Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

The Fantasy Football playoff season has begun!

Which could very well mean that your fantasy football season is over! Sorry, but you know it’s a fact. There is still time to salvage something from this season though. Let’s start the final stretch of the season in a positive way!

Week 14 – HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!

(HOME TEAM IN ALL CAPS)

16 – CAROLINA over Atlanta – If you don’t have Cam Newton down as your MVP this season, you’re doing it wrong.

15 – DENVER over Oakland – The Raiders have proved over the last month that they are still steps away from being a playoff contender – which will bode well for the resurgent Broncos.

14 – NEW YORK JETS over Tennessee – Marcus Mariota has been a beast the last few weeks. I see things slowing down for the rookie against the Jets defense though.

13 – GREEN BAY over Dallas – Well the game doesn’t exactly have the same allure as their playoff matchup did this past January but the outcome should be the same.

12 – ARIZONA over Minnesota – The Viking showed last week that they may not have what it takes to run with the top of the conference just yet.

11 – KANSAS CITY over San Diego – Don’t worry Charger fans…the season will end soon!

10 – Seattle over BALTIMORE – Shame on you for sleeping on the Seahawks! (yes I know I picked against them last week!) Seattle is a second half of the season team and the Ravens are a waiting for next season team.

9 – TAMPA BAY over New Orleans – In the first third of the season the Rookie of the Year award was set to go to Amari Cooper. In the second third Todd Gurley snuck into the top spot. In the final third it seems like Jameis Winston may lay claim to the award.

8 – ST LOUIS over Detroit – Oh the Lions will apparently always be the Lions! I see their offense just shutting down this game – something the Rams’ defense will be sure to help with.

7 – CINCINNATI over Pittsburgh – While this divisional road game will be tougher than last week in Cleveland, the Bengals are on too good a roll to stop.

6 – New England over HOUSTON – There is a legit chance that the Patriots could lose three games in a row…it won’t happen…but there is indeed a chance!

5 – JACKSONVILLE over Indianapolis – The Jags almost won in Indy when Andrew Luck was at quarterback, they should be able to handle the Colts at home.

4 – CHICAGO over Washington – Ugh…just ugh…

3 – New York Giants over MIAMI – I feel that the Giants offense is ready to just explode. My BOLD PREDICTION for this week is that THE GIANTS WILL PUT UP AT LEAST 40 POINTS AGAINST THE DOLPHINS THIS WEEK.

2 – Buffalo over PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles shocked the world in Foxboro last week. It’s really hard for me to think that they can put together two consecutive solid performances though.

1 – CLEVELAND over San Francisco – I think the Browns will win this week…would you put them higher than the one point line?

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- Jordan Howard is who we thought he was. And that was especially apparent when snow became a factor in the game for the first time this season. Usually a run-heavy game in this type of situation, Howard did not disappoint optimistic prognosticators when he put up 117 yards and 3 TDs on 32 carries. The Bears play Detroit this week, who have a better-than-average rushing defense and have only allowed 6 TDs on the ground this season. Still, with the rest of the Bears' offense a mish-mash of inexperience and disappointment (for the most part), he should be highly ranked this week.

- Tyrell Williams has a torn labrum in his shoulder, but he still played 96.4 percent of the snaps this past week for a season-high. During his senior year at West Oregon (2014) he also played with the same injury before having surgery in the offseason, so there is a precedent there - seems like the Chargers would not have had Williams out on the field the whole game one week removed from an injury if they were not intending on starting him going forward!

- Julio Jones has turf toe, according to reports, and that injury brings with it a hugely variable amount of outcomes. For some players they can push through it, but sometimes it causes an athlete to sit out for weeks at a time. This is shaping up to be one of those situations where Jones could be playing more as a decoy and would not be a good play for your fantasy team. Both Taylor Gabriel and Mohamed Sanu could benefit a great deal from Jones being out, and may be worth a speculative grab if they're available in your leagues.

- Colin Kaepernick was putting up top-10 fantasy points at his position for a few weeks before the Bears' game fiasco (1/5, 4yds before being benched for Gabbert). A lot of that can be attributed to other shortcomings of the 49ers offense, but it was apparent that Kaepernick was not doing them any favors. The 49ers will roll the dice again with Kaepernick this week against the Jets. Mostly because they really don't have any better options.

- Joe Flacco was a boon to anyone who may have started him last week in fantasy (surely a very small number). 36/47, 381 yards & 4 TDs / 1 INT are pretty impressive numbers. He won't be repeating that performance against New England this week, but it can't be denied that Flacco is occasionally brilliant. Just like the Ravens.

- David Johnson rushed 18 times for 84 yards and a touchdown along with 9 receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. Yep. David Johnson is the shit. Any questions?

- Travis Kelce is now the TE1. After a somewhat slow start to the season, his last 3 games he has gone over 100 yards (140 yards last week) receiving. Jeremy Maclin is coming back soon though (perhaps this week) - will his return impact Kelce's performance negatively? I think it will remain similar or even increase when Maclin comes back from his injury.

- Ladarius Green finally put to rest all of the rumors swirling around him at the beginning of the season regarding health concerns. He broke out in the Giants' game for 110 yards and 1 TD on 6 receptions.. and he still only played for less than half the snaps. Green should be a TE1 for the rest of the season - the Steelers finally found a complement to Antonio Brown.

- Thomas Rawls was back in late-2015 form against the Panthers. With a rotating door at RB this season, Rawls is finaly healthy and should provide a burst for owners down the stretch. It's hard to find a RB with fresh legs this late in the season!

The fantasy playoffs are finally upon us! The weak managers have all been eliminated, bye weeks are over and you just need to survive three more weeks of matchups to take home a championship. Hopefully, this advice will aid you in getting one week closer to glory. Good Luck!

Note: all waiver picks listed here will have only been owned in 50% or less of Yahoo! leagues at the time of publication.

Quarterback

Joe Flacco (BAL) - 23% owned - Most likely no one needs to be running to the wire for a quarterback when there are no bye-weeks, but if you do need one I recommend Flacco. He should have to air the ball a lot to keep pace with the Patriots and is coming off his best game of the year going 36-47 for 381 yards and 4 TDs against the Dolphins.

Honorable mention: Alex Smith (KC) - 27% owned

Running Back

Kenneth Dixon (BAL) - 46% owned - Dixon continues to split work with Terrence West despite having a 5.9 yards per carry average compared to the 3.9 average for West over the past four weeks. If you need help at running back Dixon should be counted on for 10-12 touches with a strong chance of that workload to increase over the remainder of the season.

Mike Gillislee (BUF) - 23% owned - Gillislee has been getting touches behind LeSean McCoy in Buffalo's run heavy offense. I'd expect him to see somewhere around 8-10 touches per game down the stretch, but what's nice is that he does get goal line work which was seen last week when he scored two touchdowns from three or fewer yards out of the end zone.

Honorable mentions: Jerick McKinnon (MIN) - 44% owned, Adrian Peterson (MIN) - 47% owned

Wide Receiver

Ted Ginn Jr. (CAR) - 23% owned - Ginn has seen his role in the Panthers offense grow the second half of the season and is coming off a great three-game stretch of 12 catches for 241 yards and 3 touchdowns. If his involvement continues he should be a great asset down the stretch with matchups against the Chargers, Redskins and Falcons his next three games.

Malcolm Mitchell (NE) - 29% owned - Mitchell has seen more playing time recently with injuries to the Patriots pass catchers. He's made the most of the playing time catching 17 passes for 222 yards and 3 touchdowns over the past three games. It was announced that Danny Amendola suffered a high ankle sprain this past week which means Mitchell should continue to see more looks for the fantasy playoffs.

Honorable mention: Taylor Gabriel (ATL) - 38% owned

Tight End

Ladarius Green (PIT) - 23% owned - Injuries may have delayed it from happening, but Green finally had his breakout performance as a Steeler, going off for 110 yards and a touchdown on 6 of 11 targets. He should continue to get a high amount of targets down the stretch since no other receiver has stepped up, besides Antonio Brown so far.

Honorable mention: Dennis Pitta (BAL) - 33% owned

Defense/Special Teams

Cincinnati Bengals (TB) - 31% owned - The Bengals defense has been floating around average all season long for fantasy purposes, but they draw the terrible Browns in week 14 which means they are worthy of a start.

With the fantasy football playoffs upon us, it's time to set aside all the leagues you didn't advance in and forget about most of the bench players who you won't be starting. The playoffs (and coffee) are for closers! While you're getting ready for this week, make sure to check out the news and updates from week 13, this week's podcast and the Week 14 Rookie Report as well.

This week, despite where the experts rank Derek Carr, we think he should be in your lineup against KC. Dance with the one who brought you, as they say. At RB, be cautious when deciding to start Doug Martin, and it's also probably time to move on from Tim Hightower. At wideout, I know you've started him all year, but isn't it time that DeAndre Hopkins grabbed some bench? Finally, it's time to look for options other than Greg Olsen - he's not bad, but his offense is and he's currently on a streak of 4 games with less than 50 yards receiving.