LOOKING FOR GEMS
Fantasy playoffs: Blake me to my fantasy Super Bowl
Jerry Bo
Dec 13, 2017, 5:23 am
The first week of the playoffs brought us headaches and heartaches as we saw the 3rd overall running back, and 2nd overall quarterback go down with injuries.
Rated top 3 overall for the week in various rankings, the rookie breakout running back went down in the first quarter with a concussion. Just how much has he produced the entire year? In the first 13 weeks of the season (excluding Thursday), Kamara had 86 rushes for 606 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. As a pass catcher, he is just as lethal where he has 60 catches for 614 yards and four touchdowns, averaging an absurd 10.9 yards per reception. With the extra days off to rest, Kamara owners hope for the ball carrier to return quick, fast and in a hurry.
Through three quarters, Wentz was on fire lighting up the Rams defense for 291 yards and four scores, good for 27.2 points (ESPN standard). Melodrama unfolds, and the rest is history, or can we say history is to be made if the Eagles plan to hoist their first Vince Lombardi Trophy. What do owners lose? The second-ranked quarterback in fantasy scoring that had a subpar schedule remaining. Left on Philadelphia's schedule, Giants(20th), Cowboys(28th), Raiders(13th).
You made it this far so there's no need to get cute now. But if you find yourself looking to fill a spot due to injury or have doubts due to matchups, here are a few players who you should keep on your radar.
Blake Bortles - Don't look now, but Blake Bortles is quietly working his way up on QB rankings. He sits 13th overall, ahead of the likes of Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, Derek Carr and Marcus Mariota. He leads all these household names by more than 19 total points. Another reason to look at Bortles is his remaining schedule; he will be against vulnerable defenses vs. quarterbacks the remaining of the year facing the Texans (29th), 49ers (31st) and the Titans (15th).
If you're looking for someone who won't win you this week but won't lose it either, look no further. Flacco is averaging 269 yards and two touchdowns in his last two games. This week Baltimore gets a favorable matchup vs. Cleveland who surrenders the 5th most points to quarterbacks. Historically, Flacco has had success vs. the Browns against whom he holds a 16-2 overall record. Over 18 games, he possesses a 26-12 touchdown to interception ratio and carries a 90.5 passer rating. In the previous meeting this year, he tossed two scores while throwing for 217 yards. Flacco carries a high floor but a low ceiling in week 15.
Nick Foles- competent quarterback vs. the 32nd ranked defense in points allowed to quarterbacks. Giants have allowed five quarterbacks to eclipse 25+ points in 2017.
Tyrod Taylor- Practiced with the first team Wednesday. Taylor has torched the Dolphins in his career where he holds a 121.2 passer rating with eight touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Last weeks injury seems to be minor, and he looks to be a go this week. When facing the Rams, the way to hurt them is on the ground where they give up the 31st most points to the position. In the first half, Davis had nine carries for 56 yards. He would leave the game in the third quarter but averaged 4.4 yards per rush on the day. In week 13, he had 20 total touches, last week he left the game with 16 touches in the 3rd. Look for him to get into the twenties in touches this week as he is clearly the lead back on early downs in Seattle.
Adrian Peterson's return is again in question, leaving the majority of the backfield duties all to Williams. In week 13 vs. the Rams, he totaled 97 yards and last week he added another 88. In week 14, he touched the ball 20 times. Look for him to continue the same vs. an opponent who in 18th overall in points surrendered to running backs (24.4) and has given up ten total scores to the position.
Coming off an unexpected three-touchdown performance, Stewart has now scored in 3 consecutive weeks totaling five touchdowns. The return of Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil might have something to do with the numbers in week 14 where the running back also tacked on 103 yards. This weeks match up and game script leads us to believe that the Panthers will lean on the ground game to control the clock and the keep the ball out of Aaron Rodgers hands. The Packers, surrender the 8th most points to running backs (25.6) as a unit, look for Stewart to get in the Endzone once again.
Opportunity is what we're looking for when trying to fill a spot this late in the season and Westbrook has seen just that with 27 targets in the last three games. He has caught 17 of those targets while scoring double digits in all three weeks. His schedule has two favorable matchups vs. the Texans who are the ninth worse team surrendering 33.7 points a game as a unit allowing 13 scores to the position on the year. Next week he gets the 49ers, a group that concedes 33.1 points a game to wide receivers.
Willaims ended Sunday's game with 23.2 fantasy points, 132 receiving yards, and a touchdown. But the underlier here has to be he did it only on four catches. This has been an issue with Williams all year long as he has failed to surpass 2 receptions since week 6. A true boom or bust play, I think he gets on the scoreboard again. Marcus Peter's will be shadowing teammate Keenan Allen, leaving Williams to see a ton of veteran Darrelle Revis. Kansas City has been terrible vs. wide receivers giving up the 2nd most points to the position at 37.7 a game.
Randall Cobb- The return of Aaron Rodgers should boost his numbers. If the Packers choose to be somewhat safe with Rodgers' arm and limit throwing the deep ball, look for Cobb to be the beneficiary with intermediate routes.
After two dud weeks, Davis saw his most targets in 2017 with seven. He was only able to secure two but still managed to score a touchdown. The Chargers have been good vs. tight ends all year long but the last three weeks have seen them give up 11.4, 22.7 and 13.1. points to the position. With the volume he see's and no other weapons in Washington, use him as a streamer.
Hate to chase last week's performance, but he is coming off career highs in both receptions and yards. The Bears have been good limiting tight ends the last two weeks but also gave up a huge performance to the Eagles Zach Ertz 3 weeks ago where he had ten receptions and 103 yards. Not a must play by any means, but if you need a tight end, Ebron has had at least four receptions since week 11.
Saints- Playing Bryce Petty, enough said
Cardinals- Washington has numerous offensive line injuries, and the Cardinals have had 3+ sacks in four game this season. The Arizona defense also has had at least one interception in 11 games this season (lead the NFL), and five interceptions in the last four games.
All scoring ESPN standard
For any questions or comments reach me at @JerryBoKnowz on twitter.
They’ll be watching in Canada, not just because of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, though the NBA’s scoring champion and MVP favorite who plays for Oklahoma City surely helps lure in fans who are north of the border.
They’ll be watching from Serbia and Greece, the homelands of Denver star Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Alperen Sengun will have them watching Houston games in the middle of the night in Turkey, too. Slovenian fans will be watching Luka Doncic and the Lakers play their playoff opener at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Los Angeles. Fans in Cameroon will be tuned in to see Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers. Defending champion Boston features, among others, Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia and Al Horford of the Dominican Republic.
Once again, the NBA playoffs are setting up to be a showcase for international stars.
In a season where the five statistical champions were from five different countries, an NBA first — Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, rebounding champion Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento is from Lithuania, blocked shots champion Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio is from France, steals champion Dyson Daniels of Atlanta is from Australia, and assists champion Trae Young of the Hawks is from the U.S. — the postseason will have plenty of international feel as well. Gilgeous-Alexander is in, while Sabonis and Daniels (along with Young, obviously) could join him if their teams get through the play-in tournament.
“We have a tremendous number of international players in this league,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this season. “It’s roughly 30% of our players representing, at least on opening day, 43 different countries, so there’s much more of a global sense around our teams.”
By the end of the season, it wound up being 44 different countries — at least in terms of countries where players who scored in the NBA this season were born. For the first time in NBA history, players from one country other than the U.S. combined to score more than 15,000 points; Canadian players scored 15,588 this season, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, the first scoring champion from that country.
Gilgeous-Alexander is favored to be MVP this season. It'll be either him or Jokic, which means it'll be a seventh consecutive year with an international MVP for the NBA. Antetokounmpo won twice, then Jokic won three of the next four, with Cameroon-born Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers winning two seasons ago.
“Shai is in the category of you do not stop him,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said after a game between the Raptors and Thunder this season.
In other words, he's like a lot of other international guys now. Nobody truly stops Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic either.
And this season brought another international first: Doncic finished atop the NBA's most popular jersey list, meaning NBAStore.com sold more of his jerseys than they did anyone else's. Sure, that was bolstered by Doncic changing jerseys midseason when he was traded by Dallas to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it still is significant.
The Slovenian star is the first international player to finish atop the most popular jerseys list — and the first player other than Stephen Curry or LeBron James to hold that spot in more than a decade, since soon-to-be-enshrined Basketball Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony did it when he was with New York in 2012-13.
“We’re so small, we have 2 million people. But really, our sport is amazing,” fellow Slovene Ajsa Sivka said when she was drafted by the WNBA's Chicago Sky on Monday night and asked about Doncic and other top Slovenian athletes. “No matter what sport, we have at least someone that’s great in it. I’m just really proud to be Slovenian.”
All this comes at a time where the NBA is more serious than perhaps ever before about growing its international footprint. Last month, FIBA — the sport's international governing body — and the NBA announced a plan to partner on a new European basketball league that has been taking shape for many years. The initial target calls for a 16-team league and it potentially could involve many of the biggest franchise names in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
It was a season where four players topped 2,000 points in the NBA and three of them were international with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo. Globally, time spent watching NBA League Pass was up 6% over last season. More people watched NBA games in France this season than ever before, even with Wembanyama missing the final two months. NBA-related social media views in Canada this season set records, and league metrics show more fans than ever were watching in the Asia-Pacific region — already a basketball hotbed — as well.
FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis said the numbers — which are clearly being fueled by the continued international growth — suggest the game is very strong right now.
“Looking around the world, and of course here in North America," Zagklis said, "the NBA is most popular and more commercially successful than ever.”