Jacksonville Jaguars - Fantasy News

Jaguars at Patriots Start 'Em / Sit 'Em

by Aaron Bowers

1/17/18

NFL

Jacksonville Jaguars

Leonard Fournette

Playing for a trip to the Super Bowl, the Jacksonville Jaguars will travel to New England to take on the top-seeded Patriots on Sunday.

The Jaguars have the look of a team with the recipe to beat Tom Brady in the playoffs. They led the league in sacks despite blitzing less often than any other team. They control the ball on offense and have done well avoiding turnovers in the postseason. If they can get pressure on Brady and limit New England’s number of possessions, they have a chance.

The Patriots enter this game as a heavy favorite, though, and rightfully so. They obliterated the Titans last week after enjoying a first-round bye and have looked good on both sides of the ball over the last half of the season. Bill Belichick will certainly have a game plan to deal with the Jacksonville defense and bait Blake Bortles into bad plays.

Jacksonville Jaguars AFC Championship Game Projected Fantasy Points
Blake Bortles: 15.0 PFP
Leonard Fournette: 15.0 PFP
Josh Lambo: 7.5 PFP
Dede Westbrook: 7.5 PFP
Marqise Lee: 7.0 PFP
Allen Hurns: 6.0 PFP
Keelan Cole: 6.0 PFP
T.J. Yeldon 5.5 PFP

New England Patriots AFC Championship Game Projected Fantasy Points
Tom Brady: 19.5 PFP
Rob Gronkowski: 15.0 PFP
Dion Lewis: 13.5 PFP
Brandin Cooks: 12.5 PFP
James White: 10.0 PFP
Stephen Gostkowski: 9.5 PFP
Chris Hogan: 9.0 PFP
Danny Amendola: 7.0 PFP

Start 'Em: T.J. Yeldon (5.5 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 7.37

Facing a vulnerable New England linebacker corps, Yeldon is the running back we prefer to start in this matchup. With Leonard Fournette hobbled by his recurring ankle problems against Pittsburgh last week, Yeldon piled up 15.9 DFP on eight touches. The Alabama product has mixed in on passing downs throughout the season, coming up with 30 receptions in 10 games, with a lot of that work coming in contests in which the Jaguars were behind. That could easily be the case this week with Jacksonville entering this game as a big underdog. At a very attainable PFP, we recommend targeting the speedy Yeldon against an underwhelming New England defense.

Sit 'Em: Leonard Fournette (15.0 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 16.71

It’s not a popular decision to recommend fading a player coming off a 30.9 DFP game, but we’re concerned about Fournette in this matchup. He tweaked his troublesome ankle against Pittsburgh and missed some time before coming back in the second half. When he returned, he was able to score a touchdown, but he was clearly limited in what he could do. We saw last week with Derrick Henry that when the scoreboard gets out of control, big backs aren’t going to provide a lot of fantasy production. With the Jaguars as a big road underdog, we recommend fading the outstanding rookie running back.

Start 'Em: Tom Brady (19.5 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 18.93

Though the matchup isn’t ideal on paper, Brady has earned the benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, it’s important to remember that in its last four games, Jacksonville has given up 44 scoreboard points and 21.98 DFP to Jimmy Garoppolo and 42 scoreboard points and 34.76 DFP to Ben Roethlisberger. With how strong the Jacksonville defense is against the run, we expect the Patriots to use a plethora of short passes to matriculate the ball down the field and into the end zone. Start the G.O.A.T. with confidence in this game.  

Sit 'Em: Brandin Cooks (12.5 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 11.92

We endorsed Cooks in this spot last week, assuming that he’d take advantage of a below-average Tennessee defense. However, despite New England putting 35 points on the board, Cooks hauled in just three of his nine targets for 32 yards. Now facing Jalen Ramsey (first-team All-Pro) and A.J. Bouye (second-team All-Pro)—two players out for redemption after getting roasted by Antonio Brown—we have no confidence that Cooks will do enough to get over his PFP. We recommend fading the diminutive wide receiver in this matchup.