Eliminated fantasy football managers woke up Tuesday realizing the cruelty of this chaotic game.
Ben Roethlisberger, Devonta Freeman, Calvin Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins and Travis Kelce all delivered Week 14 duds during a crucial first-round matchup. Andy Dalton and Thomas Rawls didn’t get a fair shake at helping owners persevere through the playoffs.
Meanwhile, some of those jilted gamers watched as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Isaiah Crowell, Tim Hightower and Ted Ginn Jr. burned their season to ashes. Out of habit and stubbornness, these fallen contestants will keep clawing in hopes of winning the fifth-place game, which amounts to no more than receiving a mental participation trophy.
For luckier owners—and players in leagues commencing the postseason bracket during Week 15—the stakes are higher than ever during a make-or-break weekend. The upcoming 16 games will certainly contain their star vanishing acts and plug-in superstars, but let’s go back to the top-50 board to identify top bets for standard and point-per-reception (PPR) formats.
Has anyone seen a missing Megatron? He’s about 6’5″, 235-240 pounds and was in line to secure his sixth straight 1,000-yard season on Sunday.
After a sluggish start for his lofty standards, Johnson began to look like himself again for the Detroit Lions. Over the last seven games before Week 14, he averaged 91.9 yards and collected six of his season’s seven touchdowns. Upon restoring everyone’s trust as a stud wideout, he vanished for 16 yards against the St. Louis Rams.
Game flow didn’t remove him from the equation. During a 21-14 loss, Matthew Stafford attempted 46 passes, his highest tally since Week 2. Yet Theo Riddick, Golden Tate and TJ Jones—a rookie targeted six times this season before Sunday—all received more looks than Johnson:
Per MLive.com’s Kyle Meinke, head coach Jim Caldwell didn’t offer a satisfying explanation for his star receiver’s limited role:
This one was certainly different, marking the second time in five years he registered only one reception. Don’t count on a repeat against the New Orleans Saints, who also strayed from their norm by playing solid defense against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Mike Evans’ owners expected the moon against the Saints’ atrocious secondary, but they instead got three catches for 36 yards. Rather than overreact to one bizarre week, trust the star receiver to torch the No. 30 passing defense.
Jeremy Hill strikes again. Banking on a touchdown-dependent running back who scores in bunches will infuriate the calmest of fantasy managers. Yet he finally maintained some stability in volume and efficiency, setting a season-high 98 rushing yards on 22 carries in Week 13.
Everyone knows where this is going. Riding a wave of momentum into Week 14’s division showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals back gained 24 total yards on nine touches. Before declaring this the last straw for the third time, anyone who survived his inactivity or astutely benched Hill must start him on Sunday.
Pittsburgh didn’t present the brightest matchup, yielding the third-fewest NFL.com fantasy points to running backs. Now, however, he gets a San Francisco 49ers defense which just turned Crowell into an unlikely fantasy hero.
It’s no accident San that Francisco was at the forefront of a rushing outburst. They have surrendered the most fantasy points to the position after coughing up 145 rushing yards and two scores to the Cleveland Browns back.
If that didn’t provide the Bengals enough motivation to run the ball, they’ll play without their starting quarterback. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Dalton will likely miss the remainder of the regular season, and possibly the playoffs, after injuring his hand against the Steelers:
This could be the rare game where both Hill and Giovani Bernard are fed enough to symbiotically flourish. Look for the bell cow to get 15-20 carries and goal-line work, making him a borderline top-10 back under standard scoring.
Should Hill make amends with perturbed investors who drafted him in the opening round, he’d follow Eddie Lacy’s Week 14 storyline. A week after gaining one total yard and getting benched, the Green Bay Packers running back gutted the Dallas Cowboys for 148 yards and a touchdown on 25 touches.
No high-caliber player contains such a drastic range of outcomes. The third-year pro has gained 10 or fewer rushing yards in four separate games this season, taking a back seat to James Starks each time. Yet he is averaging 76.9 rushing yards on 16.8 carries during the other eight bouts.
After his worst game of the season, Lacy responded with his best. Pro Football Focus noted his tough running against Dallas:
He has now recorded 100 rushing yards in three of Green Bay’s last four contests, registering 6.9 yards per handoff. His Week 15 opponent, the Oakland Raiders, have relinquished 4.2 yards per rush.
Following his inspiring bounce-back performance in front of the admiring home fans, it’s hard to see Lacy again falling behind Starks. Better late than never, he’s once again a must-start option.
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