Isaiah Crowell has some sneaky upside against
a Steelers team looking forward to the playoffs.
Grab a Helmet
Isaiah
Crowell @ PIT: Despite being on a 1-14 team with a
poor offensive line, dreadful quarterback play and a defense that
hardly ever kept games lose, Crowell has managed to put up RB2
numbers for much of the season. He currently sits as the RB19
in standard leagues, finding the end zone 7 times to go along
with a sturdy 4.4 yards per carry average. He will be the centerpiece
of this offense going forward, and I think he has a solid day
against a Pittsburgh team looking forward to the playoffs. The
Browns winning last week means there really is no incentive for
the Steelers to take this game as anything more than a bye week
before the wildcard round. A chance at 20-plus touches and a score
is a lot more than most fantasy relevant backs can expect in Week
17, so fire up Crowell.
DeAngelo
Williams/Fitzgerald
Toussaint vs. CLE: I’m starting to think Williams is
the Clark Kent to Bell’s Superman. When one is active and playing,
the other is nowhere to be seen. This has been especially true
since Bell’s return in Week 4. Williams churned out 66 carries
in the first three weeks of the season, but has only 17 carries
in his last five games. He also suffered a knee injury that cost
him several games, and with the Steelers likely on full rest mode,
this is a great time to shake the rust off. Cleveland is on a
high after their first win last week, but they’ve been slaughtered
by backs all season. Pittsburgh wants to get this game over with
as quickly as possible so expect a ton of carries from this backfield.
If for some reason Williams also sits, Toussaint will have the
volume to make him a viable play this week.
Bilal
Powell vs BUF: The Bills are the only team to have
given up three, yes, THREE 200-yard rushing games this season.
This is fantastic news for Bilal Powell, who is one of the few
Jet players still giving a damn. Even in the 41-3 pasting against
the Patriots last week, Powell put up 74 total yards on 17 touches.
Powell has put up borderline RB1 numbers since Forte went down
a few weeks ago, and this week’s matchup is about as juicy as
it gets. The Jet offense should at least be a bit more functional
with Fitzpatrick under center, and as another back with 25-plus
touch potential, Powell makes for a solid Week 17 option.
Grab Some Pine
Jay
Ajayi vs NE: Although Miami has seeding to play for,
Ajayi is banged up, and is simply too important to this team’s
playoff success to risk in this game. The Fins have capable backups
in Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake and should be able to piece
together enough this week without Ajayi. Even if he does play
I expect a very scaled down workload making him an extremely dicey
proposition for the final week.
Rob
Kelley vs NYG: Kelley has cooled significantly since
the middle part of the year. He hasn’t passed 73 yards since Week
11, and has just two scores in his last five games. He’ll never
be a big part of the passing game, and the Giants have played
the run as good as anyone all year long. I feel like the Skins
use a quick passing game, and dump offs to Chris Thompson to supplement
their run game this week. Kelley is the goal line back, so he’ll
have a chance to score, but his upside is severely capped, leaving
him as a low ceiling option.
Ezekiel
Elliott @ PHI: The likely winner of more than one fantasy
championship, Elliott has been better than advertised this season.
A candidate for MVP, the former Buckeye has 1,600-plus yards and
16 touchdowns, totals that are unlikely to rise much this week.
Elliott was one of the few Cowboys rested in the 4th quarter Monday
against the Lions and will be lucky to get more than a handful
of early game carries against the Eagles. With more minutes logged
on the sideline than in the game, Elliott just isn’t a trustworthy
option this week.
