IDP Matchup Plays: Living the Stream: Week 2

Some days you're the windshield. Other times you're the bug. And if you're a fantasy football analyst, sometimes you can be both at once.

Last week, in the inaugural edition of this column for 2025, some doofus who stole my identity recommended starting Dallas Cowboys linebacker Marist Liufau. It wasn't an idea without some merit—Liufau appeared on track to play a three-down role opposite Jack Sanborn heading into a plus fantasy matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles.

But for reasons known only to God and Jerry Jones, Cowboys defensive Matt "Bad at His Job" Eberflus decided to flip "green dot" duties to Kenneth Murray Jr. (who had barely practiced, let alone played over the summer) and trot out Murray and a Sanborn/Damone Clark rotation at the No. 2 linebacker spot.

Notice whose name isn't mentioned there?

Yeah. That about covers it.

However, in that same column, I also advocated starting Los Angeles Rams edge-rusher Byron Young. And while Liufau vanished in Week 1, Young blew up, logging nine total tackles (five solo) and a sack on the way to finishing seventh among all defensive ends in The Godfather's Default IDP Scoring.

That's the thing about Living the Stream. Sometimes, as you navigate the rapids of IDP matchup plays, the boat hits the rocks and splinters into a jillion pieces. But if you steer the ship just right and get a little bit of luck, you can shoot those white waters and come out the other side with a win.

And in any event, there's only one way to get downstream.

Get in and start paddling like crazy.

Week 2 IDP Matchup Plays

EDGE Bradley Chubb, Miami (vs. New England)

OK, so the Miami Dolphins are terrible. Like, potentially the worst team in the NFL terrible. Last week against the Colts, the Miami defense allowed Indianapolis to score on every possession—a feat that hadn't happened in the NFL in decades. After the embarrassing loss, veteran edge-rusher Bradley Chubb let his defensive teammates have it—with both barrels.

"Trying to make our own thing up and not playing team football," Chubb told reporters. "At the end of the day, that's what we watch film for. That's where we sit back and learn, see what we did wrong and correct it come next week. Like I said, us making up our own stuff and us players on the field making things up and not communicating as well as we could have."

It's not the first time that Chubb (a team captain) has sounded off this year, and in a game where Miami did very little of that, the 29-year-old also logged the Dolphins' only sack of Daniel Jones. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was dropped four times last week by the Las Vegas Raiders, and only four teams gave up more sacks than the Patriots a year ago.

EDGE Haason Reddick, Tampa Bay (at Houston)

After logging at least 12 sacks in four straight seasons from 2020 to 2023, Reddick's 2024 campaign with the New York Jets was a disaster—a prolonged holdout, limited playing time once he got back, and one sack. Reddick made his Tampa debut last week against the Atlanta Falcons, telling reporters afterward that while he did all right, his performance could have been that much better.

"I felt like it was OK, speaking on my pass rush," he said. "I gotta watch the tape, I probably could have had a couple more. First game, we all got things to work on. Especially the way this game went I can tell. It's just about now getting out there and making the corrections in practice and getting better on game day."

Reddick's "OK" day consisted of three tackles and a sack while playing 79 percent of the Buccaneers' defensive snaps. It's that last number that most makes Reddick appealing as a streaming option in Week 2, although a Monday night matchup with a Texans offensive line that looked atrocious against the Rams last week doesn't hurt.

LB Divine Deablo, Atlanta (at Minnesota)