2020. Week 14. Sunday night.
"Yesterday" and "today" don't exist if you never go to sleep. Weeks 12, 13, and 14 have melded together in one long day's journey into more day. The markers that separate game days from waiver wire days have been stripped away. The lines have been blurred. The season doesn't stop. The rosters must be filled. The matchups must be examined.
Cam Akers is the latest to be crowned King of the Rams backfield after seeing a workload akin to a lead running back. Hopefully this isn't a trick of the light and Sean McVay really has moved the rookie to the top of the depth chart. But because we can't fully have nice things, Akers popped up with a shoulder injury. Hopefully it's not serious.
Sleep wouldn't be an issue if I hadn't started the timer on my rental of Nic Cage's new flick at near midnight. Now I'm in a race against a 48-hour clock to see what the secret of Jiu-Jitsu is. I'm not sure it's akin to the power Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton has over the Houston Texans. The good news is that Hilton looks to be getting hot just as the schedule eases up and managers are hitting the playoffs. Not to be left out, Philip Rivers continues to have streaming appeal in the postseason.
Texans receiver Keke Coutee doesn't have the luxury of a favorable schedule. What he does have is Deshaun Watson throwing the ball. If Week 13 was any indication, that should give WR-starved managers confidence that Coutee deserves at least flex consideration.
Also deserving roster consideration is Jets running back Ty Johnson. His opportunity will depend primarily on Frank Gore's status after going into the concussion protocol on Sunday. If Gore can't go, Johnson could be in line for a sizeable workload.
What is slightly more work is believing Nicolas Cage as a reclusive, mystic spiritual leader of a band of martial arts mercenaries set to kill an intergalactic ninja who occasionally comes to Earth to kill just for kicks. But I'm not not gonna watch it.
Monday morning.
I try to remember exactly what I watched last night. Some Predator-like being with fierce ninja skills. I still have 12 hours to finish it. But I'm already thinking this needs to be part of a larger movie franchise. It's raising far more questions than it's answering.
Having more questions than answers Is a good description of fantasy tight end this season. One solution could be in Chicago's Cole Kmet, who appears to be pushing Jimmy Graham out of a job and has a forgiving fantasy playoff schedule. Down in Tennessee, Anthony Firkser is slowly pushing Jonnu Smith down the pecking order. Though fighting for targets behind A.J. Brown and Corey Davis is a tough place to be.
The battle for targets in Jacksonville is a little more open and receiver Collin Johnson has recently made his bid for more of them. A matchup against the beleaguered Titans secondary could be a productive spot for him.
Monday night.
Every good martial arts movie features the main character getting some measure revenge on an enemy. Jiu-Jitsu also had some of that, provided you built that much of an attachment to any of the characters. That leads me to Cowboys quarterback Andy Dalton, who takes on the Bengals. Last week, Tua Tagovailoa had his first game with more than 250 passing yards against Cincinnati. Presumably, Dalton and his merry band of pass-catchers can accomplish something similar.
Peeking ahead to Week 15, Matthew Stafford is the QB11 and has a matchup with the Titans. Who knows, maybe Kenny Golladay will even be back? If you're of the streaming persuasion, it might be worth stashing Stafford for a week.
Me? I might be back to streaming more classic Cage. Face/Off anyone?
Marcas Grant is a fantasy analyst for NFL.com and a man who might have just found Deadfall streaming somewhere for free. Send your favorite Nic Cage movies or fantasy football questions on Twitter @MarcasG or Instagram at MarcasG.
