Indianapolis Colts
Pierre Garcon: 15-6-6-BYE-8-12-12 (59), Reggie Wayne: 14-6-6-BYE-7-6-8 (47), Austin Collie: 7-5-5-BYE-7-8-5 (37), Jacob Tamme: 0-7-8-BYE-3-6-1 (25), Dallas Clark: 10-5-dnp-BYE-dnp-dnp-6 (21), Donald Brown: 1-3-4-BYE-1-1-1 (11), Jerome Felton: 2-dnp-0-BYE-dnp-1-0 (3), Joseph Addai: dnp-dnp-dnp-BYE-1-1-1 (3), Anthony Hill: dnp-dnp-0-BYE-0-2-1 (3), Delone Carter: 2-0-0-BYE-0-0-0 (2)
Our man Dan Orlovsky likes him some Pierre Garcon. Of course this time around they faced the Ravens instead of the Patriots. Garcon has 77 fantasy points in just 3 games and 38 in the other 10. Now that is the definition of inconsistent. I do believe Orlovsky is a better quarterback for fantasy production though and with 12 targets anything can happen.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Marcedes Lewis: 9-BYE-3-11-12-4-7 (46), Maurice Jones-Drew: 4-BYE-3-6-6-8-6 (33), Mike Thomas: 4-BYE-1-11-5-6-1 (28), Jarett Dillard: 3-BYE-2-3-5-7-6 (26), Jason Hill: 5-BYE-1-7-4-dnp-dnp (17), Chastin West: dnp-BYE-5-3-0-0-4 (12), Kassim Osgood: 0-BYE-1-0-1-0-6 (8), Deji Karim: 1-BYE-3-0-3-dnp-dnp (7), Zach Potter: 0-BYE-2-0-0-3-0 (5), Cecil Shorts: dnp-BYE-dnp-dnp-3-1-1 (5)
Holy Mojo! Maurice Jones-Drew piled up the touchdowns against the Tampa Bay run defense(less). His 4 touchdowns came close to his total of 6 on the season. I bet some of his owners wished he would have spread those out a little. Unfortunately that passing offense has been the worst in the league and getting MJD near the goal line takes an act of God week in and week out.
Blaine Gabbert has been improving but it doesn’t take much to improve from horrid.
Kansas City Chiefs
Dwayne Bowe: 11-10-7-9-11-9-10 (67), Steve Breaston: 4-11-6-8-8-7-6 (50), Jonathan Baldwin: 8-5-5-6-2-4-5 (35), Dexter McCluster: 3-4-8-2-2-5-2 (26), Leonard Pope: 1-2-5-4-1-0-0 (13), Jerheme Urban: dnp-dnp-dnp-1-0-1-7 (9), Jake OConnell: 0-3-0-6-dnp-dnp-dnp (9), Jackie Battle: 0-2-0-1-1-0-2 (6), LeRon McClain: 2-1-2-0-0-1-0 (6), Terrance Copper: 0-0-0-0-0-2-0 (2)
This game was the straw that broke Todd Haley’s back so I’m guessing we won’t find much to praise. Oh, Dwayne Bowe had another banner target day! Well, he didn’t do much with that. Jerheme Urban came out of nowhere with 7 targets and a touchdown! Watch out Jerry Rice. Who knows who the quarterback will be next week but it may be Romeo Crennel himself.
Miami Dolphins
Brandon Marshall: 6-11-9-3-10-6-8 (53), Davone Bess: 5-3-6-3-4-7-4 (32), Reggie Bush: 5-3-5-5-4-2-6 (30), Anthony Fasano: 1-3-4-2-2-6-8 (26), Brian Hartline: 2-0-3-2-5-2-1 (15), Charles Clay: 1-3-2-4-2-2-0 (14), Daniel Thomas: dnp-0-0-1-1-0-2 (4)
Daniel Thomas sure isn’t doing himself any favors by rushing 7 times for a measly 4 yards while Reggie Bush ran 14 times for 103 yards to go along with a nice 6 targets in which he caught 5 for 27 yards. We did see Bush go back to his average of 14 carries after a high of 22 last week but with Thomas continuing to struggle that number should rise again.
Matt Moore’s concussion was not the best news for Brandon Marshall but he should be back next week.
Minnesota Vikings
Percy Harvin: 5-BYE-8-8-8-9-15 (53), Devin Aromashodu: 6-BYE-6-4-5-15-10 (46), Visanthe Shiancoe: 4-BYE-4-3-4-7-7 (29), Kyle Rudolph: 5-BYE-3-5-dnp-1-4 (18), Michael Jenkins: 2-BYE-4-7-4-dnp-dnp (17), Toby Gerhart: 0-BYE-0-1-3-8-3 (15), Greg Camarillo: 0-BYE-3-2-0-0-5 (10), Adrian Peterson: 5-BYE-1-0-dnp-dnp-dnp (6), Lorenzo Booker: dnp-BYE-3-0-0-1-0 (4)
This was a poor day of quarterback play for the Vikings but that is to be expected with a rookie quarterback, but of course the good news is that the coaches have finally figured out what they have in Percy Harvin. His 15 targets and 4 rushing attempts was a beautiful sight to these old eyes. There of course were a ton of targets in this one with the Vikings getting down quickly but he outpaced the whole NFL.
New England Patriots
Rob Gronkowski: 9-15-11-7-4-6-10 (62), Wes Welker: 8-10-8-3-12-11-10 (62), Aaron Hernandez: 4-5-5-7-7-9-7 (44), Deion Branch: 7-5-9-3-10-6-2 (42), Danny Woodhead: 0-6-3-4-0-1-3 (17), Chad Ochocinco: 1-5-2-0-dnp-2-1 (11), Kevin Faulk: 5-dnp-0-dnp-0-1-1 (7), BenJarvus Green-Ellis: 0-1-0-2-0-1-1 (5)
Rob Gronkowski just needs 203 yards receiving in 3 games to beat Kellen Winslow’s single season 1,290 yards receiving that he set in 1980. Of course he trails in yardage for a tight end on the year to the tight end just below here! He did set the record for receiving touchdowns with 15 when he had 6 receptions, 160 yards and 2 touchdowns in this game so I guess that’s pretty good!
Wes Welker has 26 receptions out of 33 targets in his last 3 games. He is the Emperor of PPR.
Oh, and remember to stay away from Patriots’ running backs. Far away.
New Orleans Saints
Jimmy Graham: 8-8-12-BYE-8-9-9 (54), Marques Colston: 6-5-9-BYE-6-10-7 (43), Darren Sproles: 7-6-6-BYE-5-1-8 (33), Lance Moore: 9-3-3-BYE-7-3-6 (31), Pierre Thomas: 4-5-5-BYE-3-2-7 (26), Devery Henderson: 4-3-2-BYE-6-0-4 (19), Robert Meachem: 3-1-2-BYE-0-7-2 (15), Jed Collins: 3-1-1-BYE-0-0-2 (7), Mark Ingram: dnp-dnp-1-BYE-3-1-dnp (5), John Gilmore: 0-2-0-BYE-0-0-1 (3)
After having back spasms before and during the game Jimmy Graham still managed to catch 5 passes for 55 yards and remain on pace for 1,355 total yards on the season, which would top Winslow’s record of 1,290.
It almost looked like Drew Brees was going to miss out on his weekly touchdown pass until he hit Marques Colston in the fourth quarter twice in the end zone. Brees is still on pace to beat Dan Marino’s record for passing yardage by quite a bit.
Lance Moore continues to get red zone targets even with limited time on the field. He leads all Saints wide receivers with 14. Colston is second with 10.
The numbers by each name are targets for Weeks’ 8 through 14. And the target totals reflect the last 7 weeks as well. I hope you enjoy!
All snap count data comes from our friends over at Pro Football Focus.
Arizona Cardinals
Larry Fitzgerald: 5-12-13-9-9-7-8 (63), Andre Roberts: 3-7-7-9-5-6-5 (42), Early Doucet: 6-6-4-10-1-6-4 (37), Jeff King: 3-2-5-0-3-0-4 (17), Chester Taylor: 1-1-3-3-2-0-2 (12), LaRod Stephens-Howling: 1-1-2-0-1-2-2 (9), Rob Housler: 2-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-3-1 (6), Beanie Wells: 0-2-0-1-0-1-1 (5), Demarco Sampson: dnp-0-0-2-0-0-1 (3)
John Skelton needs to be sat every other week so he can start fresh and play well. I really don’t believe that (maybe) but he is extremely inconsistent from week to week. On the average he’s been much better for Larry Fitzgerald’s production as was shown with Fitz’s 8 targets, 7 receptions, 149 yards and a touchdown in last week’s win over a strong 49ers team.
Skelton is more apt to challenge teams vertically which helps out all the wide receivers as their 3 touchdown catches attest. Early Doucet continues to beat out Andre Roberts in fantasy points due to his touchdown prowess. Roberts finally caught his first touchdown of the season but it came on a 2 reception 8 yard performance.
Atlanta Falcons
Roddy White: BYE-9-7-14-13-15-11 (69), Tony Gonzalez: BYE-6-10-6-9-10-11 (52), Harry Douglas: BYE-0-14-4-5-5-3 (31), Julio Jones: BYE-4-5-dnp-0-11-8 (28), Eric Weems: BYE-0-5-3-0-0-0 (8), Michael Palmer: BYE-2-0-1-3-1-1 (8), Michael Turner: BYE-2-2-2-1-0-1 (8), Jacquizz Rodgers: BYE-1-2-0-2-1-2 (8), Jason Snelling: BYE-0-2-2-1-1-1 (7), Mike Cox: BYE-0-3-0-0-0-0 (3)
Matt Ryan had a much better game against the Panthers’ defense than he had against the Texans in Week 13. He was 22 for 38 with 320 yards and 4 touchdowns as he spread the ball around to his big three pass catchers.
Roddy White continues his resurgence with his fourth game in a row over 10 fantasy points compared to his 3 games over 10 points in his first 9 games. Julio Jones broke out for the second time this season with a huge 2 touchdown game. His hamstring has made him seem more boom or bust than he is. He gets plenty of targets when healthy.
Baltimore Ravens
Anquan Boldin: 12-10-9-2-9-4-6 (52), Torrey Smith: 9-9-8-7-3-4-9 (49), Ray Rice: 9-7-10-10-3-3-6 (48), Ed Dickson: 9-5-14-3-2-4-2 (39), Dennis Pitta: 8-8-7-0-2-2-4 (31), Vonta Leach: 1-1-1-2-1-3-1 (10), Ricky Williams: 2-1-3-2-2-0-0 (10), Lee Evans: dnp-dnp-dnp-1-1-3-3 (8)
The Colts defense is just plain awful. They’ve given up the third most rushing yards and easily the worst completion percentage at 72 percent. That’s historically bad. So really the Ravens could do whatever they wanted and they did. But even against the Colts their passing game isn’t potent enough to hold two startable receivers week to week. Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin are the only receivers worth risking in good matchups but you can’t count on both getting enough work with the running game being the focus and it is difficult to choose which of the two receivers will get theirs that week. Boldin hasn’t topped 10 fantasy points since week 8 and Smith’s numbers are better but inconsistent.
Buffalo Bills
Stevie Johnson: 9-6-5-8-13-8-10 (59), David Nelson: 5-7-5-4-8-8-6 (43), Brad Smith: 3-0-0-4-7-10-5 (29), Scott Chandler: 2-3-3-6-7-4-dnp (25), C.J. Spiller: 3-0-0-4-3-6-4 (20), Naaman Roosevelt: 1-3-1-2-dnp-2-0 (9), Tashard Choice: dnp-dnp-dnp-1-0-1-4 (6), Derek Hagan: dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-4 (4), Johnny White: dnp-dnp-dnp-4-0-0-0 (4), Lee Smith: 0-0-0-dnp-0-3-1 (4), Ruvell Martin: 0-0-0-2-1-0-0 (3)
The Bills are in a spiral. The loss of Fred Jackson has really hurt their offensive balance and Ryan Fitzpatrick just isn’t good enough to put the team on his back. But there is one clear winner here and that is Stevie Johnson. After a strong first three weeks of the season where he averaged 14 fantasy points, Johnson went ice cold. In the next 7 games he averaged 6.5 fantasy points but now in the last 3 games (without Jackson) he is averaging 11.6. Fitzpatrick is throwing more and even though it’s not doing his team much good, it is giving Johnson more points.
Carolina Panthers
Steve Smith: 9-BYE-8-10-7-6-8 (48), Greg Olsen: 7-BYE-11-9-3-4-6 (40), Legedu Naanee: 7-BYE-9-5-4-3-5 (33), Jonathan Stewart: 3-BYE-7-6-4-2-9 (31), Brandon LaFell: 2-BYE-2-5-6-4-5 (24), Jeremy Shockey: 3-BYE-1-dnp-3-1-4 (12), DeAngelo Williams: 2-BYE-1-1-0-0-2 (6)
If it wasn’t for Jeremy Shockey I think Greg Olsen could have had a breakout season, but alas Shockey was and is still around so it’s impossible to know if Olsen will get enough looks from week to week. He will most likely finish the season as a top 12 tight end which is a little surprising in itself.
With Cam Newton breaking the single season quarterback rushing touchdown mark I thought I’d take a look at the Panthers’ rushing attempts inside the 5 yard line so far this season. Newton has 14 attempts for 8 touchdowns, Jonathan Stewart has 10 attempts for 1 touchdown and DeAngelo Williams has 2 attempts for 1 touchdown. Unfortunately my data doesn’t differentiate the 1 yard line or closer from the 5 but as long as Newton keeps up this percentage of success he’s going to keep running.
Chicago Bears
Johnny Knox: BYE-1-2-5-10-8-5 (31), Earl Bennett: BYE-5-6-9-4-4-1 (29), Roy Williams: BYE-6-2-8-5-1-2 (24), Kellen Davis: BYE-3-2-1-2-2-1 (11), Devin Hester: BYE-5-0-0-0-4-1 (10), Kahlil Bell: BYE-dnp-dnp-0-0-1-5 (6), Marion Barber: BYE-1-0-0-0-1-4 (6)
Caleb Hanie threw the ball 19 times and only 10 to wide receivers or tight ends. They didn’t even have a shot at stretching the defense. Aaron Rodgers threw 23 times to WR/TEs in his 30 attempts. That is how a passing offense should work I would think. And no, I agree that Hanie is not Rodgers but it’s a good goal to have.
Cincinnati Bengals
Jerome Simpson: 2-10-4-13-5-3-6 (43), A.J. Green: 10-7-2-dnp-4-11-7 (41), Andre Caldwell: 6-9-8-9-3-0-3 (38), Jermaine Gresham: dnp-dnp-5-6-9-7-7 (34), Andrew Hawkins: 0-0-6-8-3-2-1 (20), Brian Leonard: 3-2-0-5-0-4-dnp (14), Bernard Scott: 3-1-0-1-2-1-2 (10), Cedric Benson: dnp-0-1-1-5-0-1 (8)
If you own Andy Dalton you should know that Houston has only given up over 200 yards passing 4 times this season so don’t feel too bad that he finished with 189. But if you like feeling bad you can hang your head to the news that Blaine Gabbert and Luke McCown tag teamed them and threw for 198 yards!
If it wasn’t for a couple touchdowns being called back by penalties and an injury, Gresham would be right in the thick of the top 10 tight ends for the season. His 7-plus targets the last three weeks has him ranked 4th in total targets for tight ends and he’s always going to get his red zone targets.
Cleveland Browns
Greg Little: 11-8-6-8-13-7-6 (59), Ben Watson: 3-2-5-4-4-8-3 (29), Jordan Norwood: 6-1-3-2-5-5-4 (26), Chris Ogbonnaya: 8-1-2-3-2-6-2 (24), Josh Cribbs: 3-5-5-3-4-0-2 (22), Mohamed Massaquoi: dnp-1-dnp-2-3-5-7 (18), Evan Moore: 2-2-0-0-1-3-5 (13), Alex Smith: 1-0-2-0-0-0-3 (6), Peyton Hillis: dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-2-2-1 (5)
In their last two games the Browns haven’t had one RB/WR/TE top 8 fantasy points.
Dallas Cowboys
Dez Bryant: 5-9-6-8-6-15-2 (51), Laurent Robinson: 8-5-3-11-12-6-5 (50), Jason Witten: 12-7-7-3-5-6-5 (45), Demarco Murray: 3-6-7-7-4-0-1 (28), Miles Austin: 3-3-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-7 (13), Felix Jones: dnp-dnp-dnp-1-1-2-7 (11), John Phillips: 0-1-0-1-2-5-1 (10)
Dez Bryant’s target drop off from 15 to 2 is a little disheartening but he still caught a 50 yard touchdown so you can’t sob too heavily. There really is nothing about Bryant’s game that leads you to think he could possibly be behind Robinson or Austin in ability but those guys have proven their worth so there will be games that Dez doesn’t get the targets. Look at our friend Calvin Johnson. And yes, I do compare Bryant to Johnson in ability.
In Miles Austin’s first game back he led the team in targets and had a touchdown. Laurent Robinson with less time on the field now still got his targets as the third wide receiver and had the biggest game with 137 yards receiving and a touchdown. Unlike Joe Flacco, Tony Romo can spread the ball around enough to make his multiple receivers startable.
The loss of DeMarco Murray was a huge boon to Felix Jones’ looks. On top of his 16 carries in which he gained 106 yards he also had 7 targets catching 6 of them. He may have a banner day against Tampa Bay.
Denver Broncos
Eric Decker: 12-5-3-5-6-4-7 (42), Demaryius Thomas: 3-2-0-6-1-7-13 (32), Eddie Royal: 13-5-2-4-2-1-dnp (27), Matt Willis: 3-0-1-0-3-1-8 (16), Lance Ball: 3-0-1-3-0-2-6 (15), Jeremiah Johnson: dnp-dnp-dnp-1-4-0-2 (7), Daniel Fells: 1-1-0-1-1-0-1 (5)
Tim Tebow had the most pass attempts of his short career as he threw it 40 times, completing 21. A big chunk of those attempts went to Demaryius Thomas who had 13 and caught 7 of those for 78 yards and a touchdown. It’s pretty clear now that Thomas is the guy since he’s led in targets in 3 of the last 4 weeks. And with the Patriots coming up, it’s hard not to like Tebow breaking that 40-plus mark again.
Detroit Lions
Calvin Johnson: 7-BYE-20-8-8-9-4 (56), Nate Burleson: 7-BYE-9-7-7-9-6 (45), Brandon Pettigrew: 4-BYE-9-5-8-4-7 (37), Titus Young: 5-BYE-10-3-3-2-7 (30), Maurice Morris: 3-BYE-2-1-10-7-1 (24), Tony Scheffler: 3-BYE-7-3-2-3-1 (19), Kevin Smith: dnp-BYE-2-4-3-8-dnp (17), Keiland Williams: 1-BYE-0-0-4-1-2 (8), Will Heller: 0-BYE-3-3-0-1-0 (7)
Titus Young had a nice game as the coverage was smothering Calvin Johnson and saw 7 targets which was his most since Week 10. He is progressing somewhat but is still very hit and miss. He really is a step up from Nate Burleson in ability if he can just get the targets.
Brandon Pettigrew had his best game in a while which came at the expense of Tony Scheffler. If we knew Scheffler was being phased out we could go all in with Pettigrew but Scheffler could always snare a touchdown away from Pettigrew.
Green Bay Packers
Greg Jennings: BYE-8-5-6-5-13-4 (41), Jordy Nelson: BYE-6-5-7-5-4-7 (34), Jermichael Finley: BYE-7-4-3-5-11-1 (31), Donald Driver: BYE-2-4-5-2-4-6 (23), James Jones: BYE-1-1-3-4-0-3 (12), Randall Cobb: BYE-0-3-1-4-2-2 (12), James Starks: BYE-1-4-6-1-0-dnp (12), Brandon Saine: BYE-dnp-dnp-dnp-1-6-2 (9), John Kuhn: BYE-1-2-1-1-1-1 (7), Ryan Grant: BYE-0-1-0-3-1-1 (6)
Greg Jennings’ injury leaves a lot of targets to be filled but it doesn’t look like one player is just set to naturally fill that void. Besides Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley possibly seeing more targets, James Jones, Randall Cobb and Donald Driver all could see a couple more looks. Aaron Rodgers’ ability to spread the ball to every receiver possible makes me gravitate toward the playmakers like Jones and Cobb who, with more targets, have a better chance of turning them into touchdowns.
Houston Texans
Owen Daniels: 6-4-3-BYE-7-5-10 (35), Arian Foster: 4-7-4-BYE-9-4-5 (33), Kevin Walter: 9-1-1-BYE-2-4-10 (27), Jacoby Jones: 5-4-3-BYE-2-2-6 (22), Andre Johnson: dnp-dnp-dnp-BYE-3-9-dnp (12), Joel Dreessen: 2-2-1-BYE-1-1-3 (10), Derrick Mason: 2-0-2-BYE-1-dnp-3 (8), Ben Tate: 0-1-0-BYE-0-0-3 (4), James Casey: 0-1-0-BYE-2-0-0 (3), Bryant Johnson: 0-1-1-BYE-0-0-1 (3)
The return of Owen Daniels was a nice turn of events. He hadn’t topped 100 yards all season and hadn’t gotten to 10 fantasy points since Week 4. Hopefully Yates and he will take this connection into the next few games.
Arian Foster had 20 looks and 58 snaps compared to Ben Tate’s 11 and 23. Foster is still the guy but Tate is going to keep getting enough work to cut into his production a little.
Indianapolis Colts
Pierre Garcon: 15-6-6-BYE-8-12-12 (59), Reggie Wayne: 14-6-6-BYE-7-6-8 (47), Austin Collie: 7-5-5-BYE-7-8-5 (37), Jacob Tamme: 0-7-8-BYE-3-6-1 (25), Dallas Clark: 10-5-dnp-BYE-dnp-dnp-6 (21), Donald Brown: 1-3-4-BYE-1-1-1 (11), Jerome Felton: 2-dnp-0-BYE-dnp-1-0 (3), Joseph Addai: dnp-dnp-dnp-BYE-1-1-1 (3), Anthony Hill: dnp-dnp-0-BYE-0-2-1 (3), Delone Carter: 2-0-0-BYE-0-0-0 (2)
Our man Dan Orlovsky likes him some Pierre Garcon. Of course this time around they faced the Ravens instead of the Patriots. Garcon has 77 fantasy points in just 3 games and 38 in the other 10. Now that is the definition of inconsistent. I do believe Orlovsky is a better quarterback for fantasy production though and with 12 targets anything can happen.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Marcedes Lewis: 9-BYE-3-11-12-4-7 (46), Maurice Jones-Drew: 4-BYE-3-6-6-8-6 (33), Mike Thomas: 4-BYE-1-11-5-6-1 (28), Jarett Dillard: 3-BYE-2-3-5-7-6 (26), Jason Hill: 5-BYE-1-7-4-dnp-dnp (17), Chastin West: dnp-BYE-5-3-0-0-4 (12), Kassim Osgood: 0-BYE-1-0-1-0-6 (8), Deji Karim: 1-BYE-3-0-3-dnp-dnp (7), Zach Potter: 0-BYE-2-0-0-3-0 (5), Cecil Shorts: dnp-BYE-dnp-dnp-3-1-1 (5)
Holy Mojo! Maurice Jones-Drew piled up the touchdowns against the Tampa Bay run defense(less). His 4 touchdowns came close to his total of 6 on the season. I bet some of his owners wished he would have spread those out a little. Unfortunately that passing offense has been the worst in the league and getting MJD near the goal line takes an act of God week in and week out.
Blaine Gabbert has been improving but it doesn’t take much to improve from horrid.
Kansas City Chiefs
Dwayne Bowe: 11-10-7-9-11-9-10 (67), Steve Breaston: 4-11-6-8-8-7-6 (50), Jonathan Baldwin: 8-5-5-6-2-4-5 (35), Dexter McCluster: 3-4-8-2-2-5-2 (26), Leonard Pope: 1-2-5-4-1-0-0 (13), Jerheme Urban: dnp-dnp-dnp-1-0-1-7 (9), Jake OConnell: 0-3-0-6-dnp-dnp-dnp (9), Jackie Battle: 0-2-0-1-1-0-2 (6), LeRon McClain: 2-1-2-0-0-1-0 (6), Terrance Copper: 0-0-0-0-0-2-0 (2)
This game was the straw that broke Todd Haley’s back so I’m guessing we won’t find much to praise. Oh, Dwayne Bowe had another banner target day! Well, he didn’t do much with that. Jerheme Urban came out of nowhere with 7 targets and a touchdown! Watch out Jerry Rice. Who knows who the quarterback will be next week but it may be Romeo Crennel himself.
Miami Dolphins
Brandon Marshall: 6-11-9-3-10-6-8 (53), Davone Bess: 5-3-6-3-4-7-4 (32), Reggie Bush: 5-3-5-5-4-2-6 (30), Anthony Fasano: 1-3-4-2-2-6-8 (26), Brian Hartline: 2-0-3-2-5-2-1 (15), Charles Clay: 1-3-2-4-2-2-0 (14), Daniel Thomas: dnp-0-0-1-1-0-2 (4)
Daniel Thomas sure isn’t doing himself any favors by rushing 7 times for a measly 4 yards while Reggie Bush ran 14 times for 103 yards to go along with a nice 6 targets in which he caught 5 for 27 yards. We did see Bush go back to his average of 14 carries after a high of 22 last week but with Thomas continuing to struggle that number should rise again.
Matt Moore’s concussion was not the best news for Brandon Marshall but he should be back next week.
Minnesota Vikings
Percy Harvin: 5-BYE-8-8-8-9-15 (53), Devin Aromashodu: 6-BYE-6-4-5-15-10 (46), Visanthe Shiancoe: 4-BYE-4-3-4-7-7 (29), Kyle Rudolph: 5-BYE-3-5-dnp-1-4 (18), Michael Jenkins: 2-BYE-4-7-4-dnp-dnp (17), Toby Gerhart: 0-BYE-0-1-3-8-3 (15), Greg Camarillo: 0-BYE-3-2-0-0-5 (10), Adrian Peterson: 5-BYE-1-0-dnp-dnp-dnp (6), Lorenzo Booker: dnp-BYE-3-0-0-1-0 (4)
This was a poor day of quarterback play for the Vikings but that is to be expected with a rookie quarterback, but of course the good news is that the coaches have finally figured out what they have in Percy Harvin. His 15 targets and 4 rushing attempts was a beautiful sight to these old eyes. There of course were a ton of targets in this one with the Vikings getting down quickly but he outpaced the whole NFL.
New England Patriots
Rob Gronkowski: 9-15-11-7-4-6-10 (62), Wes Welker: 8-10-8-3-12-11-10 (62), Aaron Hernandez: 4-5-5-7-7-9-7 (44), Deion Branch: 7-5-9-3-10-6-2 (42), Danny Woodhead: 0-6-3-4-0-1-3 (17), Chad Ochocinco: 1-5-2-0-dnp-2-1 (11), Kevin Faulk: 5-dnp-0-dnp-0-1-1 (7), BenJarvus Green-Ellis: 0-1-0-2-0-1-1 (5)
Rob Gronkowski just needs 203 yards receiving in 3 games to beat Kellen Winslow’s single season 1,290 yards receiving that he set in 1980. Of course he trails in yardage for a tight end on the year to the tight end just below here! He did set the record for receiving touchdowns with 15 when he had 6 receptions, 160 yards and 2 touchdowns in this game so I guess that’s pretty good!
Wes Welker has 26 receptions out of 33 targets in his last 3 games. He is the Emperor of PPR.
Oh, and remember to stay away from Patriots’ running backs. Far away.
New Orleans Saints
Jimmy Graham: 8-8-12-BYE-8-9-9 (54), Marques Colston: 6-5-9-BYE-6-10-7 (43), Darren Sproles: 7-6-6-BYE-5-1-8 (33), Lance Moore: 9-3-3-BYE-7-3-6 (31), Pierre Thomas: 4-5-5-BYE-3-2-7 (26), Devery Henderson: 4-3-2-BYE-6-0-4 (19), Robert Meachem: 3-1-2-BYE-0-7-2 (15), Jed Collins: 3-1-1-BYE-0-0-2 (7), Mark Ingram: dnp-dnp-1-BYE-3-1-dnp (5), John Gilmore: 0-2-0-BYE-0-0-1 (3)
After having back spasms before and during the game Jimmy Graham still managed to catch 5 passes for 55 yards and remain on pace for 1,355 total yards on the season, which would top Winslow’s record of 1,290.
It almost looked like Drew Brees was going to miss out on his weekly touchdown pass until he hit Marques Colston in the fourth quarter twice in the end zone. Brees is still on pace to beat Dan Marino’s record for passing yardage by quite a bit.
Lance Moore continues to get red zone targets even with limited time on the field. He leads all Saints wide receivers with 14. Colston is second with 10.
New York Giants
Victor Cruz: 9-11-11-10-12-9-9 (71), Hakeem Nicks: 10-dnp-4-7-12-12-10 (55), Jake Ballard: 7-7-4-7-5-6-6 (42), Mario Manningham: 9-7-10-2-dnp-dnp-8 (36), Danny Ware: 2-2-6-3-9-3-4 (29), Brandon Jacobs: 2-5-2-4-0-1-1 (15), Ramses Barden: dnp-5-0-1-4-3-0 (13), Ahmad Bradshaw: 5-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-5-1 (11), Bear Pascoe: 1-1-3-0-1-0-1 (7), Henry Hynoski: dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-1-0-3 (4), Travis Beckum: 0-0-0-0-0-1-2 (3)
It looks like teams are taking Victor Cruz seriously which has helped Hakeem Nicks of late but Eli Manning has been on point, especially in the fourth quarter (highest QBR in the league) so it’s going to be hard stopping any of these receivers as long as they are getting targets and that they are. Nicks does have one more target than Cruz in the last 4 games so choosing between those two is once again a coin flip. Even Mario Manningham who has been out came right back and had 8 targets. Keep playing the Giants’ QB and receivers!
New York Jets
Santonio Holmes: BYE-6-8-9-9-8-4 (44), Dustin Keller: BYE-7-4-8-8-6-5 (38), Plaxico Burress: BYE-5-8-9-7-6-2 (37), Shonn Greene: BYE-0-4-1-4-4-3 (16), Jeremy Kerley: BYE-5-8-dnp-dnp-1-1 (15), Joe McKnight: BYE-1-0-7-3-2-dnp (13), LaDainian Tomlinson: BYE-3-5-dnp-dnp-1-4 (13), Patrick Turner: BYE-0-1-4-4-1-1 (11), Matthew Mulligan: BYE-0-0-0-0-2-0 (2)
Mark Sanchez has accounted for 19 touchdowns at home and 7 away. Four of his 5 rushing touchdowns have come at home but still that’s quite a discrepancy. When you look at his recent games, it’s gone good fantasy game, bad fantasy game, good fantasy … you get the picture and they coincide with home and away games. So make of that what you will.
The real fantasy star of late has been Shonn Greene. He had only topped 10 fantasy points 3 times in his first 11 games and in his last 2 he has 28 and 23. Those of course go with his highest rushing totals at 22 and 24 respectively. Giving him the rock seems to be a good thing.
Oakland Raiders
Darrius Heyward-Bey: BYE-1-0-5-10-8-9 (33), Michael Bush: BYE-3-4-2-4-6-4 (23), Kevin Boss: BYE-0-2-6-3-5-7 (23), Marcel Reece: BYE-5-1-3-7-1-4 (21), Chaz Schilens: BYE-2-0-2-8-7-2 (21), Denarius Moore: BYE-12-7-2-dnp-dnp-dnp (21), Louis Murphy: BYE-1-1-0-4-5-9 (20), Brandon Myers: BYE-1-3-3-1-6-0 (14), T.J. Houshmandzadeh: BYE-4-1-0-0-3-3 (11), Jacoby Ford: BYE-6-1-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp (7), Rock Cartwright: BYE-0-0-0-0-0-2 (2)
Darrius Heyward-Bey is the only consistent guy for targets and receptions but maybe, just maybe, Jacoby Ford or Denarius Moore will return this week and make things even harder to decipher, yeah!
Michael Bush’s yards per carry have dropped but he’s still getting all of the work and finding the end zone enough to be an easy play week in and week out.
Philadelphia Eagles
Brent Celek: 9-9-7-6-6-4-5 (46), DeSean Jackson: 6-8-dnp-8-10-4-6 (42), LeSean McCoy: 3-5-5-4-7-5-6 (35), Riley Cooper: 0-1-2-12-5-10-3 (33), Jason Avant: 5-3-1-2-14-2-4 (31), Jeremy Maclin: 3-9-5-dnp-dnp-dnp-4 (21), Clay Harbor: 1-1-1-2-1-2-1 (9), Chad Hall: dnp-dnp-dnp-0-5-1-1 (7), Owen Schmitt: 1-0-1-1-0-0-0 (3)
When an Andy Reid running back rushes 27 times and only gains 38 yards I check out my window to see if the zombie apocalypse has started. This may be the only time I question why Andy Reid ran too much! But LeSean McCoy did get into the end zone twice and they won the game! Hard to question that I guess.
This was Michael Vick’s first game back from his rib injury and he only completed 50 percent of his passes. We’ll give him a mulligan here and see if Jeremy Maclin can get healed up which would help him a lot.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Antonio Brown: 15-10-6-BYE-6-4-8 (49), Mike Wallace: 7-6-10-BYE-6-5-5 (39), Heath Miller: 9-5-5-BYE-2-3-4 (28), Jerricho Cotchery: 1-6-4-BYE-1-0-3 (15), Emmanuel Sanders: 8-dnp-dnp-BYE-4-2-dnp (14), Hines Ward: dnp-1-1-BYE-4-6-1 (13), Rashard Mendenhall: 4-2-3-BYE-2-0-0 (11), Mewelde Moore: 2-2-0-BYE-3-1-0 (8), David Johnson: 1-2-1-BYE-0-1-2 (7), Isaac Redman: 2-1-1-BYE-2-0-0 (6), Weslye Saunders: 1-0-2-BYE-1-1-0 (5)
Antonio Brown had his best game of the season which coincided with his second touchdown of the season. He doesn’t get many red zone looks which does hurt his value but his targets, receptions and yardage get the job done. From Week 6 on he is second in wide receiver receiving yards to only Victor Cruz.
San Diego Chargers
Antonio Gates: 7-11-6-4-10-7-9 (54), Vincent Jackson: 8-12-7-8-3-5-9 (52), Vincent Brown: dnp-6-9-4-10-2-0 (31), Mike Tolbert: dnp-9-9-7-4-1-1 (31), Ryan Mathews: 7-dnp-5-2-1-3-6 (24), Patrick Crayton: 4-3-5-0-2-1-3 (18), Randy McMichael: 3-1-1-3-2-3-1 (14), Malcom Floyd: 7-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-4-2 (13), Jacob Hester: 0-2-1-2-0-2-0 (7), Curtis Brinkley: 3-0-0-0-1-0-dnp (4), Kory Sperry: 0-0-1-0-0-0-1 (2)
With Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski going off this season we’ve lost track of old man Gates. He amazingly is still trucking, bad foot and all. He ranks 5th in fantasy points for tight ends even after missing 4 games. Since coming back in Week 7, Gates has more receptions, yards and touchdowns than Jimmy Graham. That would put him on the same crazy pace as Graham. So there’s that.
Seattle Seahawks
Doug Baldwin: 8-6-3-5-10-2-8 (42), Golden Tate: 4-1-3-3-3-4-7 (25), Ben Obomanu: 4-2-2-4-4-2-1 (19), Zach Miller: 5-0-4-1-2-2-3 (17), Marshawn Lynch: 0-2-7-2-3-0-2 (16), Mike Williams: dnp-3-1-5-3-2-2 (16), Justin Forsett: 1-3-0-1-1-0-5 (11), Michael Robinson: 1-0-0-1-1-4-2 (9), Anthony McCoy: 1-2-2-0-1-0-1 (7), Cameron Morrah: 5-dnp-dnp-0-dnp-0-1 (6), Deon Butler: dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-0-2 (2)
Trying to figure out which Seattle receiver is going to have a good game is nearly an impossible task. Last week it was Golden Tate and this week it was Doug Baldwin. If I’m gambling, I’m gambling on Tate but otherwise I’m staying far away.
Oh yeah, Marshawn Lynch is an unstoppable force. He may be a zombie.
San Francisco 49ers
Michael Crabtree: 9-5-4-10-9-5-12 (54), Vernon Davis: 3-7-4-10-5-8-3 (40), Braylon Edwards: 7-3-6-4-3-dnp-2 (25), Ted Ginn: 1-1-4-0-3-4-6 (19), Delanie Walker: 0-2-7-5-0-2-2 (18), Kyle Williams: 0-2-1-5-1-2-6 (17), Kendall Hunter: 0-0-3-1-1-3-3 (11), Frank Gore: 0-3-1-2-2-0-1 (9), Justin Peelle: 1-0-0-0-0-1-0 (2)
This Patrick Peterson fella is doing some good work of late and held Michael Crabtree to 7 catches for 63 yards on 12 targets. That doesn’t sound insanely amazing but holding a threat like Crabtree to under 10 yards a reception isn’t bad at all. But it was good to see the faith in Crabtree to give him all those looks. Smith and Harbaugh trust him enough that they’ll throw to him even in tight coverage.
St. Louis Rams
Brandon Lloyd: 13-13-9-14-10-2-12 (73), Brandon Gibson: 6-5-3-7-7-7-1 (36), Austin Pettis: 1-5-4-5-4-7-4 (30), Steven Jackson: 5-2-3-5-3-1-5 (24), Greg Salas: 6-9-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp (15), Lance Kendricks: 3-1-dnp-2-5-1-2 (14), Billy Bajema: 2-1-2-1-0-0-0 (6), Danario Alexander: dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-2-4 (6)
After the weird 2 target day in San Francisco, Brandon Lloyd once again saw his normal allotment. Of course Sam Bradford was hurting and hadn’t practiced much so it was a fairly disastrous game, but it’s good to see that Lloyd should remain a safe start.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Mike Williams: BYE-8-5-11-11-9-7 (51), Kellen Winslow: BYE-6-6-11-7-5-5 (40), Arrelious Benn: BYE-2-6-6-5-4-1 (24), Kregg Lumpkin: BYE-6-7-1-3-0-3 (20), Preston Parker: BYE-4-4-2-3-3-3 (19), Dezmon Briscoe: BYE-2-2-3-0-2-7 (16), LeGarrette Blount: BYE-3-2-1-3-2-2 (13), Luke Stocker: BYE-0-0-1-0-0-1 (2)
This was a game for the ages, well, one the Bucs hope gets lost in the ages. The only bright spot was a bit of a bounce back game for LeGarrette Blount. Otherwise Josh Freeman was just terrible and it made the rest of his team follow suit. For Mike Williams’ sake, hope that Freeman is feeling better this week.
Tennessee Titans
Damian Williams: 5-7-7-11-4-7-10 (51), Nate Washington: 6-6-4-9-6-6-9 (46), Lavelle Hawkins: 5-6-1-4-7-4-4 (31), Jared Cook: 2-8-3-9-7-1-1 (31), Chris Johnson: 5-6-7-3-2-1-6 (30), Javon Ringer: 6-2-3-6-5-2-1 (25), Ahmard Hall: 2-1-0-0-2-2-0 (7), Marc Mariani: 1-1-0-1-0-1-1 (5), Craig Stevens: dnp-1-0-0-0-0-3 (4), Daniel Graham: 1-0-0-0-0-1-0 (2)
Nate Washington just keeps having big games when you think it’s time to dump him. Every week I pick Damian Williams for a big game Washington goes off for 20 fantasy points. I still see Williams as the safer play because if Washington isn’t giving you 20 points he’s giving you 2, but either way you should get ready for a bumpy ride.
I don’t want to talk about Chris Johnson.
Washington Redskins
Jabar Gaffney: 5-5-6-10-7-3-8 (44), Roy Helu: 4-17-3-2-7-6-3 (42), Santana Moss: dnp-dnp-dnp-dnp-7-12-9 (28), Donte Stallworth: 2-dnp-dnp-6-2-2-6 (18), David Anderson: dnp-dnp-3-3-dnp-6-3 (15), Darrel Young: 1-2-1-2-2-dnp-2 (10), Logan Paulsen: 0-2-1-2-2-1-0 (8), Anthony Armstrong: 4-1-0-2-1-0-0 (8)
You knew the Patriots would give this passing game a boost and it did. The loss of Fred Davis will hurt them but for now we can revel in Gaffney and Moss’ good games that we saw coming a mile away.