It makes you cringe, but Todd Gurley has
the best matchup (SF) on the board in Championship week.
Grab a Helmet
Bilal
Powell @ NE (Sat): If you can’t be with the ones you
love this holiday season (Matt Forte, Eric Decker, etc.), you
better get to loving the ones you’re with. That’s pretty easy
when there might actually be more to love about those latter folks.
Powell has reprised his role as late-season super-sub in 2016,
scoring 46-plus in his last two appearances. Only Le’Veon Bell
has scored more than that, in case you’re wondering. The best
part about Powell? Like Bell, he’s immune to in-game circumstance,
equally adept as a receiver when the Jets fall desperately behind…as
they usually do and almost certainly will up in Foxboro on Saturday.
Need more? After Powell, New York has only a gimpy Forte, Julian
Howsare, and Brandon Wilds at the position. You could have told
me those last two were barbers or professional bingo players and
I totally would have believed you.
Todd
Gurley v. SF (Sat): Of course, sometimes you end up
loving the ones you’re stuck with. Gurley was a consensus top
three pick in August drafts after a phenomenal rookie campaign,
but has suffered an epic sophomore slump and is now averaging
just 9.6 points a game. Matt Jones—otherwise known as the THIRD
RB on Washington’s depth chart (behind Rob Kelley and Chris Thompson)—averages
10.2. Ouch. Unless you dumped him onto an unsuspecting and way
too optimistic league mate, there’s nothing to do but play him
at this point. And for the first time in a really long time, he
may just repay you for such “devotion” with stellar numbers. San
Francisco’s run defense is the worst this league has seen since
1987 (Atlanta). That’s almost THIRTY YEARS ago, back when teams
actually ran the ball a lot. Give Gurley one more chance to make
you proud.
Frank
Gore @ OAK (Sat): I was an English major, not a math
major, but I got to thinking about Gore and standard deviation
recently. I couldn’t remember (or figure out) the formula, but…thank
you, internet! Turns out Gore’s standard deviation for fantasy
PPG in 2016 is about 4. That didn’t mean a whole lot to me until
I ran the numbers for David Johnson and Zeke Elliott. The former
was just over 7 and the latter was almost 8. What’s it all mean?
Well, it doesn’t mean Gore is more valuable than those two. It
does mean his game-over-game numbers are a lot more predictable.
We could all use more predictability as the season winds down
and the games matter more, and Gore is about as steady as they
come. Keep him plugged in against an Oakland outfit that boasts
a great record but shaky fundamentals (30th ranked defense).
Grab a Gatorade
Adrian
Peterson @ GB (Sat): I was mystified Peterson’s sooner-than-expected
return generated so much interest in the fantasy community. I
mean, has anyone watched the Vikings play this year? You could
plug an in-his-prime Barry Sanders behind that turnstile Minnesota’s
calling an offensive line and he’d be hard-pressed to gain 50
yards in a game, let alone 100. Even before he was injured, AD
averaged a microscopic 1.6 yards per carry. Admittedly, that was
only two games in, but…1.6. Doug Martin is the lowest ranked qualifier
for yards-per-rush this season and he’s averaging almost double
that (2.9). They don’t call him Purple Jesus for nothing, but
only true disciples would believe Peterson’s capable of doing
anything special this Saturday at Lambeau Field. The Pack needs
a W, the Vikes are about to clean out lockers, and the pitch could
be messy (rain is forecast). Steer clear of the once great back.
Chris
Ivory or T.J.
Yeldon v. TEN (Sat): The bumbling, stumbling Jaguars
finally managed to get Gus Bradley fired and though he took the
mortal bullet for poor performance, as all coaches do, there’s
more than enough blame to go around. Blake Bortles still stinks.
High-profile draft picks haven’t worked out. The running game,
despite a significant investment this past off-season (Ivory),
is almost as ineffective as it was in 2015. I guess it was optimistic
to think Jacksonville had really turned the corner toward respectability,
huh? I’m not expecting much from the boys in teal and mustard
on Saturday, but even if they rally, Tennessee’s got more on the
line and is starting to flat stone opposing running backs (just
97 yards on 32 opponent carries the past two weeks). I doubt you
were considering either of these two underachievers, but just
in case you were, time to reconsider.
Dwayne
Washington v. DET (Mon): Washington may be the only
NFL’er whose surname doubles as his alma mater, a piece of trivia
that probably interests only me. In fact, it might be the only
interesting thing about him, at least from a fantasy asset perspective.
The former Dawg, despite plenty of opportunities thanks to Theo
Riddick’s recent injury (33 touches the last two weeks),
is averaging only 3.6 PPG. Making matters worse, he and the Lions
face a Dallas team Monday night that does two things really, really
well: 1) monopolize the football; and 2) score points after monopolizing
the football. Detroit is almost certain to be playing from behind
against the Cowboys, in other words, and will have precious few
opportunities to keep up. That means we’re likely to see
a whole lot more of Matt Stafford et al. than Mr. Washington from
Washington. Reserve the rookie running back.
