Fantasy Football: Winner’s and Loser’s Column Week 14 “The week of the running back” has concluded except for MNF, most weeks this article is written on Monday and will not include MNF, just as a heads-up reminder. Week 14 was spearheaded with some huge performances out of RB’s. I also had to refrain from putting every single Steelers offensive player in the Winners column, they are truly an offense that can be the best in the NFL at the flip of a switch.
The Fantasy Football Winner’s and Loser’s column provides users with the recent weeks winners and losers, while also including analysis of the previous weeks Fantasy performances.
- Disclaimer – All Fantasy Football articles are written with the information given by ESPN Standard PPR scoring.
The Winners
Ben Roethlisberger, QB
28.7 Fantasy Points
Sunday night Big Ben became the first player in NFL history to have 3 games with over 500+ passing yards, finishing SNF with 506 yards and 2 TD’s. Roethlisberger ended up not throwing for as many TD’s as the yardage should suggest as the Steelers ended up pounding the rock with Le’Veon Bell who finished with 2 rushing TD’s.
Ben Roethlisberger proves time and time again that at home he is a must start fantasy option. With three weeks remaining and two home games left, start Big Ben with confidence going forward, even against the Patriots in Week 15.
Le’Veon Bell, RB
39.5 Fantasy Points
Le’Veon Bell is the type of player that averages enough points to be listed on the Winners column every week, so to make it he needs to do something special. Well, he did exactly that against the Ravens on Sunday Night Football.
Totalling three TD’s - 2 on the ground, and 1 through the air - Bell has established himself as the best dual threat back in the NFL. His usage in the passing game makes him the easiest decision to make every Sunday due to his high point floor.
Jonathan Stewart, RB
28.3 Fantasy Points
Even though he’s past 30 and doesn’t get the volume that he used to in Carolina’s offense, Jonathan Stewart has proven time and time again that he’s still an NFL capable running back. As a man who rostered Stewart practically all year, to see him putting up big numbers now really hurts.
Five touchdowns in the last 3 weeks including three TD’s in Week 14 alone gives Stewart his biggest fantasy week all season.
Stewart still doesn’t see enough touches to make him a reliable weekly starter but if you’re an owner who has had issues with running backs, he’s available in 43 percent of leagues and in my opinion, is a touchdown dependant flex start.
Rod Smith, RB
33.0 Fantasy Points
With all due respect, the RB situation in Dallas hasn’t been as bad as a lot of people would have expected with Ezekiel Elliott serving his suspension, both Morris and Smith have performed beyond expectations. The problem for fantasy owners has been predicting exactly which Dallas RB is going to perform.
Despite most of his points coming on an 81-yard TD with only four minutes left to play in the game, expect Rod Smith to be heavily contested for on the waiver wire. Keep in mind that Ezekiel Elliott does come back soon - which will practically render all other Dallas RB’s fantasy irrelevant - but if you’re in need of somebody to potentially win your week for you in the playoffs, look at grabbing Rod Smith.
Trey Burton, TE
24.1 Fantasy Points
A solid replacement with Zach Ertz out of the lineup, and he’s available in 89% of leagues. Burton was able to bring in a season high five targets this week, two of them for TD’s. If Zach Ertz remains out of the lineup for Week 15, expect Burton to have a good week against a mediocre Giants defense.
If you are an Ertz owner or playing against an Ertz owner, I would use a bench spot on Burton either as an insurance policy or a denial piece.
The Losers
Derek Carr, QB
10.4 Fantasy Points
I’m not going to mince words here. The Raiders had a chance to go into Arrowhead on Sunday and give themselves a shot at the division and they didn’t even show up. While some of the downfall of Carr may be attributed to the injuries of his WR’s around him, he simply hasn’t been good enough.
Carr’s performance was abysmal at best, especially considering how he performed last year. Furthermore, Carr was started in 36 percent of fantasy leagues as a lot of owners expected a high scoring tough divisional game between the Raiders and Chiefs. If you were lucky enough to survive his poor performance, Carr will get another chance in Week 15 against a weak Dallas Cowboys defense.
Greg Olsen, TE
0.0 Fantasy Points
If you’re like me and you were lucky enough to pick up Greg Olsen off the waiver wire from a person who dropped him earlier in the year due to injury, you were probably looking forward to this week.
Week 12 was understandable, it was his first game back since Week 2 after being injured.
Missing last week due to the training staff being cautious with the artificial turf at the Saints and a bagel performance in Week 14 against Minnesota has Greg Olsen owners worried.
His next two games are at home against weak defenses, if there is ever a time for Olsen to come back to form and save his season it’s going to have to be now.
Robby Anderson, WR
5.7 Fantasy Points
According to ESPN 56.9 percent of rosters currently in the fantasy playoffs have Robby Anderson on them, so chances are if you currently have Robby Anderson on your roster he’s one of the biggest factors of you making the playoffs. It doesn’t mean that his performance of 5.7 points shouldn’t be critiqued.
One of the factors of Robby Anderson’s poor performance is the injury to Josh McCown who went out of the game in the third quarter.
The combination of potentially Bryce Petty under center and a match up against the Saints makes Robby Anderson a tough start in Week 15.
Marcus Mariota, QB
3.5 Fantasy Points
His performance this week may be excused due to a knee injury by some people, but it won’t be excused by me; there’s simply too many offensive weapons around this man for him to be putting up some of the performances he has this year.
Arizona isn’t the easiest match up to deal with from a fantasy perspective, and he has an easy match up next week against the improving 49ers but his knee is something that needs to be monitored. With the playoffs upon us and the waiver wire looking thin for QB’s especially with injuries to Wentz and McCown you might be forced to start Mariota next week even without confidence.
Matt Ryan, QB
6.8 Fantasy Points
Matty Ice for most of the year has been ice cold. Saved by a late touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu, Ryan posted his worst performance of the year, albeit against a surprisingly tough Saints defense on a Thursday Night Football that seemed as if both teams wanted the other team to win.
Luckily for owners of Matt Ryan they have a long week between TNF and MNF to solve whatever offense problems they might have against an extremely weak Buccaneers defense.
Make sure to check back every week for the remainder of the Fantasy Football scene for the winners and losers column, and good luck in the last week of the regular season for most leagues! Hopefully you can lock down your playoff spots.
If you missed last week’s iteration of the Winners and Losers column you can check it out HERE
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