I hope you all won every single matchup this week and if you didn’t I hope you cursed your opponent deftly. There were a lot of huge performances on Sunday and one of them probably made or broke you. Let’s hope you were made.
Drew Brees: He completed 32 of 40 passes for 412 yards and 5 touchdowns to win the coveted best fantasy quarterback of the week award that I just made up. Yes, the Vikings are absolutely horrible but Drew Brees is playing out of his mind. He will break Dan Marino’s passing record barring an injury and he may do it against the Falcons next week if he can muster a measly 306 yards which he’s done 11 out of 14 games this season (which is also a record).
Kyle Orton: It took the return of neck beard to bring down the vaunted Green Bay Packers run to immortality. He also had 299 yards passing but zero touchdowns. That’s not going to win many fake championships but he beat the Packers you guys!
LeSean McCoy: This guy is truly unstoppable. He rushed for 102 yards and 3 touchdowns which took him to 20 touchdowns on the season. This is after he totaled 9 last season. It will be tough for him to repeat those numbers but his skill will make him a top pick no matter.
Ryan Mathews: You were rightfully scared of Mathews going up against the Ravens rush defense but he’s become an every week starter now with his 4th 100+ total yard game in a row. Even with Mike Tolbert in TD vulture mode Mathews managed 2 touchdowns to help lead the Chargers to a dominant victory.
Tim Tebow: 11 of 22 for 194 yards passing and no touchdowns. Bluh, Tebow is crap! Wait, how did he finish as the third best fantasy quarterback this week? Oh, I should have looked a little to the right of those stats; 94 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns! I bet you wished your crappy running back would have done that!
Reggie Bush: Where did this guy come from? He had 25 rushing attempts for 203 yards and a touchdown. I don’t think I have to look up the fact that this was his first ever 200 yard rushing day. The guy has been injury prone and a dance and tip toe through the roses kind of runner most of his NFL career but he’s seeing holes and hitting them decisively now. If he can stay healthy he looks like a changed runner.
Matthew Stafford: He passed for 391 yards and 4 touchdowns and still didn’t beat out Drew Brees for fantasy quarterback of the week! I just let him know. He teared up. He’s been a little erratic this season but he’s always on the verge of huge games like this. You’ll have to ride him in your fantasy Super Bowl since he most likely got you there.
Calvin Johnson: Hopefully you had a bye last week or were able to win with a poor game from Megatron because he sure made up for it this week with 9 receptions, 214 yards and 2 touchdowns and if you are a Lions fan he caught the game winner as well. After so many down weeks it was kind of inevitable that he would blow up like this.
Donald Brown: 161 yards, a touchdown and no 0-16 season. That’s a decent day for Brown. His 80 yard touchdown run sealed the game and exposed the Titans for frauds.
Brent Celek: Your second leading receiver in yardage this week was one Mr. Brent Celek with 156 yards and a touchdown (and another catch and run down to the 1 yard line). He leads the Eagles in receptions this year and has been the most consistent option in the passing game for an inconsistent team. The Eagles beat report Geoff Mosher mentioned in our preseason interview that Celek would see more work. Yeaaa Geoff!
Darrius Heyward-Bey: DHB had one of his best games statistically ever gaining 155 yards on 8 receptions with a touchdown. This receiving corps is full of talent but so unpredictable it will drive you crazy. DHB amazingly has been the most consistent of the group this season.
Cam Newton: Newton is just a few yards from beating Peyton Manning’s rookie record for most passing yards and has already beat the total touchdowns record for a rookie quarterback. He only had 149 yards passing but he tossed 2 touchdowns and added 59 yards rushing to put him in the top 10 QB scorers for this week and this was against possibly the best pass defense in the league. He’s only going to get better. And look at how well he executed this trick play. Pretty bad ass.
CJ Spiller: I sure keep whiffing on Spiller. He’s getting it done despite my doubts. How dare he!! He ended the day with 166 total yards, 2 touchdowns and a whopping 9 receptions. It looks like they’ve figured out how to use him like the Saints use Darren Sproles but they’re splitting Spiller out wide and getting him the ball in space even more than Sproles. He’ll never be a 20+ carries between the tackles kind of runner but if they can hybridize him like this effectively watch out.
Michael Vick: After a poor game off his rib injury he looked much better in a beat down of the Jets. Of course LeSean McCoy garnered most of the touchdowns but Vick still rushed for a touchdown, passed for one and threw for 274 yards. He hasn’t lived up to his #1 QB billing but he’s not dog food yet.
Demaryius Thomas: Thomas once again saw a boat load of targets with 13 which he caught 7 of for 116 yards. No touchdown this week but it’s hard to beat that production from a waiver wire pickup. The Broncos get the Bills next week who haven’t exactly been shutting down the pass of late.
Ahmad Bradshaw: The Giants were slaughtered but it was good to see Bradshaw put together a halfway decent game as he totaled 79 yards and a touchdown. He also made this funky catch.
Kevin Smith: My hero let me down this week with a craptastic game of 46 total yards at Oakland. But he made it through the game injury free and I still like him next week at home on a faster track against the Chargers.
Aaron Hernandez: With the Broncos focusing on Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez had room to roam and roam he did. He finished the day with 9 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown. He came close to two more which would have made my FanDuel teams even happier. Hernandez is a wide receiver more than a tight end and I could actually see some fantasy sites listing him that way at some point since he lines up out wide more than not.
Greg Little: Little had a big game against the Cardinals who are good at giving up big games to #1 receivers. His 131 yards and touchdown were by far the best stats for his rookie campaign. He needs a quarterback to have the big upside his skills call for actual produce on a consistent basis.
Plaxico Burress: He only had one catch but it was a nice one handed grab for a touchdown.
