Week 1 Fantasy Football Defensive Streaming: Buy the Lions

Cincinnati Bengals

Owned: 10% Yahoo
numberFire Week 1 Projected Rank: 18th

An often overlooked defense, the Cincinnati Bengals start the 2018 season with a road trip to take on the Indianapolis Colts. Even though Andrew Luck is back under center for the Colts, this could be a big fantasy day for the Bengals' defense.

Last season, the Bengals ranked in the top-11 in the league in both sacks (11th) and quarterback hits (10th). And the Bengals' imposing defensive line remains intact for 2018, led by Geno Atkins and Carl Lawson. The Bengals' defense does have a new coordinator in Teryl Austin, but as mentioned earlier, the Lions' D under Austin was one of the best last season in producing turnovers.

The Colts improved their offensive line this offseason, in part by adding Quenton Nelson in the draft, but Indianapolis still shapes up to have a below average offensive line in 2018. Although any improvement could be significant after the Colts allowed the most sacks (56) and sixth-most quarterback hits (113) in 2017.

It will be exciting to see Luck back in the saddle for the Colts, but he'll need an improved offensive line as he shakes off any rust after not playing in a regular season game since January 2017. Even during the preseason, there were reports that Luck's arm strength wasn't quite yet what it used to be.

The Bengals are a 3.5-point underdog and generally, we like to play home favorites when identifying a good streaming defense. But even on the road, the Bengals talented defensive line can lead Cincinnati's defense to a big fantasy performance in Week 1.