You often need a bit of luck to win a fantasy championship, and I definitely caught a break in Week 15 when Antonio Brown suffered a calf injury in the 2nd quarter against the Patriots. I felt a little bad for, well, not feeling bad about it. But I was playing against Antonio in both of my leagues, and an early exit was just what I needed to help pull out a win in one of them. My other league is a two week playoff, and it looks like AB will be out this week too, so I'm still reaping the benefits of the man's injury. And while I wasn't rooting for the guy to get hurt, I might've done a little dance when it happened...and my daughter might've laughed at me quite a bit when I did said dance. We'll see if I can pull one or even both championships out this week, but let's get into the recap of my picks last week before diving into the rankings.As always, let's start with the quarterbacks, where I was high on Jameis Winston (ESPN #19, ME #10). I said he'd be good for 300 yards and multiple touchdowns on Monday night, and he missed the 300 mark by 1 yard. He had 3 passing TDs though and finished as a top-5 QB, so I nailed that pick. I was down on Jimmy Garoppolo (ESPN #15, ME NOT RANKED), and I talked about how I wasn't quite ready to dub him the next Tom Brady just yet. Well, he did his best Brady impression at the end of his game to quickly set up the Niners for a game winning field goal. He had just the one touchdown to go with his high yardage total, but he did finish as a top-20 QB and even a couple of spots higher than Brady in Week 15.
My RB picks were way off, but I think both were somewhat excusable. I was high on Mike Davis (ESPN #29, ME #16) who was facing a Rams D that was giving up the second most fantasy points to RBs this season. But Seattle got blown out and was playing from behind the entire game, and Davis didn't even touch the ball in the second half. I was down on Dion Lewis (ESPN #19, ME #30) because Rex Burkhead had really been coming on strong lately, and Lewis wasn't getting as many touches. That trend continued until Burkhead left the game with an injury (after scoring a touchdown I might add). Lewis found the endzone himself late in the game, but I'm fairly certain that would've been Sexy Rexy if he didn't leave the game due to the injury. Lewis took advantage of the extra touches and ended up as a top-15 RB.
As for the receivers, I pretty much whiffed on them too. I was way down on Alshon Jeffery (ESPN #16, ME #31) because I didn't trust Nick Foles as much as the ESPN experts did. Well, Philly's offense barely skipped a beat with Foles in for Wentz, and Jeffery found the endzone. His yardage total was low, but he managed to finish as the #21 WR in Week 15. I was high on Devin Funchess (ESPN #17, ME #7) because he'd been a top-10 fantasy WR since Week 9, and he'd scored double-digit fantasy points in each of his previous 4 games. Somehow against a weak Green Bay secondary, he only had one catch for 19 yards...huh?!?
In that same game, I continued to not rank Greg Olsen because I didn't trust the guy until I saw some production out of him. I was down on him for the FOURTH week in a row versus the experts (ESPN #12, ME NOT RANKED), but the experts were finally right! I guess if you keep saying something, eventually it might happen...? Olsen finished as the #2 fantasy TE, but don't forget I was right about not ranking him the three weeks before that (and the experts had him as a top-10 play each of those weeks). It's clearly time to get Olsen back into your lineups though. I did hit my pick with Eric Ebron (ESPN #22, ME #12), and I told you he had a floor of 3 or 4 fantasy points and a ceiling of maybe 10. I couldn't have been more right because he ended up with 33 yards and a touchdown, and he finished in the top-10.I'd rather not talk about my defense picks, but I will. I was high on the New Orleans Saints (ESPN #5, ME #2) because they were facing Bryce Petty and the Jets at home, but somehow they didn't take advantage of the matchup and finished outside of the top-12. I was down on the LA Rams (ESPN #8, ME NOT RANKED) who were playing in Seattle, and like a lot of people I thought this would be a shootout. That was not the case. The Rams dominated the Seahawks, and their defense was one of the best in Week 15.
But enough about the past. Let's move on to championship week! I've narrowed down my RB & WR rankings from 50 to 40 because if you're playing for something this week, you shouldn't be getting into the 40s like it's a college frat party. (I've kept my other positions the same length.)
One more thing before the rankings: picks against the spread. I started to prepare my End of Year Review article this week too, and I'd forgotten that last year I picked games against the spread the last few weeks of the regular season. So even though I forgot about it for the entire season, I thought I'd go ahead and do a week of it and see how I do. I'll do a recap when I get my Way Too Early Rankings out in a couple of weeks.
Week 16 picks versus the spread:
IND @ BAL (IND +13.5)
MIN @ GB (MIN -9.0)
CLE @ CHI (CLE +6.5)
DET @ CIN (DET -4.5)
LAR @ TEN (LAR -6.5)
MIA @ KC (KC -10.5)
BUF @ NE (BUF +12.0)
ATL @ NO (ATL +5.5)
LAC @ NYJ (LAC -6.5)
DEN @ WAS (WAS -3.5)
TB @ CAR (CAR -10.0)
JAX @ SF (JAX -4.5)
SEA @ DAL (SEA +5)
NYG @ ARI (NYG +3.5)
PIT @ HOU (PIT -9.0)
OAK @ PHI (PHI -9.0)
MIN @ GB (MIN -9.0)
CLE @ CHI (CLE +6.5)
DET @ CIN (DET -4.5)
LAR @ TEN (LAR -6.5)
MIA @ KC (KC -10.5)
BUF @ NE (BUF +12.0)
ATL @ NO (ATL +5.5)
LAC @ NYJ (LAC -6.5)
DEN @ WAS (WAS -3.5)
TB @ CAR (CAR -10.0)
JAX @ SF (JAX -4.5)
SEA @ DAL (SEA +5)
NYG @ ARI (NYG +3.5)
PIT @ HOU (PIT -9.0)
OAK @ PHI (PHI -9.0)
Let's do the rankings!
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