Grading My Week 7 Last Minute Fantasy Football Pickups

Talk about a feast-or-famine week.  Either nailed it or picked a stinker.  Have to console myself by saying my Pickups of the Week have been pretty great most of the season to this point.  At least that’s going well.  Just hose other picks…  As always, I’ll be using the standard projections and scoring found at espn.com for these ratings.  Let’s see how I did!

20-50% owned tier

Pickup of the Week – WR Danny Amendola – New England Patriots – Projected 62nd at WR – Finished 10th – Grade: A+++

Another big game and looked great.  Looks like he’ll lose some production to Lafell now as the Pats seem to want to feed Lafell no matter what.  Amendola deserves more but I’m not sure he’ll get it.  Too bad.  Still might be a sneaky play when the match up is right like this one was.

Honorable Mentions

QB Jameis Winston – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Projected 26th at QB – Finished 10th – Grade: A+

Looking better every week and is definitely a nice match up play.  If he gets on track with Evans and gets his other receivers healthy, he’ll have some monster games on occasion the rest of season.

TE Dwayne Allen – Indianapolis Colts – Projected 29th at TE – Finished 33rd – Grade: F

They keep throwing the ball to Fleener and I have no idea why.  Allen is suffering because of that and it’s a shame.  Should be far better than this.

New York Giants Defense – Projected 25th at D – Finished 3rd – Grade: A+++

Quietly a very good fantasy D and I’m patting myself on the back for calling this one in my preseason rankings.  Projected them top 10 and they are sitting tied for 10th in ESPN scoring at this moment.

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Owned 20% or Less

Pickup of the Week – QB Kirk Cousins – Washington NFL Franchise – Projected 23rd at QB – Finished 2nd – Grade: A+++

Good match up and he abused the D getting his star TE back healthy.  Wouldn’t trust him much since I’m not a big believer in his talent.  But good match ups are going to work even for players like him.

Honorable Mentions

RB Branden Oliver – San Diego Chargers – Projected 26th at RB – Finished 29th – Grade: F

Disappointed as the Chargers got blown out early by the Raiders.  Certainly didn’t expect that so bad call here.  Chargers are seemingly the most erratic team in fantasy this season.  Would hate owning anyone on that team outside of Rivers right now.

WR Brian Quick – St. Louis Rams – Projected 73rd at WR – Finished with Zero – Grade: F—

They tried going deep to him…once.  And a penalty was called.  Still think he’s worth keeping an eye on but this was a huge disappointment to me.  Really thought he’d have a good one after the bye.

Oakland Raiders Defense – Projected 28th at D – Finished 22nd – Grade: D

Would have been a good game had they not given up 23 fourth quarter points.  Was smiling about this pick for the first 45 minutes of that game…

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 7

Week 7 – @ Washington – L 30-31

QB: Winston a good game but wasn’t overly accurate.  Receivers made plays for him.  Does seem to be progressing pretty well.  Just needs targets to stay/get healthy.

RB: Martin another big game and is looking great right now.  Came against tough match up and he gashed the D.  Line is giving him space and he is killing.  Sims okay game but is no threat to Martin.

WR: Jackson injured early.  Evans a huge game and looks fully healthy.  Made some great plays on the ball and looked like the player from last season.

TE: Seferian-Jenkins should be back soon.  No one else matters for fantasy.

OL: Great game in fairly tough match up.  Handled good pass rush all game long.  Run blocking was excellent.  Open up just enough for runners to exploit D.

Def: Run D was solid but early lead limited attempts against.  Torched by the pass again.  Really wasn’t covering anything.  O was finding holes in coverage all game.  Gave up huge game to TE.  Decent games to WRs.

Last Minute Fantasy Football Pickups of Week 7 – Amendola and Cousins

All I can say is the match ups this week are much more fascinating than usual.  Super risky plays but they look so good on paper.  As always, I’ll be using the ownership percentages from CBS Sports since they are typically the highest and these guys will be even easier to find on waivers on other sites.  Let’s pick ’em and play ’em!

20%-50% Owned

Pickup of the Week – WR Danny Amendola – New England Patriots – Owned: 36%

Had a good game last week and could repeat that this week.  I’m partial to a few things in fantasy when making these picks and the #2 WR on a team playing a D with an elite CB probably covering the #1 is one of them.  I’m assuming Revis might try to follow Edelman which will give Amendola additional looks, kind of like last week with the Colts and Davis.  All signs to point to another nice week for Amendola and he’ll be worth firing up again, especially in PPR.  (Projection: 8-95-1)

Honorable Mentions

QB Jameis Winston – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Owned: 35% – Coming off the bye and gets a Washington D that is bad against the pass (assuming the O line can nullify their very good pass rush).  Should be ready for the match up and be able to chuck it to those giant WRs of his.  (275-3)

TE Dwayne Allen – Indianapolis Colts – Owned: 44% – Nearly got in the end zone last week but let me down after picking him.  Think his luck changes this week against a Saints team that’s been rather generous to TEs this season.  Roll with him.  (5-55-1)

New York Giants Defense – Owned: 30% – Has played pretty well most of the season and now get a Cowboys team at home that will be starting Cassel at QB who has 4 more picks than TDs over his last four seasons combined.  Looks rather juicy on paper.  (12 fantasy points)

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Owned 20% or less

Pickup of the Week – QB Kirk Cousins – Washington NFL Franchise – Owned: 12%

If there is a time you would throw him in your lineup, this looks like the best opportunity.  Hasn’t played well this season but the match ups have actually been a bit brutal.  3 top 12 passing Ds, the Eagles as they’ve started to put things right, and underrated Falcons and Giants Ds.  Now he gets a Tampa D that just made Bortles look like Unitas.  If his line can give him time, he could put up some pretty good numbers.  The return of Jordan Reed also helps a ton.  Should be better than expected in a nice match up.  (265-3)

Honorable Mentions

RB Branden Oliver – San Diego Chargers – Owned: 15% – An even better play if Gordon ends up not playing because of the ankle.  I liked him last season and think he’d be great against the Raiders this week if he was the feature back.  Worth the gamble if he gets the start.  (80 total yards-1)

WR Brian Quick – St. Louis Rams – Owned: 7% – A forgotten dark horse and massive risk this week but there might be some light in this tunnel.  Returned two weeks ago before their bye and should presumably be fully healthy now and have some extra reps with his new QB.  Gets a Haden-less Browns D that has been generous to WRs this season.  Don’t forget about him!  (4-85-1)

Oakland Raiders Defense – Owned: 3% – Coming off their bye and now get a very injured Chargers team that has been good to opposing Ds.  Del Rio seems to have this D playing better as they have kept opponents to an average of just under 20 PPG the past three games.  Not a bad option if you don’t like your D this week. (10 fantasy points)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 5

Week 5 – vs Jacksonville – W 38-31

QB: Winston didn’t have to do much as run game dominated.  Was okay in this one but still missed a few throws he should make.  Isn’t afraid to throw at his studs even when coverage is good.

RB: Martin a monster game and looked incredible.  Was juking people to death and breaking a ton of tackles.  Looked like a top 5 back in this game.  Sims a good game but definitely doesn’t have Martin’s quickness.  He isn’t close to threatening Martin’s job.

WR: Game flow hurt.  Evans an average game while Jackson did nearly nothing.  They’ll be fine when run game isn’t so good.  Evans did look a little better and seems to be getting healthier every week.

TE: Ignore.

OL: Great game run blocking although RB made them look better than they were.  Pass protection was okay and is still a problem for this team.

Def: Was decent against the run but not great.  O chose not to run as much.  Torched through the air.  Receivers were just more talented and kept making great plays.  Gave up monster to WRs and good game to RB.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 4

Week 4 – vs Carolina – L 23-37

QB: Winston awful in this one.  Bad decisions and throws led to 4 picks.  Only had eyes for one receiver and paid for it.

RB: Martin a huge game and looked great while it was close.  Could be very good if line can block like this.  Potential continues to be there.  Just needs the supporting cast.

WR: Jackson a huge game as QB was mostly only looking his way.  Still uses his size pretty well and catches nearly everything.  Evans held in check and just wasn’t getting looks.  Have to wonder what was going on in this one?

TE: Nearly nothing.  Ignore.

OL: Run blocking was surprisingly good in this one.  Wasn’t protecting at all.  Got blown away off the snap quite a few times.  Looked really ugly on some plays.

Def: Didn’t give up a ton because of ineptitude of own O.  Still got ran on fairly easily.  A better passing game would have also done more damage.  Gave up good game to #1 WR.  Held good TE in check.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 3

Week 3 – @ Houston – L 9-19

QB: Winston an average game but could have been far better if not for dropped passes.  Was certainly better than numbers suggested.  Handled tough pass rush fairly well.

RB: Martin a below average game as line did little for him.  Sims busted one pass for a TD but did little else.  Martin is still the better player and shouldn’t lose the job.

WR: Evans a good game despite some dropped passes and not being on the same page as QB.  Should get better with more time with QB.  Jackson below average but was getting one foot down away from a TD.  Still looks great.

TE: Seferian-Jenkins out a while.  Myers did little.  Wouldn’t trust but he’ll get a couple TDs before starter returns.

OL: Decent job against tough D front.  Protected reasonably well.  Wasn’t great for run game.  Just couldn’t get runners to second level.

Def: All kinds of bad again.  Pounded by run game.  Not much of a pass rush.  Coverage wasn’t great.  Was lucky they weren’t playing a better O.  Gave up huge games to RB and #1 WR.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 2

Week 2 – @ NO – W 26-19

QB: Winston was solid in this one.  Accuracy was a little worse than numbers indicate as receivers were constantly jumping to make plays.  Overall, was good and should be a good play against bad Ds like this one.

RB: Martin got some blocking and ran well against bad D.  Clearly, the best RB on this team and should be a solid play when match up is right.  Sims was good on his touches but no reason to think he gets an increase in upcoming weeks.

WR: Evans played but only as a decoy.  Jackson looked great making some very good leaping catches on high balls.  Doesn’t look like he has lost anything at this point in his career.

TE: Seferian-Jenkins looked good but got hurt.  As I stated before the season started, he’ll be a top 10 TE if he can stay on the field.

OL: Nice outing overall against weak D.  Was blowing away D but doing just enough to give runners a hole.  Pass protection was average.

Def: Defensive front looked as good as last season in this one.  Just wasn’t allowing O line to open holes for runners.  Clogged everything and kept pressure on QB.  Gave up good game to RB and decent games to WRs.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 1

Week 1 – vs Tennessee – L 14-42

QB: Winston was rushed and hit all game.  Made some good throws but missed badly a little too often.  O line might be too big a problem for him to be usable.  Not putting up numbers against this D could be telling sign.

RB: Martin looked very good but game was out of hand quick.  He’s clearly the best runner on this team.  Should be fine in closer games.  Just needs better play around him.

WR: Evans DNP.  Jackson an okay game but should have had at least 1 TD.  Looks fine and should put up comparable numbers to last season once Evans returns.

TE: Seferian-Jenkins a monster game and looks like a stud.  Moves really well after the catch and should have no trouble getting open against anyone.  Probably a top 10 TE and might even sneak into the top 5 this season.

OL: Better run blocking than last season but pass protection a huge problem in this one.  Could be a bad sign considering the opponent.

Def: Still awful and looked worse up front than last season.  Couldn’t stop the run and coverage was just laughable.  Gave up huge games to QB, RB, and #1 WR.  Good game to TE and #2 WR.  Horrendous.