IDP Matchup Plays: Living the Stream: Week 12

As we head into Week 12 of the 2025 fantasy football season, IDP managers who have been Living the Stream have reached a fork in the river.

One branch leads to sunlight. Birds chirping. Folks gathered by the bank having picnics and playing Frisbee and having a good ol' time. It is inviting. Glorious. The happy branch—the result of a season-long journey culminating in a postseason berth.

The other branch is dark. Foreboding. The waters are choppy. Lightning is flashing. All the trees are dead. Off in the distance, sobbing and blood-curdling screams can be heard. It is terrifying. It is the eternal darkness of the abyss. That chilling time of year when fantasy football season becomes duck season.

Or wabbit season. Whatever.

The point is that this late in the season, steering the boat becomes that much difficult. One wrong move can muck up a good start to the season. Throw a massive wrench into a comeback attempt. Or put the final nail in a struggling team's box.

This isn't to say those managers shouldn't Live the Stream—more than a few have little choice at this point, whether due to injuries or defensive players who just aren't cutting it.

But if you're rolling out a matchup play in a must-win game, best make sure it's the right one.

Although the bright side here is that if you're wrong, you can just blame me.

(I'm the one sobbing. It's been a year.)

Week 12 Matchup Plays

EDGE Josh Hines-Allen, Jacksonville (at Arizona)

Both Hines-Allen and batterymate Travon Walker have disappointed in 2025. But with his 56th career sack last week against the Los Angeles Chargers, Hines-Allen became the franchise's all-time sack king. Per Ayden Stroupe of PFSN, Hines-Allen has been far more effective this year than his raw stats suggest.

"Hines-Allen has 25 QB pressures, which puts him in the top ten of the league, ahead of players such as T.J. Watt and Danielle Hunter," he said. "He is also the 9th-ranked player at his position this season, according to PFSN's EDGE Impact Rankings. If you can get past the most basic statistic for edge defenders, his ability to shut down the opposing offense and disrupt plays has been among the best."

Those basis statistics are where fantasy points come from in IDP leagues, but Hines-Allen has picked it up in that regard of late as well, with 11 total tackles and 2.5 sacks over the past three games. Now Hines-Allen faces an Arizona Cardinals team that leads the NFC in both sacks allowed and fantasy points per game given up to edge-rushers.

EDGE Uchenna Nwosu, Seattle (at Tennessee)

After a pair of injury-marred seasons in 2023 and 2024 in which he played just 12 total games, Nwosu is having his best year since tallying a career-high 9.5 sacks in 2022—the 28-year-old is pacing the 7-3 Seahawks with 5.5 sacks. While addressing the media, defensive tackle Leonard Williams talked up Nwosu's game.

"There's something about his game where it doesn't seem like he's trying too hard," Williams said. "It just seems like he's in a flow state. It's smooth, it's a fast type of mindset. Sometimes a pass-rusher or wide receiver is similar to me. Sometimes I see the pass rush moves and sometimes in those positions, you think it's all fast, all just get out of your stance as hard as possible, but there is a little bit of just smoothness to it. And I think Chenna (Uchenna Nwosu) does a good job of just like playing off of the guys next to you and just feeling where the offensive lineman's at."

Nwosu hasn't logged a sack in either of the past two games, but that followed a hot streak that saw him notch at least half a sack in five consecutive games. He should get back on track Sunday in Nashville—no NFL quarterback has dropped more times than the 41 sacks Cam Ward has absorbed.

LB Claudin Cherelus, Carolina (at San Francisco)