As the holidays approach and we move toward the new year, the gift of giving always becomes more prevalent and (most) people seem to be in a better mood. Maybe it is because they get more time off work, maybe it is the extra time they get to spend with family, or maybe, just maybe, it is because they are in their fantasy football championship! While there are some leagues that will play in week 17, the majority of formats finish up this week to avoid having their star players sit in week 17 as they rest for the NFL playoffs. A couple of defenses gave us an early Christmas present last week as they provided huge performances in the semifinals. Let’s take a look at who they were and how they did it!

Last Week’s Results:

Baltimore got their chance at Bortles and the Jaguars in week 15 and it led to a great fantasy day, as expected. The Ravens defense allowed just 12 points while scoring a touchdown in the battle. The reason I liked the Ravens this week was because of their recent surge in sacks over the past several weeks. 8 sacks and countless knockdowns left the Jaguars rattled while the Ravens cruised to a 23-point day, the highest scoring amongst all fake defenses. You do not have to look much further down the list to see the Kansas City Chiefs. I liked the Chiefs because they had a revenge game against Oakland, who beat them a couple Thursdays ago for their first victory of the season. This game was at Arrowhead Stadium so I expected different results. The defense scored a touchdown and held the Raiders to just 13 points en route to a 17-point showing.

Week 16 Targets:

Tennessee Titans: It obviously a strange week when I am recommending fantasy’s 29th ranked defense. That being said, I believe the Titans might just be the unit to lead your squad to fantasy glory! This defense has not been very good, but a lot of that is because have been on the field so much. Not this week. The Titans head down to Florida on a short week for their second matchup against the Jaguars. No defense has recorded fewer than 7 fantasy points against the Jacksonville offense in 2014. In their last meeting, Tennessee put up a 12-spot against the Jags, their 2nd best total of the season. Look for baby blue to have a solid Thursday night showing.

Philadelphia Eagles: I almost choked on my breakfast when I saw that the Eagles were only 66% owned. Their ownership went down a little after last week’s matchup with the Cowboys. Now the Eagles get Washington, the biggest mess in the NFL. This Eagles unit has scored double-digit fantasy points 7 times and rank only below Buffalo on ESPN’s Player Rater. Philly has everything to play for as they are in the middle of a heated NFC East battle with Tony Romo and company. A huge showing is coming for this unit in week 16.

Buffalo Bills: The Bills would be my defense of the week but they are only available in about 25% of ESPN leagues as of this writing. The number could be due to dead leagues but the fact of the matter is that they need to be owned. The reason I am suggesting a team with such high ownership is because of who they played last week. The Bills played (and beat) the Green Bay Packers. While some probably stashed Buffalo on their bench and picked up another defense last week, some owners have a phobia of owning more than one defense. I believe they call it Twodefensiveitis (Editor’s note: Jared Hines, MD). Regardless, the Bills are the number one fantasy defense this year and have scored double-digit fantasy points in 4 of the last 6 weeks. Now they face Oakland who has been terrible this year and has allowed opposing defenses to score double-digit fantasy points 6 times in 2014. Take a quick second to make sure that they aren’t on your waiver wire.

That’s 15 columns down, 1 to go! As always I had a great time writing this article and hope you enjoy reading it. Good luck in your matchups this week!

As always, happy streaming!

Photo cred: http://goo.gl/LZo8eH

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Jared “Minnesota Nice” Hines is a fantasy football contributor at The Sports Script. Follow him on Twitter @Jared_Hines27!