All there is left to determine fantasy playoff spots is the terrible NFC East showdown tonight and whatever tiebreaker your league uses. I hope that the results have ended in your favor because I’m rooting for you and I want you to keep clicking in December.
As I combed through the scoreboards of the leagues that I play in, scoring seemed like it was a little bit lower than usual yesterday. Well, until Antonio Brown and James Conner stepped onto the field. By the way, the Steelers and the Chargers was the perfect night cap. For me, the night game always leaves a lasting impression for how the football week was.
Most of my Sunday afternoons are spent flipping back and forth from the red zone channel to games that have heavy implications for me personally. If I’m watching the red zone channel and Josh Allen pops up on full screen, you better believe that I’m flipping to see what the Panther and Bucs or the Bears and Giants are up to. Watching condensed games is pretty cool and I do that pretty often, but it doesn’t feel the same because I already know the results. My point is, the Sunday night game is the only game of the day that I can get lost in the game flow and the narratives. Let’s get to the results that stuck out in week 13.
- Lamar Jackson is now 3-0 as the starter for the Baltimore Ravens. The numbers were not impressive this week from a fantasy standpoint, but the floor that his rushing yards provides is very intriguing. I’ll get to Kirk Cousins in more detail later but we saw his floor yesterday, it’s under 10 points. The coaching staff has enough designed runs in the playbook for fantasy owners to count on 75 yards on the ground on a regular basis. Lamar Jackson running the ball is the Raven’s best option on 3rd down if he can get outside of the pocket. He adds a dimension to the Ravens that Joe Flacco has never provided. The Ravens would be wise to keep Lamar Jackson at quarterback for the rest of the season. He’s their best hope at making noise in the playoffs and he offers a chance for fantasy players to squeeze a some relevance out of this Ravens offense when you add in Gus Edwards’ success.
- Tevin Coleman’s stock has never been lower, especially from a dynasty standpoint. In case you haven’t been paying attention to the Falcons, Coleman has less than 40 total yards over the past two games. Earlier in the season, he was one of the biggest bargains in Dynasty. He had the starting job in Atlanta for the majority of the remainder of the season and he is a free agent next year. I don’t think there is a team that will sign Coleman to be a lead back after the shaky results that he has provided this season. At best, he might end up back in Atlanta splitting work with Devonta Freeman in 2019.
- Kirk Cousins either wasn’t ready for the Patriots or the Patriots were very ready for him. Cousins didn’t handle pressure from the Patriots very well. Kirk was hitting check downs all game, because, well, that’s all he could do. I’m not concerned with Cousins going forward. ‘Winning the big game’ doesn’t matter at all for fantasy football. Seattle, Miami and Detroit is a pretty good playoff schedule for a fantasy quarterback and I think Thielen is fine going forward despite being slowed down over the past month.
- I wasn’t expecting Rex Burkhead to be such a factor right away for the Patriots. This doesn’t bode well for Michel going forward, at least for the rest of this season. Bill showed that he had more confidence giving the ball to Develin than he does to Michel from the 1 yard line. This happened not once, but twice.
- Tarik Cohen was a monster on Sunday. He led the Bears in targets and caught 12 passes for 156 yards. He finally found the end zone on the final play of regulation… By throwing a pass to Anthony Miller. Is there anything that he can’t do besides be tall?
- If football had WAR what would Saquon Barkley’s WAR be? He exceeded expectations in regulation by going for over 100 all-purpose yards against a very good Bears defense. In overtime, Barkley ripped off a beautiful 29 yard run that put the Giants in Bears territory. This put the Giants in position to win the game with a field goal and a stop. If Barkley can play like he did against the Bears, there probably isn’t anyone left on the schedule for the Giants that can truly prevent Barkley from having a big day.
- I recommended Chris Godwin and Adam Humphries filling in for Zach’s start/sit column on Saturday. They both scored and piled up some yardage. Godwin’s success likely comes from DeSean Jackson not playing, but Adam Humpries has really emerged as an every week fantasy football starter.
- Jameis Winston has looked like a competent NFL starter in his past two starts. I think he could be a pretty good play against the Saints while the Buccaneers are riding the momentum of two wins in a row. Although the Saints have gotten better on defense, the still struggle against the pass more than the average defense. I’ve written it a couple of times lately but I think it bares repeating. Jameis Winston is not the answer at quarterback for the entirely of the fantasy playoffs. In week 15, the Bucs play the Ravens and in week 16, they play the Cowboys. These are big fades for a shaky quarterback who is still finding his footing.
- Tyler Boyd is much more effective when A.J. Green is on the field. He caught 6 passes for 97 yards on Sunday. I think he is playable in the playoffs with a favorable schedule of LAC, Oakland, and Cleveland.
- Case Keenum wasn’t a great recommendation but there is some good news from the Denver passing game. Courtland Sutton paced the Broncos with 7 targets and had 85 yards and a touchdown.
- With Conner’s injury not believed to be serious, I think Jeff Wilson is the best waiver wire pick up for week 14. It doesn’t make sense for the 49ers to run out Matt Breida with an.aggravated ankle injury with the 49ers sitting at 2-10.
Thanks for popping by. I will be back later in the week for week 14 rankings.
