Jayden Daniels had a good game again, accounting for three TDs, fueled mostly by one late miracle play. But I don’t understand why he’s such a heavy favorite for Offensive Rookie of the Year over Bo Nix. Nix has the same record as Daniels and has 16 TD passes and just two picks in his past nine games, plus two games with at least 61 rushing yards.
Jaylen Waddle punished us for benching him, though the byes hopefully forced your hand. But now we have a Tyreek Hill problem. His 17-game pace in 2024: 76-882-5. Yikes.
De’Von Achane is averaging 4.3 yards per carry, which his believers would have found unfathomable in August. However, the catches and five receiving TDs have made him worthy of his ADP anyway. I will be fading this receiving production in 2025, you can be certain.
Cooper Rush was solid against the Commanders. So was Rico Dowdle, even though he fumbled. It would be nice to see Dowdle get a rushing TD.
KaVontae Turpin is an older player but he has to be utilized from scrimmage. He’s maybe the most explosive runner in the game. He may have gotten the most yards ever with a spin move, gaining 90 after utilizing it to go for a kickoff return TD untouched.
KAVONTAE TURPIN HIT THE SPIN MOVE AND TOOK THE KICKOFF TO THE HOUSE 😱
🎥: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/FFEfUGehff
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) November 24, 2024
In my Scott Fish Bowl league, where return yards are massive, I did draft Turpin in Round 18 (out of 20) when people were speculating on returners as early as Round 4. But it took me weeks to actually play him. He’s the No. 1 WR in that league at 269.95 points, tied with Ja’Marr Chase. Crazy scoring formats are fun.
Patrick Mahomes was a winning fantasy player for one of the few times this year. Noah Gray had his second-straight game with two TDs — Travis Kelce has two TDs all year.
Bryce Young looked like a player who has a chance. He and C.J. Stroud are trending in opposite directions, weirdly. Stroud just gave away the Texans game against the Titans.
Nico Collins lost a long TD again on a ticky-tack penalty, this time an illegal shift. Like the penalty last week, it had nothing to do with the play. Why do they waive off contact for pass interference if they think it had nothing to do with the play but keep calling these fouls? Just call the PIs, too, then.
Will Levis has the pocket awareness of a three-toed sloth. He was dumped eight times on 25 attempts — and won. Levis is hopeless. He’s the Justin Fields of Tommy DeVitos.
The Packers were smart in just grinding out a win with Josh Jacobs breaking a record-number of tackles to still only average 4.1 per carry. They have to open up the passing game. In fairness, Christian Watson dropped a perfect 50-yard TD bomb. In the postseason, the Packers are going to need to throw proactively to win in January but are trying to turn Jordan Love into a game manager.
Brandon Allen was fine. His only pick came on a drop by Deebo Samuel (let the ball go right through his hands). Samuel was awful.
Christian McCaffrey is probably 80%. He’s also old (28). He has no juice and can’t gain the edge on those patented outside zone plays. All of his rush analytics are in the dumper now too.
A friend once told me that Kyler Murray is like a piece of bubble gum. Initially, it’s great. But it loses all of its flavor so quickly and then is just terrible. Murray never finishes a full season strong and has hurt his managers in two of the past three games.
I don’t know what more Sam Darnold needs to do to prove he’s worthy of being a starting NFL QB. He throws picks, but I’d take 3% picks from my QB for a YPA over 8.0. Darnold is the ninth QB in NFL history with at least nine games with a rating 103+ in his first 11 games of the season, a number exceeded by only Aaron Rodgers (2011, 2020). He’s likely a free agent in March.
Darnold did not force the ball to Justin Jefferson, who had a tremendous impact on the game given all the coverage he was soaking up — Jordan Addison went for 8/162/1.
Jefferson lost a long TD on a pick play that has pretty much been taken out of the game given that if someone runs into you in man coverage, you’re getting a flag. I just don’t understand the call. It should be like going out of the baseline in baseball. As long as you don’t go out of your way to run into the defender, legal play.
I thought T.J. Hockenson was going to be a stiff off his ACL injury for at least 2024, but he had the game-winning play in overtime and was excellent all day (7-for-114).
Caleb Williams had his best game of the season, leading the spirited comeback for naught. That’s actually the perfect game if you’re a Bears fan. Williams looks good, you lose to make sure the coach gets fired and you get a higher draft pick. Chef’s kiss.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. was in fumble jail so Devin Singletary scored the Giants’ lone TD. The entire coaching staff should be in jail for starting Tommy DeVito, who was sacked three times on his first five attempts and at that point it was already game over.
Bucky Irving is really something with his whirling dervish moves — not just this Sunday but every week. He’s Barry Sanders without the home-run speed. He’s a strange but valuable player. Going 6-for-6 in targets was sweet too, including a 32-yard jaunt.
Tough week for Cade Otton managers. The Tampa Bay passing game was way better in reality than in fantasy — no TDs, 10 receivers sharing 24 catches.
Anthony Richardson missed the throws he hit last week against the Jets. The play count hurt Jonathan Taylor, but the Lions were stacking the box.
I’m going to draft Sam LaPorta everywhere next year. I hated where he was being drafted this summer. But one of the things you need to do generally, and especially in our game, is think like a fox. That means not radically altering your opinion on new information. Just modify it. I thought LaPorta was a top 100 pick, and I still think that. I bet I get him at pick 120 in 2025. You can afford to be very wrong at that price. But you may be very right.
(Top photo of Tyreek Hill: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
