Fantasy Football: The Things I Learned – Week 14, 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?

Vikings 25, Jaguars 16
Sam Bradford didn’t put up huge fantasy numbers, but on a slow day for fantasy quarterbacks, he currently sits in the Top-10, as he completed 24-of-34 passes for 292 yards and a touchdown against a stout Jacksonville defense.

Jerick McKinnon had a middling day, but did see six targets and caught all six of them for 38 yards, plus carried the ball 14 times for a paltry 31 yards. The receptions saved him in PPR leagues, and it’s a good sign now that he’s seen his season high in receptions in each of the last two weeks. Matt Asiata isn’t going away, but McKinnon out-touched him today 20-14 and is becoming the preferred receiving option.

Adam Thielen continued to play well despite Stefon Diggs playing a full set of snaps. Thielen caught 4-of-5 targets for 101 yards. His target share took a hit, but he’s still a big part of the offense.

T.J. Yeldon rushed 17 times for 59 yards and caught 7-of-9 passes for 31 yards. With Chris Ivory out, Yeldon saw 24 touches, which was his high for the season. And in PPR leagues, those seven receptions are a nice boon.

Texans 22, Colts 17
Brock Osweiler was his usual ineffective self, even in a great matchup with a Colts defense down four starters. He managed to complete 14-of-24 passes for 147 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. The Texans went run heavy in this game to hide Osweiler, and it worked well enough to get the win. Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue combined for 37 carries, but Miller led the way despite missing a couple drives due to nagging injuries. He had 21 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown, plus caught his lone target for 15 yards.

No receiver topped two receptions for the Texans, with DeAndre Hopkins “leading” the way with two receptions for 33 yards. It’s a shame to see so much talent go to waste.

Andrew Luck managed to throw a couple touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in the red zone. It was a poor game all around for him, and if it wasn’t for T.Y. Hilton, Luck probably would have had a much worse day, as Hilton brought in 9-of-13 targets for 115 yards and a touchdown, and was the Colts’ entire offense.

Donte Moncrief was forced from this game with a hamstring injury. Phillip Dorsett took over for him, but caught just 3-of-8 targets for 19 yards.

Lions 20, Bears 17
Matthew Stafford tore ligaments to the middle finger of his right – throwing – hand, but never missed a snap. He did have to wear a glove, but he was able to play well enough for the win, as he completed 21-of-35 passes for 223 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also added a rushing touchdown and 15 yards on four attempts. The rushing touchdown saved his fantasy day.

Golden Tate led the team with 11 targets, and Anquan Boldin was a distant second with six. Eric Ebron and Marvin Jones had five each. Boldin was the only one to find the end zone, but Jones led the team with 67 receiving yards. Boldin has taken a step up in this offense, which will make it difficult to choose a secondary receiver after Tate in fantasy.

Jordan Howard continues to be a solid player for the Bears and a consistent one in fantasy. He rushed 13 times for 86 yards and caught 2-of-5 targets for 24 yards, and as usual, he probably deserved more work.

With Marquess Wilson out, Cameron Meredith led the way for Chicago with eight targets, catching six for 72 yards and a touchdown. Matt Barkley isn’t playing great football, but he is giving his receivers a chance to make plays.

Bengals 23, Browns 10
Andy Dalton completed 20-of-28 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, but didn’t need to do much more than that as the Bengals ran Jeremy Hill and Rex Burkhead down the Browns’ throats in the second half.

Jeremy Hill rushed 25 times for 111 yards and a touchdown, plus caught 3-of-4 targets for 31 yards. This came on the heels of a game against the Eagles where he rushed 23 times for 33 yards, so I think you can tell there was a discrepancy in talent on the two defensive teams.

Tyler Eifert caught both of Dalton’s touchdowns and finished with 5-of-6 receptions for 48 yards and the touchdowns. He’ll continue to be a red-zone wrecker.

Robert Griffin III was awful in this game, completing just 12-of-28 passes for 104 yards with one interception. He added a goal-line plunge for a touchdown, but it did little to erase his poor play.

The only bright spot for the Browns was Isaiah Crowell, who rushed 10 times for 113 yards, breaking off chunk plays in the second half. He probably should have been used much more as it was apparent Griffin had forgotten how to play football.

Panthers 28, Chargers 16
Cam Newton completed 10-of-27 passes for 160 yards, one touchdown and an interception, and he looked the part. A 37-percent completion percentage is pretty bad, even for Newton. He just missed a rushing touchdown, which is the only thing giving him any fantasy value at the moment.

Greg Olsen was about the only bright spot this week for the Panthers, as he caught 4-of-7 targets for 87 yards. The second-most yards went to Devin Funchess, who caught 2-of-5 targets for 33 yards, while Carolina’s No. 1 receiver, Kelvin Benjamin, was benched for dogging it after an interception.

Philip Rivers completed 21-of-39 passes for 236 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, while also losing two fumbles. Rivers has now thrown two or more touchdowns in his last six games, but also has 15 turnovers in that stretch. He’s lost control.

Melvin Gordon hurt his hip trying to recover one of Rivers’ fumbles and had to leave the game, but initial reports are that he will be okay, but he’ll still need an MRI to confirm. Kenneth Farrow led the way after Gordon left and saw 22 touches for 78 yards, including six receptions.

Dolphins 26, Cardinals 23
What a rollercoaster Ryan Tannehill is, but unfortunately for him and the Dolphins, that ride is feared to be over, ended by an ACL tear. He took a low hit from Calais Campbell, and that was the end to Tannehill’s day, but not before he completed 15-of-20 passes for 195 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Matt Moore replaced him and wasn’t asked to do much until the Cardinals tied it up. Moore then led the Dolphins down the field for a game-winning field goal.

Moore will take over as the starter, but is going to be a tough sell for fantasy purposes in any league.

Carson Palmer completed 18-of-33 passes for 145 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, ples fumbled a snap exchange away. The wind and rain seemed to affect Palmer more than Tannehill. Palmer was able to tie the game up with two late touchdown tosses, but he looked awful today.

David Johnson is human. Well, almost human. He still was able to top 100 total yards once again, like he has in every single game this season, but missed getting into the end zone, which is not a common occurrence.

Redskins 27, Eagles 22

Kirk Cousins completed 14-of-21 passes for 234 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. His biggest play was an 80-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson, but otherwise the Eagles played ball-control offense and kept Washington off the field.

Robert Kelley rushed 16 times for 63 yards and had two catches for 25 yards. Despite those two receptions, Kelley is in no way a natural pass catcher and will continue to have a lower floor due to that. His rushing touchdown was a great run though, and as long as Washington is close in a game, Kelley should have value.

Carson Wentz completed 32-of-46 passes for 314 yards, one touchdown and an interception, looking much better than he has in recent weeks. He was able to give Zach Ertz, Jordan Matthews and Trey Burton each double-digit targets, and all three caught seven or more passes.

Zach Ertz led the way with 10 receptions on 12 targets for 112 yards, while fellow tight end Trey Burton caught 7-of-10 targets for 65 yard. Burton now has 12 receptions over his last two games.

Titans 13, Broncos 10
Marcus Mariota completed just 6-of-20 passes for 88 yards and no touchdowns or turnovers. Mariota had thrown for two or more touchdowns in each of his last eight games before running into the Broncos. Oh, and the Titans won the game!

DeMarco Murray was the big yardage gainer with 92 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, but caught neither of his two targets. Murray has slowed down a bit in the second half of the season, but he’s still getting enough volume to remain a top fantasy back.

Kendall Wright was a healthy scratch and won’t be a Titan next season. He is worth a pickup in any dynasty league if he’s been dropped.

Trevor Siemian completed 35-of-51 passes for 334 yards and one touchdown, while the Titans shut down Denver’s rushing game. It’s an odd juxtaposition seeing Siemian’s 334 yards and a touchdown to Mariota’s 80 yards and no touchdowns in a Titans win, but that’s what happened. Siemian is still more of an opportunistic game-manager at this point and needs some help from the run to put up points.

Justin Forsett saw more nine touches to Devontae Booker’s five, but neither could do anything of note. Booker did see a few more snaps, but Forsett was used more in the passing game. This looks like an even split, which makes both almost unusable.

Steelers 27, Bills 20
The Steelers put together 27 offensive points in Buffalo while Ben Roethlisberger threw no touchdowns and three interceptions. The whole offense was driven by Le’Veon Bell, who set a Steelers record with 236 rushing yards on a huge 38 carries. That averages out to 6.21 yards per carry, which is an amazing number on 38 attempts! He also added three touchdown runs, which helped negate Roethlisberger’s three interceptions. When you add in Bell’s 62 yards receiving, he totaled 298 yards, which was more than the 275 total yards the Bills put up on the day!

There wasn’t much else for the Steelers’ offense with Bell taking over, but Antonio Brown and Ladarius Green once again led the way in targets and will continue to have the most upside moving forward.

The Bills’ offense was stifled for much of the game by the Steelers, especially the run game, as LeSean McCoy rushed 12 times for 27 yards, but he was saved by garbage-time receptions, catching 6-of-7 targets for 81 yards and adding a short rushing touchdown with fewer than two minutes left in the game.

Packers 38, Seahawks 10
Aaron Rodgers completed 18-of-23 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns, shredding the good Seahawks pass defense, but he also was not 100 percent, as he hurt his calf. Rodgers said the injury was due to compensating for his hamstring injury. He was clearly hurting despite playing so well. Rodgers was pulled with 12 minutes remaining, but the game was already in hand. He likely will be able to go again next week against the Bears, but won’t be completely healthy.

Jordy Nelson led the way with two touchdown receptions, but Davante Adams again had a nice game, catching 4-of-6 targets for 104 yards and a touchdown. He now has four 100-yard-plus games and nine touchdowns.

Christine Michael had one more carry than Ty Montgomery, but Montgomery was able to put up better numbers overall, including a touchdown run. Montgomery did leave the game once with an injury scare, which may be why Michael was getting the carries to salt the game away late.

Russell Wilson completed 22-of-39 passes for 240 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions. He consistently was off-target in this game, and after a similarly poor game against Tampa Bay last week, this is unfortunately looking like a trend. Maybe he can right the ship against the hapless Rams on Thursday night.

Falcons 42, Rams 14
Matt Ryan completed 24-of-41 passes for 237 yards with three touchdowns before taking a seat to watch Matt Schaub relieve him in the fourth quarter. The Rams aren’t – how do I say? – good.

Devonta Freeman rushed for six yards on six carries and caught 2-of-3 targets for 12 yards. This is not what you wanted out of Freeman in the fantasy playoffs! Instead, Tevin Coleman went off for two touchdowns on 10 touches, and the Falcons’ defense added two touchdowns as well.

Jared Goff completed 24-of-41 passes for 235 yards with two interceptions, plus a lost fumble. One of those interceptions was returned for a touchdown, and the fumble was also housed. It was a pitiful display at home against a weak defense. Jeff Fisher will not help Goff get better and needs to go.

Buccaneers 16, Saints 11
The highest over/under of the weekend ended up totaling 27 points and being a fantasy bust. Doug Martin led the Bucs in fantasy points as he found the end zone, but he was inefficient with 23 carries for 66 yards.

Charles Sims returned for this game and retook his passing-down and change-of-pace roles, totaling 50 yards on seven touches. His usage should increase a bit moving forward.

Mike Evans led the Bucs with eight targets, but only caught four for 42 yards. It was a disappointing day for many top fantasy players.

Drew Brees completed 25-of-41 passes for 257 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions in his second straight disastrous game. He picked a fine time to leave us, Lucille. In his last two games, he has zero touchdown passes to six interceptions. Yes, those were both critical fantasy weeks, and yes, I have Brees on my big dynasty team.

Jets 23, 49ers 17
Bilal Powell rushed 29 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns, plus caught 5-of-5 targets for 34 yards, after Matt Forte went down with a knee injury early. We’ve been waiting for Powell to get a shot at more work, but of course, it came after an in-game injury, so Powell was probably on quite a few benches.

Bryce Petty wasn’t good in this one, but it is obvious that Robby Anderson is his favorite target. Petty targeted Anderson 11 times to Quincy Enunwa’s seven and Brandon Marshall’s five. Anderson hauled in six of those targets for 99 yards.

Carlos Hyde rushed 17 times for 193 yards and caught his one target for a seven-yard touchdown. Hyde was the only offense for the 49ers, but this game was extremely weird. There’s a good chance neither team wanted to win this game.

Giants 10, Dallas 7
Eli Manning completed 17-of-28 passes for 191 yards, a touchdown an interception, plus lost two fumbles. His touchdown was to Odell Beckham Jr., who did most of the heavy lifting – i.e. fast running – there. Manning has not been good this season, and now he hasn’t hit 200 yards in each of his last three games.

Paul Perkins and Rashad Jennings had identical rushing lines with 15 carries for 45 yards each, while Jennings had two receptions for 12 yards. The running back situation is still murky in New York, and if Shane Vereen can return from the concussion he suffered tonight, it could get even murkier.

Dak Prescott had a poor game, completing just 17-of-37 passes for 165 yards a touchdown and two interceptions. The Giants’ defense is tough, but Prescott now has had back-to-back down outings. If he continues to slump in a better matchup against Tampa Bay next week, expect the Tony Romo talk to be deafening.

Dez Bryant caught one pass, which he then fumbled. Negative points from your top wide receiver pick is not what you were hoping for in the first week of the fantasy playoffs. Bryant should rebound against the Buccaneers next week. Hopefully, you were able to move forward with him in the playoffs.

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

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