Takeaways from Week 14 as told by the tweets of the Fantasy Stronghold.
If I could retweet this every hour for the rest of the season, I would. But I won't because I truly have better things to do with my time. Plus I'm sure most of you would stop following me. The point still holds, however. No one has been able to accurately predict how weather will affect football games -- and fantasy performances. It's cute to talk about snowstorms and ask players how they're preparing for games, but cold doesn't tackle or call audibles. It's merely cold. Sit players because they're playing poorly or have bad matchups. Not because of a few flurries.
Somewhere, someone started Le'Veon Bell and is still losing their fantasy matchup. To those people, I say ... sorry 'bout your luck. Beyond that, there's really nothing to learn that we didn't already know. Bell is good at football. But it is always fun to see your fantasy studs come through in the playoffs.
Ajayi had a three-game stretch where he ran for a combined 529 yards. That feels like a year ago. Since then, he's yet to post 80 rushing yards in a game. That might not be so bad if Ajayi was producing in other ways. But he's scored just one touchdown since Week 9 and isn't adding a whole lot as a receiver with just 60 yards through the air. A banged-up offensive line and some bad matchups have conspired to slow Ajayi down. Maybe next week's game against the Jets can offer a beacon of hope.
Early in the season, we advised plenty of people to worry about their fantasy running backs against Gang Green. Lately, rushers are chomping at the bit to face the Jets. New York has allowed 125 or more rushing yards in four of their last five games. Carlos Hyde had done that by halftime on Sunday. When it was over, the 49ers had run for 248 yards and the Jets aura as a solid run defense took yet another hit.
This is always the fear with a talented player who is trying to come back from an injury. Reed tried to tell everyone that he'd be good to go and the Washington coaching staff felt comfortable activating him for the week. Unfortunately, sometimes it just means that said player will be nothing more than a decoy. But until coaches start telling us exactly how they plan to use guys -- which will happen about the same time the Earth hurtles off its axis and careens into the sun -- we're going to be left to guess.
Here's the thing about Lamar Miller ... he hasn't really been that bad this year. He normally gets plenty of touches each game and has a pretty solid yards per touch average. The biggest disappointment has been a lack of touchdowns. We'd like to thank the Indianapolis Colts for helping put our minds at ease for one week. It might also help if the quarterback could consistently get the offense near the goal line. (This has been another episode of "Brock Osweiler is Killing Your Fantasy Team.")
One of the biggest criticisms of the Packers during their midseason offensive slump centered on a lack of creativity in the offense. While Mike McCarthy hasn't completely revolutionized what Green Bay is doing, it does appear that the Packers are trying to do some different things in the passing game. It's certainly had something to do with Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams taking their place among the top fantasy players at their respective positions during the back half of the season.
Wait...what?"
- The Broncos had nine rushing attempts. In the whole game.
- In his last four games, Allen Robinson has 90 receiving yards. He had 90 or more yards seven times last season.
- Drew Brees has gone back-to-back games without a touchdown pass for the first time since Weeks 3-4 of 2009.
And one for the road...
Marcas Grant is a fantasy editor for NFL.com. His snapchat (marcasg9) is a mixture of fantasy football and shenanigans. He's finishing up this column at his desk and wondering just what Matt Harmon is currenlty giggline about. He's tempted to walk around and stare at him monitor, but he doesn't really care enough. If you read all of that, congrats. Follow him on Twitter too.