Week 11 Fantasy Football Power Rankings: Bengals-Cardinals has plenty of intrigue
Let’s put a fantasy spin on the this week’s action by ranking the games in expected order of point-producing relevance using the over/under totals from VegasInsider.com.
Note: Dollar values in parentheses denote a player’s current week price in the Yahoo Daily Fantasy game. It is displayed for point of reference.
The Triplets
1. Bengals at Cardinals, Sunday, 8:30 p.m., O/U 48.5: We’re always going to look for fleas on Andy Dalton ($35). And he gave the naysayers plenty of ammo on Monday night. Now, he gets another prime-time game. On our Breakfast Table Podcast, Yahoo colleague Scott Pianowski and I talked about how Cincy just needs to bench Jeremy Hill ($15) and make Gio Bernard ($22) the lead back. The opposite of what they did last year. Carson Palmer ($37) leads the NFL in averaging 10.8 air yards per attempt. Essentially tied with Cam Newton ($34). And he’s far and away the leader in average per completion. The NFL average is about 6.2. Michael Floyd ($22) is the team’s best downfield WR but he has a hamstring injury.
[Yahoo Daily Fantasy: $10 could win you $50K in our $350K contest for Week 11]
2. Bills at Patriots, Monday, 8:30 p.m., O/U 48.5: Buffalo’s offense is not remotely bettable. They don’t want to pass. They essentially have one weapon in the passing game. Their quarterback does not produce in line with his YPA and it’s harder to bet on that because his volume is so low. And volume in the passing game is our top fantasy consideration. Tyrod Taylor ($30) appears noticeably slower since his knee injury. The Patriots seem to have taken a big hit with the loss of Julian Edelman but Danny Amendola ($16) is close enough. These New England slot guys are so replaceable. Wes Welker was the original and Edelman the photocopy and Amendola the copy off the photocopy. Can we really tell the difference?
3. Raiders at Lions, Sunday, 1 p.m., O/U 48.5: No idea why this game has such a high over/under. I have no confidence in Matthew Stafford ($32). Calvin Johnson ($31) does not dominate anymore as he’s 18th in yards run per route run out of 29 qualifiers, according to ProFootballFocus. Derek Carr ($38) has 21 TD passes in his last eight games. Amari Cooper ($31) and Michael Crabtree ($29) both have high floors in annual but that doesn’t help you as much in Daily. I think this game goes way under, even though the Raiders defense has been an abomination.
Middle Ground
4. Cowboys at Dolphins, Sunday, 1 p.m., O/U 47.5: All hail Tony Romo ($35) from relieving us from our long national nightmare watching the Cowboys in his absence. It’s funny how even many Dallas fans thought Romo was the cause of their playoff futility. I don’t get the Jay Ajayi ($11) love. Sure he’s been efficient but so is Lamar Miller ($31), for two years now. So how does Ajayi work his way into the lineup?
[Week 11 rankings: Quarterback | Running Back | Receiver | Tight End | Flex | All Positions]
5. Colts at Falcons, Sunday, 1 p.m., O/U 47.5: Matt Ryan ($30, 12 TD passes) has been such a bust. This is hard to do when you have Julio Jones ($33). It’s hurting Jones now, too. This seems like a good game on paper for the Falcons offense, including Devonta Freeman ($34). But Freeman has been stuffed lately (58 carries for 216 yards and 0 rushing TDs last three games, including 12 yards on 12 carries in Week 9). But bet his base rate (4.4/carry, 9 rushing TDs).
6. 49ers at Panthers, Sunday, 1 p.m., O/U 45: Forget the Redskins now. This is not the Saints they’re facing. Cam Newton ($34) gets the high floor due to the bettable rushing volume, unheard of for a quarterback, plus the fact that he’s the team’s primary goal-line back. This is something never before seen in fantasy football from non-Newtons.
7. Buccaneers at Eagles, Sunday, 1 p.m, O/U 45: Chip Kelly was going to revolutionize football, remember? The Eagles are 25th in yards gained per play. That’s behind the Titans. Chip Kelly the GM should tell Chip Kelly the coach to fire Chip Kelly the offensive coordinator.
8. Chiefs at Chargers, Sunday, 4:05 p.m., O/U 44.5: It’s a series of unfortunate events for the San Diego offense. The KC defense seems top shelf now, too. The SD D is 30th in yards allowed per rush, so you want to give Charcandrick West ($22) a spin.
9. Packers at Vikings, Sunday, 4:25 p.m., O/U: 44.5: The Packers are the worst team in football in three-and-out rate. And they are 31st in average gain on first down (4.96), including 31st when rushing (4.26) and 30th when passing (5.47). Last year, the Packers were 7th in average gain on first down (6.52).
Defensive Battles
10. Jets at Texans, Sunday, 1 p.m., O/U 41.5: Darrelle Revis is going to shut down DeAndre Hopkins ($32), who is mostly having a volume year as he’s about average on passer rating on passes thrown to him (91, NFL average is 88.5).
11. Rams at Ravens, Sunday, 1 p.m., O/U 41: Todd Gurley ($34) looked vincible last week, but this is no big deal and just normal running back variance. I wish the Ravens would give Buck Allen ($10) a spin because Justin Forsett ($25) is on the downside at 30 and not good (a pathetic 4.9 yards per CATCH).
12. Broncos at Bears, Sunday, 1 p.m., O/U 41: There’s nothing to project with Brock Osweiler ($20). So don’t place bets on the assumption that the Broncos now are better. Osweiler may be a disaster for all we know.
13. 49ers at Seahawks, Sunday, 4:25 p.m., O/U 40.5: Russell Wilson ($29) gets sacked too much and sacks kill drives. Are there two teams in football who have made less of a draft commitment to offensive skill positions? None are fielding a starting quarterback, wideout, tight end or running back that they drafted in the first round.