The Grinch who ruined Week 15…
In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by BetMGM:
- Arthur Smith’s galaxy-brain masterclass
- QUICK HITTER: Best Bet for MNF
- Pete’s Weekly Wrap-Up: James Cook is sizzlin’
- The Dolphins don’t miss a beat
- Overreaction Monday: Next man up…
- It’s 12/18. Take it away, Peter Overzet…
Week 15 was filled with some monster, week-winning fantasy performances.
We’ll recap the fantasy heroes in a second (scroll down for the Weekly Wrap-Up), but first, we must take one last parting shot at Arthur Smith, who somehow managed to outdo himself yesterday…
😱 Arthur Smith nukes Bijan when it matters most
Everything was trending in the right direction for the top rookie RB heading into the 2023 season.
Bijan Robinson’s usage was on the rise in recent weeks and the Falcons had the juiciest possible matchup on deck vs. the Panthers run defense that ranks near the bottom of the league.
But Arthur Smith just couldn’t help himself and Robinson finished yesterday’s game with an egregious 7 carries and 1 target.
Tyler Allgeier finished with double the carries as Bijan. Cordarrelle Patterson got the goal-line TD. And Arthur Smith got handed a 9-7 loss to one of the worst teams in football while failing to utilize a roster filled with star talent.
It’s one thing when Arthur Smith galaxy-brains touches away from his best players and manages to win games, it’s another thing when he does it while tanking his team’s playoff chances in a very winnable game.
If there’s one silver lining here, it’s that the long leash finally gets tightened up and Smith is shown the door before the 2024 season.
It’s enough already. He’s got to go…
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Speaking of first bets, see below for our best bet for tonight’s MNF tilt!
The Fantasy Life FREE Bet Tracker is already loaded with a handful of plays for Monday Night Football this evening and Geoff Ulrich has provided us with a comprehensive breakdown for betting the game. Looking for a peek behind the curtain?…
Peter is here to share his six big takeaways from Week 15. Take it away, Pete...
🧨 CMC explodes vs. the Cardinals
I think it would be safe to say that Christian McCaffrey has the Cardinals’ number.
In Week 4, he dropped 45.2 fantasy points on them and yesterday he dropped another 39.2 thanks to 187 total yards and three combined TDs.
This year, his seven total TDs vs. the Cardinals tie him with some elite names for the most TDs vs. one team in a season.
Tyreek Hill might be the regular season fantasy MVP, but CMC is doing it when it matters the most.
🚀 The Bills finally unleash James Cook
The Bills’ insistence on limiting James Cook’s workload has been a maddening subplot to the 2023 season. But when push came to shove yesterday against the Cowboys, the team wisely turned to their most explosive player and he did not disappoint:
He now sits 3rd in the NFL in total yards from scrimmage (1,401) behind only CMC and Tyreek.
It was a fun day for Cook managers, indeed.
🔱 The Bucs duo becomes the Bucs…quad
For much of the year, the Bucs’ offense has been tightly condensed around Rachaad White and Mike Evans, but yesterday they let Chris Godwin come along for the ride:
Although highlighting Godwin is likely burying the lede, Baker Mayfield is currently the QB1 on the week after throwing for a massive 381 yards and 4 TDs.
In doing so, he became the first visiting QB to earn a perfect passer rating (158.3) at Lambeau.
🐬 Waddle does his best ‘Reek impression
Tyreek Hill was a surprise scratch yesterday, but the Dolphins didn’t miss a beat against a tough Jets pass defense thanks to Jaylen Waddle seamlessly sliding into the alpha WR1 role:
Whatever concerns there were about the matchup and the weather were greatly overblown.
Waddle (8-142-1) currently sits as the WR2 on the week behind only Jordan Addison.
🏎️ McLaurin saves his best for the fantasy playoffs
It’s been a rough year for Terry McLaurin, who was drafted aggressively in the fourth and fifth rounds of fantasy drafts only to take a back seat to Curtis Samuel and <insert random Commanders pass catcher here>.
Well, yesterday he finally got unleashed—mostly in garbage time and mostly after Sam Howell was benched for Jacoby Brissett.
Terry finished with a nice 6-141-1 line that could have been even bigger had he not fallen short at the one-yard line after a big catch.
Before you get too excited, the Commanders have already announced Sam Howell as their Week 16 starter.
👋 Njoku stays hot
The last time David Njoku had less than six targets was in Week 4.
Sure, there was a stretch of scoreless, inefficient games, but Njoku has finally hit his stride with Joe Flacco.
After a 6-91-2 outing in Week 14, Njoku delivered again with 10 receptions for 104 yards and 1 TD. The game cemented 2023 as a career year for Njoku.
The Browns also narrowly escaped with a win and still hold on to their AFC playoff spot:
📜 Derrick Henry made history against the Texans. Not the good kind, though.
📺 The first round of the fantasy football playoffs is nearly complete. Dwain and Ian take you across the finish line.
💪 Quarterback be damned. This WR is primed to find paydirt on Monday night.
🏆️ Your 2023 playoff league winner. What a massive finish for this WR.
⚔️ Monday Night brings us the battle of the birds backups? Everything you need for MNF betting and the DFS showdown slate.
📆 Do you remember the last time the Jets made the playoffs? It was a loooong time ago.
🥳 The Dolphins punter is one of us! We all love Raheem Mostert.
🐬 Speaking of Mostert…he’s having a MONSTER year.
🎯 Did your playoff dreams crash and burn in Week 15? It’s never to early to find action for next week.
🤐 Taylor Swift said a bad word. I think we have to cancel her for this.
🐧 Dolphins Chairman Stephen Ross busts out the waddle. I’ll allow it.
We're humans who play fantasy football, so we are prone to overreact. Today, Kendall overreacts to some WRs who stepped up big yesterday…
Happy Fantasy Playoffs! Or at least to anyone who was able to navigate Week 15 and all the injuries that were thrown at us before Sunday’s games even started.
I mean seriously, who pissed off the Fantasy Gods? C.J. Stroud, Chris Olave, Tyreek Hill, Nico Collins — I could keep going on players who weren’t in action. If you were able to get a win despite all of that, really congratulations. If you lost because of some of those injuries, enjoy your excuse until next season, lol.
⏭️ Next man up mentality
We mentioned some injuries above, but oh my goodness did some players absolutely step up and take advantage of their opportunities in Week 15…
📈 Jordan Addison - 29.1 points
(Alright I’m only adding him because he is the clear No. 2, but he had a DAY) Oh, Justin Jefferson is back? You may not want to start Jordan Addison because Nick Mullens is now the starter?
SIKE!
He had six catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns, bringing his season total to nine touchdown catches. He produced in a major way even with Jefferson on the field and showed what this two-headed monster could look like down the stretch and next season.
📈 Jaylen Waddle - 28.2
Not only did the Dolphins head into this game without superstar Tyreek Hill, but we also had a scare when Jaylen Waddle went down early in the game with a chest injury.
But no Hill, no problem in Week 15.
Waddle caught eight passes for 142 yards, including a phenomenal 60-yard touchdown from Tua Tagovailoa.
We’ve talked a lot about Hill throughout this (MVP) season, but it was nice to be reminded of just how good Waddle is. Waddle is now close to another 1,000-yard season — he now has 963 yards with three regular-season games to go.
📈 Noah Brown - 22.2
The Texans were down their top two wide receivers and superstar rookie quarterback, but that didn’t stop Noah Brown from making noise.
He had eight receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown on the day. If Stroud can clear concussion protocol then Brown could be another flex receiver to turn to — they have the Browns at home and then face the Titans again.
🕰️ Thanks for coming, see you next year.
The other reason this is the best time of the year is because now we can stop pretending like some NFL teams even have a prayer to make the playoffs.
Does that make me the Grinch? NO, IT IS JUST REALITY.
I’m sorry you didn’t “win out” D.J. Moore, but we’re still rooting for your fantasy success. Here are the teams that are now officially eliminated from playoff contention:
- Panthers
- Titans
- Jets
- Patriots
- Cardinals
Yes, our longstanding nightmare of Aaron Rodgers saying he would potentially return to the field if the Jets had a chance of making the playoffs is over.
Even though the Patriots are out of the playoffs we will still have to watch Bailey Zappe and Co. for the next three weeks. I guess we can continue cheering on Ezekiel Elliott?
