Mulligan’s Fantasy Forecast, Week 13
Dwayne Bowe has been an absolute beast this season, particularly in his last seven games where he’s hauled in an unbelievable 13 touchdown catches. In terms of points per game, he’s the top ranked fantasy wide receiver in standard format leagues and what’s even more unbelievable is that Brandon Lloyd is number two. Yeah, Brandon Lloyd. Seriously, look it up. Who would have thought that those two would be the top fantasy wide outs while Randy Moss has played for three different NFL teams and ranks 43rd among receivers in the same category?
Good match-ups
Braylon Edwards vs. Patriots defense: Edwards hauled in five passes for 45 yards and a TD when the Jets played the Patriots in Week 2 of this season. I’d expect him to get at least that this week when the Jets meet the Pats for the second and final time this season. The Patriots secondary doesn’t have anyone nearly as big as Edwards to defend him and their defense as a whole is allowing an NFL-worst 288 yards passing per game this season.
Thomas Jones vs. Broncos defense: The last time Thomas Jones faced the Broncos it didn’t work out so well for Jones. But that was mostly due to the fact that Denver jumped out to a ridiculous 35-point lead in the second quarter, forcing KC to abandon the run. Only the Buffalo Bills are allowing more rushing yards per game to opponents so look for Jones to post solid numbers this week as long as the Chiefs aren’t blown out of the water again.
Not so good match-ups
Maurice Morris/Aaron Brown vs. Bears defense: Maurice Morris looks like the better bet between these two to take on the majority of the workload in the Lions backfield while Jahvid Best is injured. He’ll be a solid fantasy player in the coming weeks but is unlikely to make much noise this week against the Bears second-ranked run defense.
Louis Murphy vs. Chargers defense: Murphy has been wildly inconsistent throughout this season. He’s had some pretty solid games but has managed to find the end zone just once to this point in the season. The Charger’s own one of the best pass defenses in the NFL, allowing just 192 yards per game through the air. All of these factors are going to land Murphy on my bench this week and he should be on yours as well.
Waiver wire watch
Jacoby Ford, WR, Raiders: With two 100+ receiving yard performances in the past three weeks, Jacoby Ford needs to be owned in just about every league at this point. He’s only owned in 13% of standard format leagues on Yahoo! Even though he’s now starting over Darrius Heyward-Bey in Oakland. If you do pick him up or already own him, it may be a good idea to keep him on your bench this week as the Raiders take on the Chargers this week. San Diego owns the NFL’s second-best pass defense.
Kyle Mulligan is a contributing sports writer for the Observer. He welcomes your feedback and can be reached at kjmulli@gmail.com.