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Bye Weeks: N/A
Grab a Helmet
Juicy matchup for Garcon in Wk 16.
Pierre
Garcon v. DAL: If it’s possible to command over 150 targets
and still fly almost completely under the radar, this guy has managed
to do it in 2013. The Shanahan/Snyder soap opera in D.C. has distracted
us from the Skins’ on-field product this season, and that’s really
a shame in Garçon’s case because he’s having the most complete,
and most successful, season of his career (10.0 points/game). The
154 targets rank him third overall at the position (only Andre Johnson
and A.J. Green have more) and his 140.5 fantasy points place him
firmly in the top 15 through 14 games. If he found the end zone
more often, he’d be a surefire top 10 guy. He found it last week
despite the quarterback change and stands a pretty good chance of
locating it again this Sunday. It doesn’t hurt that he’ll, presumably,
have the Dallas defense providing directions.
Mike
Wallace @ BUF: I’ve been pretty hard on Wallace most of this
year, primarily because he hasn’t (and probably couldn’t have) lived
up to that huge contract he signed this past off-season. I’ll be
danged if he hasn’t started to earn some of that cake the last couple
weeks, though, helping to vault the Fish into playoff contention
in the process. If you throw out a predictably ugly performance
against his former mates in Week 14, the one-time Steeler has averaged
about 100 yards and a score per game since Week 12 and is more regularly
flashing that big-play ability that made him feared in Pittsburgh.
This week, he faces a Buffalo defense that’s served up the sixth
most points to wide receivers (26.0 points/game). He’s always going
to be a gamble (home-run hitters just are), but I like Wallace’s
chances of scoring double digits again in Week 16. Better late than
never, right?
Keenan
Allen v. OAK: We’ve witnessed some eye-popping totals from wide
receivers in this, the highest scoring season in NFL history (if
current averages hold up the last two weeks), but nobody has authored
a more efficient two-game stretch than San Diego’s rookie star.
Allen has been targeted eight times by Philip Rivers the past two
weeks and has caught five of those balls. Four of them (FOUR!) have
gone for scores. What did Chris Berman always used to say about
Chris Carter? All he does is catch touchdowns? Even Carter never
experienced a stretch quite like that in his storied 16-year career.
It’d be nice if Allen could give us a few more touches per game,
but we’ll take what we can get if they’re all gonna be worth at
least six points, eh? He scored in the first matchup with Oakland
and looks like a pretty good bet to do so again on Sunday. Keep
starting him.
Grab Some Wood
Larry
Fitzgerald @ SEA: This future Hall of Famer has been an automatic
start most of his career and would be against any other opponent
this season. Not against this opponent, however, and not this
season. The Seattle defense is playing so well right now, they
just won 12 of their fans $35,000 apiece. No, I’m not making that
up and you should absolutely Google the story if you haven’t already
heard it. Fitz was essentially non-existent in the first matchup
(two catches, 17 yards) and will again be paired up mano-y-mano
with the best cornerback in the business come Sunday. There’s
always the chance he successfully stalemates the suffocating Sherman,
but betting your fantasy championship on that possibility doesn’t
sound very wise to me. If you absolutely insist on starting an
Arizona receiver, you might wanna consider the other one, Michael
Floyd.
Jeremy
Kerley, Santonio
Holmes, or David
Nelson v. CLE: Hard as it may be to believe, there
IS a team that’s scored fewer points at the wide receiver position
this season than New York (guess). That doesn’t mean said team
doesn’t have some potentially start-able options at the position,
as you’d know if you know the answer to that little quiz question.
New York clearly doesn’t have any of those, though, as even a
cursory look at the stats would confirm. Here’s how many times
a Jets receiver has topped the 100-yard mark, for instance, in
2013: two (both occurrences in Week 3). Here’s how many times
a Jets receiver has managed double-digit receptions in a game:
none. Here’s how many times a Jets receiver has managed even double-digit
targets in a game: three (Pierre Garcon alone has received double-digit
targets 12 times). I could do this all day, by the way, but in
the interest of time, I’ll summarize thusly: You didn’t get this
far by starting Jets at wide receiver, so don’t start now.
Roddy
White @ SF: In case you needed one last reminder it’s
been a crazy year…. Sitting down Fitzgerald and White with
championships on the line would have been considered unconscionable
back in early September, but you can’t base lineup decisions
on what should have been or what could have been. You can only
base them on reality and the reality is this: White is just the
75th-ranked receiver in total points heading into Week 14. Oh,
you think it’s more realistic to use his points-per-game
average because he’s been hurt? Fair enough. He’s
just the 82nd-ranked receiver on a PPG basis, just in front of
Andre Holmes, Mike Brown, and Rishard Matthews. Full disclosure:
I didn’t know who any of those guys were when the season
began. White’s got a tough matchup on Sunday night, to boot,
so you should just go ahead and write his 2013 off as a huge disappointment
and hope he rebounds in 2014.
Good luck, folks!
Quarterbacks 
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