New England on the Brink

Boy, I am stuffed and still not over the long weekend. I think I’m still waking up from this morning. That or it could just be that I’m tired while writing this at a late hour. Or both, you pick.

We had some gross football this Sunday, but we had some fun football too. Several matchups decided who won the week vs. who lost, and those are always fun slates. Having the showdown between you and a league mate come down to a game where you both roster players is so incredibly nerve-wracking and fun at the same time.

Let’s dive into week 12 shall we?

News and Notes

• The Steelers put together their first big offensive performance in a long time, coincidentally right after Matt Canada got fired. 🤔 Weird, right? Pat Freiermuth had a career day, catching nine passes for 120 yards. And some good news: he’s available in more leagues than you may realize. Diontae Johnson and George Pickens could have had better days but we’ll take it as a start. Hopefully, things continue to trend upward.

• 🐅 The Bengals are struggling mightily right now. Part of that I’m sure is due to it being a divisional matchup. But it’s not just that, they were unable to run the ball. Joe Mixon averaged just two yards a carry. Jake Browning played fairly well, though I will say he got lucky on some throws that got tipped and fell into Ja’Marr Chase’s hands instead of the defense.

• 🐦️🔴 The Falcons are the first-place team in the “well somebody had to be first” NFC South. Bijan Robinson had 19 touches and scored twice in this game. Huh, imagine that, Bijan gets a big workload and good things happen. It’s almost like he’s good or something. Next, we just need a QB upgrade so Drake London and Kyle Pitts can have some fun. To be fair, London did have a good game, but imagine with me for a moment of a life post-Ridder. 😊 

• Chris Olave showed up! And then he was gone, ruled out due to concussion. Derek Carr finally decided to heavily target his best wideout, throwing it his way nine times, connecting on seven throws for 114 yards. It’s possible it just took them time to gel, but I’ll take now instead of never. The unfortunate part is Olave is now in danger of missing against Detroit. Rashid Shaheed suffered an injury as well, so his status will need to be monitored.

• 🐈‍⬛ It’s not a Panther but it’s a black cat. I tried my best. And frankly, I’m sure this franchise and its fans feel like a black cat crossed their path. Frank Reich is out as the Panthers head coach after their 17-10 loss to the Titans on Sunday. The running game isn’t there. Bryce Young has not lived up to expectations. Adam Thielen has vanished after starting out strong. Second-round pick Jonathan Mingo had a good game with four catches for 60 yards, so let’s hope he progresses. But, what was this?

• Jalin Hyatt had career highs in targets, receptions, and yards with a 6-5-109 stat line respectively. He’s played at least 53% of the Giants’ offensive snaps in three of the last four weeks.

• I figure this is stating the obvious, but Mac Jones probably won’t last past this season with the Patriots. They did him a disservice not signing Meyers back this season (though they did luck into Demario Douglas) or grabbing any notable receivers in the draft or via trade, among other things (such as coaching changes). He’s a serviceable backup but I doubt he’ll ever become a long-term starter. I’d be surprised if the Patriots don’t look to the draft once again for a QB.

• 🐎 Josh Downs and Michael Pittman combined for 26 targets, 13 each. No other Colt had more than 6, which was Alec Peirce.

• 🐆 The Jags vs 🐄 Texans Vol.2 was epic. Stroud and Lawrence both played well, with Stroud continuing to be one of the best young NFL talents and Lawrence showing us once again that he is in fact still good at football.

• Christian Kirk had a fine game and Calvin Ridley had a better one. Tank Dell had a fine (could have been amazing) game, and Nico Collins had a better one. Dell had several plays deemed either not a catch (which sure looked like it) and a questionable illegal shift penalty negate huge plays for him.

• 🐏 Remember how the Rams said “Thanks! But yeah you’re fired” to Darrell Henderson because Kyren Williams came back? Well, boy did he get back to right where he left off. He averaged nearly 9 yards per carry and had over 200 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns on 22 touches. He faces Cleveland this week. I don’t care.

• I guess the Cardinals want to take a committee approach at the running back position now with Michael Carter in town? James Conner has not been involved, touching the ball 10 times in the blowout loss to LA and managing only 32 scrimmage yards. It’s nice to see Hollywood Brown have a good game every once in a while.

• 🏹 Why hello there, Rashee Rice! The rookie had his best game of the season with eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. The SMU product now has either 56 yards and/or a touchdown in six of his last seven games.

• ☠️ I was ready to move on from Jakobi Meyers and he just had to make things interesting. In Aidan O’Connell’s previous four starts, he had averaged 38 receiving yards a game. On Sunday he racked up 79 yards and a score. The question for me was never about Jakobi’s talent, but more of whether AOC would target him.

• I could spend a newsletter breaking down the Bills vs. Eagles game. Let’s suffice to say: it started out slow but man did it end well. If you started a player, you were probably pretty happy with their performance, save for D’Andre Swift's managers.

• Keaton Mitchell may very well be taking over the Baltimore backfield. I’m not completely sold on it, but I’m keeping tabs on the backfield situation.

Waiver Wire and Trade Targets

• QB: Gardner Minshew vs. TEN, Derek Carr vs. DET, Kenny Pickett vs. ARI (if you are desperate),

• RB: Roschon Johnson vs. DET, Samaje Perine vs. HOU, Rico Dowdle vs. SEA, Michael Carter vs. PIT (stash)

• WR: Demario Douglas vs. LAC, Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks vs KC

• TE: Pat Freiermuth vs. ARI, Gerald Everett vs. NE, Tucker Kraft vs. KC

• DST: Tampa Bay vs. CAR, Jacksonville vs. CIN

Thursday Night Preview

Seattle Seahawks

Well, things don’t get any easier for Geno and the Seahawks after facing the 49ers on Thanksgiving. Geno can be started but I would be trying to find other options if I could. Metcalf is WR2 worthy, but Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njiba are flex plays at best. You’re hoping Kenneth Walker misses another week and gives Charbonnet all the work because against this Dallas team, you really don’t want work to be split up.

Dallas Cowboys

Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb are on quite the tear, and I don’t think they’re stopping now. Jake Ferguson was close to an auto-start earlier in the season but he’s fallen out of that category in recent weeks. I’m still starting him but I’m much more hesitant to do so if I have other viable options. Brandin Cooks could get involved yet again this week, making him an upside flex play. Tony Pollard is a fringe RB2 right now given his play this season. Rico Dowdle is a desperation flex.

Final Thoughts

That will do it for this edition of Ballfield Banter! A new edition is coming out Friday with a lot more fantasy content to help you prepare for your matchups on Sunday!