AJ Green is always a must start when he plays the Steelers….with week 8’s 11-118-1 line show the Steelers lack of a shutdown corner to take away the opposition’s top target. Green’s dominance of Pittsburgh will continue as it has for their last 6 meetings…..
AJ’s targets the last 6 meetings with the Steelers: 13, 15, 18, 14, 18,15
RotoGrinders advanced stats show the Steelers D giving up the 5th most points to WR over the last 3 weeks with an average of 46.15 points per game
The Steelers D lead the league in 40+ yard pass plays allowed with 19….Andy Dalton is 2nd in the league with 11 40+ yard passes.
The Colts secondary has been the achilles heel of the team all season, especially against talented #2 options. This week the pass happy Jaguars return their breakout WR Allen Hurns from concussion issues to face Indy’s Darius Butler and Greg Toler who got torched by Martavis in week 13.
Pro Football Focus shows Hurns +44 advantage in his matchup vs. Darius Butler as the 3rd best WR matchup of the week
The Colts D has given up 54 (7 last week) 20+ yard receptions on the year …good for the most in the league
RotoGrinders advanced stats show the Colts D giving up the 2nd most points to WR over the last 3 weeks with an average of 50.67 points per game
The Pennystock market is pretty damn bare this week. I think Keyshawn Martin of the Patriots could be a good GPP play with 8 targets last week on the depleted Pats WR core…but 2 drops makes me scared to recommend him as thee Penny of the week because Brady doesn’t take kindly to drops….instead I gave the PS honor to Cecil Shorts III who has quietly gotten healthier and is seeing a heavy dose of work. Not only through the air, with 10 targets in week 13 (more than Nuk). He is also carrying the rock for the Houston offense who is desperate for playmakers. With the heavy usage, Shorts $3,600 salary is a low risk + high reward situation we look for with pennystocks, especially in matchup in which gameflow could increase his normal workload.
Pro Football Focus shows Shorts’ +17 advantage in his matchup vs. Justin Coleman as the best matchup for Hoyer to target in the matchup
Rising NE CB tandem of Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan should give Hoyer a hard time to connect with Hopkins and Washington….FootballOutsiders ranks NE D #25 vs “other WR” (or Shorts in this case) …a good spot for the DIII product
Since the beatdown in Miami, the Houston Texans defense has steadily improved. On the flip side, the injury riddled New England offense has steadily declined. Brandon LaFell was in order for a more prominent role with injuries to Edelman and Gronk, but he has not lived up to the fantasy relevance you would hope from a Tom Brady #1 target. His matchup vs. ascending rookie Kevin Johnson will give LaFell Problems. I expect the Patriots to control the game on the ground with Blount and through the air with short passes to Amendola. This is not a good matchup for LaFell and not worth the $4,700 with so many other tasty matchups in this price range. (Baldwin, VJax, Marvin Jones….to name a few).
