The good news is, you probably weren’t planning on starting the Kansas City Chiefs defense next week against the Denver Broncos, anyway. The bad news is, there’s no guarantee that Justin Houston and Tamba Hali will be back for the fantasy playoffs. And we saw just how much the two mean to the Chiefs when they went out, as Philip Rivers woke from his five-week slumber to post his best numbers since Week 4. So if you own the Chiefs, start making different fantasy playoff plans now, just in case.
Rivers’ numbers were buoyed in part by San Diego’s tight end of the future, who posted 80 yards on three catches, including a 60-yarder for a touchdown. Dynasty leaguers, go get him now, if its not too late. Keenan Allen owners, his knee is apparently just fine.
Zac Stacy might’ve had a record-setting day if not for a concussion that led to Benny Cunningham’s first career touchdown and 100-yard game. Both backs scored, as did Tavon Austin on a long run, leaving Adrian Peterson owners licking their chops for next Sunday’s matchup with the hapless Bears. Stacy owners need to make Cunningham their top waiver priority this week.
If Josh Gordon wasn’t already an every-week starter for you, you were doing it wrong. Hopefully Sunday’s outburst was enough to convince you. Meanwhile, Antonio Brown convinced me in the same game that he’s even better than I thought. Nobody does 6-92-1 to Joe Haden.
Maurice Jones-Drew had been staying fantasy relevant lately thanks to short touchdowns, as running for anything more than a couple yards per carry seemed impossible. Fortunately for the Jaguars (or not, draft pick considered) they ran into the already-planning-for-offseason-and-eventual-firing-of-Gary-Kubiak Houston Texans. 144 combo yards and 6 per carry? MoJo’s got an alright schedule the rest of the way, including a rematch with Houston in Week 14 to kick off the fantasy playoffs. I’ll certainly be using him then.
Nate Burleson came back with a bang, settling comfortably back into Detroit’s No. 2 receiver role with 7-77-1. Though it wasn’t enough to keep Matt Stafford settled comfortably, as he threw four interceptions. The three touchdowns and 297 yards were a little bit of consolation to fantasy owners.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay struggled to move the ball, forcing it to an ineffective Bobby Rainey after his breakout last year rather than attacking a suspect secondary. Vincent Jackson shockingly got just three targets and Mike Glennon threw the ball just 21 times. At least Glennon hit Tiquan Underwood for a pair of scores to salvage his fantasy day. Rainey’s got another tough matchup next week, but should be ready to go with easier games in the fantasy playoffs.
The Colts have been making falling behind early their thing, but couldn’t recover against a solid Arizona defense Sunday. I noted when Reggie Wayne went down it was time to sell high on Andrew Luck do to both Wayne’s injury and a tough end-of-season schedule. Hopefully you got out when you could, because my concerns seem to be coming to fruition.
On the other sideline, Michael Floyd continued to prove himself a useful WR3 while Larry Fitzgerald scored a pair of touchdowns for the second time this season. But most surprising was Rashard Mendenhall’s 4.2 yards per carry. Mendy scored AND gained more combo yards than Andre Ellington on a couple more touches. With usage still basically split, though, I’m going to have to start ranking Mendenhall higher simply because he scores touchdowns.
As expected, Ray Rice fell back to earth. He remains completely untrustworthy unless he somehow gets to play the Bears again.
Finally, Geno Smith is terrible.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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