WEEK 15: SIT OF THE WEEK
SIT ‘EM
Patriots D/ST
New England Patriots @ Indianapolis Colts
The start of playoffs is shaping up to be one of the most interesting weeks this season and not for the right reasons. Things are being moved around once again just as they were last season, leaving any sense of assuredness straight out of the window. This will be a difficult week for fantasy managers because of these changes. Hopefully, I can provide you some semblance of stability and focus, so you're able to move one week closer to that championship trophy. That being said, this week is probably going to be the boldest take of the entire season. With that comes a lot of risk, but in these times, one of the things that becomes the most important is trust. I have to trust my gut as well as the twisted amalgamation of geometric shapes, sizes, angles and protrusions that is the gut of Maurice. If you're not familiar with Maurice, then I’m just glad you found your way here, but go back and read all my previous articles to catch up. Speaking of Maurice, he recently watched the newest trilogy of Star Wars movies, and for whatever reason was frightened by episode nine’s version of Emperor Palpatine. Upon trying to erase that from his memory, he stopped into a local saloon to wet his whistle. This particular bar happened to be in Martha's Vineyard since Maurice is trying to do a tour of famous movie locations including that of my favorite film, Jaws. It being a bar in New England, he saw the visage of the local messiah, Bill Belichick, scattered throughout said bar. After seeing Bill Belichick in his patented hoody, flashbacks of Palpatine force lightninging poor Rey shot through his mind. As he proceeded to “Terminator” his way through the entire bar, he texted me his disdain for the hooded figure, and therefore, somewhat to my chagrin given its precarious nature in terms of fantasy, the sit player of the week for week 15 is the Patriots defense.
I am aware that might sound ludicrous and that I have lost my mind, but there are a few things that make me feel comfortable in picking this as the sit of the week. First off, this is a Saturday game which means it is finished before you have any chance to decide between defenses. That means if you play them and they do not play as well as you need them to, which I expect them to, you have to sit through the rest of the games looking at the low points scored by them. The second aspect is the Indianapolis Colts have the highest turnover margin in the NFL at + 13 meaning they don't turn the ball over nearly as much as their opponent does That means less opportunities for the defense to score fantasy points, and it means the New England defense might be on the field a lot leading to them getting tired because they're on the field so much. Therefore, they'll be more prone to getting scored on which is something the Colts do well seeing as they are tied for fourth with the most touchdowns this year at 44. I've sort of buried the lead to get here, but one of the main reasons why they have so many touchdowns is because of their star running back, Jonathan Taylor. He is the best back in the league right now and one of the best fantasy players in general having scored the most touchdowns outside of the quarterback position with 18 total touchdowns. All of this put together adds up to a brutal situation for the New England Patriots defense, and that's why they are the week 15 sit player of the week!
