Week 14 Accuracy Scores: Which Experts Came Out on Top?

The playoffs are in full swing for most leagues and that means the stakes have risen for fantasy owners with teams still alive. It goes without saying that there is no better time than right now for the fantasy experts to nail their predictions. In fact, the experts that offer the best advice could very well make the difference in propelling their readers to victory. No pressure for the experts, right?!

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the accuracy results from week 14 to find out who got things right. We’ll also examine how our Year-to-Date leaderboard is shaping up now that there are just a few weeks left in the season.

Week 14 Leaderboard

*Overall standings evaluate experts’ weekly rankings at the QB, RB, WR, & TE positions

Notes:

• Congratulations to John Paulsen (The Scores Report) for taking home the honor as the most accurate expert in week 14. As the #1 expert in our competition for several months running, it’s fitting that he would step up his game as the playoffs arrived. As Bill Parcells once famously said, “Big players make big plays in big games” and it certainly seems like this quote can be adapted to describe Paulsen’s performance. In typical fashion, he delivered a solid set of advice across several key positions: WR (#2 rank), RB (#5 rank) and TE (#9 rank). For his WR picks, Paulsen rode the success of many of week 14’s top studs including DeSean Jackson (PHI), Deion Branch (NE) and Marques Colston (NO). Perhaps even more impressively, he also anticipated several of the week’s biggest underachievers. For instance, he had Dwayne Bowe (KC) slotted lower than most experts (WR #23) and Bowe’s disappearing act (just .3 points) helped solidify his high accuracy rating.

• Right behind Paulsen in the standings is Josh Moore (4for4.com). Moore is no stranger to doing well in our competition as this represents his 4^th finish in the upper portion of the weekly leaderboard. In week 14, he rated particularly well with his predictions at RB (#7) and WR (#8). A key to his success at the WR position was that he ranked 7 out of the top 10 WRs as well or better than the Expert Consensus. This includes many of the week’s biggest studs such as DeSean Jackson (PHI), Pierre Garcon (IND) and Malcom Floyd (SD).

• Another expert that delivered excellent advice in week 14 was Brad Evans (Yahoo! Sports). The strength of Evan’s picks came at the RB position where he had an impressive PAY™ of 72.1%. This effectively means that following his predictions would have netted advice seekers over 70% of the available fantasy points at the RB position. With an accuracy score this high, it’s not unexpected that Evans had a good read on the week’s top stud, Darren McFadden (OAK). Specifically, Evans was 1 of only 4 experts to have McFadden ranked inside his top 10 RBs. And that wasn’t his only big hit. As we outlined in Tuesday’s Bold Predictions post, Evans took a gamble by ranking Ryan Torain (WAS) higher than any other expert and it produced a huge payoff for him as Torain rushed for over 170 yards. If nailing the top studs wasn’t enough, Evans also correctly spotted that Adrian Peterson (MIN) would have an off day and he ranked him lower than 90% of the other experts. All and all, it was a week filled with great RB advice from Evans and his accuracy score is reflective of that.

Year-to-Date Leaderboard

Notes:

• With his 1^st place finish in week 14, it should come as no surprise that John Paulsen (The Scores Report) remains in the top position in the YTD standings. For those keeping score at home, this now makes it 10 weeks in a row that Paulsen has occupied the #1 overall spot. That’s a very impressive feat given the quality of competition that’s involved in the contest. Most importantly for Paulsen, he has now extended his lead in the competition and must only stay ahead of the pack for two more weeks in order to claim the crown as 2010’s Most Accurate Fantasy Football Expert.

• It was another strong week for David Dodds (FootballGuys) as he finished in 4^th place to further solidify his current standing as the 2^nd most accurate expert in the competition. Similar to Paulsen, Dodds has provided some of his best advice late in the season when the stakes have been the highest. This past week, for example, he had a beat on several key RB sleepers including Tim Hightower (ARI) and Brian Westbrook (SF). Picks like these helped Dodds improve his overall accuracy rating for the 4^th consecutive week and they have also made him a go-to expert for RB advice.

• If there was any doubt whether or not it’s possible to still make up a lot of ground in a single week, Josh Moore (4for4.com) has provided the answer. Moore parlayed his success in week 14 to skyrocket up the standings from 9^th to 4^th place. In doing so, Moore has made it back into the top 5, where he was a fixture in the early portion of the season. It will be interesting to see if he can hang onto his spot over the final two weeks given how bunched up the accuracy scores are from positions #3 – #8 in the leaderboard.

We’ll be back again next week with another wrap-up to go over the accuracy results from week 15 and to take a look at how the YTD leaderboard has changed.

In the meantime, don’t forget that you can visit the accuracy section of our site to view a complete breakdown of all the experts in our study. The entire standings are offered at no cost to our registered members. Simply sign up for FREE and you’ll be able to view all of the accuracy scores. Thanks!