It’s the week before the fantasy playoffs and we have the answers for the burning questions on your mind. AB is gone — who is your plug-in WR for the most important matchup of the year. Jimmy Graham has put up two duds and why you should still trust him. We finish with our bust of the week and bold predictions to end the fantasy season.
It’s the start of the fantasy playoffs and the guys are back to tell you why you shouldn’t start Carson Wentz next week (too soon?). We tell you who to start if your QB went down this weekend and why you shouldn’t think twice about starting Aaron Rodgers if he is cleared this weekend. The burning question of if Josh Gordon is back as a WR1 is answered, followed by our bold predictions and who we think is the “Tim Hightower” of the 2017 fantasy playoffs.
Week 13 provided us yet another disappointing NFL weekend. It was the classic blowout, blowout, blowout, close game, blowout weekend that provides almost no entertainment. With that said, there were some impressive performances by a few individuals that deserve some recognition.
The top 2 QBs this week were Alex Smith and Josh McCown.
Alex Smith was a stud this week, he put up big numbers through the air and on the ground. He threw for 366 yards, 4 TD’s and added a rush for 70 yards. The top fantasy player of the week put up 45 points.
Josh McCown was brilliant on Sunday, matching Alex Smith touchdown for touchdown. He threw for 331 yards and 1 TD as well as rushing for 2 TD’s. This was one of his best games of the season and ended up with 32 points.
The top 2 RBs this week were Alvin Kamara and Le’Veon Bell.
Alvin Kamara was a top performer last week and most likely will be a top performer for the rest of the season. The do-it-all back rushed 9 times for 60 yards, 2 TD’s and caught 5 of 6 balls for 66 yards. He averaged 29 points across most leagues.
Le’Veon Bell played well in Mondays ugly game, he rushed 18 times for 76 yards and caught 5 of 6 balls for 106 yards and a TD. The TD was bogus considering the defender gave up on the play, but nevertheless it counted.
The top 2 WRs this week were Tyreek Hill and Nelson Agholor.
Tyreek Hill was putting up big numbers as usual, running right by his defenders. He caught 6 of 9 passes for 185 yards and 2 TD’s. He ended up with 36 points.
Nelson Agholor had an impressive week, too bad the rest of the Eagles could put up these type of numbers. He caught 7 of 12 balls for 141 yards and a TD. He ended up with 27 points.
The top 2 TEs this week were Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski.
Kelce started the game off with a bang with a long touchdown, but didn’t do much after that. He ended he game with 4 catches, 94 yards and 2 TD’s. He led all tight-ends with 25 points.
Gronk had a near perfect game minus the huge bonehead play at the end of the game that got him suspended. Although he didn’t score a touchdown, he dominated the Bills up and down the field. He finished the game catching 9 of 11 passes for 147 yards. He ended up with 23 points.
Office Chatter’s fantasy football podcast returns with a preview to the last week of the regular season. The fantasy crew discusses whether you should start your studs or play the matchups if you need a big win. Other talk includes Kenyan Drake, if it’s seriously time to consider benching Kareem Hunt, and the big return that everyone is talking about. We finish up with the weekly Start of the Week segment.
Week 12 is officially in the books and although the week wasn’t full of crazy endings, it still was very entertaining. There were a few players in particular that busted out and hopefully won you your match up this week.
The top 2 QBs this week were Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers.
Big Ben threw for 351 yards, 4 touchdowns and ran for 25 yards. Although he threw 2 interceptions, he still managed to put up 38 points in most leagues.
Philip Rivers and the Chargers lit up the Cowboys on thanksgiving, throwing for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns. Rivers put up an average of 35 points.
Hats off to Josh McCown, he threw for over 300 yards and 3 scores. Not to shabby for a 38 year old journey-man QB.
The top 2 RBs this week were Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams.
Kamara had his best performance of the season and as usual, he did it on the ground and through the air. He rushed 5 times for 87 yards and a TD, he also caught 6 balls for 101 yards and a TD. Kamara put up an average of 36 points.
Jamaal Williams came out of nowhere and did his best to help his Packers beat the Steelers but fell a little short. He rushed 21 times for 66 yards and a TD, he also caught 4 balls for 69 yards and a TD. Williams put up an average of 28 points.
Shout out to the owners that played Rex Burkhead over Dion Lewis. Dion has been getting most of the national media love, but Rex had a big day, scoring 2 TD’s and racking up 19 points.
The top 2 WRs this week were Julio Jones and Antonio Brown.
Julio played out of his mind catching 12 balls for 253 yards and 2 TD’s and rushing once for 15 yards. He was a man amongst boys yesterday and overall had the best fantasy week putting up 50 points.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before — Antonio Brown caught 10 balls for 169 yards and a TD. It feels like he puts up these numbers every single week. Brown put up an average of 40 points.
Robbie Anderson came up a few points short of Antonio this week, but I feel compelled to congratulate all of the owners that started him this week. It was a risky move but he payed off by putting up an average of 32 points.
The top 2 TEs this week were Zach Ertz and Rob Gronkowski.
Ertz had one of his better games this year catching 10 passes for 103 yards and a TD. The Eagles blew out the pathetic Bears and it was partly because of the Wenz-Ertz connection. Ertz has finally become the fantasy player we thought he would be, if you have him as your TE, you are sitting pretty. He put up an average of 26 points.
Gronk had himself a day, catching 5 passes for 82 yards and a 2 TD’S. As usual, he helped carry the Patriots to another win and blowout against the Dolphins. Gronk put up an average of 22 points.
An honorable mention is Kyle Rudolph, he caught 4 passes for 63 yards and 2 TD’s. It was a big TD week for Tight-ends, so no matter who you started they probably did well.
Office Chatter’s premier (and only) fantasy football podcast has its second episode. The guys talk about the Woods injury, what to do with the Cowboys running backs, and the potential waiver savior of week 11. Since it was a slow fantasy week, we finish up with our personal busts of the year (and why David Johnson does not count) and our sleeper starts of the week.
https://soundcloud.com/allen-gray/bye-week-episode-2
It’s that time of year, the temperature is getting colder, the days are getting shorter, and most importantly, it’s almost Fantasy Football Playoffs time. At this point, you should know if you are in the running to make playoffs, and I have a few pointers from lessons learned that are important to remember as you prepare your army for battle.
#1: Don’t Get Cute
Every year I see people try to out-think the playoffs, and it hurts them in the end. You need to Start your Studs, and rely on their talent. Do not over-weigh the match-ups. Here is a prime example. I have Tom Brady as my starting Quarterback. I do not love his match-up against Pittsburgh in the playoffs, but there is no chance that I am sitting the greatest quarterback of all time to dodge that match up. I will be enraged if I lose because of a streaming Quarterback such as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jay Cutler, or Tyrod Taylor (I actually think Tyrod is a great streaming option, but he is not a better QB than Tom Brady). If I’m going to lose, I’m going to do it with my best players.
#2: Have a Plan
You at this point should know who is reliable, who you want to ride through the playoffs, and who is the next man up. Depth of people who are mediocre as long term investments or name value only are no longer valuable. Play your studs and handcuff them where you can.
There is a caveat to this, and that is if you have been streaming options week to week. As an example, I have not had a consistent and reliable second running back all year, every week I piece together the best option I can. This is not an ideal situation, but is sometimes what you must do to give yourself the best chance to win any week. If this is the case, it is even more important have a rough-plan for the playoff weeks so you don’t get stuck in a bad situation during the most important weeks!
#3: Cheer Loud
Fantasy is a hard thing to win every week, so if you are running in the playoffs, congratulations! This means that you have a team that can win in any given week, and that’s all you need in the playoffs, a few wins. At this point, you’ve set up your team as best as you can, now you just need a little luck.
Fantasy playoffs are an exciting precursor to the actual NFL playoffs. If you are in the playoffs, Don’t Get Cute, Have a Plan, Cheer Loud, and good luck!
Office Chatter’s fantasy football podcast has their pilot episode. Joined by a new crew, Kareem Hunt’s outlook ROS, the Vikings offense, and sit/start of the week are discussed. Also, a notable pickup to grab before the fantasy playoffs.
I don’t remember much from my Economics degree in school, and I use even less in any given day. But one thing I do remember: timing is everything. If you want to sell something at a high price, you need to do it when demand is high and supply is low. Conversely, to buy a player for great value you should strike when demand is low and supply is high.
Trading, at least in most leagues I am in, is a seemingly impossible thing to do. Everyone wants the big win. At the beginning of this year someone offered me a soon-to-be suspended Zeke for Tom Brady and OBJ. Luckily, down the road of offensive offers and selfishness, I do believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
People, far too often, think about trades on a player by player basis; as opposed to addressing them situationally. Often I hear people saying “I need to get rid of x” or “Y had a really good game, I want to target him”, but all that’s doing is chasing points. Instead, you should address the situation as a whole, and manipulate good timing to your advantage. Here are a few examples I went through this year.
I was an OBJ owner, if you are grieving as well I understand your pain. As soon as he went down, I had to upgrade my WR core. I did not chase a particular player, instead I looked at my situation. What I did have, was Duke Johnson Jr., who had scored three touchdowns in the last three weeks, before that he only has scored three in his previous two years. Looking at what is most likely to happen next, I traded Duke for Doug Baldwin, a historic slow starter and potential top 10 WR every week. Here are their outputs before and since the week 5 trade:
These don’t always work out. Similarly, I was struggling at RB, so I looked for more depth. I traded for C.J Anderson in week seven only giving up Sammy Watkins. He had a few bad games, but so did the offense as a whole, and I think he is the best running back on Denver. It has not served me well thus far, but I think the trade was the right move at the time, and am more optimistic about C.J. becoming fantasy relevant again before Sammy Watkins.
I’ll give one more example. Zeke got ‘suspended’ in week 9, supposedly keeping him out until the last two weeks of the fantasy playoffs. There is one team in our league that has a dominant roster, and plenty of skill to spare. He traded Doug Martin, his fourth best running back on his roster, for Zeke straight up. A trade like this would only be possible with this timing, because he traded a starter now for a league winner later.
Rarely, in competent leagues, can you outright rob someone in your trades. The best way to upgrade the strength of your team is to trade based on situations, not players.
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