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Welcome back to the Razzball streamer article.  For most of you still reading this article, you’ve made it to the semi-finals, congratulations. If you didn’t make the semi-finals and you are reading this, you are probably my editor (Sup, Jay). A key running back injury and a lingering wide receiver injury has led to me recommending more than just defenses this week.  So let’s get down to business with our second to last I Scream, You Stream of the 2016 season.

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 15! The semifinals are upon us, and it certainly has been an interesting season thus far, so let’s continue with it, shall we?

Diving into the week ahead, we have a ton of tricky situations regarding the QB position, with a whole bunch of reliable names finding themselves in tricky matchups, and some guys that we usually wouldn’t consider to start for us in the semis now have some really good matchups. Names like Tyrod Taylor and Joe Flacco are these shakier players getting great opportunities to shine while reliable guys like Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and even Tom Brady find themselves in some sticky situations with some tricky matchups. So how do we navigate this?

Well, you could just go with the route most taken by others in similar situations, which is to just roll with your studs and get into the mindset that the rest of your team and your day will be good with a bad performance at QB. And that is certainly respectable. But I am offering another decision, which is to take a little bit of a risk, start the better option in a better situation, and reap the rewards. Yes, Tyrod Taylor should not instill the same level of confidence that Andrew Luck instills in some, however Taylor and Luck still are largely similar in one way: although Luck may be the better player, both he and Taylor are two of the 32 men that can play QB at an NFL level, and start. It’s not like Taylor is a pee-wee starter and has no idea how to win. They’ve won plenty before.

Before we get into the QB situation for Week 15, let’s get started with one of the most, if not the highest-powered offenses in the NFL, thanks in part to the hard works of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman…

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Hello everyone, and welcome to the 14th installment of the Start ‘Em and Sit ‘Em series. I’ll keep it short for you guys everyone, so welcome to the playoffs and let’s get started… With A.J. Green’s departure a few weeks ago due to a hamstring injury, certain players have had to pick up the slack from his lack of production values, and Eifert has done the most absorbing of this production value. His an increasing target share, snap counts, and even red zone efficiency, it’s no wonder why he is producing like the way he is. This week he’ll only have to battled with Brandon LaFell and the two running backs to get the targets and looks he deserves, but he’ll have a great matchup on the way, against a Cleveland Browns team that ranks as the 31st pass defense in the NFL, and 31st in the NFL against TE’s, who give up close to 65 yards and 0.8 TD’s per game. Fire him up with confidence…

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It’s playoff time! I personally can’t wait to get my hopes up and get them crushed in the four leagues that I made the playoffs in this season.  We are going to skip quarterbacks this week because if you made the playoffs, you probably don’t need a streaming quarterback. (I feel like I am the only person who has to stream a quarterback this week.)  In a 16-team league, I rolled the dice by drafting Blake Bortles.  Aside from being the worst quarterback to start 12 games of the regular season in our generation (don’t @ me), the Jaguars play the Vikings this week.  The backup that I ended up drafting was none other than Ryan Fitzpatrick. I also drafted Todd Gurley in the first round in this league.  I bet you wouldn’t believe me when I tell you that this shit show ended up 8-5.  Well it’s true, and I’ll be streaming Alex Smith this week, and feel lucky to be able to do so with the matchup against Oakland.  So in the spirit of holiday giving, I’m going to give you a few good defensive plays for this week…

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Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Ladarius Green (80) warms up before an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

For the last fourteen weeks or so I have proven that even a team that looks like absolute hot garbage on paper can prove the old adage true, never judge a book by its cover. That’s easy to say with the benefit of hindsight. It’s not like I’m predicting who these players will be a week in advance. I would, but I can’t seem to find my copy of Gray’s Sports Almanac. Each week I have tried to pick the players for the upcoming week, but if I said it was an easy task, I’d clearly be lying. Many weeks I have gotten a player or two correct, but my low batting average is nothing to write home about. George Brett? Tony Gwynn? Wade Boggs? More like the Mendoza Line for me!

If you are still reading this post that most likely means you have made the playoffs. Congratulations. But you are a long way from hoisting that championship trophy. And if you’ve made the playoffs, it is even more unlikely that you are going to be looking for under owned players that “might” have a good week. At this point you need high floor players.

If you have not made the playoffs and just enjoy reading my banter, rock on!

However, in the spirit of this post I’d still like to present to you last week’s crop of crapshoots…

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playoffs

If you are reading this, congratulations. And I don’t say that just because you are fortunate enough to be reading one of my articles. If you are reading a fantasy football article in Week 14, it is likely because you are in the playoffs and still have a reason to care about your team and your lineup. So, congratulations. I mean it. To those of you who didn’t make the playoffs: see you in hell, candy boys! This is, unfortunately, the last Handcuff Report of the year. It has been a great ride, but we are wrapping things up as the fantasy playoffs begin!

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Welcome back to the Razzball streamer article. I hope you didn’t miss me too much last week and had a great Thanksgiving, unless you felt too much genocidal guilt to celebrate.  The Cleveland Browns finally get to not lose this week, and that makes for a more difficult pick ‘em pool.  This just goes to show you, even if you are never successful, you could still earn a week vacation. Never give up.  Before we get to streamers, make sure that you check out the football podcast this week if you are into Westworld.  A few of us at Razzball have some takes that we need to get off of our chest, so be on the look-out for that.  Now let’s get down to business.

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markingram

It’s Week 13, which means we are heading into the fantasy playoffs soon. I know that because my readership has dwindled the last two weeks, as many fantasy owners have been eliminated from the playoffs and are throwing in the towel. But that’s OKAY. That just means we can be more serious and a bit more intimate now. It’s just me and you, playoff hopefuls.

Heading into this week, Tim Hightower was a name to watch because Mark Ingram was still in the concussion protocol and was questionable to play. If Ingram couldn’t go, Hightower was going to be a high-end flex/RB2 to throw into lineups before they locked on Sunday. But word came out on Sunday morning that Ingram was going to play, so many likely left Hightower on the bench or on the waiver wire.

But something funny happened. It didn’t matter that Ingram played. Ingram and Hightower combined for three touchdowns and almost 300 yards, with Hightower accounting for 51 rushing yards, 54 receiving yards, and one of the touchdowns. Although, Hightower’s final stat line would look a bit different if not for the late 50-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Willie Snead. If Hightower can keep producing even with a healthy Ingram, he can help out some of the needier fantasy owners come playoff time.

To the report…

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zod

Being that the kind people at Razzball have given me a soapbox, if you will, to share with you all the thoughts that swim within my head, I thought I’d take advantage of said opportunity to rant. If you can bear with me for a few sentences I promise to return to regularly scheduled programming and, as I do on a weekly basis, tender my slightly above average fantasy football advice. And when I say “average” I really mean “mediocre”. And when I say “mediocre” what I REALLY mean is “fvcking awesome”. Okay, so perhaps I’m reaching for the proverbial stars, but why not. After all, I could probably give you crap advice and many of you would still be happy. Stealing a quote from Negan, I could be inclined to say “I just slid my d*ck down your throat and you thanked me”. But that’s not how I roll.

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rawls

If you are like me and drafted Thomas Rawls in August but managed to stay patient and hang onto him until now, take a bow. I’ll bow with you. September and October were some dark times, my friends, but here we are. Rawls is the top dog in Seattle, and it looks like it will stay that way for the rest of the season now that Christine Michael got shipped out of town and C.J. Prosise is hurt. We did it, guys.

Prosise ran for a 72-yard touchdown in the first quarter on Sunday, but he left the game in the second quarter. It was pretty much all Rawls for the rest of the game, with a little bit of Troymaine Pope (who also got hurt). The Seahawks getting rid of Christine Michael meant they were ready to roll with Prosise and Rawls as their top guys and that they were confident Rawls would be healthy and effective. Now that Prosise is out of the picture, it’s all Rawls, baby.

Rawls rushed 14 times for 57 yards (4.1 YPC) and added three catches for 31 yards, giving him 88 total yards on the day. Heading into the fantasy playoffs, getting an every down back like Rawls into your lineup could be just what your team needs to get that extra edge (I know my team, where I went zero RB and took Rawls as my RB1 LATE, is sitting pretty now that I have him back). The best part about the Prosise injury* is that it means Rawls will see more action on passing downs. They will find a way to spell him here and there, but Rawls should be an every down back going forward and should catch his fair share of passes.

Things change quickly in the NFL, and it seems like just last week we were excited about the idea of a Prosise-Rawls backfield combination. But this week was about much more than Thomas Rawls and how happy we all are to have him back.

To the report. . .

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and with that I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you all the things for which I am NOT thankful. Considering how long this list could potentially be, I’ve decided to limit its scope to fantasy football related content. There’s only one thing I would be thankful for, and that’s a championship. Everything else is just background noise. Here’s my list.

After deciding to go with A.J. Green last week in most of my DFS lineups, he promptly left game after his team’s second offensive play ending the day with zero points.

When three of my four running backs all have the same bye week. Yes, one could easily say “poor planning”, but sometimes sh*t just happens. Right?

I guess I can just lump Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles in the same sentence. There are reports, however, of AP making a mid-December return. Might not hurt to stash him if you have the room. I’d probably grab Wendell Smallwood instead.

Cam Newton, Todd Gurley and DeAndre Hopkins. Can you imagine having drafted all three of these guys. You might have been on top of the world walking away from your draft. Little did you know that you had just ordered a triple sh!t sandwich and it was going to taste as bad as its name leads you to believe it will taste. Triply sh*tty!

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Getting closer and closer to the start of the Fantasy Playoffs, we’ve already gotten near the end some trade deadline’s in a few leagues, and the start of Thanksgiving will arrive in a few upcoming days as well. We are headed towards a great Week 11 of the NFL season.

When looking at this slate I come to two conclusions. One is that there are a lot of games featuring high Vegas totals, or expected shootouts, and the other is a bunch of games featuring high-powered defenses against very good opposing defenses, or against high-powered offenses. Both of these signs point towards some great football, but also some defenses coming up a bit short. Simply put, expect for some surprises. Both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball on Sunday.

However, one man has not had as many ups and downs in his career as some would think, and is on his way to over 1,000 career receptions in a career I am proud to say I have witnessed.

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