Planning for the Playoffs: The Fantasy Championships Are Here

For most fantasy football leagues, Week 16 in the National Football League is championship week. If you've made it this far, now is not the time for a misstep. You need all hands on deck, and the best possible decisions made for this, your final fantasy lineup of the season.

This week I am going to go over three NFL games of interest, and tell you why they are fantasy relevant.

Let's start in Buffalo where both teams playing this Sunday will offer fantasy plays.

New England at Buffalo
Don't mistake Buffalo's two-game winning streak as hope for a victory on Sunday – the Bills are going to get crushed. On their way towards an embarrassing final score, Buffalo is going to be forced to pass the ball a lot, while New England will likely slow it down and churn out some yardage – and kill the clock – by running the ball. This is perfect for both teams, Buffalo has the league's worst run defense, while only two teams have given up more passing yards this year than New England.

Ryan Fitzpatrick could be a very interesting QB2 play in Week 16 as he'll definitely get to throw the ball more than 30 times. Another good play for the Bills will be wide receiver Steve Johnson, who was targeted nine times last week against Miami, and could see the same amount of balls thrown towards him in Week 16.

For New England, both Danny Woodhead and BenJarvus Green-Ellis should do well on Sunday against a Bills defense that has given up more yards on the ground than any other team in the NFL. I like Green-Ellis as a fantasy option more than Woodhead as I believe he gets more touches in games where the Patriots are ahead, with a huge lead.

Dallas at Arizona
When it comes to the running back situation in Dallas, you still may need some psychic powers to determine who will run and how much. But the one healthy back – Tashard Choice – seems to be the man to use in Week 16 for your championship plans. Both Marion Barber and Felix Jones are banged up, and even with Jones in the game, Choice got more touches in Week 15. Choice had 15 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown with four catches to boot. He'll see at least that amount of work, likely more. Did I mention that Arizona had the third-worst run defense in the league? Also, factor in the question mark at quarterback for Dallas, and Choice seems like a great play.

Seattle at Tampa Bay
There are two reasons to like this game from a fantasy point of view. Let's start with the Buccaneers on offense.

The Seahawks have the 29th-ranked pass defense in the league. Tampa Bay needs to win on Sunday, so you had better believe they will be calling the name Mike Williams a lot. Last week against Detroit the Bucs used a lot of motion plays to get Williams open, and it worked well as he caught six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. Williams is a very solid WR3 play in Week 16. You may also want to look at tight end Kellen Winslow as a top-notch TE2. He ranks second on the team in targets, but has only gotten into the end zone three times this year. That may change this Sunday, or maybe his luck will get better and penalties that bring back touchdown catches will go away.

The second reason this game is fun for fantasy reasons is Tampa's inability to stop the run. The Buccaneers have the 29th-ranked run defense in the league and over the last three weeks have allowed 88 yards and a touchdown to Michael Turner, 172 yards to Ryan Torain and 109 yards and a touchdown to Maurice Morris. The Seahawks will use Marshawn Lynch in Week 16 to do the same thing to the Tampa defense. Lynch ran for 60 yards and a touchdown against a solid Atlanta defense in Week 15, what will he do to the porous Tampa unit?