Colts at Raiders
Indianapolis Colts (8–4) at Las Vegas Raiders (7–5)
Another very strange week in the NFL is all wrapped up. The Raiders hosting the Colts after both teams clenched very narrow victories on Sunday. The Raiders won with a weird defensive play call in the closing seconds and the Colts defense stepped up big to stop a game winning drive from Houston. I think the most interesting thing is what this means for our fantasy playoffs.
Fantasy Impact
Starting with the home team: Darren Waller and Josh Jacobs, if he’s healthy. I know Waller had the monster game Sunday, but his usage and talent demands that he’s considered in the elite fantasy options for the position. The only tight end who’s seen more targets this year than Waller’s 108 is Kelce with 111, the next closes is Evan Engram at 84. That’s more than 20 targets than the third highest target count at the position. Jacobs is highly likely to miss this week (based on Gruden’s comments Monday), but keep an eye out as if he’s able to go I feel like you have to start him. I don’t trust anyone else on this team, Derek Carr has had back to back poor performances and I wouldn’t trust him in my fantasy playoffs, especially against an elite defensive unit. The wide receivers are hit and miss and Devontae Booker couldn’t get it done against the Jets so I am concerned about starting him against the Colts. However, (assuming Jacobs sits) he will be a starting running back on a team which is incredibly valuable at this point in the year.
For the Colts, I have no idea guys. We thought we knew that this team was to be shied away from for fantasy, then Sunday comes and we have to potentially re-evaluate. The box score doesn’t give the full story, so I’m going to talk as someone who watched this game twice. T.Y Hilton and Phillip Rivers had gaudy numbers, yes, they also looked good. Like the best versions of themselves good, they looked like the guys we thought we were drafting in the summer. Now, it’s been 12 weeks of mediocre production from both of them, but Sunday was not fluky or padded numbers. I would still shy away from Rivers this week if I can and Hilton is a flex option this week against a meh Raiders secondary. Michael Pittman is also in consideration as a boom or bust flex option. If you think you need big upside I would consider these two, if you need more safety and floor I would look at other options.
For the running backs, I still don’t feel comfortable with Jonathan Taylor despite the big showing Sunday. Don’t let the total numbers fool you, in the first half the touch count went five for Taylor, five for Hines and three for Wilkins. They do seem to be leaning more on Taylor and he does look like he’s earning more trust from the coaching staff, but right now it still feels like the hot hand approach and he could get benched at any second. That being said, I feel better about him than I do guys like Booker, him and Hines should be be viewed as RB2’s right now, but please understand that they both are at risk of playing second fiddle if things don’t go their way.
That’s about it. I’m not trusting any of the ancillary guys here on either team in my fantasy playoffs.
The Fantasy Life App is the must-have app for fantasy sports players and sports bettors, with the fastest breaking news, advice, chats, trash talk & more. Co-founded by ESPN’s Matthew Berry, Fantasy Life App offers fantasy fanatics an edge, from draft day to league domination.
Available on iOS & Android. Download from the App Store, Google Play, or at fantasylifeapp.com.
