Happy Thursday everyone!  Don’t you worry your little hearts, your highly anticipated streamer article is here.  Since the Streamer Department is newer staple here at Razzball, I want to try something a little different this week.  90% of the players I write about on here I’ve written about before.  You can check those stats!  In order to stop boring you or going too in-depth with the obvious about how great a player’s matchup is, I want to keep my player descriptions short.  I also understand that all of these players are not available in every league, so I want to encourage you readers to ask more personally tailored questions in the comment section.  Josh McCown isn’t available in your league, but Teddy Bridgewater and Geno Smith are?  Gross!  But you’re probably playing Bridgewater and saying your prayers.  You don’t know what color to paint your living room?  Seafoam green!  This is why I’m here, and this is when your roster decisions matter most.  So ask me, ask Jay, ask Smokey or ask your Grandma!  The more input, the better chance we have of helping you win!
Quarterbacks
Josh McCown (21%) @ CAR : McCown has a good matchup vs Carolina’s secondary.  He has proven his fantasy decency against the tougher opponents.  Now, he gets an easier one.  Consider McCown a safe play this week.
Eli Manning (60%) v WAS: Washington is a complete disaster right now.  I can’t see them showing up for this one.  Expect modest numbers from Manning while the G-men continue to pound the ball.
Tight Ends
Jared Cook (30%) v ARI: Travis Kelce was open all over the field last week against the Cardinals, and Cook has the ability to do the same.  Don’t expect a ton of targets, but he definitely has a chance to get in the endzone.
Scott Chandler (8%) v GB: This is not exactly a great matchup, but there will be a ton of passing in this game.  Chandler is your high upside play this week.
Defense & Special Teams
New York Jets (4%) @ TEN: The Jets aren’t a high scoring defense, but they can keep the scoring low by controlling the run game.  With Mettenberger out, Locker will be rusty.  Perhaps that will finally translate into some points for the NYJ DST.
Kickers
Nick Folk (19%) @ TEN: Quoting me from last week, “Tennessee allows a ton of scoring when opponents are at their 30 yard line and in.”  They ended up allowing the most points in the kicking department last week, so I’m going to ride that wave.
Cairo Santos (17%) v OAK: I expect Oakland to give up quite a few scores this week, and Santos has been pretty reliable this season.
Week 14 Recap:
RCL/Yahoo Standard 0.5 PPR Scoring
Shaun Hill: 16.42 pts (19th QB)
Ryan Fitzpatrick: 13.30 pts (23rd QB)
Charles Clay: 5.10 (19th TE)
Tim Wright:Â No targets
MIN: 13.00 pts (6th DEF)
Josh Brown: 21.00 pts (1st K)
Catch me in the streets, or follow me on Twitter @Nicolas_Kern
Wutup Nico… Do you like Manziel, Fitzpatrick or McCown??
@Frank White: Frank the Tank! I like Manziel with the upside, for sure. Fitzpatrick and McCown are safer plays.
Thanks Buddy!! So you’d go Manziel for the playoffs
@Frank White: If you’re going to need consistent big games, I’d stick w/ him. If your team is stacked and you want a guy that’ll just get you 10 sure-fire points, the other two might be better for your nerves.
Yeah I got Antonio Brown, Maclin, Cj Anderson, Murray and F Jackson
So I’m in a pretty standard yahoo league (no PPR). I’m playing what I think of as a much better team this week and think I need some upside in my lineup. Currently I have Romo at QB and Jordan Reed at TE. I have the option to put jordan cameron at TE and johnny football in at QB. Do you think there’s enough of a higher ceiling on those guys to make that move or should I stick with my guys?
@Cheeeeeeeeze: I think you gotta stick with your guys. Romo and Reed give you upside, no doubt.
16 Team League, .5 PPR
TE: DAllen v HOU or Rivera @KC
RB2: Mason v ARI or Miller @NE
WR2: Landry @ NE or Garcon @ NYG
Right now I am leaning Allen, Miller, and Landry. Would love your thoughts
Thoughts on Carolina’s D/ST as well v TB.
@J-MoneyIV: JMoney! I can’t believe 3 have preceded you. Tough choices here, but I like Allen, Mason, and Landry. Also, I own Miami D, but I too am debating Carolina’s D. I think it’s a solid play,
Dallas or Buffalo for d/st this week?
@Curt: Dallas, but both defenses are ranked bottom 10 for me. Sanchez makes the mistakes though.
Eli over Rivers v Den?
@Philsfan76: a friend of mine is even playing eli over romo, sounds crazy to me.
@Philsfan76: Eli has burned me too many times in these “perfect” situations against bad secondaries. The proof is in every time I wrote about him in these posts! I think SD will be playing catchup, which will equate to more passing for Rivers. Now Eli over Romo? I think it’s a toss up.
the info in that chart from last week compared all the teams and it also showed how many plays a team D allowed inside it’s 30. You mentioned you’d stream kickers against TEN but not ARI. I agree with this, but it’s not because of anything TEN does that’s less than ARI as far as stopping scoring once a team gets inside it’s 30 (although a D that gets more sacks certainly could more often push a team that’s barely in side the 30 back outside it occasionally). ARI is better team against kickers due to simply being a better D in general, as they’ve had only 157 plays against them inside that range, whereas TEN allowed 237. I’m guessing those extra 80 plays speak more to why ARI is better at limiting kicker pts than TEN. I would think that’s why ARI is better D in general, and have only allowed the 16/16 TD/FG vs TEN’s 30/21 in this regard. The important thing surely seems that a team’s ability to limit scoring stems more from not letting opposing teams inside it’s 30 in the first place, rather than ability to get stops or not once they get there.
@A Wesley Snipes Life: I think we’re agreeing on all of this. Correct me if I’m wrong. More plays within the opponents 30 yard line = more scoring. Bad defenses allow more scoring. BUT, I believe there are some teams that perform better in these circumstances and force teams to kick rather than score a TD, and a FG is worth more than a PAT in fantasy.
@Nico: i agree some teams certainly are better at stops, and some are much better than others even at pushing teams back beyond FG range when they were already in it (this is more rare of course). But I wonder just how many chances allowed eventually catches up with even teams superior at stopping teams and making them kick. There appears to be 2 types of info to target here
1. teams that are good at stopping within 30, thus having more FG’s against
2. teams that allow most snaps inside their own 30.
There of course could be teams that have both of these conditions (we could probably call them “underachieving D’s” or “play down till it matters D’s”). I’m guessing by and large though a team that is good at not allowing snaps inside their own 30 is generally a good D and is also the type to get stops. Of course the Special teams/offenses determine a lot of field position in the first place. A great D (at both 1 and 2) could end up having to play a lot within it’s own 30 simply from a horrible offense or error prone special teams.
Which Flex do you like better? Blount, Herron, Marqise Lee or Davante Adams?
@Scott: Blount
Also, Kicker: Cody Parkey or Shayne Graham?
@Scott: Parkey!
@Nico: spread it around, he’s like butta’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATUNwV3EWTE
This is going to be super annoying for you, but I needs some help son! Having a difficult time finalizing my lineup for this week, at WR/RB/Flex.
It’s a .5 PPR league. Start 2 RBs, 2 WRs and 1 Flex.
RBs: McCoy (obvious), Hill, FJax
WRs: Jordy (obvious), Benjamin, Gordon, Roddy
What do you think the ideal lineup is (5 players)?
Not sure I can trust Gordon this week with Manziel, and Derek Anderson will be throwing Benjamin the ball. The Bills project to be down and will likely throw a lot to Fjax. Also, if Julio sits Roddy gets a big upgrade? Let me know what you think when you have a moment – thanks in advance mate.
@Timbo Slice: Hey Timbo, this is absolutely not super annoying. This is the fun part. McCoy, Fjax, Hill, Jordy, Benjamin. Stick w those guys in my opinion no matter what. If you want to switch anyone out, I’d say Roddy or Gordon for Hill, but only if Julio is out.
Hey Nico, would you go Keenan Allen or Martavis Bryant at WR3 in a standard league?
@Nick: Allen is the safer play there. If you really need a huge week though, you could roll the dice w Bryant.
Need some help on a little bit of a dilemma at flex spot (standard league) as lots of risky (garbage) options:
Ryan Mathews (injury concern), frank gore, marquess wilson, jarvis landry, robert woods, charles johnson (min)
@detroit_liedowns: I think I like Landry, Johnson, Wilson in that order. You might not want to deal with the RB headaches this week.
ppr league… flex player.. lacy or josh mccown? lacy could split carries? tx!
@Sofia Jones: McCown
@Sofia Jones: easy rule of thumb, you have to have VERY good reason in super flex league to bench QB for different position player. Like take Hoyer/Manziel’s last few games, those could have been benched. But even Carr’s games are usually in most scoring systems better than position players that are splitting carries, sometimes better even if they weren’t splitting.
Cheers!