C’mon, Patrick, you’re better than that!
FANTASY BILLBOARD
It’s Championship Week for most of you! Good luck. You’re going to need it. Luck and Fantasy Football go hand in hand. Case in point; in my favorite league, the OFFL, my luck was all bad. Injuries to Josh Jacobs, Michael Pittman and D.J. Moore cost me the matchup against my nephew Kevin’s team, SuperNova. Kevin is a recent Villanova grad, hence his team’s moniker. He will face the Kardiac Kids, my other nephew Ryan’s team, for the OFFL championship. Ryan is a huge Browns fan, hence his squad’s name. Kevin was gracious in victory as he kicked my butt, and Ryan appreciated my injury predicament. Both texted me Christmas weekend with congratulations on a good season. They are wonderful young men. I guess I’m lucky after all; I’m lucky to have them.
GIDDY UP!
● — The images of Mahomes chewing out his linemen last week were unsightly. Mahomes is better than that. He’s also a better QB than Mason Rudolph, who put up 290 yards and two TDs against the Bengals. Mahomes is better than that, too.
● — The Eagles have given up 31 TD passes, second most in the NFL. This projects Murray having his best game of the year, just in time for your Fantasy Championship game. He should run/pass for three TDs.
● — I wrote last week to bench Chandler against the Lions (he had a dismal 7.7 Fantasy points) and start him for Sunday night’s match against the Packers. Green Bay has given up eight TDs to running backs in the last seven games. Ty one on with Chandler!
● — Play the matchups. History shows us that Ekeler has 22, 21 and 24 Fantasy points in his last three games against Denver, the NFL’s worst rushing defense. It also helps that this is Ekeler’s last chance to put up big stats in search of a lucrative 2024 contract.
● — The Rookie of the Year favorite has more than 400 receiving yards and three TDs in his last four games. Not too shabby. Nine WRs have scored 18 Fantasy points or more this year against the Giants’ secondary, and Big Blue might be physically and emotionally exhausted after its tough game against Philly on Christmas.
● — Death, taxes and Diggs scores TDs against the Patriots. Those things are certain. Diggs has a TD in three straight games against New England. Despite his recent swoon, be brave and trust him in your Championship lineup.
● — Doing his best Mark Andrews impersonation, Likely has been stellar averaging 65 yards per game. Miami hasn’t given up a TD since Week 7 to a TE, but I think Likely ends that drought.
WHOA DOWN!
● — You better watch out, you’ll probably cry. You’re going to pout; I’m telling you why. Tagovailoa is coming to Baltimore. The Ravens put coal in the 49ers’ stocking on Christmas, picking off five passes. Brock Purdy’s NFL MVP chances melted faster than a snowman in Miami.
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— Given Goff’s disparities throwing TDs at home (17) vs. away (10), I won’t risk my season on him in Dallas. The Cowboys held Tagovailoa, Josh Allen and Jaylen Hurts to two total TD passes their last three games.
● — He started out gangbusters on the season, but Etienne could be a season buster for your Fantasy team. The Panthers are not a great run defense, (Aaron Jones lit them up last week: 21⁄127), but Etienne hasn’t run for more than 56 yards since Week 8.
● — Back-to-back games with eight and five Fantasy points does not bode well for Pollard’s chances against an impenetrable Detroit defense. The Lions held the Vikings to 16 rushing yards last week. Better hope Pollard catches some passes out of the backfield if you must start him.
● — The Jets can make even the best receivers crash and burn. Cooper is coming off a career game (265 yards, two TDs), but the Jets have given up just four TD passes all year. Cooper will get his yards, but a TD seems unlikely.
● — To the six or seven Fantasy owners brave (or desperate) enough to start Davis last week, congratulations. He was phenomenal. Now come back to reality and put Gabe back on the bench where he belongs.
● — Freiermuth came off the IR just as Mark Andrews was put on IR, and many of Andrew’s owners scooped him up in great anticipation. Those dreams have faded as P. F. is no flyer, averaging 28 yards per game with no TDs.
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NEW ORLEANS — Ja Morant’s return to NBA play has the Grizzlies facing a new set of questions.
Namely, could they have reasonably expected their All-Star guard to be so productive, so soon?
Or, did they suspect that having Morant back in the lineup would make winning — and contending — look so achievable for a club that managed just six victories in its first 25 games?
“You have a player like that, he makes everybody better, from our top guys to our role-playing guys,” Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane said. “So you can’t overestimate how good he is and how much impact he has.”
Morant has averaged 28.8 points through his first four games since returning from an NBA suspension that stemmed from his antics with guns on social media. Memphis has won all four of those games to improve to 10-19, leaving them just 4 ½ games out of a Western Conference play-in spot with 53 games to play.
“I don’t really look at where we’re at in the standings right now with all these games left,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “I’m just focused on all the momentum that we’ve built up over the last week or so.”
There’s no denying that momentum, or who’s primarily responsible for it.
Hours before his 31-point performance in a 116115 overtime victory in New Orleans on Tuesday night, Morant had been named Western Conference Player of the Week — for his first week back on the court.
“It’s awesome that he got recognized for his stellar play, for the team’s stellar play over the past week,” Jenkins said. “But he didn’t come back focused on trying to win Player of the Week. He just wanted to be back out there with his teammates and compete in the game that he loves.
“Obviously I think he’s been having tons of fun throughout this process, as difficult as it was when he was sidelined for 25 games,” Jenkins added. “But then you saw the joy that he was playing with that first game back ... and we expect nothing less.”
However, given the reason for his suspension, Morant’s choice of celebratory dance moves after an alley-oop dunk in overtime in New Orleans has led to some criticism of him on social media. While facing his father, who was sitting courtside, a smiling Morant executed a move which vaguely resembled firing guns and holding a bazooka over his shoulder.
A performing artist from New Orleans who goes by the stage name Subtweet Shawn has posted on social media that the dance is his creation and has nothing to do with guns.
Morant has not commented on the significance of the dance move after the dunk, and the Grizzlies did not appear bothered by it, posting clips of the play and celebration on social media.
In his first game back on Dec. 19, also played in New Orleans, Morant scored 34 points, capped by a game-winning basket as time expired. He scored 20 in a home victory over Indiana and then had 30 points and 11 assists in a victory at Atlanta.
“The biggest thing is that he brings a level of confidence to their team that they were waiting for and a swagger to the team,” said Pelicans coach Willie Green, whose club won in Memphis back in October, when Morant’s suspension was just beginning.
“That’s what makes them dangerous, is now that they have their leader, best player, on the floor, they’re playing much more confident,” Green continued.