NFL Week 17 bold picks: Bengals surprise Chiefs; George Pickens makes an encore
All season long, we have waited for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense to look dominant, but the new norm is a unit that ranked third in drops and first in offensive penalties heading into Week 16, while logging the sixth-most turnovers. We’ll see more of the same against the Bengals on Sunday, as the Chiefs lose their fourth game out of their last five, failing once again to score 20 or more points. This is a new chapter of the Andy Reid-Mahomes era.
George Pickens put on a show last week, recording a career-high 195 receiving yards with two touchdowns against the Bengals. The young receiver dials up an encore performance one week later. With a playoff spot on the line, Mason Rudolph targets him 12 times, with Pickens hauling in 10 catches for 200 yards in another career day.
Saturday’s matchup between the Lions and Cowboys features no shortage of offensive stars, but the ones who’ll shine brightest at AT&T Stadium will be the guys up front. Dak Prescott and Jared Goff will be kept clean all game, as both offensive lines won’t allow a single sack.
Between the recent resurgences of Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Demarcus Robinson, Kyren Williams’ utter dominance, Puka Nacua’s record-setting year, and Sean McVay’s ability to optimize all of them, it feels like the Rams are one of fantasy’s most lovable teams these days. I’m ready for commitment. Against a soft Giants defense, every player named here will hit 15-plus fantasy points, with Stafford, Williams, and either Kupp or Nacua each topping 20 in a blowout win over the Giants that results in a playoff berth by the late afternoon.
Over the last half of the season, Travis Kelce has TE10 fantasy points per game. He has one final shot to salvage a disappointing year with a vintage performance in the fantasy championship. Kelce faces off against the only defense to allow 1,000 receiving yards to tight ends on the year, as the Bengals have struggled against yards after the catch to the position. The unanimous TE1 in fantasy drafts has the matchup to come through when it matters most and will finish TE1 this week for the first time since Week 7.
