what you want to hear about a defense heading into a matchup with a Pittsburgh team that has been red-hot offensively ever since Russell Wilson took over.

With that said, I do think there is a chance that the Browns escape this NFC North matchup with a respectable score. For one, Wilson has the sixth-highest pressure-to-sack rate of any quarterback. That lines up well with the Browns still ranking second in the league in terms of pressure generated. 

Additionally, although Russ has had success so far, his play has been high-variance. Since he became the Steelers’ starter, George Pickens alone has five “Hero” catches according to Fantasy Points Data. Pittsburgh’s receivers in total have averaged 1.75 such catches per game with Wilson under center; no other team has averaged even one per game for the season. Wilson has also been running hot with a 7.8% TD rate, which would tie for the league lead if he had the volume to qualify. He actually ranks sixth-lowest among 100-play QBs in success rate, just between Anthony Richardson and Will Levis. If he and his receivers don’t connect on the big plays, things could get ugly quickly for DangerRuss, and that’s what I’m counting on for this play. 

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.