Tag: fantasy football weekly

Lions Wire Fantasy Football Weekly: Week 13 Preview

Lions Wire’s weekly examination of what happened in fantasy football last week and a look forward at what to watch in the upcoming week.

As fantasy football owners we all have a multitude of things to be thankful for. Maybe you are thankful for drafting Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey, or Michael Thomas high in your fantasy drafts. Or, maybe you took some sage advice (wink-wink), waited to draft a quarterback and then snagged Lamar Jackson with one of your late-round picks.

Hopefully, you are thankful when you look at the standings in your fantasy league and you have more wins than losses. If you haven’t been derailed by injuries or bad roster moves, please be thankful.

As we turn the page to Thanksgiving and the fantasy playoffs, let’s take a look at Week 13 in the National Football League.

Bears at Lions fantasy focus

Football at 12:30 pm on Thanksgiving is a tradition in Detroit. Often it doesn’t matter what the Detroit Lions record is headed into this game they often seem to play well on this big day where they have the national stage. I don’t see this year being any different.

The Lions have had a tough season and have been riddled by injuries all year. They are starting their backup quarterback, a running back they found a couple weeks ago, and a defense that has been missing key pieces all year as well. For all these reasons, I feel they will come out and play one of their better games this season. They will give us something to cheer about right before the turkey comes out of the oven.

Fantasy players to watch in this one are Bo Scarbrough (RB Lions), Allen Robinson (WR Bears), Danny Amendola (WR Lions), David Montgomery (RB Bears), and Tarik Cohen (RB Bears). Don’t be surprised if the Lions pull out a couple of trick plays and change up their defensive schemes to try to get a win in this game that we are all so thankful to have in Detroit.

Start/Sit

Start
Sam Darnold (QB Jets)
Saquon Barkley (RB Giants)
Julio Jones (WR Falcons)
Jack Doyle (TE Colts)

Sit
Carson Wentz (QB Eagles)
Chris Carson (RB Seahawks)
Tyler Lockett (WR Seahawks)
Kyle Rudolph (TE Vikings)

Top-3 projected players by position

Quarterbacks
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
Lamar Jackson, Ravens
Jameis Winston, Buccaneers

Running Backs
Christian McCaffrey, Panthers
Leonard Fournette, Jaguars
Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys

Wide Receivers
Michael Thomas, Saints
Tyreek Hill, Chiefs
Davante Adams, Packers

Tight Ends
George Kittle, 49ers
Travis Kelce, Chiefs
Darren Waller, Raiders

Team Defenses
Panthers
Bears
Steelers

Waiver wire options

Dwayne Haskins (QB Redskins)
Devlin Hodges (QB Steelers)
Rashaad Penny (RB Seahawks)
Jonathan Williams (RB Colts)
Mecole Hardman (WR Chiefs)
Deebo Samuel (WR 49ers)
Jack Doyle (TE Colts)
Mike Gesicki (TE Dolphins)

Intriguing games and players in Week 13

Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions, Thursday 12:30 PM, EST

  • CHI: Tarik Cohen (RB), David Montgomery (RB)
    DET: Danny Amendola (WR), Bo Scarbrough (RB)

Buffalo Bills at Dallas Cowboys, Thursday 4:20 PM, EST

  • BUF: Josh Allen (QB), Devin Singletary (RB)
    DAL: Ezekiel Elliott (RB), Michael Gallup (WR)

New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons, Thursday 8:20 PM, EST

  • NO: Alvin Kamara (RB), Tre’Quan Smith (WR)
    ATL: Matt Ryan (QB), Julio Jones (WR)

Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday 1:00 PM, EST

  • CLE: Kareem Hunt (RB), Nick Chubb (RB)
    PIT: Vance McDonald (TE), Benny Snell (RB)

San Francisco 49ers at Baltimore Ravens, Sunday 1:00 PM, EST

  • SF: Tevin Coleman (RB), George Kittle (TE)
    BAL: Lamar Jackson (QB), Mark Ingram (RB)

New England Patriots at Houston Texans, Sunday 8:20 PM, EST

  • NE: Tom Brady (QB), Julian Edelman (WR)
    HOU: Deshaun Watson (QB), Kenny Stills (WR)

Minnesota Vikings at Seattle Seahawks, Monday 8:15 PM, EST

  • MIN: Dalvin Cook (RB), Kirk Cousins (QB)
    SEA: Rashaad Penny (RB), Josh Gordon (WR)

Now What

This might be the final week you have to either make or miss the playoffs. If so, do all you can to score one more point than your opponent and hope you don’t have a crucial injury that costs you the week. Do all you can to win, as that is all that matters, but also enjoy these last few weeks of fantasy football.

I hope you enjoy this great holiday. Family, food, and football. It doesn’t get much better than that. We all have many things to be thankful for. Be thankful if you didn’t draft Odell Beckham (WR Browns), Joe Mixon (RB Bengals), and Kerryon Johnson (RB Lions) in most of your leagues like I did.

In all seriousness though, this is the time of year where we all count our blessings and remember to be grateful. Please cherish the time you have with those close to you this Thanksgiving. Indulge in homemade food and as always please enjoy both your football and fantasy football this holiday season.

Lions Wire Fantasy Football Weekly: Week 12 Preview

Lions Wire’s weekly examination of what happened in fantasy football last week and a look forward at what to watch in the upcoming week.

When players say any given Sunday or next man up, they mean it. That is the life of an NFL player as well as a fantasy football owner. These were some of the names at the top of the fantasy football leaderboard for this past week in the NFL including Jonathon Williams (RB Colts), Gus Edwards (RB Ravens), Michael Gallup (WR Cowboys), and John Brown (WR Bills). Not the names you would predict by any means to start the week.

These types of situations often come due to injury and opportunity. Two keys things to look at as we head into Week 12 of the fantasy football schedule.

Where are the injuries to key players and who will those opportunities go to if the top player can’t go? The main one to keep your eye on right now is the injury to Marlon Mack (RB Colts). Who will fill that role at running back? I’ve always really liked Nyheim Hines (RB Colts) as a player who can catch a lot of passes out of the backfield, so keep your eye on him to see if he gets more opportunities.

Same with Michael Gallup (WR Cowboys) or Randall Cobb (WR Cowboys) if Amari Cooper (WR Cowboys) continues to battle injuries. Not a ton of other major injuries occurred in Week 11, so that bodes well for your fantasy football rosters heading into Week 12.

One other major thing to consider this week are the teams on a bye. No Patrick Mahomes (QB Chiefs) and their other top skill players. The Chargers are off as well, though not many of their players would normally start in your fantasy lineup anyway. The Vikings and Cardinals have the week to recover as well and we all know the Dalvin Cook (RB Vikings) owners will be scrambling to fill that void.

Lions at Washington fantasy focus

Washington is in a rebuild, but they do have some good young talent. Dwayne Haskins (QB), Darius Guice (RB), and Terry McLaurin (WR) just to name a few. Their record (1-9) is not good. The playing surface at their stadium is not good. Once again though due to the Detroit Lions injuries and porous defense, this could be another close game with fantasy points on both sides for the taking.

The Lions moved the ball pretty well against the Cowboys in Week 11, but their passing game is nowhere near as explosive as it was with Matthew Stafford at quarterback. Kenny Golladay and T.J. Hockenson saw a total of two passes last week. I would expect both of those players to be featured against Washington. Bo Scarbrough came out of nowhere to start at running back and appeared to run the ball well — we will see if he can continue that success in Washington this week.

Start/Sit

Start
Baker Mayfield (QB Browns)
Derrick Henry (RB Titans)
Odell Beckham Jr (WR Browns)
Zach Ertz (TE Eagles)

Sit
Dak Prescott (QB Cowboys)
Royce Freeman (RB Broncos)
John Brown (WR Bills)
Mark Andrews (TE Ravens)

Top-3 projected players by position

Quarterbacks
Lamar Jackson, Ravens
Matt Ryan, Falcons
Jameis Winston, Buccaneers

Running Backs
Christian McCaffrey, Panthers
Nick Chubb, Browns
Derrick Henry, Titans

Wide Receivers
Michael Thomas, Saints
Mike Evans, Buccaneers
Julio Jones, Falcons

Tight Ends
Darren Waller, Raiders
Mark Andrews, Ravens
Zach Ertz, Eagles

Team Defenses
Bills
Bears
Saints

Waiver wire options

Brandon Allen (QB Broncos)
Jeff Driskel (QB Lions)
Nyheim Hines (RB Colts)
Bo Scarbrough (RB Lions)
Kelvin Harmon (WR Redskins)
James Washington (WR Steelers)
David Njoku (TE Browns)
Ryan Griffin (TE Jets)

Intriguing games and players in Week 12

Bye Weeks: Cardinals, Chiefs, Chargers, and Vikings

Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans, Thursday 8:20 PM, EST

  • IND: Eric Ebron (TE), Jack Doyle (TE)
    HOU: Deshaun Watson (QB), DeAndre Hopkins (WR)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons, Sunday 1:00 PM, EST

  • TB: O.J. Howard (TE),  Ronald Jones (RB)
    ATL: Julio Jones (WR), Matt Ryan (QB)

Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday 1:00 PM, EST

  • SEA: Josh Gordon (WR), Chris Carson (RB)
    PHI: Miles Sanders (RB), Nelson Agholor (WR)

Detroit Lions at Washington Redskins, Sunday 1:00 PM, EST

  • DET: T.J. Hockenson (TE), Danny Amendola (WR)
    WAS: Dwayne Haskins (QB), Terry McLaurin (WR)

Dallas Cowboys at New England Patriots, Sunday 4:25 PM, EST

  • DAL: Tony Pollard (RB), Ezekiel Elliot (RB)
    NE: N’Keal Harry (WR), Julian Edelman (WR)

Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers, Sunday 8:20 PM, EST

  • GB: Davante Adams (WR), Jimmy Graham (TE)
    SF: Dante Pettis (WR), Tevin Coleman (RB)

Baltimore Ravens at Los Angeles Rams, Monday 8:15 PM, EST

  • BAL: Mark Ingram (RB), Lamar Jackson (QB)
    LAR: Jared Goff (QB), Brandin Cooks (WR)

Now What

This is the final week where bye weeks will impact your fantasy team, and also only a week or two until your playoffs likely start.

If you are in a standard league where your finish doesn’t impact your draft place in 2020 as much, try to win every game you can. If you’re in a dynasty league, try to be first or last. Nothing wrong with putting that Toilet Bowl Trophy on your mantel or office desk.

Here are a few quick fantasy football predictions for you. Deshaun Watson (QB Texans) will have a huge bounce-back game against the Colts on Thursday night football, T.J. Hockenson (TE Lions) will make a big impact for the Detroit Lions, Miles Sanders (RB Eagles) will continue to look more and more like a really solid fantasy running back, and here is the shocker of the day — Lamar Jackson will make some crazy play with his feet on Monday Night Football that will be talked about all week.

Only a few more weeks of fantasy football, so enjoy it. Look ahead if you already have a playoff spot locked up and plan for those big matchups. If you have had a rough season, it happens to the best of us — there is always 2020 and you always want to have your eye on young talent that can help your roster long-term.

That’s all for this week’s Fantasy Football Weekly, good luck everyone, I’m expecting the readers of this article to bring home some major hardware this year in their leagues.

Lions Wire Fantasy Football Weekly: Week 11 Preview

Lions Wire’s weekly examination of what happened in fantasy football last week and a look forward at what to watch in the upcoming week.

Fantasy football started off with a shocker on Sunday morning where headlines scrolled at the bottom of your television screen, “Matthew Stafford has been ruled Out“. He had played in 136 consecutive games, which was the longest active streak of any player at the quarterback position.

Stafford had been having an MVP type season and this came as a surprise as there were no indications throughout the week that he had any chance to miss this game. This had fantasy owners scrambling to fill their lineup prior to kickoff as Stafford has been one of the best values all year in 2019.

Before I jump into my Week 11 preview I wanted to highlight players like Amari Cooper, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes who once again put on a show this past week. The NFL always has some great highlights each week, so I thought I’d literally highlight some of the top plays from Week 10 to recap in this week’s Fantasy Football Weekly.

Toe Drag Swag for Amari Cooper (WR Cowboys), every week it feels like he pulls one of these off.

Throw it high and let it fly in the Windy City to Kenny Golladay (WR Lions).

This Cardinals combo connected three times on the day. This was number two for Christan Kirk (WR Cardinals) and Kyler Murray (QB Cardinals).

Oh Henry, Derrick Henry (RB Titans) is rumbling and stumbling for another long touchdown run. You don’t normally see humans this big and this fast anywhere on the planet.

Patrick Mahomes (QB Chiefs) with the jump pass to Mecole Hardman (WR Chiefs) and he’s off to the races.

Lamar Jackson (QB Ravens) doing things that only Jackson can do.

This is so good you have to see it twice plus the call from Kevin Harlan, the play-by-play announcer, is classic too.

Cowboys at Lions fantasy focus

Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys travel to Detroit this week to take on the Lions. Prescott has been up and down this season. When he’s right, he puts up huge fantasy numbers. When he’s off, he can look pretty pedestrian at the quarterback position.

I see this being a big game for Ezekiel Elliott (RB Cowboys). He should get the ball early and often. He’s been very solid and consistent all year but is coming off a bad game on national television against the Minnesota Vikings. I project him at over 100 yards and at least one touchdown.

For the Lions, Stafford could miss another few games, which could mean the offense will have its struggles. Needless to say, they have no one established at running back that you can play in fantasy football and their weapons outside are a bit hampered by the quarterback switch as well. I’m expecting the defense to play better than most anticipate and for a couple of gadget plays to possibly come into play on offense or special teams.

Most everyone sees this as an easy road win for the Cowboys. I’d tend to agree with that due to the Lions injuries but something tells me this will be an odd game. Something very unexpected will occur. The Lions will rise up to play a much better game at home than expected. Fantasy owners and fans across the league might be surprised about how this one shakes out on Sunday.

Start/Sit

Start
Josh Allen (QB Bills)
Joe Mixon (RB Bengals)
Marquise Brown (WR Ravens)
Jared Cook (TE Saints)

Sit
Kirk Cousins (QB Vikings)
Sony Michel (RB Patriots)
Alshon Jeffery (WR Eagles)
Vance McDonald (TE Steelers)

Top-3 projected players by position

Quarterbacks
Lamar Jackson, Ravens
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
Deshaun Watson, Texans

Running Backs
Christian McCaffrey, Panthers
Dalvin Cook, Vikings
Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys

Wide Receivers
Michael Thomas, Saints
Tyreek Hill, Chiefs
DeAndre Hopkins, Texans

Tight Ends
Travis Kelce, Chiefs
Hunter Henry, Chargers
Darren Waller, Raiders

Team Defenses
Vikings
49ers
Redskins

Waiver wire options

Nick Foles (QB Jaguars)
Sam Darnold (QB Jets)
Darius Guice (RB Redskins)
J.D. McKissic (RB Lions)
Josh Gordon (WR Seahawks)
Randall Cobb (WR Cowboys)
Dallas Goedert (TE Eagles)
Kyle Rudolph (TE Vikings)

Intriguing games and players in Week 11

Bye Weeks: Packers, Giants, Seahawks, and Titans

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns, Thursday 8:20 PM, EST

  • PIT: James Washington (WR), Jaylen Samuels (RB)
    CLE: Richard Higgins (WR), Baker Mayfield (QB)

Dallas Cowboys at Detroit Lions, Sunday 1:00 PM, EST

  • DAL: Ezekiel Elliott (RB),  Jason Witten (TE)
    DET: Danny Amendola (WR), T.J. Hockenson (TE)

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens, Sunday 1:00 PM, EST

  • HOU: Deshaun Watson (QB), Kenny Stills (WR)
    BAL: Mark Ingram (RB), Marquise Brown (WR)

New England Patriots at Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday 4:25 PM, EST

  • NE: Julian Edelman (WR), Muhammed Sanu (WR)
    PHI: Miles Sanders (RB), Zach Ertz (TE)

Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers, Monday 8:15 PM, EST

  • KC: Travis Kelce (TE), Damien Williams (QB)
    LAC: Hunter Henry (TE), Melvin Gordon (RB)

Now What

It’s that time of year where the weather will be a factor. Find a website where you can see all the weather across the league before setting your final lineup. I tend to prefer my kicker and wide receivers to have good weather and if possible in a dome. Avoid high winds when it comes to your quarterback. Wet weather often spells doom for your receivers. Snow can actually lead to some big plays for offensive players as they know where they are going and the defense doesn’t, so snowy conditions can actually benefit an offense at times depending on the severity.

Also, always look at matchups. The NFL is a matchup league and so is fantasy football. If you can play a running back that is going against one of the worst run defenses, do it. If you can play a tight end against a team that often struggles to contain that position, start that tight end. When you play good matchups it more often than not helps your fantasy team’s bottom line.