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The playoffs are here to separate the real from the fake. Are you the fantasy player who sets your lineup based on ESPN projections or are you thinking for yourself and going out and grabbing your championship? I hope it’s the latter. I’m certainly going to be aggressive as hell with my rankings for the next 3 weeks. I’m going with my gut, and my gut has been mostly right for the second half of the season. Nobody is safe if they aren’t putting up the scores, ya dig?

 

 

Players That I Like: 

Peyton Barber is a borderline RB1 this week AS LONG as he starts over Doug Martin this week. Detroit isn’t good against the run, whatsoever. If Dirk Koetter is, in fact, trying to save his job in Tampa that is slipping through his fingers more and more each week he will hand the reigns over to the running back who gained 143 yards on 27 touches and led the team in both rushing and receiving in week 13. Philip Rivers is my #1 quarterback this week. He is one of the hottest hands in the league with a favorable match-up and everything to play for. Will Blake Bortles repeat what he did in last week’s game? Probably not, but he is quietly getting the ball rolling and is a top 15 quarterback for me this week, so keep that in mind if you’re queasy about starting Kirk Cousins against the Chargers.

Josh Gordon and Larry Fitzgerald are my juicy top 10 WR plays this week. Josh Gordon showed me a lot on Sunday against a stingy Los Angeles secondary. Gordon is playing in Cleveland for the first time in three years and he has everything to be fired for in a somewhat favorable match-up. Larry Fitzgerald is a reception monster this year. Fitzgerald is 2nd in the NFL with 82 receptions this season and 9th in yardage. Tennessee is 25th in the NFL this year in passing yards given up. The last player that I like is Greg Olsen. If Olsen is in the lineup, the volume should be there, making him worthy of a start at a very weak position.

Players That I Don’t Like:

I have Mike Evans ranked as my 22nd wide receiver this week. Evans hasn’t scored a touchdown in 6 games and has yet to go over 100 yards this season. There’s no reason to put him in your lineup if you don’t have to, especially with a match-up with Darius Slay on the horizon. I do think DeSean Jackson WR2 worthy this week. Somebody will be catching 15-yard passes from Jameis when Tampa is down 14 late in the 3rd quarter and it’s not going to be Evans. I would also temper your Kenyan Drake expectations this week. He could have a decent day, but based on the match-up, it’s possible that he doesn’t see very many touches in the 2nd half.

I think that Derrick Henry is going to start seeing more and more of the snaps for Tennessee. I don’t see Demarco Murray doing much, unless he rips off a touchdown run. That’s always possible. Some analysts have T.Y. Hilton ranked in the range of playable. I think that is a bit of a stretch, especially if Buffalo is able to get White back in the lineup. Another anti-Hilton trend of note is that every time T.Y. has scored double-digit fantasy points in a week, he’s followed it up with a single digit score in the following game.