NFL Week 14 Daily Fantasy Recap

by Stephen Keech (SBK) Last Updated 2013-12-15 03:28:02

Note: Stats below do not include the Monday Night Football game.

What Worked

• Once again, the Broncos passing attack is unstoppable. Peyton just keeps on rolling. Four touchdowns, 397 yards (on 59 attempts) and it just seems like another day at the office for him. He got back to spreading the wealth around after Eric Decker 4 TD game in Week 13, hitting each of his top four targets for a touchdown against the Titans. Wes Welker started the scoring for the Broncos on a short pass at the goal line, but left shortly after halftime with another concussion, ending his day with five catches for 61 yards and a TD. Decker followed up his career game last week with an eight catch, 117 yard day, including a nice 20-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter to really put the Titans away. I think most of the community was off of Decker because it seemed unlikely that he would remain Peyton’s favorite weapon, but for the second straight week he was the team leader in targets (12). To be fair, Welker finished with 10 and missed a good chunk of the second half, so it could have turned out much differently if not for the injury. Demaryius Thomas seems to be the most consistent of the bunch, and he posted a pretty typical 7/88/1 line on Sunday. The other Thomas (Orange Julius) returned to action and caught a touchdown right before halftime, but did not do much otherwise, finishing with 5/35/1. The Broncos have a few favorable match-ups on the horizon, closing out the season with SD, HOU and OAK.

• LeSean McCoy in the Snow Bowl. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was surprised to look out my window and see snow pouring down, completely covering my street. Granted, I don’t wake up too early on the weekends, but the weather forecasts in Philly as of Saturday weren’t predicting snow until mid-way through the Eagles game, and even then it didn’t seem like it would be too much. Instead, it was tough to even see the players on the field in the first quarter due to all the snow piling up. After the first few drives for each team, it seemed like it would be really tough for either team to get enough going offensively for this game to come anywhere close to hitting the O/U of 52. The conditions improved in the second half, and LeSean McCoy was still able to slice and dice through the Detroit defense for an Eagles record 217 rushing yards. Two long touchdowns runs (40 and 57 yards) really made McCoy’s day, and rewarded anyone who stuck with him through the weather concerns.

• The Cleveland aerial attack. For as many back-up caliber QB’s as they have rolled out this season, the Browns passing game has surprising upside when they put it together. We all know Josh Gordon has as high of a ceiling as any NFL wideout, but Jason Campbell and Jordan Cameron hadn’t really been gelling until Sunday. Gordon caught an 80+ yard TD for the second straight week, and finished with 7/151/1, continuing his torrid recent stretch. Cameron finally got back to his early season ways, totaling his highest number of receptions (9) since Week 4, and turned his nine catches into 121 yards, including a 4-yard TD in the fourth quarter. Jason Campbell performance was a bit surprising, and he may have earned himself another start with a 391 yard, 3 touchdown game (with no turnovers).

• Shane Vereen. With all the struggles New England has had with it’s “big backs,” it’s not surprising how much they have been relying on Shane Vereen since his return. With Rob Gronkowski going down (more on that later), he should continue to be an integral part of the Pats offense. He won’t give you much in terms of rushing on a weekly basis, but has become a force in the passing game, and is an absolute beast on full-point PPR sites. Vereen racked up 17 targets on Sunday, catching 12 of them for 153 yards, and managed to add a short TD run to pad his stats. He only saw three carries on the day, but could see somewhere around ten per game while Gronk is out. Keep plugging him in until his price rises too high, especially on PPR sites.

• The Saints. After a disappointing Monday Night game against the Seahawks last week, a home game against the Panthers gave the Saints a chance to bounce back, and that they did. Facing one of the games best defenses, Drew Brees was right back to his usual self, throwing for 313 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. Marques Colston was the main beneficiary this week, reeling in nine of his 13 targets for 125 yards and two touchdowns. He had been almost invisible this season until Sunday, so it was good to see him show that he still has something left in the tank. Colston will still be hard to trust going forward, but a big game is never out of the question in this offense. Jimmy Graham had his way with the Carolina defense, catching two more redzone touchdowns and totaling six catches for 58 yards on the day.

• Picking a quarterback from the IND/CIN game. Both Andrew Luck and Andy Dalton were well worth what you paid for them in Week 14. Each quarterback crossed the 30 point threshold on most sites, as the two combined for 7 TD’s and no interceptions. Luck threw for 326 yards and hooked up with his new favorite target (Da’Rick Rogers, of course) for two touchdowns, one of them a 69-yarder in the first half. Dalton threw for 275 yards, but really boosted his day with an eight-yard TD run. These two QB’s slid under the radar this week and weren’t highly owned, but not many (except maybe FFFC champion tspiedo) expected 70 points to be scored in this game.

• Last-minute spot start RB’s. We had a little more notice with Rashad Jennings injury than we did with Reggie Bush apparent fall in warm-ups, but both injury replacements worked out just fine. Marcel Reece was the more productive back of the two, totaling 161 yards and a TD against the Jets defense who had been very strong against the run leading up to Sunday. For under 3K on Draftstreet, there was not a better value this week than Reece. Joique Bell had to deal with the crazy weather in Philly, but still found his way into the endzone and had over 100 total yards. If you were wise enough to swap either of these two into your lineup before rosters locked, the benefits were quite nice. It doesn’t always work out this well when a late injury opens up potential value.

What Disappointed Us

• Injuries. It’s an issue in the NFL every week, but injuries struck a little harder than usual in Week 14. Rob Gronkowski injury may have had the biggest fantasy implications, and might have cost joeyengland98 (FFFC second place finisher) $700,000. He missed out on first place by about four points, and if Gronk stayed healthy, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t have piled up at least four more fantasy points. Adrian Peterson also left Sunday’s game with a knee injury, and it doesn’t seem like he will return for Week 15. AP had just 17 total yards on eight touches when he left the game. The aforementioned Wes Welker injury cost him a chance at a much bigger game, but at least he was able to find the endzone before he left. If you somehow got stuck with Reggie Bush in a lineup after his slip in warm-ups, ouch. He didn’t play at all and it was hard to believe Detroit would risk his health in poor conditions. Lamar Miller left the Dolphins game with the Steelers after picking up just 33 total yards, and had to watch Daniel Thomas cross the century mark in his absence. It was really surprising to see Thomas back in the lineup, but he should continue to produce if Miller misses any additional time.

• The Redskins. The match-up with Kansas City is obviously not a cake walk, but it was kind of surprising to see Washington struggle as badly as they did. They’ve been in a tailspin recently but their core players have still been posting useful fantasy stats, and that’s really all we care about, right? RGIII eventually was pulled from this game after how terribly he played, completing just 12 of 26 pass attempts. Alfred Morris turned his 12 touches into just 31 yards, but the Redskins had no choice but to abandon the run since they were behind big so early. The whole team just went into the tank and the Chiefs walked all over them.

• Calvin Johnson. The snow made it really tough for any of the receivers in this game to have a huge impact. It was funny to watch some of the passing plays unfold, because it was so clear that none of the players felt comfortable with their footing in the first half. Megatron may have been the single biggest disappointment in Week 15, because so many people expected him to be the week’s top wideout facing a below-average Philly secondary. Had this game been played at Ford Field, Megatron probably would had had his way with this defense, but the blizzard put a huge dent in his numbers. Calvin finished with just three catches for 49 yards on five targets. Don’t expect to see him targeted fewer than five times in a game the rest of the season. Matthew Stafford was just as big of a disappointment as Megatron, but we’ll get to him later.

• C.J. Spiller. It’s tough to expect consistent fantasy success from an oft-injured running back, but just 27 snaps (11 carries, 1 catch) was not what many were expecting against Tampa Bay. The Bills played badly and were trailing throughout the game, so they couldn’t really stick with the run. Spiller actually had a 83-yard touchdown run that was called back, which made his day even more frustrating. He’ll get to face the Jags defense next week, so a bounce-back game could be in order for Spiller in Week 15.

• Torrey Smith. Facing the porous Vikings secondary, Torrey Smith looked like a really nice GPP play in Week 14. Similar to Calvin Johnson, the conditions made it tough for Smith to be a big part of the offense, and that became pretty obvious early in the game. He didn’t see a target until the second quarter and finished with just five total on the day, and only caught one of them for 11 yards. His price on FanDuel was hard to ignore, and he burned me (and many others) pretty badly on Sunday.

• Eli Manning. I STILL see people rolling him out even after he continues to squander every good match-up he gets. His season has been literally full of plus match-ups for QB’s, but he’s only taken advantage of it a few times, most notably in Week 1. Since then, he’s been a huge disappointment and I can’t see any reason to trust him after he blew yet another nice opportunity against the Chargers 28th ranked pass defense. Just act like he isn’t even in the player pool and move on. His struggles are absolutely crushing the value of Victor Cruz, who was once again held in check.

What Surprised Us

• Bobby Rainey. Rainey seemed like the play of the day at about 1:05, since he already had 80 yards and a touchdown to his credit. He turned one of the first plays of the game into 14 fantasy points, but that wasn’t the surprising part; it was how little he did afterwards. After that big play, Rainey had 21 carries for just 47 yards, as the Bills defense clamped down quickly after he beat them early. At least his early success made him a worthwhile selection, but he could have had a monster day had he been able to find more running room.

• Daniel Thomas leading the Dolphins in rushing and topping the 100 yard mark. Wasn’t he supposed to be out for the year? Until Sunday morning, it at least looked like he would miss Week 14, but made a surprise return and the Dolphins have to be pretty happy he did. Once Lamar Miller left with his injury, Thomas had the backfield to himself and rumbled for 105 yards and a TD on just 16 carries (6.6 YPC). I doubt the Dolphins win this game without Thomas’ big 55 yard run late in the game, which set up a late TD from Charles Clay which ultimately won the game. If Miller misses any time, Thomas would be a solid value option next week against the Patriots.

• Matthew Stafford. Even in terrible weather, 148 yards and no touchdowns is still an unacceptable line from the former No. 1 overall pick. To be fair, throwing in those conditions is a totally different element then what Stafford is used to, but considering Nick Foles was still able to top 20 FP’s, Stafford should have been able to get a little more going. Touchdowns (1 rushing, 1 passing) were the difference for Foles, since Stafford threw for just 31 fewer yards. Besides a Joique Bell rushing touchdown, the only other scores for Detroit came on special teams (two returns from Jeremy Ross). Don’t expect another week like this from Stafford unless he plays in a blizzard again this season.

• The recipients of Andrew Luck touchdown passes. So who in the hell is Da’Rick Rogers? Having never caught a pass in an NFL game prior to Sunday, Rogers snagged 6 balls for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 targets in Indy’s 42-28 loss to Cincinnati. He’s a former Tennessee Volunteer who came off the practice squad once Reggie Wayne went down, but has only been active for a few games this season. He’s someone to keep an eye on over the next few weeks, as the Colts may want to see what they have in him with Heyward-Bey struggling mightily. LaVon Brazill caught the other two touchdowns from Luck, and he’s another player who could see more action in the coming weeks. It’s tough to count on any of these guys for consistent production, but they make for pretty solid GPP fliers.

• The Cardinals actually managed to shut down a tight end. It’s been a disappointing season for Jared Cook and the Rams this year, but if there was any match-up for the former Titan to get it going again, it was this one. In Week 1 against this same defensive unit, Cook had seven catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns, so he definitely made sense as a value play across the industry. The big difference for Cook between Week 1 and Week 14 is the quarterback throwing him the ball; in Week 1, Sam Bradford was still healthy and seemed to like working with Cook. But now he’s stuck with Kellen Clemens, and that can be more then enough to kill a players value. While Cook was only able to reel in three catches for 49 yards, continue to target tight ends against Arizona. If Delanie Walker is healthy next week, he’s a solid option.

• Charles Clay finishing as the top tight end of Week 14. Maybe this Miami passing game is finally starting to put it together. Clay caught seven passes for the second straight week, but this time reeled in two touchdowns as well. His second TD gave the Dolphins the lead with just over a minute to go, and caught another redzone touchdown earlier in the game. Clay led the Dolphins with ten targets, and seems to be the most trusted safety valve for Ryan Tannehill. With the Patriots up next, the Dolphins might be a team to target in Week 15.

This Week’s Top Performers: Quarterbacks

This Week’s Top Performers: Running Backs – Half Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Wide Receivers – Half Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Tight Ends – Half Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Running Backs – Full Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Wide Receivers – Full Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Tight Ends – Full Point PPR

Optimal Lineups

Optimal Lineup: FanDuel

POS		Salary	Score
QB	Andrew Luck	$8,200	32.24
RB	LeSean McCoy	$9,200	34.60
RB	Shane Vereen	$6,500	28.20
WR	Marques Colston	$5,700	29.00
WR	Josh Gordon	$9,200	28.00
WR	Cordarrelle Patterson	$4,500	23.20
TE	Charles Clay	$5,000	25.20
K	Matt Prater	$5,000	15.00
DEF	Tampa Bay	$5,300	27.00
	TOTALS	$58,600	242.44

Optimal Lineup: DraftStreet

POS		Salary	Score
QB	Andrew Luck	$11,854	32.24
QB	Peyton Manning	$15,111	31.78
RB	LeSean McCoy	$11,639	34.60
RB	Jamaal Charles	$13,762	28.90
WR	Marques Colston	$6,231	29.00
WR	Josh Gordon	$13,013	28.00
TE	Charles Clay	$5,434	25.20
FLEX	Shane Vereen	$10,153	28.20
FLEX	Cordarrelle Patterson	$4,840	23.20
DEF	Arizona	$5,914	21.00
	TOTALS	$97,951	282.12

Optimal Lineup: DraftKings

POS		Salary	Score
QB	Andrew Luck	$7,300	32.24
RB	LeSean McCoy	$7,900	35.10
RB	Shane Vereen	$6,700	34.20
WR	Marques Colston	$5,100	33.50
WR	Larry Fitzgerald	$6,900	27.60
TE	Jordan Cameron	$4,300	27.10
FLEX	Charles Clay	$4,000	28.70
K	Matt Prater	$3,200	15.00
DEF	Tampa Bay	$4,000	27.00
	TOTALS	$49,400	260.44

Note: DraftKings Optimals does not include bonuses awarded in DK’s scoring system