It’s the playoffs. The fantasy football playoffs or the final week or weeks leading up to them. You’ve fought, scrapped, been one week faster identifying who to grab off the waiver wire. Whether you’re playing for money or not you’ve earned your shot at being the champion.
If you have a stud quarterback, such as Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Drew Brees then you can keep doing what you’ve probably done all year. Slot that name in at the top of your lineup and don’t worry about it. The rest of us got work to do. All players mentioned will be under 50% ownership (Yahoo Leagues) unless otherwise noted. All statistics used from fantasydata.com or pro-football-reference.com
Jimmy Garoppolo San Francisco 49er’s
The Garoppolo era started with a victory thereby doubling the 49ers total this season. He threw 26 completions in 37 attempts for 293 yards. Those are exactly the same as Kirk Cousins numbers with 42 more yards. In an effort at full disclosure Cousins did throw for 2 touchdowns vs Garoppolo’s zero, but the touchdowns will come for the 49er’s quarterback. The thing to take away from this game though is how consistently accurate, (70%) he was throughout the game. That was against the Chicago Bears who are the 8th stingiest defense when it comes to surrendering point to quarterbacks. The Texans, who have been better the past few weeks defending quarterbacks are still ranked last in the league in fantasy points allowed. In the three games against NFC West opponents, they’ve given up an average of 343 yards per game. They’ve also given up 10 touchdowns in those games. Great spot for the young signal-caller.
Peyton Barber Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It was supposed to be the Jaquizz Rodgers show with Doug Martin out for week 13 with a concussion. Barber was having none of that. With 23 carries for 102 yards and 4 receptions for 41 more, he was a force on the field. It was the most attempts by a Buccaneers running back all year. That led to 18.3 fantasy points which are also a high for Tampa Bay runners this season. This week he could continue his breakout and find his way into the end zone. The Detroit Lions have failed to hold teams under 100 yards rushing in the past four games and are last in the league in touchdowns allowed on the ground with 16 given up this year. Doug Martin is still in concussion protocol as this is written but that situation should be watched. If Martin plays this week he probably will take some work away from Barber.
