My initial reactions to Sunday’s early games…

The return of Josh Gordon was everything we thought it would be. He doubled up the next highest Cleveland receiver with 16 targets, catching half of them for 120 yards. Brian Hoyer had an awful day with no touchdowns and three interceptions, yet Gordon still went for 8-120. That’s all you need to know. Gordon’s a must-start stud. In the running game, we got exactly what we expected—almost an even split. Terrance West actually got three more touches than Isaiah Crowell did, but Crowell looked far better with his and hit the end zone twice. A word of caution though: This doesn’t mean Crowell will be the guy scoring the touchdowns next week. This kind of split will limit the ranking of both guys week to week, even when the Browns have a choice matchup against the run.

 

Matt Ryan at home used to be an easy start. He wasn’t awful on Sunday against Cleveland, but 273-2-1 is hardly what Ryan owners were hoping for in the Georgia Dome. Julio Jones and Roddy White, fortunately, continue to get theirs. But Ryan is firmly in QB2 territory. If he’s your starter heading into the fantasy playoffs, ive waivers another look just in case.

 

I’ve been yelling “buy low” for weeks on LeSean McCoy. Hopefully you did, since most trade deadlines are now passed. McCoy had a huge day against Tennessee, and it could’ve been even bigger had Darren Sproles not sniped a touchdown. The concern right now for Philadelphia is Jeremy Maclin. Since Mark Sanchez has taken the reigns, Jordan Matthews has gotten almost exactly the same number of looks. This has elevated Matthews into WR2 range, but that’s now two of three weeks with Sanchez that Maclin has underwhelmed. He’ll still be ranked as a starter in Week 13, but not nearly as high as he’s been.

 

Delanie Walker returned from his concussion in a big way in a week that was dreadful for tight ends. Facing the third best defense at limiting fantasy points to tight ends this season, Walker went of for 155 yards on five catches. He’s back to every-week starter territory.

 

Matt Stafford was completely dreadful at New England on Sunday, continuing a stretch of being completely dreadful this season. This is turning into a Matt Ryan situation, where the quarterback is minimally effective yet able to sustain a pair of fantasy contributors. That’s assuming you’re happy with Calvin Johnson’s 58 yards on Sunday, which if you own him you’re probably not. I’m not worried about Megatron, and think he’ll bounce back big against the Bears next week.

 

Aren’t you happy you spent the rest of your FAAB on Jonas Gray? He followed up his 201-4 with nothing. Nada. Ziltch. Goose-egg. We’ll find out next week if that was completely due to Gray oversleeping on Friday and missing practice. I suspect it was partially that, but with LeGarrette Blunt returning with 78 yards and two scores on 12 carries, it will continue to be tough to swallow putting a Patriots running back in your fantasy lineup.

 

The Vikings defense didn’t get you any fantasy numbers this week, but you really didn’t expect them too against the Packers. That said, I’m even more comfortable using them going forward after they held the red-hot Packers to 24 points and were in the game most of the way.

 

Get ready for much more of Dan Herron. While Trent Richardson got one more carry and scored for Indy, Herron averaged two yards better per carry and caught five passes. Richardson’s not good. We know this. Now we know the Colts aren’t going to force him into a full workload, and may have seen enough of Herron that Richardson could see his touches fall into the single digits next week.

 

The Bengals backfield got a boost with the return of Giovani Bernard, but as expected, it muddied up the fantasy value of the duo. The two finished with 19 touches each, though Hill was more effective with his work and got the touchdown. This was more or less expected, that Hill would get the goal-line work and the split would be close to even. Until we see otherwise, I’ll be ranking them that way going forward.

 

Houston could certainly use Arian Foster back. While Alfred Blue filled in admirably two weeks ago, he couldn’t get anything going against Cincinnati’s previously porous run defense. That directly impacted Ryan Mallett in the passing game, as he was able to complete only 21 of 45 attempts. While I don’t think Mallett is much good, Foster will certainly help him bump up his numbers a bit—hopefully enough to at least keep DeAndre Hopkins relevant, as Andre Johnson doesn’t need any more company in the land of irrelevancy.

 

The Tampa Bay running game is all kinds of disgusting. Three backs all got at least five touches, Dough Martin led the way with 27 yards on 11 carries. None of these guys should be rostered.

 

The Bears beat the Bucs in Chicago on Sunday, somehow prevailing despite an awful 130 yards and just one touchdown. Alshon Jeffery saved his day with that score, but Brandon Marshall and Martellus Bennett were HUGE disappointments in a prime matchup. I’m worried about this passing game heading into the fantasy playoffs. Its tough to trust any of these guys.