Stacking to Win It: NFL Week 12

Welcome back to Stacking to Win it. In this article I will give you my top stacks of the week. I will give you my top two stacks to consider, a value stack and a team that I feel is flying under the radar to consider.

While this article focuses mainly on the passing attack stacks, another type of stack to consider is the running backs and defensive unit stacks. Often times pairing these two together in a game where one team is a huge favorite and the other team has a low projected point total can pay off huge.

Top Stack 1

Cardinals @ 49ers- Team Total 27.5

The Cardinals were a favorite stack of mine last week and they did not disappoint putting up huge numbers against the Bengals last week. I like them even more this week against an awful 49ers defense. The 49ers allow 25.2 points a game and 278 passing yards. They were eaten alive by this same Cardinals team in Week 3 and allowed 47 points to them. The Cardinals have only gotten better since Week 3, and Carson Palmer is a legit MVP candidate. Palmer leads the NFL in touchdown passes with 27 and is fifth in passing yards per game at 307. He threw for 311 yards and two scores in the Cardinals Week 3 matchup against the 49ers. His main target is Larry Fitzgerald who is fourth in the NFL in receiving yards with 926 and has 73 receptions. Fitz really does his damage against NFC West teams. In his three games against them this season Fitzgerald has 26 catches for 363 yards and two scores. The second wide out in this stack that I would want is Michael Floyd, who has two straight 100 yard games and a touchdown in four straight. He has missed practice all week and was not able to play last week, but if he is not able to go, J.J. Nelson is a great pivot off of Floyd. Nelson had a huge game replacing him last week going for 142 yards and a score.

Top Stack 2

Texans vs Saints - Team Total 25.3

My co-favorite stack of the week is the Houston Texans going against the awful Saints secondary. The Saints are coming off a bye week and did just fire Rob Ryan, so they may be a little improved, but I still do not see them slowing down anyone let alone this Texans passing attack. The Texans pass the ball more than any other team in the NFL and are averaging 267 passing yards a game. They are led by DeAndre Hopkins, who is having a great season. Hopkins is third in the NFL in catches with 76, third in receiving yards with 1,045 and second in touchdowns with nine. He has been an all-world performer all season long. He will also get the benefit of having Brian Hoyer back under center. Hoyer has thrown at least two touchdown passes in every game this season that he has played start to finish. He is also averaging 243 passing yards per game and that is including several games where he either left early due to injury or came in late for the now departed Ryan Mallett. I am expecting huge numbers from this duo this week against the team that is allowing 344 passing yards and four touchdown passes over the past four weeks.

Value Stack

Jaguars vs Chargers - Team Total 25.3

If you are looking for a value stack, then the Jags are the place I am looking at this week. They have the fourth highest point total of the week at 25.3 points and get a great matchup against the Chargers. The Chargers are allowing 28.2 points per game and have allowed 16 touchdown passes. They were able to keep a weak Chiefs passing attack in check last week but struggled in the three previous weeks. In that time frame they allowed two touchdown passes per game and 318 passing yards. The Jaguars have struggled lately, but Blake Bortles and the Allen brothers have shown great potential in the past. Allen Robison has gone for at least five catches and 50 yards in every game since Week 1 and has finished two of his past three games with over 100 yards. Allen Hurns has been a little beat up lately and had his seven-game touchdown streak snapped last week. Bortles has only averaged 215 passing yards the past two weeks, but he had a monster 381 yard game in the week prior to that. I like the other two stacks above slightly better due to the way the Jaguars have been playing but would not be surprised one bit if they bounced back this week.

Contrarian Stack

Patriots @ Broncos - Team Total 23.8

My contrarian stack this week is the Patriots. The Patriots are flying under the radar due to their matchup against the Broncos but have proved to be matchup proof this season. Tom Brady leads the NFL in passing yards per game with 332 and is second in touchdown passes with 25. He has lost three of his main threats in the past three weeks but he still has Brandon LaFell and Rob Gronkowski to throw to. Gronk is still the best tight end in the NFL and has gone over 100 yards in three of his past five games. LaFell has averaged 78 receiving yards his past three games. The Broncos are statically the best defense in the NFL but did allow Andrew Luck and Alex Smith to have good games against them recently.