Sunday Six Pack: Week Sixteen

Jarrett Behar

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We’re with you every Sunday to provide the Sunday Six Pack, an article featuring six of the biggest story lines heading into each and every week of the season. Keeping tabs on these events will keep you prepared and informed throughout the season – just don’t drive within six hours of reading this. With that in mind, let’s take a look at this week’s Sunday Six Pack:

Can #1) Turn On Your Hartline

I had to pull this one out again for a man who is the PPR WR22 through 15 weeks — the often underappreciated, but rarely duplicated Brian Hartline.  The main beneficiary of the presence of Mike Wallace, Hartline has been a reliable PPR option all season and has even managed to quadruple his single season touchdown count from the past several years.  He’s averaging 8.5 targets per game, which is more than enough to support the low end WR2/high end WR3 value he has provided this year.  Perhaps because their run defense is so porous (ranked just 26th in the league in average rushing yards per game given up), the Bills are ranked 8th against the pass.  Hartline is a decent fill in option for those suffering from the Wes Welker concussion blues.  I’d start him over Andre Caldwell, among others.

Can #2) I Wanna Be TRich

It’s not just a great song by recording artist Calloway, but its also a reason to celebrate that the Colts and Trent Richardson finally appeared to be on the road to TRich being a productive fantasy asset again.  Yes, 19 carries for 64 yards for a mediocre 3.4 ypc is nothing to get too excited about.  What was encouraging, however, was the four receptions for 38 yards and a touchdown on six targets.  Richardson is an above-average receiver out of the backfield and hopefully this is the start of a trend where the Colts utilize him in that role.  With Donald Brown returning this week and a trip to Arrowhead and the stingy Chiefs defense on the schedule, it will certainly be interesting to see what Richardson can do this week.  He still needs to be treated as a low-end FLEX for fantasy Super Bowl week.

Can #3) CJAllTheWayK

The resurgence of Chris Johnson as a solid PPR RB1 has carried many teams to championship games this week.  Currently the PPR RB9, CJ may just barely reach 1,000 yards by seasons end, but is on pace to catch 43 passes and hasn’t had a single digit scoring day since a predictable one week six against Seattle. Now, Johnson gets the Jacksonville Jaguars and their 30th ranked run defense in terms of average rushing yards per game given up. Combine that with the fact that 55% of his targets have come since Ryan Fitzpatrick regained the starting job in Week 10, and its all systems go on Johnson in your championship lineups.

Can #4) Still Brees

Although he still had a solid fantasy day behind 56 passing attempts in Week 15 against the St. Louis Rams, Drew Brees has still put up two clunkers in real football terms in two of the last three weeks.  Now he travels to Carolina to play the Panthers with the NFC South division lead and a possible number 2 seed on the line against a Panthers team that is looking for revenge from the Week 14 immolation at the hands of Brees and the Saints in the Superdome.  This game is at home, however, and the Panthers are still ranked fifth in the league in terms of average passing yards per game given up.  In addition, the Saints are trotting out rookie LT Terron Armstead to protect Brees’ backside.  I have always advocated starting your studs, but I do think there is a little more risk involve in trotting Drew Brees out there in this championship week.

Can #5)  All He Does Is Score PPR Points

Who’s the Pittsburgh Steeler receiver who continues to raise the PPR bar?  Antonio Brown.  Damn right.  Currently ranked as the PPR WR3, Brown’s lowest PPR game is 10.9 Week 13 against the Ravens. In fact, he’s the only receiver to score in double digits in every game this season.  Another underappreciated player, he’s Big Ben Roethlisberger’s go to guy, and even kicks in on special teams, thus adding value in leagues that give points for return scores (as he did last week against the Bengals).  This week Brown gets the Green Bay Packers and their 22nd ranked passing defense in terms of average passing yards per game given up.  I know you were never considering benching Brown, but maybe its time we start to reconsider where he sits in our collective dynasty receiver rankings.

Can #6)  Here’s Where You Can Put Your Clavicle Jokes

For all of the mid-season Danny Woodhead hype, the real running back who should have been in your starting lineup these last several weeks is the resurgent Ryan Mathews.  Rising like a phoenix from a pyre made of broken clavicles and pulled hamstrings, Mathews is currently the PPR RB18 and is the PPR RB8 since Week 10 (Woodhead is just the PPR RB24 in that time period).  Now, the Oakland Raiders are actually ranked 9th in terms of average rushing yards given up per game, and yes, Jamaal Charles big game largely came on the back of receptions, not carries last week, but most of that damage was yards after the catch, and the Chargers have shown a commitment (and, more importantly have been winning games, including at Kansas City and at Denver) on the back of that Mathews and that running game.  One more big performance on championship week and the joke may end up on all those people that wrote Mathews off prematurely.