Studs & Duds Week 11
Welcome back to my Week 11 edition of my Studs & Duds article. Last week I had my worst picks so far this season. I had a total of 3 hits, while I missed on 9 of my picks. Everyone's got to have a down week once and a while right? I'm looking to get back on track this week. Last week I hit on my picks on Matthew Stafford, David Johnson, and T.Y. Hilton. I had Stafford as a Dud last week and he finished as the QB17. Johnson on the other hand, I had as a stud and man did he show up. He finished as the RB1 on the week scoring a total of 37.3 fantasy points in PPR scoring. I had Hilton as a dud, and he only caught 3 passes for 77 yards. Wasn't his best game. For my misses it was just about everyone. Rivers had a down game not even throwing for 250 yards against one of the worst passing defenses. Duke Johnson didn't get enough work in the passing game and although he did score, he finished as the RB19. Exactly where I had ranked him last week funny enough. I had Kerryon Johnson as a dud and he decided to score the first rushing touchdown on the Bears this season. He ended the day as the RB12. As for my other RB dud, Zeke laughed in my face as he put up the 3rd highest point total this week. The Eagles defense just looks defeated. I had Josh Gordon and Tyler Boyd as my stud WR last week and neither showed up. They both failed to score enough points to be inside the top 25 WR for the week. The other WR miss was on Allen Robinson. He completely blew up in this game getting 133 yards and two touchdowns. For my last two misses, the common trend of missing on my TE picks continued. Both Jordan Reed (Stud) and Eric Ebron (Dud) proved me wrong. Reed had only 51 yards in his game. Ebron on the other hand blew up for 3 touchdowns. His was a little more of a fluke due to he only had 4 touches and played under 40 % of snaps. I'll look to redeem myself this week as I look to bound back from a terrible week 10.
Studs:
QB: Andrew Luck- He has been unstoppable since week 3. He was still getting the rust shaken off during the beginning of the season. He has now had 6 straight games with at least 3 touchdowns. He only has one game where he has not thrown for multiple touchdowns. He hasn't thrown for many yards but he has been very efficient. The Titans have been a stout pass defense so far this season, but have given up the 9th most passing yards per game in their last three games. Luck is dialed in and should continue his multi-touchdown streak.
RB: Alex Collins- I'll be playing a ton of Collins in DFS this weekend. I think he scores his third touchdown in as many games. The Bengals have given up the 3rd highest ppr fantasy points per game to the RB this season. They are also allowing 189 yards per game over their last three. With Flacco possibly out, they may lean to more of a run heavy approach.
RB: Joe Mixon- I'm going to go with both RB in this game as studs. Mixon has a harder time this week due to how the Ravens defense has performed. I'm expecting this to be a grudge match and a fairly low scoring game. The Ravens have actually given up 133 rushing yards per game over their last three. They have been struggling as of late and have been giving up a good amount of catches to the RB. With A.J. Green out, this offense may struggle, so they will need to rely on Mixon.
WR: Robert Woods- I want every piece of the game that I can get. The under/over for this game is currently 63 points. I wouldn't be surprised if the over hit. Woods has been one of the most consistent WR in the league this year. He has had at least 70 yards in every game this season other than in week 1. The absence of Cooper Kupp is going to open up a few more targets that can go his way. He has a nice matchup this week and I think he can find the endzone. He hasn't scored since week four.
WR: Amari Cooper- Time to burn in the fire once again. He always seems to screw me over so let's see if I'm going to be right or not. He has had 18 targets in his first two games with the Cowboys. He is getting a ton of work and is a nice complement to the amazing run game they have. Surprisingly he has 6 total redzone targets with the Cowboys so far. The Falcons have been a matchup to exploit all season long, as they have given up the second most touchdowns to WR. If he gets the same amount of work in this game, he should have a great day.
TE: O.J. Howard- He is a bounce back candidate for this week. After catching one pass for 15 yards, he should turn things around. I think his production was more of a fluke as Fitzpatrick threw for over 400 yards. The Giants have been decent against the TE this season, but have struggled against talented TE like Kittle and Ertz. It's nothing but up for Howard this week.
Duds:
QB: Kirk Cousins- Other than two blow up games, he has been just average this season. He is averaging just 15 fantasy points over the last 5 games. He gets a tough matchup against the Bears who have given up the third least passing yards per game over the last 3 games. The Bears defense has been great all season and I can see Cousins struggling once again this week.
RB: Adrian Peterson- I want nothing to do with this offense this week. Houston has given up the 6th lowest rushing yards per game this season. The Texans are weak against pass catching RB, which Peterson is not. Peterson has had only 85 total rushing yards over the past 2 games. I am expecting another down game from the future Hall-of-Famer.
RB: Jordan Howard- The Bears aren't going to have the luxury of running out the game like in previous weeks. They will need to pass a ton to beat this great Vikings team. The Vikings have a stout rush defense and Howard should be gamescripted out. Tarik Cohen should get the majority of touches. Howard is averaging just 47 yards in his past 4 games. I may look at other options this week.
WR: Devin Funchess- He is only averaging a surprising 34 yards per game over his last three. It might be the presence of Greg Olsen, but he has not been good in the last few weeks. I think that trend continues this week as they face the Detroit Lions. He should see a ton of Darius Slay in this game.Slay has allowed over 30 yards in just one game this season. He is a premier shutdown corner and Funchess is going to have some trouble against him.
WR: Tyler Boyd- I hope I am wrong on this pick. I really do. I am playing him in quite a few leagues where I need a win. I am expecting a down game though. It looks like he really needs A.J. Green to take away the attention from him. He gets an awful matchup this week against the Ravens who have given up the 6th least amount of fantasy points per game to the WR. They have also given up the second fewest yards to the WR this season. It could be a long day again for Boyd.
TE: Kyle Rudolph- He has topped only 50 yards just once since week 3. I think that trend continues. He isn't getting enough targets in this offense which is strange. He has seen an uptick in targets in the redzone during the last 3 weeks, but those are mainly the only targets that he gets. The Bears are top ten in fantasy points allowed to the TE this season. I'm expecting another disappointing game from Rudolph.