Good morning Razzball readers. I’m glad all of you made the playoffs because of our excellent advice site-wide. Maybe some of you won’t lock your playoff spot until your last-minute push from Monday Night Football, that’s fine too, because you’re going to make it. There’s a lot a couple of different things that need to happen for me to make it through to the playoffs in the Industry Duds league. It didn’t help that a certain writer, who obviously doesn’t write for this site, didn’t set his lineup and a team ahead of me who doesn’t deserve a win might get a win. I hope this fantasy karma follows him throughout the playoffs in the leagues that he cares about. Selfishness doesn’t get you anywhere, buddy.
I liked the way that this article came out last week, so I want to do it again. It’s playoff season, we don’t need to wade through the bullshit anymore. Let’s talk about the players who are going to help us win every championship that we can. Let’s have fun waiving our fingers at the players who are going to sit on the bench because they can’t cut it in must win games. How about some stats? Do you like trends? I love trends. They’re trendy. So hot right now. Can you tell I’m just trying to eat up words right now? It’s really taking up more of your morning bowel movement than necessary. Enough already! Give me the juicy stuff MB. What did you see on the red zone channel? Tell me what you saw in the box scores MB. TELL ME WHAT YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT. Don’t even bother with the stuff you missed, it’s not important and it makes you look dumb. You’re not dumb, MB. Just give me your thoughts.
- I watched as much Josh Gordon as I could. Like many of you, I was curious if he still has it. He definitely still has it. Gordon was only the 2nd receiver in 2017 to have at least 85 yards against the Los Angeles secondary. Casey Heyward made two great plays against him that prevented him from a touchdown and another long reception. DeShone Kizer also put together some good drives today but couldn’t capitalize in Los Angeles territory. I love next week’s matchup for both of them. Green Bay just gave up 270 yards and two touchdowns to Jameis Winston who is playing without two of his best offensive lineman.
- Keenan Allen is turning PPR into PP-ART. Sunday’s performance was Allen’s 3rd straight game with at least 10 catches. If Allen can keep this up, he could be the biggest piece to a championship run. Allen could be matchup-proof. Allen made put on a clinic against a pretty good corner in Jason McCourty. Phillip Rivers also continues to punish bad defenses. For the most part, that’s all that Los Angeles has left on this schedule.
- Jordan Howard had it made for the next three weeks with matchups against teams outside of the top 20 in yards given up per game. The first of those games, he only was able to muster up 38 yards on short of 3 yards per carry. Next week he will try again at Cincinnati and he deserves one more chance in your starting lineup (if you have the luxury of benching him, of course). Howard has shown the capability of piling up a ton of yards several times these past couple of seasons.
- Carlos Hyde, on the other hand, has a terrible playoff schedule. His next 2 weeks, he plays defenses that rank in the top 7 in yards against per game.
- Case Keenum continues to be a wonderful surprise. The yards didn’t quite pile up this week in a saucy matchup, but he still threw two touchdown passes in a low scoring game. Neither of the touchdowns were to Adam Thielen or Stefon Diggs, which is also impressive.
- Josh McCown probably won’t be able to sneak in two touchdowns from the 1-yard line every week, but this passing offense is very intriguing. Robby Anderson didn’t find the end zone on Sunday, but he caught 8 balls for over 100 yards. Jermaine Kearse also proved that he is capable of having a big game himself. Next week, the Jets travel to Denver. While Denver is top 5 against the pass, I still feel like McCown is capable of 15-20 fantasy points and I feel pretty comfortable about it.
- The Chiefs weren’t able to correct their historic playoff slide, but they were able to get some things going in the passing game against the Jets. I still don’t trust putting Alex Smith in my line up, even with a matchup with the Raiders ahead. I still think Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are safe plays.
- Kenyan Drake could be one of those late season pickups that takes the right playoff teams over the top. Drake made the most of his 23 carries as he went for 120 yards and a touchdown. Kenny Stills paced the team with 13 targets this week and had another big game with 98 yards and a touchdown. Kenny Stills is becoming who I thought Devante Parker would be for this offense.
- Even featuring C.J. Anderson as the lead back didn’t do the trick for the Denver offense. Anderson could be worthy of flex consideration against the Jets this upcoming week. A home game against a bad run defense? Why not?
- Peyton Barber led the Buccaneers in rushing and receiving yards on Sunday. He needs to be the starting running back for the Bucs the rest of the season because he clearly is the most talented of the bunch. Doug Martin has been incredibly underwhelming, and with his contract, his days in Tampa are probably numbered.
- Mike Evans didn’t do anything, once again. The “start your studs” moniker simply is not going to cut it in the playoffs when it comes to Evans. In a league where I have the luxury of not having to play Evans, I’m not putting him in my lineup. At least Cameron Brate performs well when Jameis is on the field.
- Jamaal Williams has clearly won the hearts of the Green Bay coaching staff. He’s earned it with two big fantasy days. Aaron Jones barely saw the field in his first game back. I’m pretty comfortable with putting Williams in my lineup for the playoffs.
- Rudy Gamble had Blake Bortles as his #1 overall quarterback this week and he finished pretty close to that. Rudy has been fantastic this season.
- Leonard Fournette averaged under 3 yards per carry on Sunday. That seems to happen a lot.
- Rex Burkhead and Dion Lewis are a fantastic duo.
- Can we just give Demarco Murray’s snaps to Derrick Henry? He deserves them.
- Phillip Supernaw had more receiving yards than Corey Davis
- Marshawn Lynch is actually putting up some points nowadays. The 60 yard touchdown definitely helped, but he has been finding the end zone a lot lately.
Thanks again for joining me. Let’s make some noise in the playoffs. I’ll catch you in the comment section and later this week on the podcast and weekly rankings.
