Streaming on a Team Plan
All my teams are packed
I’m ready to go
I’m standing here waiting for Thursday
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But your playoffs are breakin’
It’s early no more
The teams awaiting
He’s blowin his own horn
Already I’m so lonesome atop
I could die (if I lose)
But I’m streaming on a team plan
Don’t know when I’ll ever lose again
Oh babe, I hate to lose
Quarterback
Josh Allen – 30%
I’m sure some of the ownership is due to the dead teams at this point in the season, but Allen has been putting up fantasy points in bunches since coming back from his injury. The injury certainly hasn’t curbed his rushing attempts as he has 22 in his 2 games back so far with 234 yards.
He also threw 2 TDs, along with 2 interceptions, against the Dolphins to put the sugar on top. Not much around him this season and battled injury, but Allen has done more than I expected in his rookie season. He gets the Jets who are in the middle of the pack against the pass, but it’s the rushing base form Allen that I like as a streaming option this week.
Lamar Jackson – 60%
Even more so than Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson’s fantasy relevance is derived from his rushing ability at this point. He’s had at least 70 yards rushing in 3 straight weeks with a total of 54 attempts. I wouldn’t count on much from the passing, but with that kind of rushing yardage and number of carries under center, it’s not a bad streamer for the week.
While traditional QB defensive metrics may not correlate to Lamar, the Chiefs defense has not performed at pretty much any level. They are allowing the 6th most points overall with the 2nd most yards allowed. They are last against the pass and 11th worst against the rush.
On this week’s Ditka, Sausage, and Fantasy Sports podcast, Donkey Teeth and I did a check up on the young QB. We profiled him in the pre-season for our rookie shows, but took a look at his NFL tape so far. #ShamelessPlug
Honorable Mentions: Jameis Winston, Ryan Tannehill, Josh Rosen
Tight End
Jaylen Samuels – 45%
Controversial whether he should be able to start at TE as he will be filling in at RB, but he was drafted as a TE and I am firmly in the camp that position eligibility shouldn’t be removed during the season, only added. He’s eligible at Yahoo and Fantrax, but not ESPN. We’re associated with the great people over at Fantrax so I’m counting it.
While I’m not sure that we see Samuels get the bulk of the work like we have with James Conner, and Le’veon Bell before him, unless you have one of the elite TE options, one has to assume that he will get more touches than any back end TE.
It may be weird to read about running back stats for a tight end recommendation, but here we go. Oakland is allowing the 9th most fantasy points to running backs on the season. Part of which is because they are allowing the most yards by running backs of any team.
Chris Herndon – 50%
The return of Sam Darnold hopefully brings a little spark to the offense and regardless of the quarterback, Herndon has found a place in the offense. He’s been second on the team in target the last 2 weeks with 14, and over the previous 6 weeks is averaging more than 5 targets a game. It’s a low upside offense, but the target share in the offense and the return of Darnold makes Herndon a worthy streaming option.
Honorable Mentions: Jonnu Smith, C.J. Uzomah, Ian Thomas
Defense/Special Teams
Dallas – 49%
The #2 defense in the league for real football purposes. They come in at 14th in fantasy scoring for defenses due to a lack of turnovers, but are a quality defensive unit that I’m comfortable starting this week.
The Cowboys defense is allowing the 2nd fewest points and 5th fewest yards. They are also 5th best in allowed scoring percentage and give up the 6th fewest yards per play. The Eagles have been better passing than throwing, but the Cowboys have been strong against both as they come in at 7th against the pass and 4th vs the rush.
The Eagles offense has not been the unit we remember from last year that scored the 3rd most points. In 2018, they have fallen to the 21st best offense, and have only managed to score more than 30 points once this season. Divisional match-ups can always be tricky, but I feel pretty secure about the Cowboys defense in this one.
Buffalo – 44%
After making the playoffs in 2017, yes, if you forgot, the Bills made the playoffs in 2017, the 2018 Bills season has not been quite as successful sitting at 4-8. There are many reasons for this drop off, but I do not believe the defense is the primary one.
I believe the Bills are an above average defensive unit that has been placed in bad situations all year by the struggling offense. Statistically, the Bills defense comes in middle of the pack with the 18th ranked defense and 15th in points allowed. The Bills have been a middling fantasy defense as well coming in at 21st in points scored, but have created 18 turnovers, which is top half of the league.
In week 14, the Bills defense gets the 7th worst offense in the league. The Jets have the 7th fewest points on the season combined with the 3rd fewest yards. They have the 4th most turnovers of any offense with the 6th worst turnover and scoring percentage. The Jets do get Sam Darnold back this week, but he was there for most of the season with this struggling offense. If you don’t want to take my word on the Bills defense, they are the #1 defense on the Pigskinonator this week.
Quick plug for the great tools available here at Razzball. There is a free 7 day trial available for the non-DFS tools that can help you with your start/sit or streaming questions this week. You can get a glimpse of what they could have been helping you with all season. Of course, you can always post your questions in the comments or send them to me on Twitter @DitkaSausagePod.
Honorable Mentions: Tennessee, Washington, NY Jets
