NFL Week 12 Daily Fantasy Recap

by Stephen Keech (SBK) Last Updated 2013-12-18 01:39:55

Note: Stats below do not include the Monday Night Football game.

What Worked

• Having any part of the Kansas City/San Diego game. What happened to Kansas City’s stout defense? I guess losing your two best pass rushers can take a toll, but Philip Rivers and Co. gashed the Chiefs defense in the second half and walked away with a win on the road. Rivers finished with 392 yards and 3 TD’s, good enough to crown him the top quarterback of Week 12 heading into Monday Night football. Keenan Allen got back to his #1 WR role and responded with 9 catches for 124 yards on 12 targets, but it was Danny Woodhead that stole the redzone TD’s. Woodhead scored from 3-and-11 yards out, and added 70 total yards which landed him just inside the top-five RB’s this week. That performance wasn’t quite as strong as the running back on the other side, the almighty Jamaal Charles. As good as he’s been this season, this may have been his best game to date. He needed just 14 carries to rack up 115 yards (8.2 YPC) and 2 TD’s on the ground, and also added four catches for another 42 yards. Maybe the running lanes were a little bigger because Alex Smith actually decided to throw the ball down field on Sunday, which led to one of his best performances of the season as well. San Diego has been a sieve to QB’s, and Smith took advantage of that early with a 32-yard strike to Donnie Avery and also found Anthony Fasano and Dwayne Bowe for TD’s in the second half. In total, the Chiefs QB finished just shy of 300 yards, and made anyone who took him as a value option at QB look very smart.

• Knowshon Moreno. He was flat out dominant on Sunday night, carrying it an absurd 37 times for 224 yards and a TD. The Broncos ran him early and often, and continued to pound him in the 4th quarter and overtime even after he had limped off the field a few times. He ended up on crutches after the game and Denver beat-reporter Mike Klis referred to Moreno’s chances of playing Sunday as “questionable at best.” Nonetheless, his Week 12 performances left his owners very happy. It’s surprising to see any back touch the ball 38 total times, but the ground game was really the only consistent part of the Broncos offense on Sunday. Peyton Manning did not look like himself and completed just over 50% of his passes for 150 yards, which is about half of what people expect from Manning on a weekly basis. He looked terrible late in the game last night which was probably why Del Rio continued to pound an injured Moreno into the ground. Back to him later in the article (hint: you can find him in the disappointment section).

• The Rams running game. Had Zac Stacy not left with a concussion during the Rams bout with Chicago, he could have very well been the week’s top RB. It’s a bit personal because I played him in literally every lineup I rolled out across several sites, and the same can probably be said for many other grinders due to the dream match-up with the Bears run defense. Stacy looked great early on; he converted a short TD in the first quarter, and finished the day with just 13 touches for 97 total yards. He was extremely efficient, but the injury prevented a much bigger game from the Rams lead dog. Benny Cunningham replaced Stacy after he left with a concussion, and saw an identical 13 touches and a TD, but finished with 109 yards (8.4 YPC). Both backs had some nice lanes to run through, but give them both credit as they ran with authority and in multiple cases got much more than was actually blocked. The fact remains that the Bears are absolutely putrid against the run, and don’t expect that to change next week when Adrian Peterson comes to town. I’m going to have a real tough time not rostering him everywhere in Week 13.

• The Cardinals. What in the world has gotten into Carson Palmer? He’s looking like the guy we saw in his glory days as a Bengal, throwing for at least 314 yards and 2 TD’s in his last two games. The match-ups have definitely helped his cause, but it all counts the same for our purposes. Larry Fitzgerald finished with just five catches for 52 yards, but made his owners happy with two touchdown grabs, giving him three in his last two games. Michael Floyd also followed up his breakout game with another strong performance, catching all seven of his targets for 104 yards. Neither Arizona running back had a huge game, but both guys averaged over 4 YPC and Mendenhall added a short TD run. It should be interesting to see how they respond to another big win on the road in Philly.

• The Titans aerial attack. Wait, the Titans have an aerial attack? I guess Oakland can make any quarterback look like Joe Montana (see Nicks Foles’ 7 TDs in Week 9), and if Ryan Fitzpatrick is lighting up your secondary, things need to change. Fitzpatrick was an efficient 30 of 42 for 320 yards and two TD’s, adding 26 rushing yards for good measure. Both of those scores were huge plays for the Titans; the first was a deep strike to Justin Hunter just after halftime, and the second came in the final minute of play, a 10-yard connection with Kendall Wright. Kendall Wright owners probably weren’t terribly excited with his stat line as the game was coming to a close, but the last-second touchdown really made his day. I actually saw a decent number of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Kendall Wright combos on Draftstreet, and they had to be one of the best dollar for dollar QB/WR tandems of Week 12.

• Deep Threats. Josh Gordon had one of the best performances of any receiver this season on Sunday, reeling in 14 of 17 targets for 237 yards (!) and a TD (only 1?). You’d think he’d have scored more than just a single touchdown considering he averaged 17 YPC and did that over 14 receptions, but that’s really being picky. He was by far the most productive WR of Week 12, and did it despite some bad weather and a mid-game switch at QB. Mike Wallace finally showed Dolphins fans why they spent so much money to bring him in, showing his deep ball ability a few times, and he bailed out Ryan Tannehill on a few of those throws. Sunday made it even more clear that Wallace isn’t always the problem, it’s that Tannehill isn’t very accurate with his deep throws. He under threw Wallace on a few of his long gains that should have went for touchdowns, but we’ll take the 5-147-1 line from him any day, especially considering you can play him at a depressed price. Jacoby Jones was Baltimore’s leading receiver with 103 yards and a TD on just four catches. Jones hooked up with Flacco on a 66-yard catch and run towards the end of the third quarter. If you had the stones to roll out Tavon Austin after his big (fluky) Week 10, it worked out pretty well as Austin took a 65-yard run to the house on the Rams first drive of the game. It seemed plausible that the Rams would try to find more ways to involve Austin during the bye week, but this week is another example that Austin is completely reliant on big plays. After his first quarter TD, he added just two catches for 39 yards in the remainder of the game.

• Tom Brady. Big game Brady came to play on Sunday night. Everyone was anxious to see the face-off between two of the best QB’s in this era, and they gave us a good game to watch. Brady completely outperformed Peyton Manning, throwing for more than twice as many yards, including an extra TD. The New England running game wasn’t clicking nearly as well as Denver’s, but Brady continued to make plays when it mattered and got back to being the top-3 QB that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. Will it last through the rest of the season? With his weapons finally healthy, it’s certainly a possibility but I’m still a little skeptical.

What Disappointed Us

• The Texans. How did the Texans go from a Super Bowl contender last season to a team now contending for the first overall pick? It’s been all downhill for them, and it’s not getting any better. After inexplicably getting benched last week against Jacksonville, Case Keenum returned in Week 12 as the starter but looked even worse than he did a week ago. He completed just 18 of 34 passes for 169 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Just flat out terrible. I had him paired with Andre Johnson (who had just two catches for 36 yards) at a few outlets, but I guess I should have known better after watching this team play last week. It’s not completely on the QB’s (or Kubiak), this team is just not very good outside of a few players. Sometimes a bad defense can translate into fantasy success for the offense, but not with this team. Kubiak had enough of Ben Tate after a few early series went nowhere, so he turned to Dennis Johnson, who actually managed to have some success. Tate finished with just a single rushing yard on seven carries, but added 26 yards on five catches through the air. If 26 yards on five catches is your silver lining, things clearly didn’t go well. Last but not least, Garrett Graham continues to infuriate us with just five catches for 32 yards… at least he was targeted nine times, right?

• The Colts. The Indy running game is so bad that it is starting to take a toll on Andrew Luck and the receivers. They have to feel like they got completely robbed by the Browns front office, because Trent Richardson looks like he doesn’t even belong in the NFL. T-Rich carried it seven times for just 15 yards, continuing his downward spiral. I’m sure no one with a brain played him this week, but it still amazes me how bad he has been so far. Andrew Luck barely managed to complete more than half of his passes, and turned 39 pass attempts into just 163 yards. T.Y. Hilton was targeted nine times but didn’t do much with them, finishing with just five catches for 38 yards. Coby Fleener was the lone bright spot, reeling in a 17-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter, but even he only had four catches for 55 yards aside from the TD. Things should get better for the Colts when they take on the Titans at home next week.

• Eli Manning and the Giants WR’s. The 2/0 TD to INT ratio may have been a plus for Eli in Week 12, but 174 yards through the air just isn’t going to cut it. Everrryyy week people want to talk about his great match-up and about how he’s due to bounce-back, but it’s just not happening. The same goes for Victor Cruz; you are tantalized by his price every week as it continues to plummet, but he’s not returning value either. After he went for 3 TD’s against this secondary, Cruz followed that up with just two catches for 27 yards this week, and Eli only threw in his direction four times. Hakeem Nicks didn’t even suit up for what was a huge game for the Giants, so Rueben Randle stepped in as the starter. He didn’t play so great either, but could have had a bigger day had he and Eli been a little more in sync. 64 yards on three catches isn’t a bad game, but it’s not much to get excited about either.

• Peyton Manning and the Broncos WR’s. I hope you didn’t think I forgot about big brother. It must have been hard for Archie to watch his golden boys both go down to rivals on Sunday, and this was one of the few weeks that neither Manning threw for over 175 yards. I’ve already touched on how poor Peyton threw the ball Sunday night, so it’s time to get on the receivers. Everyone knows that the Patriots like to take away the oppositions best pass-catcher, and Aqib Talib did that for most of the game by clamping down on Demaryius Thomas, who finished with just four catches for 41 yards but did add a touchdown. I figured Wes Welker would be in for a nice game due to the former team factor and the weather playing into the hands of the short-route runners, but he compiled just 31 yards on four catches and was kept out of the endzone. Eric Decker was even worse, catching just one pass for five yards. I never seem to be able to resist Decker’s price on Fanduel, and it might fall even further after this game. I don’t see any reason to lose hope in this passing attack, and they should get back to their dominant ways soon enough.

• Running backs returning to earth. Bobby Rainey followed up his huge Week 11 with a major dud in Week 12, totaling just 35 yards on 18 carries. The amount of work is somewhat encouraging, and they had to give him another shot after what he did against the Falcons. But it just wasn’t working on Sunday, as Detroit forced Tampa Bay to beat them through the air, which they did, but I think this one was more of the Lions beating themselves. Back to running backs, Ray Rice returned to his plodding ways on Sunday, turning 17 touches into just 27 yards. The Jets run-defense is much stronger than Chicago’s, so it wasn’t terribly surprising to see Rice struggle. MATCHUPS ARE EVERYTHING. Unless your a top-flight talent, which Rice no longer is.

• Value Options at Tight End. Should I start with Jordan Cameron, who was dirt cheap on DraftKings but somehow only managed to catch three of his 10 targets for 32 yards? I could also complain about John Carlson, who was one of my favorite cheap options, but needed overtime to reel in just three passes for 36 yards. Delanie Walker, anyone? He managed just five catches for 46 yards on nine targets. I already talked about Garrett Graham frustrating game, but we can’t forget about Antonio Gates. C’mon Antonio, your team scores 41 points against the Chiefs and all you can muster up is three catches for 21 yards? Ah, but let’s not forget Charles Clay, who finished the day with a meager 27 yards on four catches. Hey Fanduel, let’s drop the TE positon and add another kicker.

What Surprised Us

• Julian Edelman leading the Patriots in receiving. He also tied for the team lead with 11 targets. But seriously, where did that come from? Edelman was an early season gem while filling in for the oft-injured Danny Amendola, and with Gronk also missing an early chunk of the season, Brady was at a loss for a security blanket, but he found one in Edelman. The two rookies (Dobson and Thompkins) have been up and down all season, so it’s really been a toss-up every week as to who will see the work at WR. Gronk will be a steady force for New England, and so will Shane Vereen if he can stay healthy, but with all those guys back in action it seemed like Edelman would be an afterthought. He came alive with nine catches for 110 yards and two TD’s, and really made the most of the chances he was given. I think the majority of the RG community was thinking Amendola and Dobson would see the better portion of the WR targets, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. Edelman and Thompkins combined for 20 targets, while Amendola and Dobson saw just six combined (all of which went to Amendola). What the target distribution will look like next week is anybody’s guess.

• Brandon Bolden leading the Patriots in rushing/rushing attempts. After two straight games on the inactive list, Bolden returned to action Sunday night following a few fumbles from Stevan Ridley and LeGarrette Blount. Ridley fumbling is absolutely no surprise, as he’s put it on the ground a lot this year, and it’s also nothing new to see Blount do something dumb. After those two dropped the ball (literally and figuratively), it was Bolden’s show on early downs, as he and Vereen pretty much split time. Bolden finished the day with 13 carries for 58 yards including a 1-yard TD run, and he could factor into the equation again next week considering the Pats should pound the Texans.

• Philip Rivers finishing as Week 12’s top QB. A match-up with the Chiefs in Arrowhead is never a fun assignment, but it’s become an even more grueling task this season. Kansas City’s defense is strong all around, and it’s managed to stifle some pretty good offensive units so far this year. KC did lose Tamba Hali and Justin Houston (their top two pass rushers) during this game, but 41 points out of San Diego was something I wouldn’t have even considered possible. They don’t have any overwhelming talent on offense, but they sure looked good on Sunday. It was nice to see Rivers break out this season after a few years in the fantasy football doghouse, and it looks like the resurgence could continue for a little while longer.

• Maurice Jones-Drew. Speaking of a resurgence, MJD has now scored in three straight games and helped to lead the Jags to their second win of the season. The bowling ball finished with 144 total yards on 20 touches and added a one-yard plunge early in the game, good enough for his most productive game of 2013. I’m not quite sure if it was actually a strong effort from MJD or if the Texans defense is just that bad (I didn’t watch this game, thank goodness), but it’s still nice to see him have a big game. Not only did he set a season-high in rushing yards (84), he also managed to produce his biggest receiving output of the year (60 on six catches). If I had to guess, I’d say this is the last time we’ll see MJD cross over the 20 point mark this season. He does however get to face Houston again at home in two weeks, and the Bills at home the week after that, so who knows.

• The Lions. The loss to the Bucs at home is surprising enough on it’s own, but this game was just weird. Matt Stafford threw for nearly 300 yards and 3 TD’s, but also added 4 interceptions which put Tampa Bay in position to win the game. Sunday seemed like a prime time for a Reggie Bush breakout, but while he was effective with his touches, he couldn’t find the endzone despite totaling 100 yards. Megatron caught just half of his 14 targets for 115 yards, but he too was kept from scoring. Nate Burleson returned in style with seven catches for 77 yards and a TD, and benefited from all the defensive attention Calvin received. Turnovers were ultimately the death of this team and their game on Thanksgiving will go a long way in determining their success in 2013.

What To Take Away

• Don’t let weather make too much of an impact on your rosters. While it’s something you should be aware of every week, after this week I think it’s best only to use weather as a tie-breaker between players you’re considering. While avoiding the Broncos passing attack due to weather worked out, the Patriots had a lot of success in the same exact conditions. Josh Gordon was also a guy I avoided because of what were supposed to be relatively high winds, which I thought would put a damper on any deep threat, but Gordon overcame the conditions and was amazing on Sunday. Sometimes it will work out and sometimes it won’t, but I’m going to try to not to let weather dictate my future lineups as much as it did in Week 12.

• Always play your RB’s against the Bears. You pick pitchers against the Astros, big-men against the Nuggets and running backs against the Bears. This has been a theme for weeks now, but the fact that they have continued to get ravished by any RB who they cross paths with just makes the match-up look even nicer. As I said earlier, unless AP’s price goes through the roof this week, I’m going to try to play him everywhere I can in Week 13. If Benny Cunningham can rack up 100 yards and a TD on just 13 carries, what can Adrian Peterson do?

• Ties absolutely suck. There is nothing worse than watching a game all the way through, only to see it end in a tie. This isn’t even really DFS related, but it’s just annoying that two teams can go at it for 3+ hours and then pretty much walk away like nothing ever happened… it just doesn’t make sense to me. Absolutely hate this rule and I always will, at least until the NFL finds a way to get rid of ties. Get to work Roger!

This Week’s Top Performers: Quarterbacks

This Week’s Top Performers: Running Backs – Half Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Wide Receivers – Half Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Tight Ends – Half Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Running Backs – Full Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Wide Receivers – Full Point PPR

This Week’s Top Performers: Tight Ends – Full Point PPR

Optimal Lineups

Optimal Lineup: FanDuel

POS		Salary	Score
QB	Philip Rivers	$7,900	27.78
RB	Knowshon Moreno	$8,300	29.50
RB	Jamaal Charles	$8,800	29.70
WR	Josh Gordon	$7,300	36.70
WR	Julian Edelman	$4,500	27.50
WR	Tiquan Underwood	$4,500	24.30
TE	Rob Gronkowski	$8,200	18.60
K	Jay Feely	$5,000	16.00
DEF	Pittsburgh	$5,000	23.00
	TOTALS	$59,500	233.08

Optimal Lineup: DraftStreet

POS		Salary	Score
QB	Philip Rivers	$11,600	27.78
QB	Tom Brady	$14,267	24.76
RB	Knowshon Moreno	$10,377	29.50
RB	Jamaal Charles	$13,660	29.70
WR	Josh Gordon	$10,248	36.70
WR	Julian Edelman	$3,974	27.50
TE	Rob Gronkowski	$11,945	18.60
FLEX	Eddie Lacy	$11,407	24.80
FLEX	Tiquan Underwood	$4,037	24.30
DEF	Pittsburgh	$5,627	20.50
	TOTALS	$97,142	264.14

Optimal Lineup: DraftKings

POS		Salary	Score
QB	Philip Rivers	$7,500	27.78
RB	Knowshon Moreno	$7,700	30.00
RB	Jamaal Charles	$8,500	31.70
WR	Josh Gordon	$6,400	43.70
WR	Julian Edelman	$3,000	32.00
TE	Rob Gronkowski	$7,900	22.10
FLEX	Tiquan Underwood	$3,000	25.80
K	Jay Feely	$3,200	16.00
DEF	Pittsburgh	$2,800	23.00
	TOTALS	$50,000	252.08

Note: DraftKings Optimals does not include bonuses awarded in DK’s scoring system