Fantasy Football Week 14 Matchup: Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions

Week 14 Match-up:  Green Bay Packers (8-4) at Detroit Lions (2-10)

Rankings based on top 16 QBs, 32 RBs, 48 WRs and 16 TEs

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Green Bay Packers (Packers Schedule)

Opponent Defensive Ranks

Detroit Pass Defense – 2010: Yards Allowed/Game 16th - TDs Allowed T-23rd

Detroit Rush Defense – 2010: Yards Allowed/Game 25th – TDs Allowed T-30th

Green Bay Offensive Cast

Aaron Rodgers (QB Week 14 Ranking: No. 2)

2010 Season: 261/399 – for 3,243 yards and 23 TDs

Rodgers has averaged 304.6 yards and 2.8 TD passes over his last five games against the Lions, and there’s no reason to think he won’t do the same this week.  The guy has been on fire lately, so ride the storm throughout your playoffs.

Brandon Jackson (RB Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 136 carries for 527 yards and 3 TDs || 36 receptions for 304 yards and 1 TD

Brandon and Starks should split carries against the Lions this Sunday, with Starks likely to get the heavier load.

James Starks (RB Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 18 carries for 73 yards and 0 TDs || 0 receptions for 0 yards and 0 TDs

Starks is a good fantasy dark-horse this week, though you might want to take caution in using him until you’re absolutely SURE he’s the RB1 on this team.

Greg Jennings (WR Week 14 Ranking: No. 1)

2010 Season: 57 receptions for 944 yards and 11 TDs

There’s simply no denying the Rodgers-to-Jennings combo anymore.  Over the last seven games, Jennings has put up either 80-plus yards or caught a TD in each game and has averaged 6.1 receptions for 109 yards a game while catching eight TD passes.  Pretty sick stats to be sure, and now he has the bottom-feeding Lions to chomp on this week.

Donald Driver (WR Week 14 Ranking: No. 19)

2010 Season: 38 receptions for 437 yards and 4 TDs

The 35-year old Driver looks like he still has more strength in his body than most 25-year old receivers.  I mean, four catches for 73 yards and a TD isn’t an all-fantasy-world performance by any means, but he DID receive the most targets on the team last week (8), so it looks like Rodgers still has a ton of faith in him.  Against the Lions you could definitely do worse, so have a little faith yourself.

James Jones (WR Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 37 receptions for 510 yards and 3 TDs

With Driver back, Jones will be seeing less playing time, thus fewer balls thrown his way. 

Oh well, he was a nice filler for awhile there.

Jordy Nelson (WR Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 36 receptions for 377 yards and 1 TD

Nelson is slightly injured and not worth using anyway.

Andrew Quarless (TE Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 12 receptions for 143 yards and 1 TD

Quarless has some decent pass-catching, but not enough to depend on.

Detroit Lions (Lions Schedule)

Opponent Defensive Ranks

Green Bay Pass Defense – 2010: Yards Allowed/Game 6th - TDs Allowed 3rd

Green Bay Rush Defense – 2010: Yards Allowed/Game 18th – TDs Allowed T-3rd

Detroit Offensive Cast

Drew Stanton (QB Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 36/60 – for 411 yards and 2 TDs

Stanton actually looked pretty darn good against the Bears last week, both passing for and running in a TD.  If he keeps it up, like Shaun Hill was, he could be worth using.

Jahvid Best (RB Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 136 carries for 447 yards and 4 TDs || 50 receptions for 407 yards and 1 TD

Best is definitely looking much better, but he won’t be able to do much against the Packers defense this week.

Maurice Morris (RB Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 40 carries for 133 yards and 2 TDs || 17 receptions for 117 yards and 0 TDs

Morris will be splitting carries with Best now, and he was hardly worth using before anyway.

Calvin Johnson (WR Week 14 Ranking: No. 4)

2010 Season: 62 receptions for 872 yards and 12 TDs

For as talented as Charles Woodson and the Packers D are, Megatron has managed to snag a TD pass in five of his six games against them (the only one he didn’t was in his rookie season, 2007) while hauling down two TDs in three of those games.  Tough trend to contend with, so go ahead and feel confident using him as a WR1 on your fantasy team this week.  

Nate Burleson (WR Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 43 receptions for 495 yards and 4 TDs

Woodson may actually end up on Burleson for half of this game or more, so don’t bother against a strong Packers pass D.

Brandon Pettigrew (TE Week 14 Ranking: No. 5)

2010 Season: 60 receptions for 590 yards and 3 TDs

Drew Stanton was definitely looking Pettigrew’s way last game, tossing him a team-high nine targets while connecting with him for five catches and 36 yards.  Those numbers came against a Bears team that rarely gives up a thing to opposing tight ends while this week’s game comes against a Packers team that just gave up a 126-yard outing with a TD to Vernon Davis and ranks amongst the worst in the league in guarding tight ends.

Tony Scheffler (TE Week 14 Ranking: Not ranked)

2010 Season: 34 receptions for 292 yards and 1 TD

With a third-string QB in there, you can’t really call on a second-string tight end.

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