Championship Bound: NFL Week 15 Fantasy Football High Fives, Brofists, and Bombs

    My team was able to pull out the win in the second round of the playoffs this week.  The final score was 148.54 to 130.34 and both teams saw surprise lapses in performance from key starters.  NFL week 15 definitely made things interesting, here are the performance awards for my starters:

                                                           HIGH FIVES
If a player exceeded his projections, he gets the ultimate celebratory affirmation of one's prowess, the high five.

WR Eric Decker

WR #2 Eric Decker- Decker came up really big this week. There is an old adage in fantasy sports, always stick with your studs.  That's exactly what I did this week with Decker, and it payed off big time.  Decker seemed to have fallen out of favor with Peyton Manning a few weeks ago.  He did not meet his projections for 4 games in a row, weeks 10-13.  He had a good game in week 14, but Demaryius Thomas was temporarily injured, leading to more targets for Decker.  Baltimore, although injured riddled, is still a good defense.   It was very tempting to sit Decker for another option.  Fortunately, in this case, my options for wide receiver on my bench were not very good.  Losing Percy Harvin to IR hurt my depth at receiver.  My league commish locks the rosters for the playoffs, so picking up someone off waivers was not an option.  I have Donnie Avery and Andrew Hawkins on my bench.  Both have the ability to put up good numbers, but are wildly inconsistent.  If I was going to sub Decker it probably would have been for Avery because of his match up.  The Houston secondary gives up decent fantasy points to wide receivers.  The reason I didn't go with Avery was because the Patriots made Houston look like chumps the week before and the Texans had something to prove going into the game vs. the Colts.  I was already starting TY Hilton in my #3 WR slot,  I wasn't going to chance having two receivers under perform because the Texans were able to get to Andrew Luck.  I stuck with Decker and he brought in 27.30 fantasy points, he was projected at 14.38.  Decker had 8 receptions, 133 yards, and a touchdown.

WR #3 TY Hilton-  Hilton has the ability to make explosive plays.  That is exactly what he did vs. Houston on Sunday.  Hilton hooked up with QB Andrew Luck for a 61 yard touchdown catch.  He totaled 3 receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown.  Hilton cleared his projection by 6 fantasy points in his team's losing effort vs. Houston.

RB Alfred Morris

RB #2 Alfred Morris-  I had a feeling with RG3 out, Morris would have a big game.  RG3 tends to take goal line opportunities away from Morris.  Morris didn't disappoint, running for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He also had 2 receptions for 6 yards.  Morris was a big part of the Redskin's win over Cleveland.  He reaped 23.30 fantasy points for the cause on Sunday, overachieving his projected 14.14.

FLEX DeMarco Murray-  Murray is another example of the always start your studs adage.  Murray had a tough matchup vs. the Steelers on Sunday.  Pittsburgh is still a little banged up, but they are excellent vs. the run.  I stuck with Murray because Romo would still pass the ball often and Murray is the dump off guy.  I get points for running back receptions in my league, so Murray was still viable in my mind.  I have to admit, I got second thoughts when Murray fumbled early in the game in the redzone, but he pulled it together and had a great game for the Cowboys.  Murray was projected at 13.50 and brought in 19.20 fantasy points.  He ran for 81 yards, 1 touchdown and had 4 receptions for 31 yards.

                                                            BROFISTS
If a player meets or comes near to meeting his projections, he gets the modern day version of the ass smack, the brofist.

WR#1 AJ Green-  Green was one of the few bright spots in an ugly win for Cincinnati on Thursday night.  Green was the only wide receiver to catch a pass from QB Andy Dalton the whole night.  The Bengal's wide receiver corps. is riddled with injuries.  Green came within 2 points of meeting his projections bringing home 17.70 fantasy points.  He caught 6 passes for 57 yards and 1 touchdown.

                                                               BOMBS
If a player does not come any where near his projections, he gets nuked...

QB Matthew Stafford

QB Matthew Stafford-  I watched this game and I have to say the Lions looked a lot like my home town Jets this past Sunday.  Stafford had a horrible game, throwing 3 interceptions, 2 of which resulted in Arizona touchdowns.  The Lions pretty much beat themselves in week 15 as Arizona doesn't even have a viable starting quarterback.  Mistakes and a lack of discipline led to the Arizona defense dominating this game.  Megatron is Stafford's only viable target at this point.  Detroit has been decimated by injuries at wide receiver this season.  Stafford underachieved his projection by over 11 points.

RB #1Doug Martin-  I honestly don't know how I won this week with both Stafford and Martin having abysmal games.  I guess it has something to do with my opponent having even more underachievers in Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, and the Cleveland Browns defense.  Tampa Bay had a horrible game vs. New Orleans on Sunday.  Drew Brees carved up the laughable Tampa Bay secondary with the quickness, resulting in Tampa Bay abandoning the run game early.  The New Orleans defense also did a surprisingly good job in containing Martin. Martin underachieved by a staggering 18 points.  Muscle Hamster has been an absolute beast most of the season, so I can't get too upset, especially since I won anyway.

TE Jimmy Graham-  Graham has underachieved in his last 4 games.  Apparently he is playing injured, refusing to get an MRI on his wrist until the season is over.  Although he has underachieved, he still puts up decent numbers.  I don't have a viable back up as Dustin Keller has a high ankle sprain and the my roster is locked for the playoffs.  Hopefully Graham can put together a decent point total for me in the championship game. He missed his projection by 4 points.

DEFENSE San Diego- I didn't expect much from San Diego this week vs. a surging Carolina team.  QB Cam Newton has been on fire lately and Carolina doesn't give up a lot of fantasy point to opposing defenses.  San Diego came up short of their projection by over 5 fantasy points.  They should bounce back next week vs. a Jets team that will be starting their third string quarterback.

                                                          MY BAD BRAH 
The My Bad Brah award goes to the player or players who had exceptional performances but were on my bench.

RB Beanie Wells-  I really don't feel bad about this one.  Beanie Wells benefited from good field position due to Detroit turnovers. I view his 24.70 fantasy point performance on Sunday as somewhat of a fluke. Beanie still hasn't been able to average 4 yards per carry in a game this year.  The Cardinals have no passing game.  Most teams will just stuff the run and force them to try and pass.  This limits Wells productivity.  He is a good bench back to use in an emergency at best.

QB Colin Kaepernick-  Kaepernick shredded the Patriots Sunday night.  He had 4 touchdowns and threw for 216 yards in a monster performance at New England.  New England's secondary had been playing better of late, but that didn't hold up versus  Kaepernick.  Kaepernick acquired 30.44 points for those who started him.  In hindsight, he had a better matchup then Stafford, but I usually stick with my studs.  Kaepernick has a tough game at Seattle this week. so I will most likely take my chances with Stafford in the championship.