Welcome to the 2015 Fantasy Alarm Game Recaps! Nobody watches more NFL football than yours truly mostly because it is impossible to do so. Each week I’ll open up my notepad to all of our Fantasy Alarm readers so that you guys can go beyond the boxscore to get the information you need to win your league.
Just a heads up folks that next week I will be traveling to San Diego for FanDuel’s World Fantasy Football Championship and covering it for SiriusXM. As a result I will not be in my familiar spot in front of my eight screens to watch all of the games on Sunday. Thus, I’ll be playing catch up for much of the early part of the week and thus there will be no game recaps for next week (week 14). I apologize in advance for this but its just out of my control.
At a certain point I cannot say that this was another bizarre week because at this point we have to expect the unexpected. The Eagles beating the heck out of the Patriots? Sure why not. The Vikings defense getting destroyed by the Seahawks offense without Jimmy Graham? You betcha. The 49ers going on the road and ruining the Chicago Bears playoff hopes. Of course.
Yes it was another wild week in the NFL and in fantasy football as well. Even though I tweeted most of my fury out already, there is still plenty left for a complete recap of all the Sunday games this week.
Here are the Week 13 Fantasy Football Game Recaps:
23 - N.Y. Jets at N.Y. Giants – 20 (OT)
This was the Jets first victory over the crosstown Giants since October 31st, 1993.
The Jets continued to struggle to run the football this afternoon. Chris Ivory did absolutely nothing until the fourth quarter today and was replaced in the lineup by Bilal Powell quite a bit. Powell is finally healthy and is a much better pass catcher out of the backfield. While I don’t expect a major shakeup at the RB depth chart for the Jets, I do expect as I did coming into this season that Powell will get up to a third of the touches every week.
Jets OT Willie Colon who is currently on IR and was in street clothes on the sidelines drew a personal foul penalty for unsportsmalike conduct for hitting a Giants player out of bounds.
Giants WR Dwayne Harris had a 80 yard punt return for a TD in today’s game. Harris became the first Giants player since 1955 (Jimmy Patton) to have both punt and kickoff return for TD in one season.
Odell Beckham is seriously better at catching the football with one hand than he is at catching with two. He dropped a couple real easy passes today while hauling in another circus like one handed grab early on. Beckham’s 72 yard TD was the third TD of 70+ yards in his short career. Only A.J. Green and Martavis Bryant have as many 70+ yard TD’s in the past two years as ODB.
The Giants legitimately don’t have another receiving option opposite Beckham and this is a big problem against any team that has depth to their secondary. If a defense can bracket up ODB, it forced Manning to try and find another option which simply isn’t happening this season.
The Giants lost rookie LT Ereck Flowers in the second half of this game with an ankle injury. He was carted off of the field and did not return. We will know more about his status on Monday.
27 - Arizona at St. Louis – 3
We all know that Larry Fitzgerald is one of the great WR’s to ever play this game but today he became the youngest WR ever to collect 1,000 receptions at just 32 years and 97 days old.
The Rams defense is night and day with and without DE Robert Quinn. Without Quinn the past few weeks the Rams have been absolutely torched. Today the Cardinals offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage. The Cardinals rushed 26 times for 157 yards while running between the tackles today.
Don’t read into Kerwyn Williams heavy involvement today. Williams was signed off of the practice squad this week and seemingly played ahead of backup RB Stepfan Taylor but that is only because the game was out of hand. Taylor is still well ahead of Williams on the Cardinals depth chart.
The Cardinals lost starting TE Jermaine Gresham with a left knee injury in the second half of today’s game.
The Rams have absolutely nothing on offense other than Todd Gurley but even he isn’t an elite option anymore. Gurley was shut down all day by this Cardinals defense and other than one run for a 34 yard gain, Gurley only picked up seven yards on eight carries in this game.
The Rams lost their top cornerback in Janoris Jenkins due to a concussion today. They also lost backup TE Lance Kendricks who also was lost for good with a concussion in the second half of today’s game.
.jpg)
38 - Seattle at Minnesota – 7
Thomas Rawls is a very impressive running back. I have been trying to describe his running style for a couple of weeks now and still can’t quite put a label on it. The best that I can do is “slippery” as he constantly is slipping away from tacklers in order to fall forward and pickup extra yards. The Seahawks offensive line is still not good so don’t go too wild in your expectations.
I’ve heard some already speculate that the reason that the Seahawks offense looked so good today was because there is no more Jimmy Graham. As you know, I had been against Graham as much as anyone since his trade to Seattle but in no way did his lack of presence have anything to do with this impressive performance by the Seahawks offense.
Thank you to those who have pointed out that I was wrong about Doug Baldwin this week. But I’ll point to Russell Wilson’s 27 total pass attempts and just say good luck getting this much production out of this little volume on a regular basis.
Mike Wallace caught a 25 yard pass in this game. This is noteworthy because it was his longest reception of the entire season for the Vikings. So much for giving Teddy Bridgewater the deep threat that he needed.
The Vikings best defensive players especially in the past couple of weeks has been LB Anthony Barr. Barry though was knocked out of this game early due to an aggravation of the groin injury he suffered last week. Keep a close eye on Barr’s status during the week because without him this Vikings defense lacks the teeth it had just a week ago.
The Vikings also lost safety Harrison Smith with a hamstring injury early on and he did not return.
21 - Houston at Buffalo – 30
Remember what I said earlier about this week being totally predictable? Well I thought for sure that this game would wind up being a defensive battle with little to no fantasy impact whatsoever. Judging by the ownership numbers, I wasn’t alone in this belief.
Texans rookie CB Kevin Johnson was absolutely tortured in this game. Not only did Sammy Watkins school him on a 53 yard catch and run in the first half but he also gave up both Watkins and Robert Woods TD receptions.
J.J. Watt’s consecutive games with a sack streak came to an end today as all Watt was able to do was make four tackles including one for loss. The Bills did an amazing job neutralizing him this afternoon.
The Bills did a phenomenal job today running the football. We know that just by reading the boxscore. But what I specifically noticed today and loved seeing was a throw back to offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s run scheme from Stanford and with the San Francisco 49ers. This style relies on misdirection and basically stacking a lane where the offense will have more blockers than there are potential defenders. The Bills ran the ball 36 times for 187 yards and one TD (by Tyrod Taylor) today.
LeSean McCoy missed a few of the Buffalo offensive series today while being treated for a possible concussion. He was eventually cleared and did return to the game.
The Bills CB Stephon Gilmore was forced from the game due to a left shoulder injury. Gilmore was writhing in pain when he left the field and was ruled out soon after.
13- Baltimore at Miami – 15
This game was a comedy of errors for both teams. Bad penalties, poor coaching decisions and missed opportunities made for an incredibly sloppy performance by both teams today.
The Ravens seemingly had a 52 yard TD from Matt Schaub to Daniel Brown in the first quarter but somehow the referees claimed they had blown the play dead after Brown interfered with the defender. It was clearly the wrong call but the Ravens never got that close against until the second half.
Matt Schaub kept his consecutive pick six streak in tact today as he had a tipped pass hauled in by Dolphins DE Derrick Shelby and returned for a touchdown.
The Ravens lost TE Crockett Gilmore in the second quarter due to a back injury. He did not return and will be reevaluated on Monday.
The Dolphins are like a crazy ex-girlfriend. Early in the season they were only averaging 18 rushing attempts per game. That was good for last in the NFL. So they fired their head coach and then ran the ball 28+ times in each of the first two games under new head coach. Last week they only ran the ball nine times total. They fired their offensive coordinator and then this week they only throw the ball 19 times while running 26. This team is dead in the water because they have no true identity of their offense.
I am as stunned as you guys are at the lack of pass attempts by the Dolphins and thus the lack of involvement by Jarvis Landry. But let’s be realistic here folks. When you only complete nine passes total, and two of those are to RB’s, there really isn’t much opportunity to go around.
The Dolphins lost backup DT Robert Thomas to an elbow injury late in the fourth quarter and he did not return.
37 - Cincinnati at Cleveland – 3
It feels like I say it almost every week but it is imperative if you are a Jeremy Hill owner to seriously identify game flow before deciding whether or not to start him on a weekly basis. He is a valuable fantasy asset in games like this where the Bengals will play with a lead and lean on the defense.
As more and more teams try to slow down A.J. Green, the more targets will ultimately wind up in the direction of Marvin jones. Do not forget about Jones even after Tyler Eifert comes back from his neck injury, as he’ll be a very valuable piece for the Bengals down the stretch this season.
A.J. Green had a second touchdown that was overturned when the review showed that he was actually out of bounds just a few inches short of the goal line.
The Browns need to clean house and it all begins with general manager Ray Farmer. This also and most obviously includes head coach Mike Pettine and his entire coaching staff. The Browns need a football czar type to run personnel and should probably look to either the college ranks or elsewhere for an innovative offensive minded new head coach.
Austin Davis became the Cleveland Browns 24th different starting quarterback since they rejoined the NFL in 1999.
The Browns lost starting WR Travis Benjamin to a first half shoulder injury and also lost WR Marlon Moore due to a head injury that is believed to be a concussion.
Starting LG Joel Bitonio also was knocked out of this game early because of an ankle injury.
39 - Jacksonville at Tennessee – 42
If you told me before this game that there would have been 81 points scored I would have laughed you out of the building and called security. I seriously didn’t think either offense had it in them despite less than ideal matchups today. The six touchdowns in the fourth quarter here were the second most in any NFL game since 1940.
Jaguars kicker Jason Myers missed two extra points today and now has an amazing six missed extra points on the season. Myers is a respectable 22-26 on field goal attempts but it is doubtful that the team will put up with this awful showing on what is supposed to be an easy point after.
Allen Robinson is a star. I said it before the season, I say it every single week and I will continue to say it until the season is over. You should never be asking whether or not to start this man against any team whatsoever. He is an automatic start each and every week. Robinson went over 1000 yards receiving in this game and became the first Jaguars receiver to accomplish this since jimmy Smith in 2005.
Marcus Mariota rushed for 112 yards today and became the first Titans player to run for over 100 yardds since Chris Johnson in 2013.
I am not going to even consider starting Dorial Green-Beckham next week despite the impressive 5-119-1 performance today. There are a number of reasons for this at the top of which is a lack of volume in the Titans passing game. Don’t fall for this forbidden fruit people.
26 - San Francisco at Chicago – 20 (OT)
Listen, Blaine Gabbert is playing well as the 49ers starting QB but don’t get that confused with being anywhere near the fantasy radar. What Gabbert has done is cut down on the mistakes which is huge but he still isn’t an effective downfield passer at this stage of his career.
Shaun Draughn had another impressive game today with 86 total yards and a rushing touchdown. But for the first time in three weeks he actually shared backfield duties with Travaris Cadet, who at one point was paying ahead of Draughn in the first half. Without that volume I am not interested in Draughn whatsoever.
The 49ers lost several player due to concussions today. LB Aaron Lynch left the game with a concussion in the third quarter, TE Vance McDonald was knocked out early on and they also lost LB Novorro Bowman with a head injury late in the fourth quarter.
Bears kicker Robbie Gould used to be Mr. Reliable especially at home but has fallen on hard times lately. Gould had a chance to win this game in regulation for the Bears with a 36 yard FG attempt but sailed it wide left. He also missed a 40 yard field goal attempt earlier on in this game which gave the 49ers new life to begin with.
It’s clear that the Bears will be using Matt Forte as their primary back for the duration of this season. Jeremy Langford and even Ka’Deem Carey will be mixed in but it makes sense to ride Forte out into the pasture before he walks in free agency after this season.
17 - Denver at San Diego – 3
The Broncos came out with guns blazing on their first drive marching 76 yards down the field as Brock Osweiler hit DeMaryius Thomas for a three yard TD. While that first drive went incredibly well, the rest of the day was an offensive struggle for the Broncos gained less than 300 yards against the NFL’s worst defense.
C.J. Anderson started this game hot and I am absolutely convinced that he would have torn the Chargers apart had he not went down with an ankle injury at the end of the first quarter. Ronnie Hillman only managed 19-56 rushing in Anderson’s place.
Vernon Davis also was knocked out of this game with a concussion. The Broncos also lost safety’s Omar Bolden with a hamstring injury and David Bruton with a knee injury.
The Chargers only have one more home game left in what quite possibly could be their last season in San Diego. There were a lot more Broncos fans in the stands today opposed to Chargers fans. This is a franchise that is due for a complete restoration in 2016.
Rookie RB Melvin Gordon fumbled twice more in this game and was subsequently benched by head coach Mike McCoy.
WR Dontrelle Inman suffered a real scare neck injury in the first quarter when his head/neck was bent back after crashing to the ground on a hit by a Denver safety. Inman had to be taken off of the field on an immobilizer stretcher and taken to a local hospital. I have not seen any updates on Inman’s condition as of this writing but do hope that he is alright.
34 - Kansas City at Oakland – 20
The Alex Smith/Jeremy Maclin combo is heating up in a major way over the past two games. Smith is 18-21, 255 yards and 3 TD’s when targeting Maclin over the last two games.
Some goon on Twitter blasted me tonight for having recommended Charcandrick West so highly this week. You guys need to understand that there is a method to the madness. As I mentioned on the SiriusXM show last week, I went back over 17 seasons of Andy Reid RB’s and found just one example of when he used a running back by committee. The snap and touch totals today were far closer than I had anticipated and overall the production just wasn’t there. But what this ultimately came down to this week was that Spencer Ware got the 10 yard touchdown run and West didn’t. I’m going to pay close attention to what is said out of Kansas City this week but I am not yet sold that this will be a full committee going forward still.
Travis Kelce is a top eight fantasy TE in every possible way but he is also incredibly disappointing. Not only did he only accrue two catches today but also lost a big fumble that set up a Raiders TD as well.
The Chiefs lost DE Mike DeVito to a concussion in the second half of today’s game.
Both kickers, Cairo Santos and Sebastian Janikowski missed extra points today as the NFL wide epidemic on extra points continues.
Derek Carr has really struggled in the fourth quarter of games this season. I’ve noted in previous weeks that its looked like he’s dropped velocity and also begun lofting his throws instead of driving them to their intended target. He threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter alone today which gave this game to Kansas City.
Safety Nate Allen of the Raiders had to be helped off the field with a knee injury and did not return.
41 - Carolina at New Orleans – 38
Of all the games this week, this was one I pretty much nailed right on the head although I had predicted that the Saints would win the game outright. Stil, there were plenty of terrific fantasy production in New Orleans this afternoon.
A strange moment in this game when Cam Newton appeared to have an easy 10 yard TD run in front of him but after faking out one defender he seemed to let up in an almost mocking fashion as he sauntered to the endzone. The only problem was that Saints LB Michael Mauti never gave up and stepped up to crush Newton just short of the goal line. Mauti hit Newton in the head but was not flagged on the play. After the hit Newton left the game to be tested for concussion in the Panthers locker room. He was immediately cleared and returned to the game without missing a snap.
Ted Ginn had a great game on paper going for 5-80-2. But the points he left out there will haunt fantasy owners (me!) for a long time. Ginn had two impossibly bad drops on deep passes that would have easily resulted in touchdowns. As I predicted on both the Friday and Sunday SiriusXM shows, Ginn torched Saints CB Brandon Browner up and down the field.
Speaking of Brandon Browner, he was flagged three more times today and eventually had to be restrained by teammates after screaming at new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Browner is in my opinion the single worst player in the NFL right now and has a few screws loose upstairs as well.
It was nice to see WR Brandon Coleman involved throughout this game for the Saints. I was real high on Coleman coming into the season but his snaps have become few and far between in recent weeks. Despite the performance I am steering clear of Coleman in all league formats.
The Saints became the first team to score in the NFL’s new two point defensive return procedure. DT Kevin Williams blocked the extra point attempt of Graham Gano and Stephone Anthony returned it 82 yards for the conversion.
The Saints were without their best defensive player in Delvin Breaux for most of this game after he left due to a hamstring injury in the first half.
35 - Philadelphia at New England – 28
As long as I live I will never believe not only the outcome but the entire tempo of this game. Despite the close score the Eagles controlled this ballgame pretty much throughout.
The Eagles scored three times on defense and special teams today. The blocked punt return touchdown by Najee Goode was the first allowed by the Patriots since Week 11 of 2009. Malcolm Jenkins' 99-yard interception return of a Tom Brady pass was the longest allowed by Brady in his career and Darren Sproles' punt return touchdown was the first return against the Patriots since Week 17 of 2006.
Overall this was a down week for me but among my proudest calls this week was that Darren Sproles would be a sneaky play in both seasonal and daily. I even picked up Sproles and started him in the SiriusXM Host League this week. I do not foresee me having any use for him again this season however.
I was wrong about LeGarrette Blount today because I was wrong about the game flow. Me and just about everybody else with a brain in their head figured that the Patriots would be well ahead in this game and running out the clock late. Instead they were playing catch up most of the time which led to far fewer touches for LeGarrette Blount than I had anticipated.
This game flow issue also led to a lot more Scott Chandler than I had thought. Chandler somehow got 7 targets and managed to haul in just 4-61-1. He wasn’t quite a top five TE as Ted Schuster had argued with me about this week but he definitely was better than I thought.
10 - Indianapolis at Pittsburgh – 45
The Colts actually led the game 10-6 at one point in time. The Steelers reeled off 35 consecutive points though and trounced Indy the rest of the way.
Matt Hasselbeck looked every bit of his 40 years tonight. Hasselbeck was pressured often and was slow in his attempts at avoiding it. He tossed two very costly interceptions and also lost a fumble in a game that will remind Colts fans of all they are losing without Andrew Luck.
Charlie Whitehurst actually came on to relieve Hasselbeck in the fourth quarter due to a shoulder injury that was labeled not serious after the game.
For one night at least it looked as though the one who benefitted most from Ahmad Bradshaw’s absence was Frank Gore.
Antonio Brown is a one man wrecking machine when Ben Roethlisberger is under center. Tonight Brown went off for 8-118-2 receiving and also returned a punt 71 yards for a third TD. On the season, Brown has caught 71% of passes thrown at him by Roethlisberger while he caught barely 50% from Landry Jones and/or Michael Vick.
In a strange moment during a halftime interview, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin announced that Jacoby Jones was “done” after he had fumbled two kickoffs in the first half. It wasn’t clear if Tomlin meant that Jones was just done returning kicks tonight or done with the Steelers overall. I suppose we will learn his fate very soon if it is the latter.