Tony Cutillo
Well, the time is now for some and others are now relegated to “maybe next year” status. As the smoke of Week 14 clears, there are plenty of owners who fell victim to the Le’Veon Bell show and others rode his success to Round 2. Drew Brees let us down and injuries to Matt Forte and Melvin Gordon really hurt the momentum. This may be a week where you go against the grain and take a risk instead of praying your injured starter holds up.
As we look towards another week of snap counts, brutal weather, concussion protocols and MCL sprains, your analysis this week will be the single most important thing that gets you to the next round. Let’s take a look at the recap for Week 14 below to see how some studs stayed productive and disappointing stiffs kept us scratching our heads.
STANDOUT STARS
QB
- Tom Brady: 406 yds , 3 TD/1 INT
- Aaron Rodgers: 246 yds, 3 TD
- Matt Ryan: 237 yds, 3 TD
RB
- Le’Veon Bell: 236 yds, 3 TDs; 4 rec, 62 yds
- Bilal Powell: 145 yds, 2 TDs; 5 rec 34 yds
- Carlos Hyde: 193 yds; 1 rec, 7 yds 1 TD
WR/TE
- Emmanuel Sanders: 11 rec, 100 yds, 1 TD
- T.Y. Hilton: 9 rec, 115 yds, 1 TD
- Chris Hogan: 5 rec, 129 yds, 1 TD
….
SUBSTANDARD STIFFS
- Ben Roethlisberger: 220 yds 3 INT
- Derek Carr: 117 yds
- Drew Brees: 257 yds 3 INT
RB
- Jeremy Langford: 4 yds
- Dion Lewis: 5 yds
- Devontae Booker: 10 yds
- Melvin Gordon and Matt Forte: Both were injured on their first drives.
WR/TE
- Terrelle Pryor: 1 rec, 3 yds
- Dez Bryant: 1 rec, 10 yds
- Jordan Reed: 1 rec, 10 yds
…
SURPRISE PERFORMERS
Bilal Powell: If you remember, this is about the same time last year when Powell started to outperform Chris Ivory and propel his owners to the Super Bowl. With the unknown status of Matt Forte’s knee (day-to-day), it looks like a repeat is in the cards.
Chris Hogan: Here’s a guy I thought was a sleeper for the Patriots coming into this year. However, besides a few big plays here and there, it never really panned out. Now that Rob Gronkowski is out, teams are going to focus more on Julian Edelman, leaving Hogan with the one-on-one. It could be a nice find at this point in the season, but it’s hard to rely on him for consistent production.
STATISTICAL BUSTS
Terrelle Pryor: I wouldn’t get too carried away with this, as he is a product of a bad team. Sure, he had his good games, but this team has pretty much quit for the season. He is still going to cash in next year, just not sure if he’ll stay in Cleveland.
Jeremy Maclin: For Maclin owners, this is worth monitoring. This was his first game back from a groin injury and he only received three targets. Tyreek Hill’s role expanded in his absence and it may stay that way. For a Chiefs team who has struggled to find offense up until Hill broke out, it would be cognizant of them to ride the hot hand.
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WEEK 14 THOUGHTS AND THEORIES
Bad teams produce great fantasy plays: This doesn’t apply to every game and every week. However, if you have a player on a below .500 team looking to cement their job for next year you could be in a better position than holding on to the guy whose team already clinched the division. This is why the fantasy playoffs are harder than people think.
Matt Ryan refuses to slow down: Matt Ryan and the Falcons started off hot last year, but slowed down the stretch. This year has been different and Matty Ice is staring down an MVP trophy while he catapults fantasy owners to the next round. He is another prime example of why you can draft a good QB in the later rounds.
Tom Brady will be fine: His schedule is really tough. He lost his main weapon in Gronk. The offense seems stalled. Blah, blah, blah. Sometime you have to block out the ridiculous commentary and just continue your path. Are you really benching Brady in the playoffs? Exactly!
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MY WEEK 14 SKINNY POST:
Dez Bryant and the Cowboys shut down by Spags again. Damn, those ex-Ram coaches can spark a mean defense … Is Drew Brees a new pick machine? This is the wrong time to get tired, Breezy … Tyreek Hill showed his role is here to stay with yet another score … Justin Forsett just threw Devontae Booker out of line like “O’Doyle rules!” from Billy Madison … The NY Jets made Carlos Hyde look like Barry Sanders, but still lost! … The Colts call a screen play on 4th and 1 with the game on the line. Really? Is their coach from the Doug Pederson tree? … Le’Veon Bell stopped, started, stopped and started again as he dashed through the snow like Santa Claus himself. Dashing through the snow, with a pigskin in my hand, running through the Bills, laughing at Rex Ryan all the way…. Bring on Week 15!
As always, you can stop by my Facebook page (Fantasy Sports Addiction) or tweet me (@TCutillo23) for questions or some nice fantasy debates. I can also be heard weekly via the internet stream live at WENG RADIO every Monday at 4:00 P.M. ET for a weekend sports wrap. But most importantly, you can catch me here at Pi!
For fantasy purposes, all my articles are predicated upon a PPR-based system.