At 11 weeks into the season, I’ve shared several different ways to help people win their leagues. Getting the best value in the draft, making shrewd trades and starting the right players are what I’ve stuck to in order to not only help fantasy owners, but to prevent all of the fantasy torches and pitchforks pointed at me by the collective Internet.
The Sack: SB Nation’s fantasy football mailbag answers your Week 11 questions
Got fantasy football questions? Come to SB Nation’s Fantasy War Room or tweet @TheSackSBN for answers. Every Thursday, a few will be pulled and answered here. This week, we discuss start/sit options and what to make of the Browns backfield.
But now, after three straight weeks of seeing a player get six touchdowns in a week, my strategy has changed. From now on, my advice is to get the player who scores six touchdowns on your team. It's a really fail-safe plan if you can pull it off, so that's my keen advice of the week. As to who that player will be, oh, I dunno. Let's say Jay Cutler. That would be awesome. Let's get to some questions to the remaining few who haven't closed their browsers.
@TheSackSBN RB ROS help. Line up:J.Bell, Hill, B.Tate. On waiver: C.Anderson, McKinnon, Riddick, K.Robinson. Waive/Keep? Thx
— Kendi Ye (@ZoneBlitzes) November 12, 2014 Oh, Ben Tate. Oh, Browns running backs. Oh, how I wish I had a less redundant way of explaining this one.
Imagine you have all three Browns running backs on your roster, and outside of a few obsessed members of the Dawg Pound, nobody does. But if you did, what I’d suggest is printing out your roster, hanging it to your wall, and throwing a dart at it. I suggest this for three reasons. First-- darts aren’t supposed to stick to computers; they kill them. Second-- the cost of repairing your computer is probably more than any fantasy winnings you’d make. And third, this is probably how Browns Head Coach Mike Pettine determines who gets the bulk of the carries each week. Mike Pettine goes through lots of computers. NFL money, man.
Tate is part of the three-headed monster that comprises the Browns backfield, which is a monster that has been known to decimate fantasy football rosters and subsequently, the sanity of fantasy owners. Tate had a pretty good week for fantasy owners in Week 9 because the Bengals decided that stopping the run wasn't in their game plan. Three running backs feasted because of that. That won't happen many more times this season, if it even does.
It looks like Terrance West is the running back to own in Cleveland, although it's going to change week to week, and it's impossible to know without telling nuggets of information from beat reporters, who can be stumped themselves. Since there are good options on your waiver wire, I wouldn't bother with the weekly headache that is Tate. Pick up C.J. Anderson while Ronnie Hillman remains sidelined, as he could run away with the starting job if he performs well enough. In an offense as potent as the Broncos, that's a risk worth taking. To everyone else in deeper leagues that owns Tate, keep him stashed and just... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Let's go down the list. Fred Jackson is not expected to play, so count him out. Jerick McKinnon's a solid but unspectacular option since he's a capable runner with volume, but his upside is capped as long as Matt Asiata continues to vulture touchdowns from him. West is a Browns running back, which I touched on before, however it's worth mentioning that if I had to start one of them, it'd be West. C.J. Anderson's also a fine option to start this week after wowing in Hillman's absence.
Alfred Morris could be ready to break out though, which is too-little-too-late to the ears to any owners who may be out of contention after having to rely on him for so long. Robert Griffin III is back, and though he's been uneven as a passer, he has an effect on the running game.
We all know what Morris did in his rookie campaign, and he even thrived during the team's abysmal 2013 campaign. With RG III in the lineup this year, Morris has 33 carries for 183 yards and two touchdowns, good enough for a 5.5 yards per carry average, well above the 3.5 mark he has otherwise. Even versus a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that's been quietly stout against the run, Morris is worth taking a chance on.
A little preface for the next question-- unless I take questions from the War Room, I usually I get flooded on Twitter them. But the flood this week was more like a drizzle, so I decided to use a question from someone unfortunate enough to have my phone number.
If this wasn’t clearly a message from a person named Andrew, I would not fault readers for thinking this is from Jay Cutler, based on the levels of Don’t Give a F--- or DGAF for short, in this text.
It's looking promising for Jennings to play this week after getting Wednesday and Thursday sessions in. With an underwhelming stable of backs behind him on the chart, his volume alone ought to propel him into RB2 territory. I wish I could tell you to flex Bryce Brown, but even with Fred Jackson out of action, he isn't seeing enough time to warrant a start over a guy like McKinnon.
But since you clearly need to approach matchups versus 10-0 teams with a Cutlerian sense of DGAF, you need to try hitting home runs, not doubles. McKinnon is a double. Vincent Jackson, on the other hand, is Mark Reynolds. He will hit two home runs in a game once per month but strike out three out of four at bats the rest of the way.
Versus a Washington secondary that’s suspect on the back end, Jackson could have that multi home-run game that fantasy owners have wanted for some time. Start VJax this week, and if he strikes out swinging, I really DGAF.
You need to stick to your guns here. It's tempting to get Jordan Matthews into lineups after the week he just had versus the Carolina Panthers, but he's not a superior option over Odell Beckham, Jr. and Golden Tate down the stretch.
Matthews played in just 61 percent of the snaps during the Eagles' blowout win, and while it's great that he put up such great numbers despite that, it's not realistic to expect that's sustainable. Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper remain ahead in the pecking order of playing time, while guys like Beckham and Tate are coming into their own. Tate answered a lot of questions about his potential regression with Calvin Johnson back in action, and fantasy owners have to feel much better about him going forward than they did a week ago.
Hey, guys, thank you for reading this week’s edition of The Sack. If you would like to be in next week’s The Sack, please post your fantasy questions in the comments or tweet me at @TheSackSBN. Be sure to also visit SB Nation’s Fantasy War Room so I can pull questions from there as well.
