RADIO
The fantasy football playoffs are when managers need the most luck and yet the stakes are highest. During the regular season, there is time to tinker and adjust rosters to find reliable players. By now, those players need to perform up to their standards else managers risk being bounced.
That's where the luck comes in. A playoff matchup is (usually) just one set of games. Anything can happen, both positively and negatively, to even the safest and most consistent players. A team that cruised through the first 13 weeks can easily be eliminated from the playoffs with a couple bad outings from the studs on their roster.
With no margin for error, getting dud performances out of stud players now hurts most of all. It can wash five months of work down the drain in a single Sunday. Here are Week 14's studs turned duds.
Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers
Like we keep saying with all these studs who finally slip up, Jones picked a really bad time to have his worst game of the season. Green Bay was supposed to have an easier time of things than it did against Detroit. The passing game was precise but didn't turn to Jones. He garnered three targets, two catches, and six yards. On the ground, Jones did easily out-touch and outpace Jamaal Williams, but neither back got things going. Jones ran for 69 yards and failed to reach the end zone for the fourth time in his last six games.
It is hard to say that things get better against a shaky Carolina defense this coming week. After all, Detroit is almost as bad as it gets defending the run. The Lions rank 29th in the league. Carolina is more middle-of-the-pack and has been stingy recently, allowing just 3.3 yards per carry the past three weeks. That's the second-best mark in the NFL, trailing only Washington.
Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings
Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp were the incumbent "best WR pair" heading into the season. Chris Godwin and Mike Evans couldn't stay on the field often enough as a duo to compete. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett blew open the castle doors and grabbed the throne. But heading into Week 15, there is another set of teammates where both halves rank as top 12 wide receivers besides the Seahawk pair. That is Jefferson and Thielen in Minnesota.
Jefferson has broken out into the best rookie in the game. He entered Week 14 with four straight big-time performances. Thielen had three straight huge games himself entering the Tampa Bay matchup. Minnesota's passing offense had been rolling. The thing about this group, though, is the high ceilings are mirrored by very low floors. Jefferson had five bust weeks prior to this one. He has essentially developed into the dictionary definition of boom-or-bust. Thielen had three busts as well. This now makes it six for Jefferson and four for Thielen, but the real bizarre thing is that these guys always put up duds together. All four duds from Thielen have also been duds from Jefferson: Weeks 2, 8, 9, and 14.
What this means is that when the Minnesota offense gets shut down, it impacts both guys pretty similarly. There isn't one who Kirk Cousins can rely on. They all fail. And this is bad news for this pair the rest of the way. Coming up next are Chicago and New Orleans, ninth and fourth respectively in points allowed, with New Orleans also being the fourth-best defense against the pass.
Terry McLaurin, Washington Football Team
This is the second straight week for McLaurin registering dud status. Perhaps this one had less to do with him. Alex Smith went down in the first half, turning the game over to Dwayne Haskins. Haskins did not look good, and McLaurin was left with two catches for 24 yards. A couple things are playing in his favor though. First is the Football Team's next opponent. Seattle is dead last in passing yards allowed, 24th in yards per attempt allowed, and 19th in overall yards per play given up. The second favorable nugget is that Washington has won each of the last two games where McLaurin was taken out of the contest. Perhaps he will be less of a focal point next time out, and hopefully Smith will be back behind center to boot.
Baltimore and New Orleans D/ST
Another screwy week for fantasy defenses bears mentioning. The Baltimore fantasy defense is fourth in the NFL in points allowed and seventh in fantasy points generated. New Orleans is fifth and fifth in the same categories. The Saints specifically were also on fire, scoring 75 fantasy points in the past six weeks (depending on league settings). That mark of 12.5 ppg would be head and shoulders above the number-one mark in the league for the full season (Pittsburgh at 10.2 ppg).
With all that said, both scored negative points in Week 14. It is so hard to overcome a negative score, especially when it comes from groups that had been reliable and trustworthy up to this point. Things look much better the rest of the way for Baltimore, facing Jacksonville and the New York Giants. But this may be time to jump off the New Orleans bandwagon and scramble for a matchup-based replacement. The Saints play Kansas City this week.
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