Getting Defensive: Week 3 fantasy plays led by Seahawks, Chiefs; top streaming defenses

In Week 1, NFL defenses mostly got cooked. Roasted. Defensive Death Stars like the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans got blown to smithereens. Offenses rejoiced. Ewoks danced. All that good stuff.

Yes, I know that’s not the order of the movies. I’m old enough to have seen them in the theater.

Just like The Empire Strikes Back, (See? Death Star. ESB. Other Death Star) those defenses had their vengeance in Week 2. OK, some of them did—it’s not unreasonable for fantasy managers who paid up to be concerned about the Texans. And some truly funky weather in a few places played a part. But for all the offensive fireworks we saw in Week 1, Week 2 was far more subdued.

It hammers home an unfortunate early-season reality on defense. We’re still trying to figure 2026 out. What the defenses are. Whether the matchups are good, bad or blah. Never mind the injuries that ravaged the NFL and fantasy landscape on both sides of the ball.

With all that said, if you’re unhappy with an every-week fantasy defense’s performance after three weeks? You may have been a week late dropping them. Houston ranks outside the top-20 defenses in fantasy points ahead of a trip to Indianapolis to face a Colts team that just scored 30 in Arrowhead against the Chiefs.

This is why streaming defenses based on matchups is the only way to fly. No attachments. No regret. When it’s time to move on, just Force-choke them off the roster and be done with it.

Even if a couple of the streaming plays aren’t…

C3PO would disapprove. Odds and math and nonsense like that.

I’ll stop now.

THE NO-DOUBTERS

Seattle Seahawks (at Washington Commanders)

Two weeks into the season, the Seattle defense looks to be in midseason form—the defending Super Bowl champions have put the clamps on both teams they have played, allowing all of 17 points and an NFC-low 214 yards per game. Now, rolling meets reeling—the Washington Commanders are in Groundhog Day mode after watching Jayden Daniels go down again, and if this season plays out like 2025 the Commanders will be a plus matchup for even average defenses. The Seahawks are not average.

Kansas City Chiefs (at Miami Dolphins)

In Week 1 at home, the Chiefs finished sixth among defenses in fantasy points thanks to 4 sacks, two takeaways and 10 points allowed. The Colts had a lot more success moving the ball last week and the results were—bad from a fantasy perspective. We’ll be back in Tastytown this week when Kansas City takes its first field trip of 2026 in Week 3—the Dolphins are a disaster on offense, quite possibly intentionally. If Kansas City’s on the waiver wire, they shouldn’t be.

San Francisco 49ers (vs. Arizona Cardinals)

The San Francisco 49ers are the NFL’s Jason Voorhees. Frightened opponents are convinced they must be dead. After all, everyone is always power-stationed. But the Niners just keep murdering teenagers (figuratively), and after dismembering the Miami Dolphins last week (again, figuratively) the Niners now host a Cardinals team that gave up the seventh-most fantasy points to defenses in 2025. Last week, the Cardinals had 151 yards of offense—total.

Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. Cincinnati Bengals)

Were this game in Cincinnati, it would be a different story. To be clear, the Pittsburgh offense is not good right now. At all. Even a little. T.J. Watt has as many touchdowns this season as that offense. But the Pittsburgh defense looks a lot like the Pittsburgh defense—and that’s good news for fantasy managers. There are three defenses in the league that have scored double-digit fantasy points in both games this year. Pittsburgh is one—and their affinity for big plays keeps them a weekly start.

Minnesota Vikings (at Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

It has been a wild start to the season for the Vikings, who lost their starting quarterback and their starting running back but now sit atop the NFC North because Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores officially ain’t playing around. Minnesota’s blitz percentage though two weeks is always—and it’s working. Given the difficulty that Baker “0-2 against Cleveland” Mayfield and the Tampa offense has had getting going two weeks in? Mayfield needs comfortable shoes. He’s going to be moving around.

Philadelphia Eagles (at Chicago Bears)

For clarity’s sake, I have very little confidence in the Eagles defense at the moment—especially up front. Vic Fangio will figure it out—either an edge-rusher needs to step up, or you’ll see blitzes and more man coverage on the back end. But that’s likely a later problem on the road in Chicago Monday night. The Chicago offense went from buzzsaw to rained out to Tyson Bagent starting at quarterback. If an impatient manager dropped the Eagles, take advantage of that impatience—if only for one week.

STREAMERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

Cincinnati Bengals (at Pittsburgh Steelers)

Hold your children a little tighter tonight—because the Cincinnati Bengals are playing defense. As a matter of fact, the Bengals defense arguably has more to do with their 2-0 start than a loaded offense that has yet to really get untracked. After four sacks and just six points allowed last week in Houston, the Bengals travel to play a Steelers team with one offensive touchdown in two games and a quarterback attempting a coup. By Week 4, we’ll be talking “No-Doubter” with this defense—get in while you can.

New York Giants (vs. Tennessee Titans)

The Giants are reeling. That can’t be denied. After an impressive Week 1 win over the Cowboys, Big Blue barely got going against the Los Angeles Rams before Jaxson Dart suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for—a while. But this week at least, the G-Men catch a break—the Titans are the worst offensive football team west of Miami. Look for the defense to get after it at home Sunday against a Tennessee team that gave up the fourth-most fantasy points to defenses last season.

Green Bay Packers (vs. Atlanta Falcons)

To be clear, the Packers have not been great defensively this season, including an epic meltdown in the season opener in Minnesota. But the Atlanta Falcons just made a Panthers team that gave up 59 points the week before look like the ’85 Bears, so this reeks of a “get-right” game. Michael Penix being rushed back into action on a short prep week on the road isn’t fixing Atlanta’s nightmarishly bad offense. Three wishes from a Djinn couldn’t fix this Atlanta offense.

Carolina Panthers (at Cleveland Browns)

The Carolina Panthers have been a tale of two games defensively. At home in Week 1, the Panthers gave up 8,000 yards of offense and 138 points to the Chicago Bears. Both would be records if they were real. They are not. But it was bad. Last week in Atlanta though, the Panthers were fantasy’s highest-scoring defense by a massive margin in Atlanta. They won’t go quite that bonkers on the road again this week in Cleveland, but one good game against Tampa isn’t enough to buy into Cleveland as a competent offense. Because Cleveland.

Las Vegas Raiders (at New Orleans Saints)

What the heck? Let’s get nuts. We’re about to find out a lot about both of these surprisingly competitive teams two weeks into the season. The Saints have moved the ball well through two games—especially through the air. But the Raiders haven’t allowed more than 14 points in a game yet. They have amassed eight sacks, five takeaways and a safety. And the Saints allowed the fifth-most fantasy points per game to defenses a year ago. God help me, I’m doing this in at least one league. Just Win Baby and whatnot.

CAVEAT EMPTOR, FOLKS

Denver Broncos (vs. Los Angeles Rams)

The Texans aren’t the only so-called “elite” fantasy defense that has had a bumpy go of it early in the 2026 season—just like Houston, the Broncos sit outside the top-20 in fantasy points after two weeks. To be fair, the Denver defense balled out last week against a really good Jaguars offense—especially in the second half. But the pass rush hasn’t been nearly what it was a year ago, and their lone takeaway was a gift pick from Trevor Lawrence. Early-season matchups are killing the big guns.
If only the schedule had been available earlier.

Gary Davenport is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow Gary on X at @IDPGodfather.