Hellooooo! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend. I’ll go out on a limb and say that you’re only reading this if you got into your league’s playoffs. Congratulations! Unfortunately, it also means you’re weak at one of your positions… On that note, ownership numbers are doing weird things right now, and there is some renewed position jostling on those teams with injuries (and those that are completely out of it). So, while there are some new opportunities, half your league isn’t making roster moves. That means those weekly gems that have been added and dropped repeatedly might be stuck on someone’s bench somewhere… I’ll do my best to provide some deep value, as that might be your only option during these important few weeks.
Quarterbacks
Shaun Hill (4%) @ WAS: The Rams completely owned the Raiders Sunday. Can you say let down for Oakland? I think that might be in the Top-5 most spoken phrases by Raiders fans… I digress. Hill had one hell of a game last week, but don’t expect that to be the norm. While he’s a serviceable starter, he’s not anyone I’m excited to start. However, he’s now in his 5th week as starter and goes against a Washington team on Sunday that has one of the worst secondaries. Need I say more? This is a pure matchup play.
Ryan Fitzpatrick (15%) @ JAX: RFP (acronyms are all the rage) is another QB who had a great game last Sunday, and another QB who won’t produce stats like that on a weekly basis… BUT (always a but), like Shaun Hill, he goes up against a struggling defense. Fitzpatrick is a smart quarterback, and he can use his legs. He’s been consistently…decent against lower-tier defenses this season, and that’s why I like him as a safe play on Sunday.
Tight End
Charles Clay (48%) v BAL: At this point in the week, Clay’s status is still uncertain, but he has a great matchup against Baltimore if he’s healthy. Old-Man Gates cut up the Ravens D for 83 yards on 7 receptions (8 targets) last week. If Clay is a go, consider him a safer stream on Sunday.
Timothy Wright (30%) @ SD: Over the last two weeks, Wright has run the 5th most routes from the slot as a tight end. This week, he’s going up against a weak corner in Marcus Gilcrest who’s given up quite a few fantasy points this season. Consider Wright a deep stream option with some upside.
Defense & Special Teams
Minnesota (50%) v NYJ: Minnesota ranks 4th in the league in sacks. The Jets have mistake-prone quarterbacks, and they’re going to Minnesota on a short week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Jets score 10 or less on Sunday.
Kicker
Josh Brown (4%) v TEN: Tennessee allows a ton of scoring when opponents are at their 30 yard line and in. The Giants should bounce back from last week’s debacle and give Brown plenty of chances to have a good week.
Week 12 Recap:
RCL/Yahoo Standard 0.5 PPR Scoring
Brian Hoyer: 11.08 pts (23rd QB)
Joe Flacco: 13.92 pts (19th QB)
Owen Daniels: 1.70 (44th TE)
Coby Fleener: 3.80 (26th TE)
Charles Clay: DNP
CLE: 7.00 pts (16th DEF)
NYJ: -3.00 pts (32nd DEF)
Cairos Santos: 1.00 pt (T-13th K)
Robbie Gould: 5.00 pts (T-27th K)
Catch me in the streets, or follow me on Twitter @Nicolas_Kern
If Roddy can’t go Monday night vsGB would you start H Douglas or D Adams? Should I start Harvin or C Johnson (Minn) on Sunday and avoid the situation completely?
@EDUB: I like Adams in that spot.
Sir, need some advice, I’ve got two questions. This is a .5 PPR league:
1. WR – I have Dez, Gordon, Jeffrey and Benjamin. Need to start two WRs of course and due to lack of RBs, one at flex. Jeffrey seems banged up and plays tonight. Which 3 would you go with?
2. RB – I have Miller, Blount, Andre Williams and Vereen. Which two would you recommend?
As always, thanks for the advice!
Timbo Slice
@Timbo Slice: Gordon has a bad CB matchup. I would actually consider sitting him, but if you’re worried about Jeffrey’s hammy, I can understand why you wouldn’t want to play him.
Miller, Blount.
Moncrief or Wayne this week?
@Mguy36: I like Moncreif’s corner matchup. Roll him out there.
Most droppable player Larry Donnell, jordan reed, Roddy White
@Dom B: Donnell. Reed looks like he’s going to get more action with McCoy under center.
FitzMagic or Tannehill this week?
@Brown L: Tannehill
Hey Nico, you like A Williams at my flex over R. Mathews, Sanu, M Bryant, L Murray or J Reed. NON-PPR…
@Nick: Mathews my man!
@Nico: R Jennings is back at practice…now what?
@Nick: If it looks like he’ll play as it gets later Sunday morning, he’s probably your best option. Mathews still a very close second, though.
@Nick: he’s seemingly only going to get 50% of snaps at most though from what i’m seeing.
don’t all teams allow a lot of scoring opportunities when a team gets as close as the 30 yard line? (since kickers generally make 45 yd kicks and under). A team’s D is good when it simply doesn’t let a team get to the 30 yard line in the first place.
@A Wesley Snipes Life: Not all. Some are better at limiting scoring chances than others. You can see in the chart below a team like Tennessee has let up 30 TD’s and 21 FG’s from 30-and-in whereas Arizona has let up 16 TD’s and 16 FG’s when opposing teams are in the same spot. That makes me stream kickers against Tennessee a lot more than Arizona bc there are more “realistic” opportunities for the team’s kicker facing TEN over ARI. Apologies for the poor chart display on the site.
Team DefenseTotals vs. team as defense
Play Results Play Types
Tm G Plays ToGo Yds 1st% TO% TD FG
ATL 12 205 6.79 3.74 29.8% 2.4% 26 19
BUF 12 154 8.06 2.75 21.4% 1.9% 16 15
CAR 12 193 7.80 3.75 30.1% 4.1% 31 16
CHI 12 276 7.37 3.41 27.2% 2.5% 34 22
CIN 12 216 7.60 3.23 25.0% 2.3% 21 19
CLE 12 185 7.51 3.15 22.2% 3.2% 21 18
IND 12 181 7.08 4.15 33.7% .6% 29 11
ARI 12 157 7.29 3.29 22.3% 4.5% 16 16
DAL 13 188 7.14 4.19 30.9% 2.7% 29 13
DEN 12 185 7.24 3.82 32.4% 1.1% 27 15
DET 12 132 7.09 3.48 29.5% 4.5% 19 14
GNB 12 203 6.93 3.82 31.5% 2.5% 26 13
HOU 12 192 7.44 3.10 24.0% 5.2% 21 13
JAX 12 230 7.27 2.87 23.0% 3.5% 22 23
KAN 12 207 7.43 3.34 26.1% 1.0% 19 22
MIA 12 201 7.03 3.54 24.9% 1.5% 22 18
MIN 12 167 7.41 3.38 29.9% 3.6% 23 11
NOR 12 178 7.83 4.15 31.5% 2.8% 29 17
NWE 12 209 7.77 3.14 22.5% 1.4% 22 20
NYG 12 178 7.11 3.60 24.7% 3.4% 24 21
NYJ 12 196 7.56 3.89 28.1% 1.5% 29 15
TEN 12 237 8.13 3.46 27.8% 1.3% 30 21
PHI 12 171 7.40 3.25 25.1% 4.1% 22 11
PIT 12 191 7.30 3.21 27.2% 1.0% 24 22
OAK 12 227 7.69 3.48 25.1% 3.1% 28 22
STL 12 142 7.20 3.77 28.2% 3.5% 17 13
BAL 12 208 8.02 3.11 27.4% 5.3% 23 15
SDG 12 184 7.24 3.43 27.2% 1.6% 24 16
SEA 12 159 7.26 3.62 30.2% 1.9% 21 15
SFO 12 160 6.97 3.44 27.5% 3.1% 21 15
TAM 12 178 7.86 3.73 29.2% 2.2% 29 19
WAS 12 150 8.18 4.47 33.3% 2.7% 25 14
Johnathan Stewart or f jax at rb