Mulligan’s Fantasy Forecast, Week 12
You can blame Chad Henne all you want for the Miami Dolphins’ struggles on offense this season, but the fact that the team has gone from having one of the league’s best running games to one of its worst is the real reason the offense hasn’t lived up to the hype. It might be due to injuries on the offensive line, which has been banged up, but the Miami Dolphins running combo of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams is one to avoid at all costs until they get things back to where they were last season.
Good match-ups
Ryan Mathews/Mike Tolbert vs. Colts defense: The RB situation in San Diego has been a disaster for Mathews owners this season but if there’s ever going to be a week where he puts up big numbers, it’s this one. Assuming he plays, anyway. If Mathews is limited (he missed last week’s game altogether), Tolbert will make a great play for his fantasy owners but, if Mathews is 100 percent, he’ll get most of the work and should do well against a bad run defense.
Shaun Hill vs. Patriots defense: Quietly, the Patriots pass defense has given up a ton of passing yards this season. Sure, some of that has to do with the fact that they’ve played with some big leads, forcing teams to abandon the run against them. But the reason why teams pass on them doesn’t matter when it comes to fantasy football. Look for Shaun Hill to be airing it out often, and with some success, on Thanksgiving.
Not so good match-ups
Fred Jackson vs. Steelers defense: Like Darren McFadden last week, I look for Fred Jackson to struggle in a big way against the top run defense in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are allowing opponents to rush for just 2.9 yards per carry, which is ridiculous. I can’t recommend using Jackson under any circumstances.
David Garrard vs. Giants defense: I love Garrard and I love that he’s been able to string together some pretty solid games in the past few weeks but he’s just not a good pay this week against a Giants pass defense that is, statistically anyway, one of the best in the NFL. Not to mention that the Giants have had a reputation of knocking quarterbacks out of games this season. I’d be seeking QB help elsewhere this week.
Waiver wire watch
Fred Jackson, RB, Bills: Yeah, I know I said to sit Fred Jackson this week against the Steelers. But he should at least be on your team if he’s available in your league. Jackson is a free agent in 68 percent of fantasy football leagues on Yahoo! So, seriously, double check and make sure yours isn’t one of them.
Kyle Mulligan is a contributing sports writer for the Observer. He welcomes your feedback and can be reached at kjmulli@gmail.com.