NFL Fantasy Help --- Week 15

[eagle eye]

You like your bad news in 3's? First off, I'm sure you've all heard that Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton was in a two car accident on his way to the Panthers practice facility. News reports said that Newton's pickup flipped and rolled up to 4 times yesterday. He and the driver of the 2nd vehicle were both taken to the hospital. It was announced later in the day that Newton had suffered fractures on two of the transverse process bones on his spinal column in his lower back. This is the same injury that occurred to Dallas' Tony Romo back in November in a game vs the Washington Redskins. Romo missed only one game but the Cowboys bye week was involved in his time off. The Panthers have but 4 wins on the season but they trail the Saints and Falcons by one game in the stagnant NFC South division. The way the Saints and Falcons are playing it seems neither wants to win the division and with the Panthers resounding win last Sunday over the Saints in New Orleans Carolina had put themselves into the position of winning the division. With winnable games left against the Bucs, the Browns and the Falcons this has to come as a devastating blow to the Panthers chances.

Houston has lost Jadeveon Clowney but we already knew that. What we didn't know until yesterday was that he had undergone microfracture knee surgery meaning he would need at least nine months of rehab before he could even think about returning to the Texans lineup. Not at all what Houston expected when they made him the #1 pick in the NFL draft.

Julio Jones, after he went off in the second half against the Green Bay Packers on Monday night but was also injured late in the game is questionable to play this week as a result. Jones injured his hip in the game and head coach Mike Smith said that Jones and SS William Moore, who injured his foot, are very sore but the Falcons are hopeful that both will be able to play against the Steelers this week.

The Browns made a decision yesterday to start Johnny Manziel this week in an important AFC North game between the Browns and division leading Cincinnati. It is a not-too-surprising announcement as the Browns still cling to playoff hopes. Brian Hoyer was unsuccessful at scoring a TD in the Browns last 29 offensive drives. In the last 4 games Hoyer had thrown 8 picks to only one TD pass which, needless to say, didn't get the job done. The straw that broke the camel's back was the loss to Indianapolis when the Browns defense dominated the Colts offense up until the final drive of the game when Indianapolis' Andrew Luck threw the game winning TD pass to TY Hilton with :32 left in the game. According to ESPN's Trent Dilfer, who had watched the game tape stated that Hoyer was not fully to blame for the impotence of the Browns offense. He said there were a lot of mistakes by a lot of other players that contributed to the problem.

[eagle eye]

Tonight just may be your first game of the opening round of the playoffs in your fantasy league so you need to have your lineups set to max out your rosters potential. Without a doubt you want both defenses in this game so you Arizona and St Louis D/ST owners, you guys needs to plug and play. They are both stingy and both create turnovers and both have good return games.
Both kickers are worth considering especially since the defenses are so good. This could turn into a war of field goals before it's all said and done. The Rams' Greg Zuerlein can kick the ball a country mile and playing indoors in the Rams comfy dome he should be a factor for fantasy owners. The Cards counter with Chandler Catanzaro. He's 22 of 26 for an 84% conversion rate he perfect on 25 extra points. He's solid from the 40-49 yd range and 1-2 on FGs of 50+.
In the TE position you probably take a chance on Jared Cook for the Rams. He's become something of a security blanket for Shaun Hill since he took over the starting job a few weeks ago. He a better option than Arizona TE's with none really standing out as evidenced by the fact that not one of the Cards TE's in the ESPN rankings of the top 30 TE's going into the week. BTW, Cook is only ranked 25.
The WRs in the game go without saying but the Arizona WRs have to go with a grain of salt considering Drew Stanton has been less than stellar at QB since Carson Palmer went down. Weigh your options carefully here and look at the matchup. Arizona on the road against a surging St Louis team may not be your best matchup option. On the Rams side Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey have come on but one of them will face the Cards Patrick Peterson so look at your matchups here.
As for running back, you could ride Tre Mason if you want but, again, the matchup is not the best for him. The Cards offer nobody I'd recommend especially for a fantasy playoff game. You ride you best players and when in doubt pick the best matchup.
I saved the QB's for last because I wouldn't trust either one for a fantasy playoff. Play your #1 guy and you should be fine. Don't screw around with either Shaun Hill or Drew Stanton. Kickoff is a little over an hour away. Get those lineups set and let's get this party started!!!!

[eagle eye]

Call me Karnak The Great! Did I say this was a defensive struggle of a game? Yeah, I know, I'm tooting my own horn but I couldn't have been more right. The only offense was 6 field goals. 4 FGs for the Cardinals and 2 for St Louis and a final score of 12-6 and unless you like defensive dominated games it was a bit of a snoozer. The Cardinals defense has carried this team since Carson Palmer went down and last night Arizona lost their backup/starting QB Drew Stanton to a knee injury. I think that the Cardinals flipped coin to see who would come in because earlier in the season when Palmer was out and Stanton got dinged the Cards brought in rookie QB Logan Thomas. Last night instead of Thomas they rolled out 3rd year QB Ryan Lindley. Lindley was a 6th round pick for Arizona in 2012 and he never really distinguished himself and he was let go after the 2013 season. In 2014 he was signed by the San Diego Chargers practice squad but after Carson Palmer went down the Cards poached Lindley from SD and signed him to their 53 man roster. The Cardinals are winning by virtue of their defense and if they continue to win games it will be because of that defense. Here's one prediction I have in regard to the Cardinals, in 2015 some team is going to sign defensive coordinator Todd Bowles to a head coaching job. The guy has been a standout DC and the Cardinals defense is among the most stingy in the NFL, maybe historically so. If he doesn't get a head coaching gig it will be a mystery of epic proportions to me. The Cardinals defense IMO is better than the Seahawks defense from last season. This offensively challenged team in the first team to reach 11 wins and they own the best record in the NFC but their last two games are against those Seahawks at home and they close the season in San Francisco. Looks like the Cards could end up anywhere between 11-5 and 13-3. The 49ers are out of the playoff hunt, maybe not mathmatically but they are out, but it won't stop them from being spoilers. The Seahawks are 1-1/2 games back of Arizona with a game against those 49ers who I'm sure are dying to play spoilers beginning this week. If you are a Cowboys fan then you've become a Niners fan for this week anyway.

[eagle eye]

If you didn't already know the Jaguars surprise success story, RB Denard Robinson, had his season come to an end because of a mid foot sprain. The Jags put him on IR at the beginning of the week. If you picked up Storm Johnson you could dust him off and give him a try. Head coach Gus Bradley said he has been impressed with Johnson in practice the last couple of weeks and he will get another shot in the lineup now that Robinson is out. Johnson was a sixth round pick in this year's draft and he was reunited with his college QB Blake Bortles who was the Jags first round pick this season. Both Johnson and Bortles were standouts on a very good UCF team that upset heavily favored Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. The Jags are hoping that Johnson and Bortles recreate some of their UCF magic in these last 3 games beginning tomorrow against the Baltimore Ravens.

Broncos RB Montee Ball has been placed on IR which isn't a big deal for anybody but Ball and Ball's owners in fantasy leagues. Ronnie Hillman is questionable for the game so it appears that CJ Anderson and Juwan Thompson will continue to carry the load for the Broncos who have morphed into a running team the past 3 games. Peyton Manning has thrown for less than 200 yards the past two weeks as the run game has fueled the Broncos attack. It seems that Denver's brain trust is trying to winterize their offense or maybe just try to emulate the Seahawks formula for success. Possibly GM John Elway has been whispering in head coach John Fox's ear about how he finally found NFL pay dirt when Terrell Owens showed up in the Mile High City. Either way the Broncos have two RBs worth playing. Anderson as a RB1 and Thompson as a flex option.

The Browns have waived kicker Billy Cundiff and signed former Saints kicker Garrett Hartley. Cundiff has been struggling and his limited range has effected the Browns offensive strategy. Not only that, Cundiff has been struggling with a knee issue lately which didn't help his cause. Cundiff missed a first half field goal that would've enabled the Browns to hang on and beat the Colts last week.

The 49ers who have been without All Pro LB NaVorro Bowman all season as he rehabs from a terrible knee injury suffered last year in post season tearing his ACL and MCL was put on IR putting an end to any hopes the Niners had of getting him back this season. The Niners also has lost DL Glen Dorsey to IR when he suffered a torn bicep last week. The hopes that the 49ers could get back into a position to get into the playoffs was dashed last week when the Oakland Raiders beat them. About all San Fran can do now is play spoiler and I'm rooting for them to do a good job.

For all you fantasy-files out there who drafted Adrian Peterson way back in August and have held out hope he would be able to play again this year can "fuh-get about it". Peterson appealed his season long suspension for injuring his son by spanking him with a switch causing severe injuries to the child has been denied. Peterson has stated that he would like to play this season but it won't happen so he will have to look forward to the 2015 season.

Here's a fun game to play--What if! We all do it but NFL.com has a page where you can make your own playoff scenarios bases on who wins or loses in the last 3 weeks of the season. It's kind of interesting and lot less confusing than have the sports networks try to decipher the possibilities.

http://www.nfl.com/playoffs/playoff-picture/predictor