Week #15 of the NFL season is over. A handful of teams have already locked in their ticket to the postseason. Other teams are preparing to play their best football of the season to squeak out a last minute Wild Card berth. All of these dynamics are likely to impact the performances that players have, and we started seeing some of that in this week’s game play. Here is our busts and diamonds evaluation for the week, letting you know which players did way better than what was expected of them, and which ones were spectacular disappointments. This information will help you in the final weeks of the season as you prepare your daily fantasy football rosters moving forward.
Bustsof the Week
Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots
The Patriots pulled out the win against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, but it wasn’t because Brady had an extraordinary game. He only went 16 for 32 with his completions, establishing only 188 yards in passing in the game against the Denver Broncos. The Broncos do have a strong defense, but we expected Brady to do much better than this. He had no touchdowns, and had two fumbles. He was also sacked twice. Depending on the league that you were playing in, these had a varying amount of negative impact on his fantasy point total.
Jay Ajayi, RB, Miami Dolphins
With QB Ryan Tannehill out this week, we expected the Dolphins to rely much more on their running game this weekend, but that didn’t happen. Ajayi only had 51 yards in rushing and no TDs. This was on 19 rushing attempts. He wasn’t targeted for any passes, which is something that we’ve grown to expect from him. Ajayi also had one fumble against him. He’s capable of much more than this, but with Tannehill perhaps out for the rest of the season, we are not sure what expect to see him do.
Searching Deep for those Diamonds
Matt Moore, QB, Miami Dolphins
With starting QB Tannehill out this week, there were not many high hopes for the backup Moore. However, on Saturday’s game against the New York Jets, Moore threw 4 touchdowns and a total of 236 yards. He was sacked once and threw one interception, but with 4 TDs to his credit, these didn’t bring down his fantasy point value too much. This was a huge surprise for most people, even those that expected the Dolphins to win. Moore had only 18 pass attempts and 12 completions, which is pretty low. Tannehill’s status still up in the air, the Dolphins will likely be relying on Moore for the remainder of the season.
Devonta Freeman, RB, Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons are having a strong season, and Freeman is a big part of the reason why. Although QB Matt Ryan is turning out great fantasy performances week after week, there is still room for a running back to surprise us, and Freeman certainly did that this week. He scored 3 TDs, and had a total of 139 yards in rushing. He also was targeted for a pass twice, and caught both of those for 16 yards. Freeman did have one fumble for a loss, which drove down his fantasy value a bit, but this was still a standout game from him during a great season.
Brandin Cooks, WR, New Orleans Saints
The Saints have struggled this season, but after watching this game, you never would have guessed it. Cooks had an amazing game, receiving for 186 yards and securing 2 TDs in the process. His pairing with QB Drew Brees was exceptional this game. The problem with Cooks is that the Saints have been running hot and cold throughout the season. Some games they will outperform what everyone expected from them, and then in some games they will seriously disappoint. It is hard to tell which team you will see on a given weekend, and this makes planning your daily fantasy football roster pretty difficult to do.
