Updated Nov 25, 2009 4:05 AM ET
I'll get right to it and let you get back to hunting for turkeys in short order.
Dolphins 24, Panthers 17
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Ricky Williams was picked up everywhere, and justifiably so. But don't get terribly excited — not too many more games remain on Miami's schedule against putrid run defenses. Start Ricky, but it would be a surprise if he has another game like this. In fact, he may even pick up some kind of injury himself.
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Jake Delhomme has turned himself into a decent fantasy quarterback in the last few weeks, If your regular guy has been inconsistent or is injured, you could actually do a lot worse than him on the waiver wire.
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Jonathan Stewart was absent, but find me a running back who has been more of a fantasy beast than
DeAngelo Williams for the last month. OK,
Chris Johnson owners. I hear you. But still, it's nice to see the Williams of old here. He's another one who seems to take a while to get going, but he really takes off when he's on.
Jaguars 18, Bills 15
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Terrell Owens ... welcome back. He had been on the waiver wire in a number lf leagues, and for good reason. We've been waiting for him to do what he did today for a long time. Will it last through the final month of the season? I doubt it. Pick him up if your regular wideouts are annoying you, but don't expect the world from him.
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Fred Jackson will have fantasy value again after
Marshawn Lynch was carted off the field today. Lynch's season might be over, and Jackson could be a decent late replacement RB in certain formats. Let's wait to hear Lynch's status before we reach a definitive conclusion.
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Mike Sims-Walker did it again — 91 yards and a touchdown in Week 11, and he has hardly ever left his owners disappointed this year. I can't help but to think how much his stock is shooting up for 2010. He's not in the elite WR category yet, but is he a third-rounder? I think so.
Packers 30, Niners 24
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Michael Crabtree was finally able to dance and hold the ball in the end zone, and he totaled 77 receiving yards on the day. Another player whose stock for 2010 is soaring. Yes, scouting for fantasy football is a year-round task.
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Alex Smith has been one of those borderline guys who can go off at a moment's notice. He'll either post a disastrous game like he did against the Bears a few Thursdays ago or can have a three-TD, 227-yard effort like he did here. If you happen to catch him on a good week, consider yourself fortunate.
• Finally,
Ryan Grant goes over 100 rushing yards and scores a touchdown. It had only happened one other time this season. He's another maddening player to own since so many of his weeks are mediocre, but they can really pay off with games like this. Next up for Grant? Turkey Day afternoon against the Lions. He should do just fine if he can recover in time.
Colts 17, Ravens 15
• Death, taxes and
Peyton Manning either throwing in the neighborhood of 300 yards or throwing for multiple touchdowns on a weekly basis. Those are the only guarantees in life.
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Joseph Addai has almost quietly put together a pretty solid season for himself. He rushed for 74 yards and a score in Week 11. He hasn't topped 100 rushing yards this week, but has scored a touchdown in six of his last seven games and has rushed for 60 or more yards in four of his last five. Really, what's not to like about that? Yet, no one seems to about him, and I can't understand why.
•
Billy Cundiff, with his five field goal conversions, had a better fantasy day than a few quarterbacks did. That deserves a special mention, if not more.
Giants 34, Falcons 31
• That's more like it from
Eli Manning. For a guy who usually throws for 200 yards and a score each week to finish with 384 and three, respectively, was outstanding. Seems the Falcons defense has too many holes that still need addressing, and playing against them is turning into fantasy gold.
• Even if the stats didn't show it, Manning's counterpart
Matt Ryan was equally impressive, going for 268 yards, two scores and no picks. Ryan engineered a two-touchdown, fourth quarter comeback on the road, which is anything but easy to do. He's looking more poised and confident by the week.
• What did I tell you about
Jason Snelling last week? He rumbled for 76 yards and a pair of scores and is almost a poor man's
Brandon Jacobs when Jacobs was still good. I hope that made sense to you.
Saints 38, Bucs 7
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Drew Brees' three touchdowns were nice, but only 187 yards? Really? I guess that he didn't need to throw since the Saints never looked back after taking the lead, but he's thrown for more than 187 in a half before. Yardage league owners were left wanting.
• Brees didn't amass many yards in the air, but
Mike Bell and
Pierre Thomas picked up the slack on the ground nicely. Thomas ran for 92 yards while Bell had 75 and two touchdowns. That looks a lot like the kind of tag-team box score we'd see from DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, doesn't it?
• Either
Josh Freeman is still on the upslope of his learning curve, or defenses are starting to figure out his tendencies after having more time and film to prepare for him. Maybe a little of both, but I'm already wondering if he wouldn't be a decent second-stringer on my roster next year.
Detroit 38, Cleveland 37
• What some thought would amount to a snooze fest turned out to be a game that would have been talked about for ages if it were the Super Bowl. How strange is it to say that? Maybe the league should look into taking the two
worst teams from each conference instead of the best and ... nah.
• I've told you all season long how much I like
Matt Stafford because the offense he ran at Georgia was ideal preparation for the NFL transition. He was a monster today with 422 passing yards and a whopping five touchdown passes, but he took one of the hardest shots I've seen a quarterback take in some time at the very end of the game. It literally looked like he got hit by a car, and if he got out of it without breaking something, I'll be stunned.
• I don't know what to make of
Brady Quinn. Seriously. This performance proves he's at least capable of turning out big games, so why does he struggle so badly against defenses that are mediocre, let alone solid? I know Detroit's defense is bad, but is it really about a dozen levels below average? Quinn might be an interesting play when the Browns visit the Bengals next Sunday.
Cowboys 7, Redskins 6
• That.
• Was.
• Ugly.
Vikings 35, Seahawks 9
• I'm not only asking to know where this fountain of youth stands which
Brett Favre must have drank from, I'm demanding it. Maybe Brad Childress isn't so crazy for going out and getting him after all.
Sidney Rice is going to reach
Larry Fitzgerald/
Andre Johnson territory if he keeps up these kinds of performances.
• Favre's four-TD day meant those who had
Adrian Peterson in their lineups were left a little disappointed since he only amassed 82 yards and didn't find the end zone.
•
T.J. Houshmandzadeh needs to learn a little humility. After boldly stating that the Seahawks wouldn't lose another game this year, he only contributed four catches for 36 yards this week to back up his prediction. Of course, the one week he goes wild, it came against me in my big money league, which I really don't want to even discuss at the moment. Please, don't ask.
Chiefs 27, Steelers 24
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Ben Roethlisberger rebounded from a disappointing Week 10 effort by throwing three touchdown passes and nearly 400 yards, but it wasn't enough to earn the Steelers the win. Roethlisberger also took a knee to the head late in the game and didn't really look like he knew where he was for a while. Check his status before starting him next week.
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Jamaal Charles ran for 58 yards, which is actually better than I expected him to do and sort of confirms to me that he's the real deal. Seriously. So many RBs have had bad games against Pittsburgh this year, and 58 yards is nothing to sneeze at. I think Charles is officially startable the rest of the way.
• I picked up
Matt Cassel via trade in one of my leagues this past week, and he rewarded me with a 248-yard, two-TD performance. He almost had three scores had
Chris Chambers been able to grind out the final few yards on the long pass which set up the game-winning field goal. Cassel is improving each week and should be owned and started everywhere at this point.
Cardinals 21, Rams 13
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Kurt Warner threw for two first-half touchdown passes, then left the game with what seems like a mild injury.
Matt Leinart played the second half and did a decent job, but this offense clearly isn't the same without Warner, who I'm expecting to be fine for Week 11.
• Even though the Cards didn't post an obscene number of points, almost every big-name starter had a solid fantasy day.
Beanie Wells and
Tim Hightower had 14 carries apiece and rushed for nearly 200 yards while
Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald each caught touchdown passes.
•
Steven Jackson can't be stopped or even slowed down lately. He's gone over 100 rushing yards in four straight games and has scores in three straight. Just a total beast who continues to prove he should be a high fantasy pick every season.
Chargers 32, Broncos 3
•
Philip Rivers played good, mistake-free ball and had a high completion percentage, but one touchdown pass and just 145 passing yards was a pretty big disappointment.
• I think we wrote off
LaDainian Tomlinson a little too quickly. He's put together three straight strong fantasy efforts and seems to be gearing up to get going ... and just in time for the playoffs. Some of you out there are going to enter the knockout rounds next week, aren't you? One of my leagues is, and I'm now happy that I own L.T. Let's just pretend I didn't curse him for the first two months of the season. Please.
• Denver's undefeated start to the season seemed like it happened decades ago. They're just not the same team for whatever reason, and no one on this roster is worthy of auto-start status anymore. What has happened these last few weeks?
Raiders 20, Bengals 17
• Those of you who picked up
Bernard Scott should pat yourselves on the back. He started this game and posted a
Cedric Benson-esque 119 yards on the ground. But remember, his horse carriage will turn into a pumpkin the second Benson returns to action.
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Carson Palmer threw for 207 yards, no scores and a pick in his visit to Oakland.
Donovan McNabb threw for 269 yards and no scores in Oakland back in Week 6. Guess who my two big money league fantasy quarterbacks are this season. Maybe Al Davis could pay me some money to just draft whoever is playing Oakland that week if that's all it takes to shut them down.
• No, no, no.
Bruce Gradkowski will probably be a waiver wire target for some after his two-TD performance against the Bengals. But I'm telling you now to save yourself the trouble and don't even bother grabbing him. The only games where I'd half consider it (at Denver, at Cleveland) come in December, and each of them has a decent chance to be played in a driving blizzard.
Patriots 31, Jets 14
• I think we also have to include
Thomas Jones in the "which RB has been at his best in recent weeks" list. He topped 100 yards on the ground for the fourth time in the last five weeks. The rest of the Jets rushed for a combined one yard today.
• How many more times will Rex Ryan get burned by letting
Mark Sanchez throw the ball? Granted, he sort of had to at times today. But when you have a running back as good as Jones, why not run him into the ground? Literally and figuratively. But letting Sanchez air it out that often is playing with fire.
•
Laurence Maroney continues to prove me wrong — he rushed for 77 yards and two scores and has now found the end zone in five straight games, which has got to be one of the signs of the apocalypse. As long as
Sammy Morris continues to be inactive, go with L.M. Even Bill Belichick isn't whacky enough to mess with this kind of success. Is he?
