Every Week on Midweek Madness I do a segment Called “Force or Farce”. This segment covers players from the QB, WR, RB AND TE positions. It keeps getting harder and harder each week as the top 14 becomes more and more solidified.

A “FORCE” player consists of a player that is currently ranked outside of the Top 14 players through the current NFL week that I believe has a chance to finish as a Top 14 player this week.

A “FARCE” player is a player that is currently ranked inside of the Top 14 players through the current NFL week but could potentially have a bad week and not live up to said top 14 ranking this week.

This Week on the show we have my amazing friend and CoFounder of The Sports Affiliation, Evan Bone a.k.a. SoCalBallNerd!

By the way, this isn’t a Start/Sit article per-say, it’s more of a precautionary play article.

Bye Week Teams:

  • Arizona Cardinals
  • Washington Redskins

FORCE Players

QB – Justin Fields (QB22) Vs Detroit Lions
Last time I picked Justin it turned into a flop, which I should have seen coming. Monday night Prime Time game against the Vikings. Probably going to be Super slow, mostly defense and run the ball, some field goals, lots of punts and maybe a single touchdown gets scored in the game. Welp that’s exactly how it happened. Fields didn’t even have to throw for a single touchdown in the game to win. This week he gets the Lions, whom he absolutely tore up three weeks ago. Fields will get home field advantage this time which is definitely a plus for him. 
Some thing to consider from three weeks ago is how easy it was for him to run the ball. He had 104 rushing yards and only 169 passing yards. He pass attempts were way down in that game as he was just coming back from injury and his legs are his go to. If he can score more than one touchdown, maybe one on the ground to go along with his passing td, I’m betting he can finish inside the top 8.

Guest QB Pick: Joe Flacco

WEEK 13 FORCE
Trevor Lawerence (QB15)(QB5 Finish) BOOM! Trev probably could have finished even higher but he got injured.

RB – Chuba Hubbard (RB28) @ New Orleans Saints
Chuba has been absolutely balling the last two weeks and in all honesty, not much else has been going right. Bryce young really hasn’t gotten things together. But that’s besides the point. Over the last two weeks Chuba has been the focus point of this offense. 196 total yards, 39 carries, 5 catches and 3 touchdowns. He did this against the Buccs and the Titans.
Chuba gets the Saints this week which will be a very similar matchup to the last two weeks. Saints slowed down the Gibbs/Montgomery tandem but the let Bijan run all over them. I’m thinking the Panthers continue things on the ground this week and allow Chuba to do some absolute work.

Guest RB Pick: Austin Ekeler, Zach Moss

WEEK 13 FORCE
Zach Moss (RB22)(RB27 Finish) OUCH! This is really too bad. HUGE opportunity comes knocking for Moss. 94% of snaps, 19 carries, 2.68 YPC… Gross.

WR – Drake London (WR44) Vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Talk about a crazy second year for Drake London. Not really sure what’s been goin on in Atlanta, with Arthur Smith and this offense. But the talent is there with Drake. He has only one finish inside the top 14 this year going up against Washington at home. Getting 9 catches on 12 targets for 125 yards. Those are really big numbers. The talent most definitely there.
This week he gets Tampa Bay at home and it’s truly a great matchup. Even though the last time he played Tampa this year he finished as the WR30, he was targeted 7 times. He is getting the targets and Tampa has allowed 4 top 14 WRs in the last 5 weeks. It’s his time to shine this week.

Guest WR Pick: Devante Adams, DK Metcalf, Elijah Moore

WEEK 13 FORCE
Jaylen Waddle (WR27)(WR36 Finish) MISS. Even with 8 targets he still only put up 52 yards in a killer matchup. 

TE – Kylen Granson (TE32) @ Cincinnati Bengals
This could blow up in my face but I love the matchup and Kylen has put up serviceable numbers in good matchups. This is the best matchup he gets. He hasn’t finished any higher than TE9 this year and only 3 top 14 finishes, but like I said before, LOVE the matchup.
Last week he only had 34% of the snaps which has absolutely been his lowest, but three targets and three catches for 72 yards. His targets are starting to go back up and Minshew may hit him in the Endzone this week. I even thought about putting Gardner Minshew at the Force QB this week, I just went a different route.

Guest TE Pick: Gerald Everett, Isaiah Likely

WEEK 13 FORCE
Pat Freiermuth (TE30)(TE22 Finish) MISS.

FARCE Players

QB – Justin Herbert (QB6) Vs Denver Broncos
Herbert has just been on a downward spiral the last two weeks. You really hate to see it. But it isn’t deniable. He definitely had two very hard matchups the last two weeks against Green Bay and New England. Finishing as QB15 and 23. This week he gets the Broncos who been slowing good quarterbacks down. Last week they kept a skyrocketing CJ Stroud from eclipsing the top 14 QB range. Three weeks ago the slowed down another top ten QB Josh Dobbs. They also slowed down Josh Allen who is the QB1 overall. Look for Herbert to struggle a bit this week. I’m only starting him in super flex leagues. Im betting he finishes just outside the Top 14 this week.

Guest QB Pick: C.J. Stroud

WEEK 13 FARCE
Pat Mahomes (QB7)(QB16 Finish) BIG BALLS that Paid Off! Mahomes is 1:4 at being a top 14 QB in PrimeTime Games. Not Good.

RB – Raheem Mostert (RB2) Vs Tennessee Titans
So here’s the deal. Mostert has really been shining without Achane in the pecking order, but we saw what happens when Achane gets loose. Last week Mostert has his lowest snap share with only 38%. Only 11 carries on the day compared to Achane who had a 61% snap share, 17 carries and two rushing touchdowns. Mostert was lucky to get himself a Touchdown or his day would have been horrendous.
My guess this week is that Achane gets hot again and Mike McDaniels continues to feed him the rock. Be cautious about starting Mostert this week as he’s only had 2 top 14 finishes over his last 6 starts.

Guest RB Pick: Travis Etienne

WEEK 13 FARCE
D’Andre Swift (RB8)(RB37 Finish) BOOM!

WR – Adam Thielen (WR14) @ New Orleans Saints
Welp, this Bryce Young experiment is starting to fizzle out and Thielen is feeling the brunt of it. Adam hasn’t put up top 14 WR numbers since before their bye week which was back in week 7. So that’s six straight games being ranked in the top 14 and failing to succeed. That is no good whatsoever.
Adam is about to get a rough matchup this week going up against a stout Saints defense whom are ranked third overall against wideouts. There is a reason I’ve got Chuba as a Force this week and it has everything to do with the reason I have Adam as a Farce. Start him as a mediocre WR2/3 or even flex,  but I’m not excited about it.

Guest WR Pick: Nico Collins

WEEK 13 FARCE
Puka Nacua (WR10)(WR11 Finish) BIG MISS.

TE – Cole Kmet (TE7) Vs Detroit Lions
So Cole Kmet has been pretty solid this year. Finishing as a top 14 Tight End in 7 out of 12 weeks. Two weeks ago he looked really solid against a Minnesota Defense who allowed him to go 7 for 7 on catches. He’s coming off a bye week and going up against a Lions defense who shut him down three weeks ago. Even though I have my guy Fields as a top performer this week, I still don’t think Cole puts up numbers. Exactly like the last time the played the Lions. Fields will run the ball and Kmet will get to be lead blocker.

Guest TE Pick: Evan Engram

WEEK 13 FARCE
Jake Ferguson (TE12)(TE4 Finish) MISS. These Tight Ends have been killing me this year.

Pizza Parlay (DraftKings)
Ravens -345, Vikings -155, Broncos +120
Parlay Odds = + | $10 pays $46.68
Pizza Parlay = Canadian Bacon, Pepperoni, Sausage

[Disclaimer]
All stats are pulled from Sleeper and Pro Football Database.