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Week 14 fantasy football preview: Bad weather has us turning to the Falcons for help, welcome back J

Hello again friends, and welcome to the final week of the fantasy regular season (for most leagues). There’s a lot on the line for many of you out there and this week can determine how the following three play out. So let’s get prepared to come out on top no matter the situation — whether it’s trying to clinch a playoff spot, get a first round bye or — even better yet — win a regular season title!

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We come off of a brutal Week 13, injury-wise, that saw us lose some valuable players who were mainstays in our weekly lineups; none bigger then superstar rookie Tank Dell, who had emerged as a legit Top 12 WR1 this season. Dell was the type of player you dream about having on your fantasy team every year because you either drafted him very late or got him off the waiver wire. And when you can get a big-time contributor like him — or a Kyren Williams — and they cost you little to nothing on draft day but perform like a first round pick, it usually adds up to you having a monster lineup… and season. And now, unfortunately, Dell is gone from your team as we enter the most critical part of the fantasy season. If Noah Brown is sitting out there on the wire, scoop him up and hope he absorbs a lot of the targets Dell was seeing. My outlook on the Texans offense is this: Nico Collins is a top 10 WR1 rest of the season and Dalton Schultz, who returned to practice Wednesday after missing last week, gets a huge bump and will have a few Top 6 TE weeks moving forward. The Texans are up against the Jets this week — and it’s outdoors, where bad weather is expected — so I would downgrade the passing offense. For the three week playoff run, however, I’d expect this Texans offense to keep on humming.

We’re hearing about a lot of bad weather for all these east coast games in a critical Week 14 and one team keeps sticking out to me as an option to turn to in a handful of my leagues — and maybe yours, too, if need be. And that team is… the Atlanta Falcons. I know, it might sound a little nuts, but when you think of all of the backup and unproductive QBs starting this week mixed in with the aforementioned bad weather, maybe you need a late pivot and the Falcons, playing at home in the comfort of the dome in a very big game vs. a Tampa Bay defense that is all sorts of banged up, I can see Desmond Ridder and this offense putting up solid production. Drake London and/or Kyle Pitts could bail out some needy fantasy managers in the process. Just something for you all to keep in mind if you’re in need of help. I’m pretty sure Ridder is still available on the wire.

It looks like we dodged a huge bullet, my fellow Trevor Lawerence managers. Not so lucky for us Christian Kirk managers, though. Huge bummer. As for this Jags offense? If I can avoid playing any Jags this week outdoors in Cleveland, I would. I fully expect Lawerence to sit this one out as they try to get their star QB healthy for Week 15 and the stretch run as they try to win the AFC South and host a playoff game. After the opening week of the fantasy playoffs vs. a tough Ravens defense, the Jags and Lawerence get two dream matchups against the Panthers and Bucs in the semis and championship weeks. Get healthy, Trev!!!

I’m sure the Eagles fans from last week who didn’t take kindly to my prediction of the 49ers going into the Linc and putting a beating on the Eagles will be back in the comment section to accept their loss graciously… But for real, outstanding performance by Brock Purdy and the whole 49ers offense. They got the Eagles at the right time and I hope we all get to see Round 2 in January with a healthier Jalen Hurts and full Eagles roster. These two teams are right on par with each other and the top two teams in the NFL. Deebo Samuel has really paid off his third round fantasy draft spot after a season of mostly being banged up. If he can stay hot and on this roll he’s on, he and Brandon Aiyuk belong in the discussion for best WR duo in the NFL. They are forming a deadly 1-2 punch and are putting Brock Purdy in contention for the MVP race.

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Now, the two QBs ahead of him in that MVP race get to face off this week in Dallas, where Jalen Hurts and the Eagles visit the Cowboys. Get your popcorn ready for this one! We just saw Dallas have some big numbers put on them by Geno Smith and the Seahawks in a shockingly great Thursday night game — and now we get an Eagles team coming in with the (likely) return of their star tight end, Dallas Goedert, to add to the firepower of this offense. On the Eagles side, I look for D’Andre Swift to have a huge bounceback game. With a playoff schedule of Seattle, NY Giants and Arizona I think Swift has a chance to be a real difference-maker in deciding fantasy championships. I’m hoping that the return of Goedert doesn’t slow down and/or put a wrench into the heater and production of DeVonta Smith. But with Goedert back, some of those targets have to be spread out.

As for Dallas, there is no hotter QB/WR combo than Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. I see no reason for that to stop in this one and the Eagles’ secondary is getting roasted on a weekly basis. Hopefully we see the scoreboard lit up in this one, as expected.

Ja’Marr Chase managers, take a deep breath. We’re going to be OK with the kid Jake Browning. He’s a more than capable QB and smart enough to get the ball to his star wideout. Good to see.

The return of the No. 1 overall fantasy wide receiver Justin Jefferson is this week!  If you’re lucky enough to be in playoff contention and get to add J.J. back into your fantasy lineup — congratulations to you and know that nobody wants to see your team in the fantasy playoffs. I thought it was absurd for Kevin O’Connell to put out there that Josh Dobbs might not start after what he did for this franchise and the games he won with his performances when he came over from Arizona. I get it, he was terrible vs. the Bears on Monday Night Football, but to forget about what he did for the team and hang him out to dry after the last game, that was weird. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dobbs is a Top 6 QB the rest of the way now that he’s getting back Jefferson to go along with T.J. Hockenson and Jordan Addison. This team could really put up some big numbers these final weeks.

We have another opportunity to look like heroes and score points with our significant others this Thursday night when the Pats and Steelers face off in a snooze fest. Go out to dinner and skip this one; it has 17-6 written all over it. I’m starting to think Najee Harris might be in doubt and if that’s the case? Hello RB1 Jaylen Warren!! Rest up, Najee.

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The perfect Week 14 fantasy lineup

QB1: Justin Fields (This Lions defense is getting torched last few weeks and Fields almost pulled off this upset three weeks ago. Watch for weather in this one and if it’s bad I’d go elsewhere.)

RB1: De’Von Achane (The Dolphins are 14 point favorites and the Titans lost big Jeffery Simmons in the middle. Plenty of rushing opportunities will be available after Miami puts this one to bed early.)

RB2: Jerome Ford (Supposed to be a typical Cleveland December weather game and you’re bringing in a Florida team that just got run all over by the Bengals. Look for Ford to go for over 100 yards and find the end zone.)

WR1: Davante Adams (Fresh off his bye week, indoors, against a secondary that has no answer for Adams. He drops a 9/140 TD game here.)

WR2: DJ Moore (Sticking with my Bears combo this week — as long as the weather holds up — and I think DJ and Fields hook up for a few scores in this one. Lions had no answer for them in first matchup.)

WR3: Drake London (Going deep on this one. London was sent to the abyss of the Jets secondary last week but gets to bounce back in a good spot this week. He’s the star of the day and goes 8/125 and 2 TDs.)

TE1: Jake Ferguson (Had a really nice game last week and there will be plenty of chances for him to make it two in a row, as I don’t expect much from Dallas on the ground — Dak will throw it 40+ times in this one. The big tight end goes 6/85/TD.)

Finally, as always., I’ll leave you with…

10 thoughts as we enter Week 14 in fantasy football

  • Really digging this Week 14 slate. Bills vs. Chiefs in the late window leading into Eagles and Cowboys and then you give us two Monday night games on top of it all.
  • Speaking of the Monday night games, whose idea was it to have both games start at the same time and not at least stagger them by an hour? NFL just can’t get it right.
  • Washington couldn’t get the ball in Terry McLaurin’s hands one time in a blowout?
  • Dawson Knox is back practicing in full this week. Just in time to ruin Christmas and Dalton Kincaid’s targets.
  • Rachaad White has really turned his season around from where it was early on. He’s now an every-week RB1 and I had him labeled as a bust six weeks ago. He and Mike Evans are elite options on a bad team. Rare to see.
  • Ok, so not the numbers we were hoping for in our first game back as a bell-cow, Zach Moss. But the snap percentage and volume were there. Better days ahead.
  • Make sure you are preparing your teams for the fantasy playoffs this week and not waiting until next if you know you’re in. Back up your QBs and map out your fantasy defenses for a three-week run.
  • Something tells me Jordan Love to Jayden Reed is going to be a sneaky winning combination the next 4 weeks. Still no update on Christian Watson at the time of writing this but I think he’s out a while, if I had to guess.
  • I’m keeping a close eye this week on the Bears and Ravens backfields out of their bye weeks. Last we saw them it looked as if Keaton Mitchell was taking over as the lead guy and Roschon Johnson was the lead for the Bears — but D’Onta Foreman was out that game. With not much going for the Bears down the stretch it would be dumb not to make Johnson the lead the rest of the way.
  • That’s the DK Metcalf we signed up for in the 3rd round this year! Get hot stay hot DK!     
  • Good luck in week 14 and please listen and review Fantasy Empire, my weekly podcast with Nando Di Fino. You can just review it if you want, you don’t have to listen every week!

    (Top photo: Todd Kirkland/Getty Images; gif via GIPHY)

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