Brandon Braasch | December 20th, 2019
This is a special slate as it is the only Saturday this season with NFL regular season games on. There are three games on this slate. The first game is going to be an offensive masterpiece with the Houston Texans going into Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers. The second game is going to be a defensive masterpiece with the Buffalo Bills heading into Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots. Last but not least the third game is an NFC West battle between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers. Below are my top players and game predictions for all three games.
Texans @ Buccaneers (1:00 PM)
The Texans control their own destiny these last two weeks. If they win they clinch the AFC South and more importantly a playoff home game. The Buccaneers are out of the playoffs but are playing great. They are winners of five out of there last six games. This game is going to be high scorning and both offenses will put on a show. That makes this a huge game for daily fantasy and there will be plenty of players from both teams on my roster.
Top Players
Justin Watson (4,600 DK and 5,700 FD)
Watson is set to have a large snap count this week. Especially with Chris Godwin not being able to suit up that forces Watson into an even bigger role. Two weeks ago when Mike Evans got hurt Watson had five receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown. Last week he disappointed only getting two receptions for 17 yards. With Scotty Miller also going on the injured reserved look for Jameis Winston to look Watson’s way all game.
Jameis Winston (6,900 DK and 8,400 FD)
Winston has put up over 450 passing yards in his last two games. He gets a great matchup against the Texans who give up 266 passing yards per game. They have also allowed 30 passing touchdowns on the year. I expect this game to be a shootout and Winston is going to have to sling the ball around all game. Look for him to throw for another 400 yards and some touchdowns.
Jordan Akins (2,900 DK and 4,900 FD)
Everyone knows how bad the Arizona Cardinals are versus tight ends. The Buccaneers are another team that is not very good against tight ends. They give up nearly 63 yards per game and have given up a touchdown in half of their games this year. Look for Akins to exploit the Buccaneers even if Darren Fells is active in this game.
Game Predictions
Both teams struggle on defense and are good offensive teams. This will be a high scoring game I expect both teams to have high scoring fantasy performances. I expect the Texans to win but the Buccaneers to put up a fight. Final score Texans win 31-27 despite another big game for Winston.
Bills @Patriots (4:30 PM)
The Bills have already clinched a playoff spot. They can still, however, win the AFC East. The Patriots have also clinched a playoff spot but they are still alive for a first-round bye. They also need to beat the Bills to clinch the AFC East. This game is going to be a defensive battle just like when these two teams faced off earlier this year. The final score in that game was 16-10 with a total of five interceptions.
Top Players
Devin Singletary (5,500 DK and 6,400 FD)
Singletary has been slowly starting to get more and more snaps. Since week 11 he has seen over 70 percent of snaps. He has also seen 17 targets over his last four games. Singletary should see plenty of snaps again in this matchup. Frank Gore is the only other back in Buffalo threatening Singletary’s snaps. Gore has only managed to see less than 30% of snaps in the last three weeks.
James White (5,800 DK and 6,500 FD)
White is probably Tom Brady’s favorite target outside of Julian Edelman. White has 16 receptions in his last three games. Earlier in the year against the Bills, he had eight receptions for 57 yards. White has been getting it going as of late and look for Brady to continue to rely on White especially against this tough Bills defense.
Game Predictions
This will be another defensive battle between both these teams. I don’t expect it to be as sloppy though. There should be fewer turnovers but still about the same amount of points scored. Look for the running backs to get involved and the Bills to ultimately end up beating the Patriots. The Bills have been playing winning football recently and I expect them to continue that in this matchup. Final score 20-17 as the Bills’ defense holds off Brady in the final minutes.
Rams @ 49ers (8:15 PM)
The Rams are in a win or die scenario. If they lose to the 49ers they are out of the playoffs. If they win then they need some help but are still alive for a wild card berth. The 49ers have clinched a playoff spot but they need to win to make next week’s game against the Seattle Seahawks a game for the division and first-round playoff bye.
Top Players
Robert Woods (6,200 DK and 7,200 FD)
Last week Woods disappointed a lot of people. He was coming off of two of his best games of the year. He did however still have nine targets last week. He wasn’t able to convert on those targets only getting four receptions for 17 yards. Look for Woods to have a bounce-back game even against a tough 49ers pass defense.
George Kittle (6,500 DK and 7,400 FD)
Kittle has been an absolute monster of late. Last game he had 13 receptions for 134 yards which are insane for a tight end. The week before that he had one of the craziest plays of the year as he took a fourth-down out route 39 yards to set up a game-winning field goal. He has a touchdown in three of his last five games. Look for Kittle to continue his case for the best tight end in the NFL and have another big game.
49ers defense (3,400 DK and 4,500 FD)
The 49ers defense has struggled the last couple weeks. Mainly because they haven’t been able to get many sacks. They have only three sacks in there past three games. They were able to get 24 sacks in five games before there last three games. They are also finally healthy and with Richard Sherman coming back they should be able to force Jared Goff into an interception or two. Look for the 49ers defense to bounce back and force Goff to struggle again.
Game Predictions
The Rams looked like they had gotten back to winning football by dominating the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago. They did not keep that up last week and were embarrassed against the Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers lost a bad game last week as well when they let the 4-9 Atlanta Falcons go into San Fran and beat them. I expect the 49ers who are healthy again to bounce back and end the Rams playoff chances by a final score 28-17.
Player Predictions
Watson: 117 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Winston: 415 passing yards and three touchdowns.
Akins: 48 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Singletary: 111 total yards and one touchdown.
White: 97 total yards and one touchdown.
Woods: 87 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Kittle: 129 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Questions and comments?
thescorecrowsports@gmail.com
Follow Us on Twitter @thescorecrow
Follow Us on Reddit at u/TheScorecrow
Follow Us on Facebook at The Scorecrow
Follow Us on Instagram at The Scorecrow
Facebook Group where you can read and post articles at The Scorecrow
Reddit Group where everyone can post without fear of being banned at The Scorecrow
Follow Brandon Braasch on Twitter at @brandonbraasch3
Main Image Credit:
[getty src=”1194203301″ width=”594″ height=”401″ tld=”com”]
