The Week 14 matchup between the Detroit Lions and the St. Louis Rams features a team on a hot streak against an ice cold opponent. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 14: Lions-Rams featuring Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and Todd Gurley
We break down the Week 14 matchup between the Detroit Lions and the St. Louis Rams.
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions would currently be on a four-game winning streak if not for a late game collapse that cost the team last week’s game against the Green Bay Packers. Still quarterback Matthew Stafford was able to put up some respectable totals. He completed 23 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns in the game. He’s had a rough year overall but at the very least he still playing for pride. This week’s game against St. Louis is going to give him quite the challenge, but at least fantasy owners can start him with the peace of mind of knowing that he hasn’t thrown an interception in three weeks. Turnovers had been a problem for him at various points throughout the year until recently.
As Stafford goes, so goes his favorite wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Megatron only caught three passes against the Green Bay Packers but he managed to squeeze out 44 yards and a touchdown from those looks. He now has four touchdowns in the last two weeks after scoring just three the rest of the season. Johnson likely won’t post a huge yardage total against the Rams, who are pretty good at defending wide receivers, but don’t be surprised if he finds the end zone for the third straight game.
St. Louis Rams
Everyone around the NFL knows that running back Todd Gurley is a superstar in the making. He proved that right off the bat instantly changing the dynamics of the Rams offense in his first NFL game earlier this season. Too bad he wasn’t available over the course of the first month. All of the praise aside, Gurley has rushed for more than 50 yards just once in the last four weeks. It’s hard to blame him for his low totals. Defenses clearly target the run against St. Louis because they know quarterbacks Nick Foles and Case Keenum just haven’t been very good this season. Detroit’s defense has been solid over the last few weeks, so as crazy as it sounds, sticking Gurley on the bench this week is something worth considering.
Given the St. Louis Rams as a team have posted just 10 total points over the last two games combined, it’s hard to argue that there’s anybody else on the squad worth starting outside of Gurley. Fantasy owners in deeper leagues who don’t have a choice however would have to grab wide receiver Tavon Austin. He was limited to a single catch last week, but in Week 12 caught all six targets thrown his way. He’s a gifted player without a doubt, but if you’ve been starting him regularly, your fantasy team probably didn’t make the playoffs anyway.
