Bye Weeks: Atlanta, Indianapolis, San Diego, San Francisco
Coming off his best game in weeks, Cobb
has a decent mathup against a struggling Lions defense.
Grab a Helmet
Randall
Cobb / Davante
Adams v. DET: Whether because of game flow, or an exhausted
Carolina defense, the Green Bay passing game showed serious signs
of life last week on the road. Cobb had his best game since Week
3, and Adams put together easily his best game of the year. Cobb
desperately needs Adams to take some defensive attention away, as
the loss of Nelson has really exposed Cobb as a complementary receiver.
The toothless Lions come to town this week, playing some of the
worst defensive football in the league. They’ve been crushed by
No.1 receivers all year, and this is a great spot to watch the Packer
offense get healthy. Cobb is a fine WR1 option, and Adams has sneaky
WR2 upside from the WR3 position.
Kamar
Aiken/Chris
Givens v. JAX: Another pair of teammates that have a
juicy on paper match-up is Aiken and Givens. With the loss of Steve
Smith, someone on this offense has to step up to catch passes. Aiken
should serve as more of a decent floor/low ceiling possession receiver,
and Givens plays the low floor/high ceiling deep threat. The Ravens’
offense had a chance to gel after the bye, and they get a Jaguars
defense at home that is giving up the 7th highest passer rating
(99.0), and has given up the 11th most yards in the league. I wouldn’t
be shocked to see Givens hit a deep score, and Aiken to be an asset
in PPR leagues. Both are worth a start as WR3 plays depending on
your scoring format.
Jordan
Reed v. NO: As expected, Reed saw a slight dip in targets
with the return of DJax, and a meaningless touchdown kept his Week
9 from being a total disaster. But this week Reed gets the hapless
Saints defense who have given up the second most fantasy points
to tight ends this year, and will have their hands full with Washington’s
outside threats. Reed should have plenty of room to work underneath
against an undersized Saints linebacker core. The matchup and ceiling
make Reed a no-brainer upper tier TE1 this week.
Grab Some Pine
Jeremy
Maclin @ DEN: On most other pass offenses in the league
I’d consider the absence of Aqib Talib to be a serious upgrade.
But this is the risk averse Chiefs we’re talking about. Even without
their best cover corner, Denver still has the horses in the stable
to make life rough for Maclin and Alex Smith. Maclin will see
his fair share of Chris Harris Jr. and I look for this to be a
game Travis Kelce dominates looks down the seam. After monster
target games in Weeks 3, 4 and 5, Maclin has only been targeted
9 times in the last two weeks. This should be a fairly close game
throughout, so don’t count on garbage points either. On the road,
look for Andy Reid to stay conservative and with the run game,
further limiting Maclin’s chances.
Sammy
Watkins @ NYJ (THU): So the Jets secondary was effectively
roasted by the Jaguars last week, as both Hurns and Robinson went
over 100 yards and a score. Watkins did his fair share of fire
walking last week as he tallied a monster 8-168-1 line against
the Fins. Most impressive about last week’s game was that Watkins
was coming off lingering injuries, and caught all eight of his
targets. But as the only threat in the passing game, and still
hobbled (what else is new) I fully expect the Jets to go out of
their way to eliminate Watkins as an option. The Jets can afford
to have Revis babysit him the entire game, and this puts a serious
cap on Sammy’s output. Don’t chase the big points from last week,
and look for other options instead.
Odell
Beckham Jr. v. NE: I’m falling into the “Bellicheck
shuts down the other team’s best offensive threat”
trap here, but the Giants offense does happen to play into this
theory this week. They have a schizophrenic running game, and
inconsistent pass catching options behind OBJ. New England, despite
having big leads in most games, have given up only the 16th most
passing yards in the league, and severely limit splash plays (only
two 40-plus yard pass plays surrendered), which is what gives
Beckham his usual high ceiling. Beckham won’t be blanked,
but don’t look for him to single handedly win you the week
either.
