Welcome Matts
MAYBE you’re one of the lucky ones who has made it to the final week or two of your fantasy season. You have survived some superstar flameouts, ill-timed slumps and surprising breakouts.
And perhaps, you’re doing it while still streaming at quarterback? That would make you the Energizer Bunny of fantasy football — you just keep on winning. You are your league’ s Little Engine That Could. You’re the fantasy version of a “Die Hard” movie. You’ve done yeoman’s patchwork at the QB position all year. Now you need one last “Yippee ki-yay!”
But your quest to pick the right one hasn’t ended just yet. And now you have two more to put on the “to be considered” list. Let’s call them, My Two Matts. Neither one is original “Die Hard” good, but neither is “Good Day to Die Hard” bad.
Matt Moore is more “Die Hard 2” — he isn’t the best option, and he is not quite as good as a “Die Hard With a Vengeance” option, but he still is pretty good. He erupted Saturday against the Jets, throwing for four touchdowns (though just 236 yards), with one interception. That tally landed him second (behind Drew Brees) among all QBs in Week 15 fantasy points.
There are things to consider before you going making a rash move and putting Moore in your lineup instead of, say, Derek Carr. Moore did it against a terrible Jets secondary (and we all know Col. Stuart is no Hans Gruber). He didn’t rack up a ton of yard age. And we’ re not in love with his Week 16 matchup at Buffalo (though we do like him in Week 17 against a Patriots team with nothing to play for). But if your choices are desperate options (Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III) guys with bad matchups (Dak Prescott, Carson Palmer) or generally disappointing/middling options (Eli Manning, Sam Bradford), go with Moore.
Then there’s Matt Barkley. He’s a bit trickier — more “Live Free or Die Hard.” He’s got some stuff to like, but a lot of flaws as well. He hasn’t really exploded outside of his f irst start in Week 12 versus a bad Titans pass defense. Yet, he has looked much better recently than his Week 7 disaster when he came in for an injured Brian Hoyer.
In four games as a starter, he has two 300-yard passing games. In the other two, he threw for 192 in the snow against the 49ers (can chalk it up to weather) and 212 with a TD at Detroit (tough matchup). He threw two TDs Sunday, but he also tossed three picks — with two coming during a mini-meltdown in the third quarter. But his next two games aren’t bad (versus Redskins and at Vikings, who just got torched by an injury-ravaged Colts team). We’ll take him over Kap and RG3, at least.
Granted, My Two Matts are as much solid fantasy options as “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie series. Yeah, all the “Die Hards” take place at Christmas time, we’re just hoping you can f ind something a little more Christmas-y as your fantasy QB. If not, then happy holidays, and yippe ki-yay!