All About the Solo: Week Fourteen
One of the more frustrating things in IDP leagues is seeing your stud linebacker fly all over the field on game days only to see the home score keeper dilute his performance by divvying up his tackles as an assist. Not everybody knows this, but the NFL does not recognize a tackle as an official statistic. Tackles are scored by the home team’s official score keeper and those are the stats you see on news and stats sites. The league made an effort to standardize what is and isn’t a solo tackle back in 2007 when they sent a video to all NFL teams, but it still the discretion of the score keeper and there is a large disparity from team to team and week-to-week. I will be tracking this throughout the season to give you a better idea of what to expect when choosing your IDPs each week. The chart below shows the results through week 14.
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View the entire spreadsheet.
The Rams defense has finally lived up to the preseason hype by delivering back to back shutouts of the Raiders and the Redskins. Getting Chris Long back two weeks ago has just added to their arsenal up front. They have 13 sacks, two fumble recoveries and three interceptions since his return. This week they face the Arizona Cardinals littered with back-ups and quarterback Drew Stanton has been noticeably worse on the road. There is little reason to believe the hot streak won’t continue another week.
With practically no pass rush of note, the Falcons figure to have a tough time slowing down the Steelers offense indoors on their fast track. Paul Worrilow is a must start at the linebacker position and Dwight Lowery is the only member of the secondary I trust today unless some definitive news is provided on William Moore’s injury. If he suits up I would have a hard time trusting him or Kemal Ishmael who didn’t start last week but ended up playing 76% of the defensive snaps.
Jamie Collins was a beast last week without Dont’a Hightower in the lineup. He had eight solo tackles, an assist, two sacks and three tackles for loss. As of Wednesday afternoon, Hightower was a “limited” participant in practice but with New England we never know what’s true. On the other side, Reshad Jones is a virtual lock to be a top five option at safety this week. Since returning in week six, he’s the top IDP safety in nearly every league. Even though the Dolphins beat the Patriots in week one and Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon combined for three sacks, I have a hard time trusting them this week. Tom Brady has only been sacked twice in the last four weeks.
I would not downgrade any of my Buffalo defensive linemen this week when Green Bay comes to town. Aaron Rodgers is playing ridiculously great right now but there were too many times he danced around to extend the play against the Falcons on Monday night. Atlanta’s pass rush is a joke but Buffalo is the polar opposite. Don’t get too cute and over think it in the playoffs, Mario Williams, Marcel Dareus and Jerry Hughes should be in your lineups.
Danny Lansanah played 100% of the snaps for the Tampa Bay Bucs last week and with Lavonte David nursing another injury he is line to make a big impact this week against the Cam Newton-less Panthers. Brandon McDougald looks to have taken the starting job away from Major Wright but they’re sharing playing time. McDougald played 87% versus Wright’s 42%. Both are too risky to be playing with playoff matches on the line.
The safety tandem of Harrison Smith and Robert Blanton continue to be among the league’s elite. The two combined for 19 tackles and a sack last week against the Jets and now face the Lions who are giving up the 12th most fantasy points to opposing safeties.
I don’t know what to make of the Seattle and San Francisco game this week. Outside of the obvious plays of Chris Borland and Bobby Wagner I don’t trust anyone confidently. K.J. Wright, Aldon Smith and Antoine Bethea are players I wouldn’t bench but I don’t consider them must plays. This 49ers team looks like they’ve given up on Jim Harbaugh or Jim Harbaugh has given up on them. The regression of Colin Kaepernick and the removal of Vernon Davis from the game plan is mind numbing.
Speaking of the wheels falling off, panic is growing in New Orleans. Kenny Vaccaro has been benched and a major overhaul seems to be on the horizon. Curtis Lofton and Cameron Jordan are the only players I trust. Anyone else is too risky in my opinion.
If you’re beating yourself up trying to figure out who to start or who to sit this week, the DLF IDP crew is available on Twitter 24/7.
Follow me on Twitter @OlingerIDP.
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- Dynasty IDP Waiver Wire: Week Seven - October 24, 2018
- Dynasty IDP Waiver Wire: Week Six - October 16, 2018
- Dynasty IDP Waiver Wire: Week Five - October 10, 2018
