GETTING BYE
Thin schedule can make fantasy choices difficult
HUNGRY people will eat what they can find. If you’re out of steak, you might lower yourself to a burger. If you’re out of burgers, you might check down to a hot dog. If you out of hot dogs, you might just settle for the bun. Somewhere down this chain reaction, you may even resort to dog food.
Get ready for a big spoonful of fa n t a sy Al p o during this s i x- t e a m bye week of limited choices. Yo u might f ind yo u r s e l f resorting to options you long ago stashed in back of the fantasy cupboard like unopened canned food.
You know, players like Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick. The pair has combined for two touchdowns over the first six games — or one less than fellow fantasybench buddy Mike Gillislee scored by himself in Week 1. So why can you turn to them with even a sliver of confidence this week?
The Lions are better at home, the Steelers worse on the road. We don’t expect a shutout, so someone will get yards and perhaps a touchdown.
But those points are just the dressing on our dog-food salad. The true meat of this argument is in the Steelers’ defensive strengths and weaknesses. It is hard to pass against Pittsburgh. The Steelers allow an average of 11.3 points fewer per game to opposing wide receivers, the stingiest in the league.
Then we look at Lions receivers. Golden Tate is coming off a shoulder injury. The pass game garnishes also include Marvin Jones Jr. and TJ Jones, with a hint of Jared Abbrederis. The Pittsburgh secondary should feast upon this fleet. Maybe that funnels the pass game toward the tight ends? The Steelers rank in the top 10 against opposing fantasy tight ends, and the Madman has no confidence in Darren Fells or Eric Ebron to spoil that standing.
Instead, we look to running backs in the passing game. Abdullah and Riddick are both versatile runners who can produce in the air attack. The Steelers rank in the bottom third defending against opposing fantasy running backs. We can smell a faint scent of tasty fantasy success based on volume alone.
When Todd Gurley, Leona rd Fournette, Aaron Jones, DeMarco Murray and other options are on bye; when C.J. Anderson, Je r i c k McKinnon and Isaiah Crowell have p rove n untrustworthy or in terr i bl e matchups or both; when you’re starving for options but can find no sustenance — take a bite of Abdullah or Riddick. Just hold your nose while you chew.