Tag: game recaps

It was as messy Week 18 – one of the worst in terms of players resting or playing only partially.

The playoff picture is getting clearer but there are three more games on Monday and each one contains a division leader. They start at 12:00 CST.

Week 15 served up a wide array of games – seven teams failed to score more than 10 points including the previously highest-scoring offense of the Cowboys. The Raiders went from being shut out to scoring 63 points on the Broncos. The Jets look officially absent until next year and the Texans were missing most of their offense – at least the good parts – and yet beat the Titans in their stadium. We had two over time games.

Oh yes, and the Panthers won. They didn’t actually score a touchdown, but they beat the Falcons.

Week 14 was an odd one. The scoring was higher  than past weeks, other than the lowest-scoring game of 3-0 between two teams that don’t even have a good defense. Four of the eight division leaders lost and three of those divisions saw their No. 2 ranked team win. It’s going to get closer.

No running backs scored twice and yet three tight ends did. There were 17 running back touchdowns and yet 16 by a tight end. The wideouts saw five with 100+ yards but only two of them had a touchdown. There are fewer big scores from all the positions, so latching onto one of the weekly stars is a major advantage.

There are two Monday night games tonight. And next week there are no more byes and yet three Saturday games so get those lineups in early.

The season is racing towards the playoffs, and there’s a great diversity of scoring in games. There were seven teams with over 30 points scored, and they produced many fantasy stars for the day, but the bad teams are getting worse and some offenses are starting to change as the reality of a futile season is inescapable.

Bill Belichick was just shutout for the second time this year, and both were in home games. The Chiefs already had less offense this year but at least improved their defense. At least until Sunday. We’re starting to see rainy games and that could accelerate.

We also just got a reminder for the oldest fantasy football adage of them all ‘ always start your studs. Puka Nacua against the Browns? Yeah – 70-yard score in the first quarter. The Panthers have the No. 4 defense against wideouts and the No. 1 versus quarterbacks. So Mike Evans just toasted them with 162 yards and a 75-yard score.

You cannot get them all correctly picked. But you can avoid the pain of seeing one of your best players go off while you benched them.

Week 13 is almost over and the AFC appears destined for a dogfight for seeding teams in the playoffs. The Ravens lead with 9-3 but the Chiefs, Jaguars, and Dolphins are all 8-3 and can make a four-way tie for the No. 1 seed if they all win next week. Six teams in the conference are 6-5 or better and in contention.

The 10-1 Eagles are probably going to rest players right when you need them most.  The Lions and 49ers tie for No. 2 at 8-3 and both have two-game leads in their division. The Cowboys look like a lock for a wildcard but the other three are wide open. The NFC South still lacks any team with a winning record.

Half of the teams this week failed to score more than 17 points. There are still weekly fantasy stars, but overall the scoring is down and not likely to improve.

Week 11 wasn’t too kind to fantasy football with Kenneth Walker, Cooper Kupp, De’Von Achane, D’Onta Foreman, and Aaron Jones all being forced from their games due to injury. There were only two 100-yard rushers and 16 running backs that ran for more than 50 yards – about half.

Six of the Top-14 fantasy wideouts on Sunday were almost certainly not started – Khalil Shakir, Dontayvion Wicks, Darius Slayton, Odell Beckham, Greg Dortch and Calvin Ridley.

Fantasy scores were likely lower in your leagues. But that happens every season and we’ve not had almost any impact from weather in any game yet.

Week 9 is in the books and the fantasy scoring was surprisingly low for all major players. Check your leagues – I’ll bet the team scores are among the lowest overall of the year. There was just one 100-yard rusher and it was Keaton Mitchell who is likely on your waiver wire (for now). None of the other 26 teams that have played this week had a running back that hit that mark.

Of the five 100-yard performances by a wide, two of them were Tank Dell and Noah Brown – both Texans likely on fantasy benches if not the waiver wire.

And of you think this week offered up some low fantasy points for your players, just wait for Week 10 when the Chiefs, Rams, Dolphins and Eagles are on their bye. That’s a lot of player swapping this week as fantasy teams make their starting lineup by either raiding their roster depth or wincing when they look at what is still on their waiver wire.