The 3M Report: Week Thirteen

Jeff Haverlack

3msWelcome to the week 13 edition of DLF’s 3M report.

Just how good is J.J. Watt?  Not only is he a nearly unstoppable impact player on the defensive line,  but now the Texans are lining him up as a tight end – and with great success!  Watt scored his third offensive touchdown of the year to go with his two defensive scores.  He’s ridiculous.  I still remember picking Watt up on a whim after he was dropped as a rookie in our DLF Experts League.  He’s been nothing short of incredible ever since, helping lead the DLF team to a championship, a second place finish and the top record in 2014, against what is the best competition in the fantasy business.  Thanks J.J.!

So, Ray Rice is back in the NFL and reportedly has numerous teams after his services.  I’m not sure how I feel about this development.  On one hand, Rice has been nothing but a class act up until the ‘incident.’  He was a great ambassador of the game, was active in the community and a good player in his own right.  He hasn’t been productive in some time in what was a quagmire in the Ravens’ backfield before being released earlier this year.  Now it appears his career may be granted a bit of a reboot.  I’d like to believe Rice deserves another opportunity, but my mind isn’t playing ball.  It could be the brutality of the video was just too raw or it could be the culmination of multiple NFL events this year that have built a greater level of intolerance in my thought process.  Whatever the case, I can’t get there.  The best I can hope for is that Ray Rice makes the best of this opportunity and uses this chance as a springboard to greater things off the field.

[inlinead]How good are the Rams? Or how bad are the Raiders.  After a 52-0 drubbing of Oakland, you have to believe there’s a recipe in St. Louis, even if it may not be completely understood just yet.  The defense is better than advertised, Shaun Hill isn’t terrible and Tre Mason looks like a starting caliber back.  But with only 183 yards through the air on Sunday, I’m not ready to consider the Rams a powerhouse.  After all, they’re still only 5-7 on the year.   Kenny Britt, for all the preseason hype (yet again) should be putting up far better numbers than he is.  Talk about a roster clogger.

This week’s Jekyll and Hyde award goes to the New Orleans Saints.  I don’t know what in the hell to expect from them anymore.  Sorry about the language here, but I have no clue whether they are a playoff caliber team or not.  Their defense is far from good.  Their offense has been surprisingly inconsistent and now there’s talk of the coaching staff not getting along.  The most notable stat from Sunday’s tilt vs. the Steelers, a game in Pittsburgu in which the Saints won by a score of 35-32, was that Jimmy Graham had zero, ZERO, fantasy points.  Put that down in your notebook since you won’t likely see that again.  Drew Brees threw for five touchdowns – to five different receivers.  For the record, Marques Colston looks done and I want to see a lot more of Nick Toon, a good sized receiver who should benefit from Colston’s eventual exit.  Toon did catch a short touchdown on Sunday.

Doug Martin scored a touchdown!  Quick, sell!  Too bad it’s past the trade deadline…

Until Ray Rice was reinstated, the big story this week was the benching of Robert Griffin III.  Most will recall Griffin was the second pick in the NFL Draft, behind only Andrew Luck.  Sunday was to be the first time that the two quarterbacks would meet in the regular season.  As it turns out, Griffin would watch from the sidelines as new head coach Jay Gruden opted to make a change to a quarterback that he felt gives the Skins more opportunity to win.  I ask:  “To what end?”  Owner Daniel Snyder gave up a king’s ransom in order to secure the rights to draft Griffin III.  What followed was a magical rookie year followed by horrific (in my estimation) mismanagement of his injured leg and his confidence following.  Fast forward to another coaching change, a new system and even more pressure to win.  Now with Griffin on the bench, Snyder must choose between his fading star and his new head coach.  In all likelihood, Griffin has played his final down as a Redskin, barring injury to Colt McCoy.  But Griffin’s manageable 2015 contract number will make him a prime trade candidate … but without the premium of garnering a high pick.  The Eagles would seemingly be a perfect fit for Griffin’s option skill set.  The Jets, Bucs and Raiders should be clamoring to add the embattled passer.  Want a really good drama-filled story?  How about Dallas?

Oh, Carolina.  They need help, badly.  No running game, the absence of a quality WR2 and a quarterback, Cam Newton, who seems to be falling into a pattern of going through the motions without the expectation of winning.  Call the Tin Man, this team needs a heart.

Cordarrelle Patterson:  zero receptions, one target.  Time to panic.

Colin Kaepernick is disappointing me to a great degree.  Any time I see a player spending a lot of time reading their own press clippings, making news due to their cars, tattoos or activities after midnight, I cringe.  As they say, nothing good happens after midnight and it’s surprising how often that little phrase plays out.  But it’s far worse when those things are part of a resume’ for a player that isn’t performing on the field.   And Kaepernick is most definitely not performing on the field.  Coaching, chemistry, system or injury – the 49ers look like a shell of what they used to be.  Once one of my super-secret sleepers, there was little doubt in my mind Kaepernick would be rising to a level matching the fantasy elite at the position after a bit of seasoning.  Now, his clock may be ticking.  Unlike many other underperforming teams in the NFL, I can’t put my finger on just what is ailing the 49ers.  Expect a lot of change in the off-season.  Am I alone in my dislike of Jim Harbaugh?  I can’t ignore the fact he did seem to have a recipe for success in 2013, but he just seems to be everything that his brother is not.  He exudes narcissism and whiny in nearly every action to me. Perhaps I’m being unfair.

We’re heading into week 14 and hopefully your team is alive in your league’s playoffs.  Remember not to get “cute” in your lineup decisions.  Let your studs play and take no more risks than you need to in order to secure a win.  This is not the time to take chances, throw caution to the wind or in any other way sit big names that have had a poor week or two.  The last thing you want to experience is your fantasy season ending with your studs going off on the bench.  If you lose with your studs in the lineup, at least you can sleep knowing that you started the players that should have started

Good luck to all.

Follow me on Twitter: @DLF_Jeff

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jeff haverlack