The season-long fantasy year came to an end with Dak Prescott, Dez Bryant and Ezekiel Elliott giving fantasy owners one last big fantasy
performance with a 42-21 victory over the Detroit Lions.
A tip of the hat to my fellow owners fortunate enough to pull
out a victory in championship week, while my condolences go out
to those who came up just a bit short - especially to those who
lost in heartbreakingly close games.
Regardless of the outcome of your league, I highly recommend
turning your attention DFS in Week 17 and the playoffs to keep
your fantasy football season going.
For those new to DFS, be sure to check out our archive of articles
on strategy as you make your first venture into the exciting world
of daily fantasy. It won’t take away the frustration of
losing in your season-long championship game, but winning some
cash in DFS is a nice way to close out the year.
For this week’s lineup review, I will examine a promising
cash game lineup that came up just short due to injuries and a
swing and miss at the tight end position.
Quarterback: Tom
Brady DraftKings Points: 20.56
Grade: A-
I decided to go with Brady as the keystone in a Patriots triple
stack against the Jets in rainy and cold conditions in Foxboro.
With four 30-point games this season in matchups against teams
that struggle against the pass like Cleveland and Cincinnati,
my margin of safety in Brady at home against the lowly Jets seemed
pretty high.
Yes he was the most expensive quarterback and there were other
less pricy plays that were enticing. But TB12 is worth the investment
in a cash game format because barring injury and a silly defensive
TD-heavy game script, he is all but certain to give me at least
20 points. He did, and he came through with exactly what I needed
on this ticket.
After a terrible sophomore slump that left more than a few season-long
players out in the cold, Gurley looked prime to come in when needed
most (albeit most of his owners likely missed the playoffs) against
an historically bad San Francisco 49er run defense.
The Niners have allowed 2250 yards and 23 rushing touchdowns
on 451 carries, making them head and shoulders above the rest
in terms of rushing defense futility. Logic would tell you that
even Gurley and his paltry 3.2 yard average would be able to come
through against San Fran.
17.7 points was not exactly what I was expecting, but at least
the former Georgia Bulldog managed to score a rushing touchdown
and catch three passes for 20 yards.
My theme on running backs this week was to target two inexpensive
backs primarily due to the fact that they were cheap and were
playing against terrible run defenses. At a salary of $5,000 and
a matchup against the second-worst run defense in Cleveland, Farrow
made sense as a nice bookend to Gurley.
Predicting touchdowns tends to be an exercise in futility, as
the sporadic nature of when and how touchdowns are scored does
not follow much of a pattern. Usage on the other hand isn’t
quite as difficult to predict, as teams tend to stick with players
who are performing and will continue to give running backs touches
if they are successful.
The lack of touches for Farrow was somewhat of a surprise; although
I did have a bit of a worry that Ronnie Hillman would stick his
vulturing head in the mix eventually. Farrow only received nine
carries in this game and didn’t do much with them, although he
did run much better than Hillman (6 yards on 9 carries).
Wide Receivers: Adam Theilen, Amari
Cooper, and Kenny
Britt Combined DraftKings Points: 61.3
Grade: B
My Adam Theilen pick was arguably my best pick of the year, as
I went on the hunch that he would be able to be a PPR monster
in a game where the Vikings would be behind early to the pack.
Did I anticipate 202 yards and two scores? Of course not, but
I did feel confident in the pick, especially when you consider
the fact he cost only $4,600.
Kenny Britt, the bane of my fantasy football existence, beats
me when I play him in season long and does nothing or gets hurt
when I use him in DFS. An early shoulder injury cost me big time,
but in hindsight, I somewhat deserve to lose by going too heavy
on Rams.
My last pick made me start to consider something that not many
fantasy owners or Raiders fans want to consider: Is Amari Cooper
not as good as we all thought?
Preseason hype in his rookie year, fueled by Jerry Rice and other
greats building Cooper up as some other-world talent blinded us
to the fact that maybe he is just an average pro wide receiver.
We all accepted the fact that he disappeared in the second half
of his rookie season as a result of injuries and the so-called
rookie wall. But what excuse do we give him this year? He had
a good quarterback, a solid offensive line, and a run game to
take away pressure.
Sure 1,100 yards is a nice total, but four touchdowns on the
year and six of his last eight games under 60 yards is pretty
terrible.
Tight End: Hunter
Henry DraftKings Points: 0
Grade: F
And now on to what might be my worst pick of the season, and
one that ended up costing me money this week.
With two touchdowns in consecutive weeks, it seemed logical that
Henry would once again be a red zone threat for Phillip Rivers
against a team that ranked dead-last against tight ends.
Instead of Henry, Rivers relied heavily on his other tight end
Antonio Gates, as the prolific duo added to their NFL record of
touchdown passes to a tight end.
This one play single handedly cost me the week, as I lost by
single digits to an opponent who made a much better move of starting
Charles Clay.
After four straight weeks of double digit targets, Edelman was
the recipient of only eight as Brady killed my Patriots stack
by not feeding his diminutive wide receiver.
There were a few missed opportunities for big plays, including
a wide open Edelman in the end zone in the first half and an overthrow
on a nine route in the third quarter. Regardless of how close
they were or not, getting 13.9 from one of my most expensive players
turned out to be a back breaker for this ticket.
DST: Patriots DraftKings Points: 17
Grade: A
A sloppy field against a division opponent with a rookie quarterback
is a DST dream for any team, but one run by one of the best defensive-minded
head coaches in history is a no brainer.
They didn’t score a coveted touchdown, but they did force
four turnovers while sacking the quarterback twice.
It was one of my best defensive plays of the season, but not
enough to overcome my Hunter Henry gaffe.
