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Were you one of those people who liked report card day back in school? I wasn’t but not for reasons that you might think. Being the youngest of five my parents really didn’t care what kind of grades I got because at that point they had seen it all. Even at a young age I had a thirst to learn and to know. I would pay attention to the things that I wanted to learn about and drift off when the class was talking something I didn’t care about. This happens in fantasy sports all of the time except now I am the teacher, which sucks a lot more than I thought it did by the way.
So each week I will be going over all of my rankings, projections, lineup advice and strong opinions and letting the record speak for itself. Obviously this is a risky proposition considering if I am wrong too much it could be a severe hit to my career. But I have confidence because fantasy football is something that I love and have a desire to learn about every single day. So despite the risk, I accept this challenge.
Here is the second edition of Right, Wrong or Indifferent taking a look back at NFL Week 14:
RIGHT
, QB, Panthers
As much as I have been disappointed by Newton all season, I wasn’t about to pass up on his potential in this matchup. This is another case in which watching all of the games and understanding the landscape of the NFL greatly benefits me. The Panthers and Saints do not like each other and last season the Panthers took exception with the Saints running up the score on them. So, there was plenty of motivation for this matchup and thus I not only had Newton in my top eight of QB’s this week but also in the DFS Playbook.
Jay Cutler, QB, Bears
Even with losing his favorite WR in Brandon Marshall, Cutler was able to post 26.5 fantasy points against the Cowboys on Thursday night. Say what you will about Cutler and his demeanor but the guy posts strong fantasy points every week.
Tony Romo, QB, Cowboys
Similar to Cutler, I had a lot of questions about Romo this past week. But even on Thursday, I loved him against the Bears defense in a rebound game for the Cowboys. Romo didn’t disappoint posting 20 fantasy points this week.
Tre Mason, RB, Rams
I was much better at predicting which RB’s would not produce this week as opposed to those that would breakout. Coming off a big game against the Raiders people were starting to talk silly about Tre Mason. Hopefully you checked yourself and decided not to chase the previous weeks performance and use Mason as nothing more than a FLEX option this week. If you started him over C.J. Anderson (which was an actual question I got this week) then you deserve the loss for not listening to this advice.
Denard Robinson, RB, Jaguars
Another player that I refused to buy into at all this season and it has saved me a lot of heartache. Robinson is simply not an NFL caliber RB. To be honest with you, he isn’t a college level RB either. The first rule of evaluating players is knowing whether or not they can play the position.
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Odell Beckham Jr., WR, Giants
Beckham was my favorite DFS WR this week. The matchup was perfect for him to get the ball repeatedly and as it turned out the only thing that limited him was his own success. Beckham finished as the third best fantasy WR in week 14.
Charles Johnson, WR, Vikings
I have been a fan of Charles Johnson since was drafted by the Packers in 2013. At the time I thought he would be the replacement for James Jones but that never panned out. But his size, speed and strength is that of an elite wide receiver at the NFL level. I had Johnson as a low end WR2 this past week and also recommended him in the DFS Playbook. Furthermore, Johnson was in my optimal DFS lineups this past weekend and finished at the 19th best WR this week.
Julian Edelman, WR, Patriots
All season I have been telling you guys that Edelman was an every week starter in PPR format. Yet you fight me on it every single week for some odd reason. This week Edelman shredded the Chargers for 28.5 fantasy points. For the season he is the 15th highest scoring receiver in PPR formats and that is with just three TD’s on his stat sheet thus far.
Julius Thomas, TE, Broncos
For the first time in weeks I actually did include Thomas on my TE rankings but as you all know I wasn’t high on him whatsoever. Sunday morning I told just about everybody to shut him down if you had any other reasonable options. I hope you listened!
WRONG
, QB, 49ers
Kaepernick can go straight to hell. I have no idea if it is the coaching that is letting him down or the other way around but what I do know is that he is simply not working out.
Ryan Tannehill, QB, Dolphins
I wasn’t crazy high on Tannehill after he let me down against the Jets last Monday. Then he once against disappoints against a subpar defense in Baltimore. I recommended him enough though to put Tannehill in my wrong column this week.
Reggie Bush & Joique Bell, RB, Lions
I was correct in that Bush started the game and that Theo Riddick cast aside completely. Bush did play well actually but only logged 24 out of 71 snaps on Sunday. Joique Bell out played him nearly 2-1 and produced some strong numbers for those who didn’t listen to me.
Giovani Bernard, RB, Bengals
I hate the Bengals RB situation. I’ve never been a fan of Gio until this season with Hue Jackson. Now, he is only playing a supplement role to Jeremy Hill. Hill in turn isn’t performing well at all and the Bengals offense as a whole is suffering greatly because of it.
Cardinals RB’s
I had done some research on Kerwynn Williams earlier in the week and pretty much dismissed him entirely. I felt that neither Marion Grice or Stepfan Taylor were good enough to start unless one of them took the lead role all for themselves. As it turned out, Williams had impressed the Cardinals coaches enough that they released veteran Michael Bush late in the week to make room for Williams on the active roster. I should have seen this sign and at least mentioned him in my Waiver Flavor segment this week which I did not.
, WR, Dolphins
I like Wallace more than Tannehill this week. But after watching him fail to run out his route in the endzone this week I am done with him possibly forever. Wallace is doing little else than going through the motions these days.
Reggie Wayne, WR, Colts
Wayne is banged up but I felt as though he was well enough to persevere which he truly is not. I have a feeling that he will be shut down for the rest of the regular season soon and thus you should make other arrangements for your playoff lineups.
Dwayne Allen, TE, Colts
Allen probably belongs in the “indifferent” pile but I will take the hit on him for this week. I probably should have cooled on him in his first week back from a high ankle sprain. Allen did log 58 snaps against the Browns but didn’t get much attention in the passing game. As much as it stinks for those who started Allen this week I would do it again every single time.
Jared Cook, TE, Rams
I am so sick of Jared Cook. I am sure he will be highly recommended next week against the Cardinals too but I am not going to take the bait. Every time you count on Jared Cook he disappoints you. Then, out of nowhere he pops in for two touchdowns and makes everybody believe again. Well, not me this time buddy. You can take all of your shares of Jared Cook, light them on fire and stick them where the sun doesn’t shine.
INDIFFERENT
, QB, Eagles
He didn’t even throw for 100 yards against the Seahawks but did somehow toss a pair of TD’s. I was very against Sanchez in this matchup and it turned out to be a wash.
Shaun Hill, QB, Rams
Remember how high you all were on Shaun Hill after the Rams 52-0 whopping of the Raiders in week 13? Well unfortunately he didn’t completely wet the bed this week but he definitely didn’t reach those lofty expectations against the lowly Redskins.
Jonathan Stewart, RB, Panthers
I fully admit that I didn’t like Stewart in seasonal leagues this week. In fact, I will never, ever like Jonathan Stewart as a player or a man. But I did have some love for him in DFS in which he paid off greatly for me. Thus, he goes in the indifferent pile since there will be those who are both happy and pissed off at me for my thoughts on Stewart in week 14.
Frank Gore, RB, 49ers
Gore averaged 5.3 yards per carry against the Raiders and yet got just 12 carries on the day. I don’t know what the 49ers were doing or trying to do but it stinks like the backside of a bull. Technically, Gore outproduced expectations but it still wasn’t what I was looking for.
Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Panthers
I predicted two TD’s for Benjamin against the Saints this week and I was looking real good in the first four minutes of that game on Sunday. But then the Panthers were able to whip up on the Saints in other ways and thus Benjamin just wasn’t needed. Obviously the two receptions for 24 yards are terrible, but the TD does keep this from being a total loss for those of us that started Benjamin.
, WR, Browns
I want to put this in the “right” category so bad but have to admit that I had Gordon in the DFS Playbook this week. I truly hope that those of you who waited all season for Gordon weren’t then destroyed by this performance. Well, I kinda do hope you were because maybe next time you wouldn’t defy me by wasting a sixth round draft pick on him but I digress. Before you go blaming Brian Hoyer, the Browns coaching staff admitted after the game that they held Gordon out a bit on Sunday because of his conditioning and poor route running. The Browns gave the second best team in the AFC everything they could handle and more Josh Gordon would have only hurt the outcome of this game for the Browns.
Brandon Marshall, WR, Bears
Marshall was on his way to proving me right in my high ranking of him this week but then got knocked out of the game with broken ribs and a punctured lung. He will miss the rest of the 2014 season.
Travis Kelce, TE, Chiefs
This is a tough one. I lowered my expectations of Kelce this week but was really split on my advice to you guys. In some cases I said to start Kelce over players like Jordan Cameron, Jason Witten and Heath Miller. On the other hand I told some of you to start Dwayne Allen and Antonio Gates over him.