Bye Weeks: N/A

Bell is the clear favorite in the Detroit backfield and faces a dysfunctional Bears team in Week 16.

Grab a Helmet

Mark Ingram v. ATL: When this circus of an NFL season began, Ingram was basically a running back afterthought, the 39th most prized player (based on ADP) in 12-team standard leagues. Though the Saints haven’t had the season they probably wanted this year, the former Heisman winner’s easily been their most pleasantly surprising performer. Since returning from an early-season injury in Week 7, he’s ripped off five double-digit efforts and tallied four 100-yard games, totals we’d forgotten New Orleans running backs were even capable of. This week, he draws an Atlanta team that is, stunningly, still very much alive for an NFC South crown, especially if they steal one down in Louisiana. I say “stunningly” because they possess, statistically, the worst pass defense overall and, from a fantasy standpoint, the worst rushing defense. Ingram flogged the Falcons for two scores in the opener and could repeat that effort this weekend.

Joique Bell @ CHI: It’s probably not fair to label the 13th most productive running back a disappointment this season, especially when you consider he wasn’t technically tagged Detroit’s starter back when it began. Maybe “tease” would be more like it. Bell’s been a fantasy tease in 2014, following up solid double-digit efforts with puzzling near no-shows. Wait, I think I just described every running back in the league not named Murray or (Le’Veon) Bell. Luckily for Joique’s owners, he’s saved his very best games for some of his last this regular season. He topped the 20-point mark in Weeks 13 and 14 and wasn’t too shabby last Sunday against the Vikings, notching over 100 total yards in the hard-fought W. The best news? He did that despite the return of Reggie Bush. We now know why the Lions’ brass committed a good chunk of change to their “backup” RB.

Le’Veon Bell v. KC: I’ve already started walking a limb by suggesting you sit the heretofore un-bench-able Peyton Manning and I’m about to get a whole lot ballsier (keep reading), so maybe you could grant me just one gimme this week? Bell more than qualifies. Pittsburgh’s young stud has only failed to tally double digits a single time in 2014. He’s averaging over 31 points PER GAME his last four starts. He’s been no worse than a top three running back since Week 11. Yet, none of that is what amazes me the most about this budding superstar. This does: He’s accumulated more receiving yards than any running back in 2014 (765) and is more than 300 yards clear of all but one of them (Matt Forte). Who saw that coming when he was pounding the leather off tackle back in East Lansing? He gets my vote for fantasy MVP.

Grab a Gatorade

LeSean McCoy @ WAS: He’s been more “Shaky” than “Shady” in 2014 and even a minor late-season renaissance (41 points in Weeks 12 and 13 v. Tennessee and Dallas) seems like ancient history after successive stinkers the last couple weeks. McCoy has clearly been affected by injuries up front and continued uncertainty under center. Making matters worse, his precious few scoring opportunities are now routinely vultured by the smaller Darren Sproles and the sturdier Chris Polk. The drop from fantasy stud to fantasy dud can be quite precipitous, yes? Not that you needed more bad news, but here’s some anyway: His least efficient and second worst fantasy outing of the season (22 yards on 20 carries and 2.2 points) occurred back in Week 3 against Washington, this Saturday’s opponent. Predictability is what separates the fantasy wheat from the chaff and LeSean McCoy is far from predictable heading into Week 16.

Matt Forte v. DET: Steady rockin’ Matt Forte is about all that’s predictable in Soldier Field these days, especially after an alarmingly awful Monday night performance that’s apparently cost Jay Cutler his job, at least temporarily. This would be the same Jay Cutler Chicago committed (gulp) $126 million to this past offseason. Desperate much, Marc Trestman? The stunning demotion of his “franchise quarterback” notwithstanding, Trestman has virtually no chance of retaining his job when the regular season concludes. We don’t really care about what happens then, though, do we? We care about what happens now and here’s my educated guess: Detroit’s ferocious front seven loads up on Forte and makes the marginally talented Jimmy Clausen beat them. Good luck with that, Mr. Clausen. Forte’s really good, granted, but the Lions already have experience stuffing him (see three weeks ago) and now he may as well be wearing a bull’s eye.

Arian Foster v. BAL: It takes some serious courage to sit down top 10 talents like McCoy, Forte, and Arian Foster when your championship hopes are riding on it. It takes that AND a pinch of crazy to recommend sitting ALL of them down. Am I completely losing it? Look, I get playing it conservative and dancing with the big dogs that brung ya’. Safety isn’t always a winning strategy, though. It’s one thing to get blindsided by an Aaron Rodgers stinkbomb. It’s quite another to know your meal ticket’s star is quickly fading (read: his team is crumbling around him) and not have the stones to plant him on the pine. Foster’s got two very bad things working against him Sunday: 1) Case Keenum or Thad Lewis; and 2) a Baltimore run defense that hasn’t allowed a single player to tally more than 12 points this year. Be courageous.


Wide Receivers