The Fantasy Playoffs are upon us! Tonight’s game marks the start of a 3 week journey that 1 team will take in route to bragging rights and complete league domination. While Jacksonville and Houston is by no means a marquee game, several players (Tate, MJD, Shorts, Andre, and many others) are still playing a valuable factor for their respected team owners. Best of luck to all those beginning their fantasy playoffs tonight, and to the others that are still in the last weeks of their season.
TEXANS @ JAGUARS
Best Option- Maurice Jones Drew, and Andre Johnson
Andre is a definite no brainer in this one. After what Josh Gordon did to the Jags last week, it’s not even a discussion he’s going to be the biggest threat the Texans have on offense.
MJD on the other hand, is going under a bit of a revival over the past several weeks, scoring double digit fantasy points in 5 of his last 7 games and managing a TD in 3 of his last 4. MJD put up his best fantasy performance of the season the last time he faced the Texans, rushing for 84 yards, and catching 6 passes for 60 yards, and scoring a TD. Houston has also been very generous to opposing RB’s lately, allowing 83 yards rushing a game to opposing RB’s and allowing 4 rushing TD’s in the past 3 games.
Worst Option- Ben Tate
Since returning from their bye week, the Jags rushing defense (ranked 29th) has been surprisingly good. They have held their last 4 opposing leading RBs to a combined 175 rushing yards (avg 44 yards a game, and just 3.4 yards a carry). Granted the Jags defense is not flawless, they’ve also surrendered 2 rushing TD’s to opposing RB’s at that time as well. Tate is coming off his best game of the season, scoring 28 fantasy points on a 100 yard rushing day with 3 TD’s against a better Patriots defense. However, that was just the 2nd time this season he managed to break double digit fantasy points. Also, this is a different Jacksonville team than the one we saw earlier this season (have held opposing offenses to 20 points a game over the past 3 weeks, and manhandled the Texans earlier this season 13-6). Tate is going to get the ball a lot in this game and is worth a starting spot in your lineup this week based on matchup alone, but don’t be surprised if he’s held in check by this improving Jags defense.