Wildcard weekend 2017 proved to be anything but wild, as the home
team for all four games won by a double-digit margin, with fantasy
stalwarts Aaron Rodgers, Antonio Brown, Ben Roeth-lisberger, and
Le’Veon Bell all delivering excellent performances for their
owners.
There were a few surprise performances from unknown players like
Paul Richardson and his circus catches against Detroit, and Tavarres
King scoring the only touchdown for the Giants in a disappointing
loss for Big Blue against the Packers.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was Odell Beckham Jr.’s 4/28/0
line against a Packers defense that allowed the most fantasy points
to opposing wide receivers this season. Not exactly the type of
performance you would expect from an all-pro wideout in his first
career postseason game.
From a daily fantasy perspective, Beckham’s 6.8 point performance
likely sunk the 25 percent of owners who invested $9,100 in the
otherwise dependable wideout. A breakout performance from on otherwise
unknown player would be needed to balance out the dearth of points
expected from OBJ.
I was one of the 25% of DK players who invested in Beckham, but
unfortunately for me, I did not hit on my home run play and my
ticket failed to cash.
For this lineup review, I will examine a losing ticket from the
$200K Flea Flicker tournament on DK. I won a few small cash games
this week, but I thought this ticket would provide a few more
interesting topics for discussion
Quarterback: Eli
Manning DraftKings Points: 15.06
Grade: C
My strategy this week centered on investing a sizable portion
of my budget on Le’Veon Bell and Odell Beckham Jr., the two players
that I identified as the top performers of the week. The former
worked out well, with the latter single-handedly killing any chances
of cashing.
That strategy limited my ability to go for Aaron Rodgers or Big
Ben, so I decided to settle on Manning against the league’s worst
pass defense at limiting opposing quarterbacks. I wasn’t too worried
about it being a road game, as Eli has proven over his career
to be a solid passer on the road in playoff games.
What I didn’t account for enough was the fact that the
Giants offense was struggling as a whole before the playoffs and
that struggle continued. Also, the Giants receivers, including
Beckham with his three drops, did not help out Eli.
Despite his struggles, Manning posted a 299/1/1 line, which was
good enough to keep me in contention.
Bell was clearly the best running back play of the week, even
though his ridiculously high salary of $10,400 set me back to
the point where I needed to find a bottom priced running back
option like Drake to round out my ticket.
With 34.4 points off of 174 total yards and two scores, Bell
proved to be well worth the investment. Drake, on the other hand,
was a complete bust based on factors that I anticipated but did
not come through.
I thought the Steelers would blow out the Dolphins early, forcing
the Dolphins to abandon the run and rely more on their pass catching
duo of Williams and Drake. I also felt that Ajayi was one hit
away on his shoulder from leaving the game. Both of those things
did happen, but the Ajayi didn’t leave until late in the
second half and Williams received the lion’s share of targets
in the passing game, including a touchdown pass.
In a tourney you need to aim for the stars on some of your cheap
players, hoping that they come up big. Instead of hitting a home
run with Drake I struck out on three straight pitches down the
middle, unable to get the bat off my shoulder.
What can I say, missed big time on Drake. I hate the Drake (homage
to my fellow Seinfeld-loving fans.)
I am still scratching my head a bit with regards to just how
much Beckham struggled against a Packers defense that made Adam
Theilen look like Randy Moss Week 16.
The boat narrative is a bit too easy to use as an excuse, as
many teams take some time to cut loose after making the playoffs.
Personally, I think credit needs to be given to the Packers pass
defense stepping it up, and a bit of the yips on the part of OBJ.
The Adams play might be the best one on my ticket, based on my
prediction in on my preview piece that the Giants would limit
Jordy Nelson, forcing Rodgers to lean on his other receiving options.
The injury to Nelson proved to be a big factor as well, as Rodgers
hit Randall Cobb for three scores and Adams posted eight catches
for 125 yards and a score.
I went back and forth between Kearse and Paul Richardson in Seattle
for my low-cost WR play. As the Knights Templar famously said
at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I “chose poorly.”
My apologies for the cheesy reference. I am listening to a John
Williams playlist as I write this article.
Kearse came close to a touchdown before Doug Baldwin ran the
wrong route and took it from the grasps of Kearse. In hindsight,
it didn’t matter, as Beckham’s six points mixed with Drakes goose
egg would end up killing me.
Tight End: Will
Tye DraftKings Points: 10.60
Grade: A
Double-digit points from a sub-$3,000 tight end is a decent play
in my book. When that tight end turns out to be the best tight
end play of the week, despite not catching a touchdown, you deserve
to give yourself an A.
My logic on Tye was based on the fact that he was cheap and was
the recipient of an increase in targets in the final two games
of the regular season. That trend continued into the playoffs
with seven targets for four catches and 66 yards.
Flex: Jimmy
Graham DraftKings Points: 6.7
Grade: D
In my preview piece for the week, I wrote about how Jimmy Graham
posted his best games of the year when Tyler Lockett was not on
the field, including a seven target for 64 yards last week against
the Niners.
That logic proved to be dreadful wrong as Russell Wilson focused
more on throwing the ball to Doug Baldwin, while the otherwise
terrible ground attack of Seattle took off. At least I was right
on one of my two tight end plays of the week.
DST: Seahawks DraftKings Points: 10
Grade: B
I could not decide between the Seahawks and Texans for my DST
play of the week, with Houston having the benefit of playing at
home against a rookie QB and Seattle difficult place to play and
a threat for turnovers.
Both teams ended up scoring ten points, five points behind the
Steelers as the play of the week. My goal each week with my DST
is to score double-digit points while staying within five points
of the top play. Mission accomplished, but it was way too little
to get me close to cashing.
