The Week That Was Football: The Injuries From Week 12

The Week That Was Football: The Injuries From Week 12

Big name injuries highlight this week’s Football Week That Was.

For 2014, The Week that Was: NFL will focus on injuries and their effects. 

C.J. Anderson:    Ronnie Hillman out.  Montee Ball out.  Worry?  No.  C.J. Anderson took the reins and he may never look back.  C.J. put up 195 yards of total offense, got into the end zone once and might have a second time but did the right thing and took a knee to run out the clock.  Bottom line here is that if you own one of the injured Broncos RBs and are counting on them to come back for the fantasy playoffs, you better have a plan B as CJ could be the man in Denver down the stretch. 

Emmanuel Sanders:    After suffering a concussion on a vicious hit last week, Sanders defied the odds, suited up and promptly proved that he was just fine.  Sanders caught 9 balls for 125 yards and even rushed for three more.  Going forward you can be totally certain that Sanders will get his looks no matter who is at TE, no matter whether Welker plays and no matter how often they run the ball. Start with absolute confidence.

Bishop Sankey:  According to reports, Bishop Sankey may have suffered a concussion.  Of course, that is bad news for Sankey but not major news for fantasy owners.  Sankey was ineffective again, carrying the ball 10 times for just 37 yards and lost a fumble in the process. If you are in a TD heavy league, Shonn Greene is worth a look for three reasons.  One, Sankey could be hurt.  Two, Greene gets the goal line carries anyway.  Three, the Titans get the Jets, Giants and Jaguars weeks 14-16.  Guys like this make all the difference between whether you win or lose your standard league after injuries strike. 

Giovani Bernard:   After missing games with a panoply of woes, Giovani Bernard returned to action, carrying the ball 17 times for 45 yards while reeling in two passes on three targets for 22 yards.  Not great, not terrible but not nearly as good as his teammate Jeremy Hill who scampered for 87 yards and a TD on 18 carries (4.8 yards per carry as compared to Gio’s 2.6).  Bottom line here is that assuming both RBs are healthy next week Gio is in danger of being used as a third down back who gets about half the touches Hill gets.  Plan accordingly. 

Julius Thomas: Julius Thomas missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury.  My gut says he plays next week but who knows.  That Jacob Tamme and Wes Welker did very little in this game shows you that the balls that would have gone to Thomas go to the starting two WR (D.Thomas and Sanders) and not to some surprise injury replacement.  Bottom line here is that there is no diamond in the rough just waiting to be mined in the Denver receiving corps.  I expected Tamme to see more looks.  He simply did not.

Larry Fitzgerald:   Larry Fitzgerald missed the Cardinals game in Seattle with his MCL injury.  I think the Cardinals at 9-1 going into the game made the right call in letting Larry heal.  In fact, it would not surprise me at all if Fitz missed next week’s game against Atlanta that the Cardinals should win without him.  One thing worth noting here – even with Fitz out, Michael Floyd caught no passes.  Yes, Zero catches despite the Fitz injury.  Where have you gone Michael Floyd?  Seriously!

Ryan Mallett:  According to reports, the Houston QB may have suffered a torn pectoral muscle before yesterday’s game.  In his two starts, he averaged just 200 yards per game and just 1 TD and 1 INT per game.  If you are playing Mallett in anything other than a 16 team 2 QB league, you have issues.  That said, the likely return to Ryan Fitzpatrick could be good news for DeAndre Hopkins and Andre Johnson owners as Fitz, while not great, was more productive and prolific than Mallett.   

Final Thought:  Injury news changes quickly so make sure to check back right here at fantasyalarm.com for all the news you need to know.