Okay, this is it. If you're still alive, you can't afford to miss out at ANY position, including DST. In fact, ESPECIALLY DST. If you've made the championship, you've likely got a pretty good set of skill players, so DST is that one last magic cog that could be the difference between a title belt or ultimate defeat.

Below are RotoBaller's Week 16 playoff defense tiers and rankings, or which defenses to stream, start and target off the waiver wire for Week 16 of the NFL and fantasy football season. In case you missed it, this is our seventh year now writing this weekly column.

Our weekly tiered defense rankings are a guide to making waiver wire pickups to improve your lineups, and to decide which defenses to start, sit, target, avoid or stream for Week 16. Starting the right defense every week can be a difference-maker. Below we have broken out our defense rankings into tiers with analysis on each matchup. Some of these Week 16 defenses have good matchups and are not widely-owned, representing fantasy scoring opportunities if they are available on your league's waiver wire for a Week 16 pickup or add. Good luck in Week 16 RotoBallers!

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Week 16 Defenses To Start & Stream: Tiers & Rankings

My rankings are pretty pure this week. Many of the top defenses have solid matchups, and their ranking reflects that. If you're still somehow streaming in the championship matchup, my top streamers are below:

Tier 1 Defenses

Rank Tier DST Week 16 Opponent 1 1 New England Patriots Defense vs. BUF 2 1 Pittsburgh Steelers Defense @ NYJ 3 1 New York Jets Defense vs. PIT 4 1 Denver Broncos Defense vs. DET

Tier 2 Defenses

Rank Tier DST Week 16 Opponent 5 2 San Francisco 49ers Defense vs. LAR 6 2 Atlanta Falcons Defense vs. JAC 7 2 Buffalo Bills Defense @ NE 8 2 Seattle Seahawks Defense vs. ARI 9 2 Baltimore Ravens Defense @ CLE

Middle and Lower Tier Defenses

Tier 3 Defenses

Rank Tier DST Week 16 Opponent 10 3 Los Angeles Chargers Defense @ OAK 11 3 Indianapolis Colts Defense vs. CAR 12 3 Kansas City Chiefs Defense @ CHI 13 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defense vs. HOU 14 3 Philadelphia Eagles Defense vs. DAL

Tier 4 Defenses

Rank Tier DST Week 16 Opponent 15 4 Dallas Cowboys Defense @ PHI 16 4 Los Angeles Rams Defense @ SF 17 4 Washington Redskins Defense vs. NYG 18 4 New Orleans Saints Defense @ TEN 19 4 Houston Texans Defense @ TB 20 4 Detroit Lions Defense @ DEN 21 4 Jacksonville Jaguars Defense @ ATL 22 4 Miami Dolphins Defense vs. CIN

Tier 5 Defenses

Rank Tier DST Week 16 Opponent 23 5 Green Bay Packers Defense @ MIN 24 5 Oakland Raiders Defense @LAC 25 5 Minnesota Vikings Defense vs. GB 26 5 New York Giants Defense @ WAS 27 5 Cincinnati Bengals Defense @ MIA 28 5 Carolina Panthers Defense @ IND

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