Fantasy football Week 16: 10 matchups to attack
By Joe Romano
Week 15 is in the books. It is time for most fantasy football leagues to prepare for their championship game in Week 16.
If you have made it this far in your fantasy football league you are either in the championship or one game away. That means you survived Week 15’s onslaught of non-fantasy players scoring touchdowns.
Week 15 showed us that the NFL is still completely unpredictable for fantasy football owners. Jacksonville Jaguars wide receivers Keelan Cole and Jayden Mickens had 247 yards and three touchdowns in a Jaguars blow out. New York Giants wide receiver Tavarres King also had a two touchdown performance against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Not only did wide receivers who were previously off the fantasy radar have big games but so did a few quarterbacks. New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning threw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns in the loss. Previously dismissed Denver Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler threw for two scores and ran for another in Denver’s win on Thursday over the Colts. The fantasy week finished with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston throwing for three touchdowns on Monday Night football in a loss.
The biggest performance of the weekend went to the best fantasy football player this season, Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley. The talented do it all back had four total touchdowns in the Rams beat down in Seattle.
Early season fantasy darling Kareem Hunt followed up a Week 14 performance with another great outing against the Chargers rushing for 151 yards and chipping in two touchdowns.
Week 15 also brought back former NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers to face another former MVP Cam Newton. The Panthers came out on top with Rodgers looking rusty. The Packers have a decision to make that the Falcons win on Monday night made a bit easier. The Packers slim playoff hopes have all been dashed by that Atlanta win. Do they risk the franchise quarterbacks’ health the rest of this now lost season?
Week 16 is now here. There are playoff implications all over the NFL from teams getting in to seeding and matchups. Speaking of matchups, here are the 10 best to help you win your league or advance to the championship!
10. Jonathan Stewart, RB, Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The aforementioned Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers battle last Sunday show cased a few things. One of which is that both backs in Carolina will have fantasy value moving forward. Christian McCaffrey caught a touchdown pass and was the back to play against Green Bay. This week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I think the Carolina back you want will be Jonathan Stewart.
The veteran back had his best game of the season two weeks ago. Game script in the Green Bay game kept him off the field. However, he has logged double digit carries in all but one game this season.
With Tampa Bay coming into Week 16 with the fifth worst fantasy defense to opposing running backs, this screams a big Stewart game. In the two team’s initial meeting this season Stewart had 11 carries including a touchdown.
Stewart continues to get the goal line work in Carolina as well. His value is a bit hampered by McCaffrey and Cam Newton’s rushing ability but he is in a great spot this week. He’s a riskier play than most on this list but I like him as a possible week winner in a great matchup.