Love

Alfred Morris, RB, WAS – To be clear, I couldn’t care less if RGIII plays or not.  Even if he plays, Morris’ workload WILL increase as a precaution to try and keep Griffen from running too much.  Morris was already an irreplaceable factor for this offense and given his youth, they won’t be afraid to lean on him.

Vincent Jackson, WR, TB – The Buccaneers are headed on the road to New Orleans this week and that means there are two bad defenses on the field and the potential for a lot of points to be scored.  Jackson has been an amazing addition for Tampa and they have been able to keep him VERY productive.  They are going to have to throw deep to keep up with Brees and that should mean plenty of opportunity for VJax.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis, RB, CIN – The Law Firm has been on a tear lately and with a game against the Eagles (among the worst defenses in the NFL since firing Juan Castillo) this week, there is no reason to expect a change.  Law Firm is typically a mid-to-low end RB2 but in this matchu-up, he falls just outside the top 10.

Danario Alexander, WR, SD – Alexander continues to be a force for the Chargers offense that took down Pittsburgh this past week.  Danario is a large man that uses that size to box-out defenders and give Philip Rivers somewhere to throw.  So far he is the only guy getting open with any consistency and that isn’t likely to change against a shaky Panthers secondary.

Cam Newton, QB, CAR – There is no hotter QB in the NFL at the moment and especially so for fantasy owners.  Newton has had 37, 28 and 36 fantasy points in the past 3 weeks. Atlanta is the only defense that was really any good in this stretch but San Diego is far from a great defense too and I think, if your still alive in the playoffs, you’ve GOTTA keep Newton in there.

Jamaal Charles, RB, KC – This may seem like an obvious one here but Charles owners should have high hopes this week.  The Raiders are just 26th against the run and they are struggling as of late.  Charles is the entirety of the Kansas City offense and is almost certain to see the 100 yard mark this week.

Hate

Michael Turner, RB, ATL – The fact that Turner keeled over in exhaustion at the end of the game and by coincidence fell over the goal line does not give me any confidence.  Watch the tape people, this isn’t the same guy you had on your team three years ago.  He’s too slow to get through a hole and into the second and third levels like he used to, leave him on your bench because ALL of his value is at the goal line.  It’s like starting Michael Bush.

Denarius Moore, WR, OAK – I won’t be surprised if he gets a big game here but it’s about risk in the playoffs and that is one thing that Moore has in spades.  The whole Raiders team is floundering a little bit and while Moore was good for you in the middle of the season, don’t look for it here.  I know the match up is appealing but you need safe and consistent, not a hail-mary.

Jay Cutler, QB, CHI – The Packers do not have a crippling defense by any means but the Bears DO have a pretty bad offensive line.  Clay Matthews is set to return and with all that rest, he’s going to be coming back with a vengeance. If he gets in Cutler’s face early on, it will frustrate the Bears signal caller and we’ve all seen him play when he is frustrated.

Torrey Smith, WR, BAL – Mr. Smith, have you met Champ Bailey?  You are about to.  Old man Bailey has been playing like he’s 25 again this season and he’s doing that all with the added experience that comes from actually being 34 years old.  Jim Caldwell will utilize Ray Rice much more now that he has the offensive coordinator position and that makes Smith nothing more than a poor flex option this week. 27th among WRs in my rankings.

Bryce Brown, RB, PHI – I can’t believe analysts can still put Brown as an RB 2 this week.  I had him at 20 last week, after consecutive great games and now that he just put up zero points last week, they have him higher… it doesn’t add up to me.  You won the lottery if you started this guy and won last week, don’t try and win it twice.

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Colin Kaepernick had a bad game in Week 13 against the Rams.

He had a solid completion percentage of roughly 60%.

He only threw for 200 yards and an interception.

Kaepernick had 14 fantasy points in week 13.

The safety that comes from his running ability makes Colin Kaepernick a top 10 fantasy QB.

Since the turn of the millennium, just one running back has followed up a season-ending ACL tear with a 1,000 yard season.

There are two running backs that are over 1,000 yards rushing on the season that finished last year with an ACL tear, Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles.

Jamaal Charles suffered his injury in week 2 and was expected to make a strong return because of that.

Adrian Peterson suffered his injury and the fact that he was playing at such a high level, immediately, is nothing short of a medical marvel.

Peterson is the NFL’s leading rusher by a margin of 308 yards and is the NFL’s top scoring fantasy RB.

Bryce Brown is averaging 173.5 yards per game and two TDs.

LeSean McCoy has not had more than 150 yards rushing at all this season.

McCoy has just two rushing TDs on the season.

Bryce Brown is a gifted athlete with a very bright future in this league.

If LeSean McCoy returns from injury and is 100% this week, I expect Brown to get roughly half the carries.

Everyone knows how well Doug Martin has run the ball this season, with 1100 yards and 9 rushing TDs.

Not many people have noticed his pass catching ability.

Martin has been targeted 47 times and has amassed 374 receiving yards plus one receiving TD.

Doug Martin is a complete, three down back that will be a very highly ranked RB going into next season, especially in PPR leagues.

Randall Cobb is a top 15 WR in most fantasy analysts’ rankings.

Jordy Nelson has re-injured himself so even though Greg Jennings has returned, Cobb will see the field plenty.

James Jones will start along with Jennings for the Packers in 2 WR sets.

Randall Cobb has fewer receiving yards than any other top 20 WR on the season with 675.

Cobb also has the lowest number of targets (84) among top 20 WRs on the season.

Randall Cobb is not to be considered a top 20 wide receiver during the fantasy playoffs.

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So these lists are small and only going to get smaller as the weeks progress through the playoffs.  In fact, this week’s list is more of a catch-all list of guys that simply shouldn’t be available.  This isn’t laziness on my part, I assure you.  It’s MORE important to make moves during this time, if you are still alive that is. The reason that the number of guys worthy of a pick-up shrinks is that there isn’t much time left! Many waiver wire additions require time for you to develop enough trust to start them and this is a ten times more relevant point in the playoffs.  You lose and you are done, are you going to trust someone that you know nothing about other than a single game’s stat line? Not very likely.

Pickups

Danario Alexander, WR, SD – I’m not regaining any confidence in Rivers or the Chargers as a whole but in 5 games, this guy has 467 receiving yards and 3 TD’s.  This is better than ANYONE has done on this offense all year and since they have stayed a bad team throughout this production, I don’t see it dropping off any time soon.  He’s a solid flex-play the rest of the way and he just might be sitting out there for you to pick-up.

Bryce Brown, RB, PHI – The LeSean McCoy injury situation is murky still and even if it was clear, Brown has been statistically more productive than McCoy was all season.  The season is a lost one for the Eagles and given that they will want to evaluate talent for next season, I can’t imagine that Brown takes a back seat when McCoy does return.  Next week is a bad match-up though so if McCoy plays, neither will be worthy of a start for fantasy owners.

Brandon Meyers, TE, OAK – The Raiders are not a great team and they aren’t going to be.  Myers isn’t an elite tight end and he isn’t going to be.  What he is however, is safe.  Myers has had just ONE game below 5 receptions since week 6 and that is an impressive feat for a tight-end this season.  He has just as good of a chance to find the end zone as any other non-elite tight end and is too important to the Raider passing attack to suddenly disappear from the stat sheet. I wish I wasn’t so skeptical about this guy for as long as I was because he is gone in all of my leagues and if he isn’t in yours, your incredibly lucky.

Josh Gordon, WR, CLE – In my one-liners column, I talked about how this guy was a possible flex-starter this past week and I mentioned how sweet his match ups are going forward too.  A big game from him this week should mean he’ll get scooped back up in a lot of leagues but make sure you at least put in a waiver claim if he is out there.  This should happen even if you don’t want to start him (and I’d really rather not in the playoffs) but given his high upside, I don’t want an opponent hitting the lottery when I could have blocked him from picking up his ticket in the first place.

T.Y. Hilton, WR, IND – I know, Avery had the better game… I don’t care.  Hilton has been providing fantasy value for a good long while now.  His targets might not knock you out of your chair but he’s been getting it done and on an offense that passes a LOT.  Teams can’t focus on him with Wayne out there having one of his best seasons either.

Dump List

I know you might think this is a cop-out but you can drop ANYONE that you wouldn’t play AND that your opponent wouldn’t start against you.  Listen, if your holding Donnie Avery and you need a receiver. Drop him for Josh Gordon.  I would personally love it if an opponent picked up my garbage and started it against me in the playoffs.  Also, maybe you own RGIII and Andy Dalton… the three other teams in the playoffs have Brady, Rodgers and Brees.  You can just drop Dalton now because the other teams are not going to waste a roster spot on him.

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