Fantasy Football: The Things I Learned – Week 12, 2016

By Chet Gresham – @ChetGresham
Follow @walterfootball for updates.

Below, check out my fantasy-centered recaps of key players from this week’s contests. For instance, did a player come back to earth after an aberrant breakout, or were they simply affected by something like game flow?

Titans 27, Bears 21
Marcus Mariota continues to play well and now has multiple touchdown passes in eight straight games. He also hasn’t turned the ball over in three straight. Mariota has evolved just this season and is now one of the most consistent quarterbacks in the game. Unfortunately, he gets a bye next week and then faces Denver at home.

Derrick Henry had a bit more juice than DeMarco Murray in this game and scored a rushing touchdown, but Murray kept a 22-to-eight touch advantage. I expect we’ll see Henry continue to see a decent amount of change-of-pace looks as we head into the final stretch of the season.

The Bears were a preseason team on offense with Matt Barkley, Marquess Wilson, Josh Bellamy and Cameron Meredith leading the passing game. Amazingly, Barkley was able to put up good numbers with that crew, even with many, many drops by his receivers. Barkley completed 28-of-54 passes for 316 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, and would have added many yards and another touchdown or two to that line if his receivers could hold onto the ball.

Chargers 21, Texans 13
Philip Rivers continues to play well, and this week, he went into Huston and completed 22-of-30 passes for 242 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. The Texans had only allowed three touchdown passes in five games at home all season.

Tyrell Williams was Rivers’ most-targeted receiver once again as he caught 8-of-14 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. Williams did have to leave the game with a shoulder injury, so keep an eye on that this week.

Brock Osweiler threw no touchdowns and three interceptions against the Chargers, and continues to play below-average football. He did manage a rushing touchdown, which more than doubled his final fantasy points. He’ll continue to drag this offense down with him and hurt his defense with turnovers.

Dolphins 31, 49ers 24
Ryan Tannehill had a great game, completing 20-of-30 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns. Of course, he was facing the 49ers’ defense, which is when most players have their best game of the season, but it’s always good to see Tannehill play well, and maybe, just maybe, Adam Gase is working his magic on him.

DeVante Parker had a touchdown and a long sideline grab overturned as incompletions, and even though they were the right calls, Parker continues to show just how good he is, especially when making tough catches.

Colin Kaepernick was the best offensive player for the 49ers this week as he had his best game of the season. He completed 29-of-46 passes for 296 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, adding 10 carries for 113 rushing yards. He was more accurate this week and killed the Dolphins with the read option. He’s still getting more snaps than other quarterbacks, which always helps fantasy numbers, but he also looked like a real starting quarterback against the Dolphins.

Saints 49, Rams 21
Drew Brees dominated the Rams defense, completing 28-of-36 passes for 310 yards with four touchdowns, while also rushing in a one-yard touchdown. It really doesn’t matter who comes into the Superdome at this point; Brees is going to be able to score on them.

Michael Thomas was the big winner out of all those yards and touchdowns, as he caught 9-of-10 targets for 108 yards and two touchdowns. The rookie now leads the Saints in receptions, yards and touchdowns after Brandin Cooks saw zero targets all game. Cooks wasn’t injured and played his normal complement of snaps, so unless we hear otherwise, fire him up again next week when the Saints host the Lions for what should be another aerial show.

Mark Ingram and Tim Hightower both paid off as fantasy starts this week, but Ingram dominated for 146 yards rushing and a touchdown on 14 carries and 21 yards receiving and another touchdown on one reception. Hightower did out-touch Ingram 17-16, but there is no doubting Ingram’s superior ability, especially for big plays.

Jared Goff actually kept this game close early on with three passing touchdowns in the first half, but that’s where the offense stopped. In the second half he couldn’t get any momentum and made some poor decisions. Those first three touchdowns were all nice passes though, and I think he’ll build from this game.

Giants 27, Browns 13
Eli Manning completed just 15-of-27 passes for 194 yards against the Browns’ horrid defense, but managed to get three touchdowns out of those 15 completions due to Odell Beckham Jr. and his amazing speed. Manning, although not sharp this season, has still managed 12 touchdown passes in his last four games.

Odell Beckham Jr. hurt his hand in this game and had to leave a couple times, but he came back and was the only real weapon on a stagnant offense. He caught 6-of-11 targets for 96 yards and two touchdowns, but could have had a much bigger line if Manning hadn’t missed him on some deep passes early. He’ll face the Steelers next week, and maybe this offense will be a little better against a team that has some wins.

The only bright spot on Cleveland’s offense was Terrelle Pryor, who caught 6-of-12 targets for 131 yards. He’s just too big and fast, which makes him a nightmare to cover, especially as he becomes a better receiver. To think this is his first season as a starting wide receiver is pretty astonishing.

Falcons 38, Cardinals 19
The Falcons continue to play great offense and had no trouble putting up 38 points, the most Arizona has allowed on the season. Patrick Peterson took Julio Jones out of this game, but the Falcons still managed to find ways to score, with two rushing touchdowns from Devonta Freeman, one from Tevin Coleman and two passing scores off of screens to Taylor Gabriel.

Matt Ryan had a good game, completing 26-of-34 passes for 269 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, which was Julio Jones’ fault. Those are the numbers you want to see from your fantasy quarterback when his best target is taken out.

Carson Palmer looked good to start this game, but his offensive line couldn’t hold up, and when Palmer is pressured, he is not very good.

Larry Fitzgerald only saw four targets, despite Desmond Trufant being out for this game. Fitzgerald caught all four for 53 yards and only saw one target in the second half. There’s no doubt he should have had many more targets.

Ravens 19, Bengals 14
Kenneth Dixon had more touches than Terrance West this week with 17 to West’s 16, finishing with 80 yards to West’s 64. It’s not a huge difference of course, but Dixon is slowly moving ahead of West.

Overall, this was a slow game for the Ravens offense, which was led in fantasy points by Justin Tucker, who kicked three field goals over 50 yards in the first half and then another measly 36-yarder for his fourth.

The Bengals couldn’t run against the stout Baltimore defensive line and couldn’t do much through the air without A.J. Green and Gio Bernard, so Tyler Eifert led the way with 11 targets, catching five for 68 yards and a touchdown. He should continue to be the target-leader while Green is out.

Bills 28, Jaguars 21
LeSean McCoy was in negative rushing yardage for much of the first half, but he broke out for a 75-yard touchdown and another score, while totaling 134 yards. When Shady is healthy, he’s still one of the best in the game.

Sammy Watkins returned this week from his foot injury and only saw three targets, but he made the best of those, catching all three for 80 yards. He’s never going to average big targets in this offense, so don’t worry about that next week and just get him in your lineups. He is a big play waiting to happen.

Blake Bortles managed a decent fantasy day even though he completed just 50 percent of his passes for 126 yards. He found Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee for touchdowns, and added 81 yards rushing on eight attempts. Bortles somehow continues to put up enough decent fantasy days to keep you coming back.

Buccaneers 14, Seahawks 5
Jameis Winston and Mike Evans hooked up for a touchdown on their first two drives, and then they shut things down for the day and won 14-5. But that fast start was enough for Evans to have a huge day, catching 8-of-11 targets for 104 yards and two touchdowns, including one over Richard Sherman.

Doug Martin also got off to a fast start on those two drives, but also saw a sharp decline as the Seahawks’ defense stepped up and the Bucs sat on their lead. He rushed 23 times for 87 yards, but should have a little easier time of things next week against the Chargers.

Russell Wilson was under pressure all game and couldn’t get on track, barely completing over 50 percent of his passes for 151 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. He did rush for 80 yards, but that was due to him running for his life most of the game.

Thomas Rawls did little to nothing, with 12 carries for 38 yards. The Seattle offense finished the day with just one third-down conversion and was out of sorts the whole game. Rawls should have better luck at home, even in a tough matchup with Carolina.

Raiders 35, Panthers 32
Derek Carr completed 26-of-38 passes for 315 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, plus added one dislocated pinkie. Carr continues to play good football, real and fake. His natural eyeliner doesn’t hurt.

Latavius Murray continues to quietly be a strong fantasy producer. After losing carries to a committee earlier in the season, he’s now back to seeing the majority and is even getting more receiving work. Against the Panthers, he totaled 88 yards and a touchdown on 22 touches, which isn’t bad against their stout defensive line.

Cam Newton completed just 14-of-29 passes, but his completions included a 44-yard touchdown to Kelvin Benjamin and an 88-yard touchdown to Ted Ginn. Newton also rushed in for a three-yard touchdown, so the end results were good for fantasy, but you can tell this offense is struggling.

Jonathan Stewart rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Both his touchdowns were near the goal line, which means the Panthers are giving him that work ahead of Newton more than they have in the past.

Patriots 22, Jets 17
Tom Brady was hobbled by a knee injury and Rob Gronkowski’s early exit from the game. Brady still managed to complete 30-of-50 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns, with most of those fantasy numbers coming in the second half as he found Malcolm Mitchell twice for touchdowns.

Malcolm Mitchell has become one of Brady’s favorite targets and now has nine receptions for 140 yards and three touchdowns over the last two games after catching seven passes across the first nine games.

Dion Lewis out-touched James White 10 to 4 as Lewis saw six rushing attempts to White’s zero, but White did see nine targets to Lewis’ seven. Lewis seems to be moving ahead of White, but White isn’t going away either and LeGarrette Blount was still involved even with the pass-happy offense, as he rushed 11 times for 67 yards.

Quincy Enunwa took advantage of the Patriots’ weak secondary to catch all five of his targets for 109 yards and a touchdown, while Brandon Marshall wasn’t as efficient, but he caught 6-of-9 targets for 67 yards and a touchdown as well.

Ryan Fitzpatrick played within himself for this game and kept from making too many stupid mistakes. His 269 yards was his highest total since Week 2 and his two touchdowns were his most since Week 1. He’s not good, but he’s better than Bryce Petty for fantasy stats and the Jets face the Colts and 49ers in the next two weeks.

Chiefs 30, Broncos 27
The bye week seemed to have helped Trevor Siemien with some nagging injuries and maybe it helped him refocus. He wasn’t great on every snap, but he put together a great game, completing 20-of-34 passes for 368 yards and three touchdowns. Siemien was much better than he has been of late, especially in the turnover department, as he had none, while he had six over his previous three games.

Emmanuel Sanders had his way with Kansas City Sunday night, as he caught 7-of-10 targets for 162 yards and a touchdown.

Down eight points with fewer than two minutes left in the game, Alex Smith drove his team down the field and threw a touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill with just 12 seconds left in the game to send it into overtime. Smith had just 100 yards passing before that drive! The Chiefs then went on to win on Cairo Santos’ bank-shot field goal. It was a crazy game, but one that shows you that Smith is often a better real-life quarterback than fantasy one.

Tyreek Hill became the first person since Gale Sayers in 1965 to rush for a touchdown, catch a touchdown and return a kick for a touchdown in the same game. You know you’ve done something special when Gale Sayers is the last person to do it.

A.J. Derby is now ahead of Virgil Green on the tight end depth chart, as Derby caught all four of his targets for 43 yards and Virgil Green didn’t see a target.

For more thoughts, check out Walt’s updated NFL Power Rankings, which will be posted Tuesday morning.

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