The 3M Report: Week 13

Matt Price

Welcome to the week 13 edition of the 3M report; a look back at the magic, mayhem, and mishaps of the weekend games. Hopefully everyone finished their fantasy strong with a win and are ready for the championship push to begin next week.

On Thursday night there was actually a meaningful game being played between the Cowboys and Vikings. Minnesota’s defense was at full strength and for the first time since week one, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot looked like… well… rookies. The pair combined for three fumbles and Prescott lost one of his. As they have done all season, they recovered. Dak threw a 56-yard strike to Dez Bryant which set up Elliot for the go-ahead one-yard touchdown plunge. Prescott paid back his star receiver by hitting him for an eight-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter after Adam Thielen fumbled the punt.

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Sam Bradford wasn’t the problem on Thursday. His offense let him down in key areas. Despite moving to a get-the-ball-out-quick short passing game due to struggles on the offensive line, Bradford was still under pressure all night. He was sacked three times and left the game on the last drive of the first half when he took a helmet to the ribs. Bradford returned after halftime and when he actually had time to make a throw, his receivers let him down. Kyle Rudolph dropped an easy touchdown in the end zone. With about two minutes left on the clock, Bradford led a potentially game-tying scoring drive capped by a three-yard Jerick McKinnon touchdown reception. On the ensuing two-point conversion attempt that would have likely sent the game to overtime, Bradford was hit in the head by a defender but the call was completely missed by officials. Jason Witten caught the onside kick attempt but failed to catch a single pass during the game, snapping an eight season, 130-game streak of catching at least one pass in every game.The Cowboys won their 11th straight game, a franchise record.

Eric Berry had himself a day in Atlanta, picking off Ryan twice, once for a touchdown and once for a two-point conversion. The defensive two point conversion ended up being the difference in this one as the Chiefs get an impressive road win 29-28. Travis Kelce finished with another huge day with eight for 140. Spencer Ware is back in our good graces scoring as both a rusher and a receiver. Atlanta’s first three offensive plays were passes to Julio Jones. He caught all three for 44 yards and was primed for a massive day, but things settled down from there. Jones finished with seven for 113. Tevin Coleman was back in the lineup and saw nearly as many carries as Devonta Freeman (12 to 15), but it was Freeman who got both touchdowns and four receptions for 49 yards.

With the New Orleans Saints playing respectable defense lately and Drew Brees so hot that he lights it up on the road now too, you had to of liked the matchups for all of your Saints against the Lions. Brees surpassed 300 yards passing once again but this time he threw three interceptions and zero touchdowns in a disappointing performance at home. Coby Fleener didn’t help him out when he dropped a pass at the goal line. At this point, is anyone really surprised by that? After a huge day for New Orleans running backs last week, the Saints couldn’t do anything on the ground against a middle of the road Lions defense at home. Mark Ingram ran for 37 yards on just even carries. Tim Hightower? How about two carries for five yards. Golden Tate was the best fantasy play of the day. He took advantage of broken coverage on his 66-yard touchdown, part of an eight catch, 145-yard day.

This was the first week I benched (and recommended benching) Todd Gurley. What Bill Belichick has done to opposing rookie quarterbacks is downright scary and was enough for me to finally bench my preseason number one overall dynasty running back. He finished with just 47 total yards on the day. Those who stuck with Kenny Britt were rewarded with another touchdown in what has been a quietly productive season for the veteran despite his coaches clear attempt to limit his production. My favorite part of this game was when Jeff Fisher wanted to challenge a call on the field and couldn’t find his challenge flag. Your coach just got a two-year extension Rams fans. Let that sink in a bit.blount

LeGarrette Blount had a nice 43-yard touchdown run that the big man bounced outside and surprisingly outran the rest of the the defense who overcommitted to the pass rush. The spin move he put on a safety during the run was a thing of beauty. Julian Edelman had a nice day with eight for 101, but it’s clear that without Rob Gronkowski this offense isn’t the juggernaut that it was and could have been. Despite the shortcomings, Tom Brady was able to do enough to get his 201st career victory and become the all-time winningest quarterback in NFL history.

In leagues still requiring team defense, it has been a winning strategy all season to just stream the defense playing Blake Bortles. That works especially well when that defense is the Denver Broncos. Bortles completed less than 50% of his passes and threw two interceptions, one of those being his third pick-six in the last four games. Despite his horribleness, Bortles actually had his team in position to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Instead, Bortles fumbled while trying to make a play from the pocket and gave his team their seventh consecutive loss of the season. Anyone have Neal Sterling as the Jaguars leading receiver today? Me either.

Paxton Lynch got the start over the injured Trevor Siemian and while the rookie will get credit for the win, he wasn’t much of a factor. He threw for just 104 yards on 12/24 passing attempts, but didn’t turn the ball over. Fellow rookie Devontae Booker got in the end zone but averaged just 1.9 yards per carry. This rookie duo has nothing on Dak and Zeke.

The frozen tundra of Lambeau Field lived up to its moniker today. The Packers got back to even under a snowy sky at home on Sunday against the terrible Brock Osweiler and the Texans. Aaron Rodgers connected with Randall Cobb in the second quarter for the first score of the day. The corny one celebrated his touchdown by making snow angels in the end zone. The Packers pulled away in the fourth quarter with a nice Jordy Nelson 32-yard touchdown reception that capped a 98-yard drive. On their very next possession,the Packers drove another 89 yards that Aaron Ripkowski ran in from three yards out. A couple of weeks ago against the Raiders DeAndre Hopkins lost out on a long touchdown on a bad call from the referee. This week he caught one that counted in the fourth quarter, for 44 yards. Maybe Tom Savage can save him.

If you thought Booker’s rushing efficiency was bad, let me tell you about Jeremy Hill and his 33 yards on 23 carries for 1.4 yards per attempt. The kicker? Rex Burkhead had five more yards on 15 fewer carries. It didn’t matter though because Andy Dalton played well enough to compensate, throwing for 332 yards and two touchdowns. Honestly, Dalton has played well despite all the chatter about how he was done after the A.J. Green hamstring injury.

Paul Turner led Philadelphia receivers in receiving yards on Sunday. What? You don’t know who Paul Turner is? Okay me either, but his first NFL reception went for 41 yards and he finished with 80 on the day. Remember when we thought Carson Wentz was the next great quarterback and a hit for the Eagles. That seems like a long time ago. For the past month or so he has struggled. Zach Ertz woke up with nine catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Not much else went right for the Eagles in a game they were down 29-0 before scoring any points.

flaccoThe Dolphins six-game win streak ran into the brick wall defense of the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. That was good for Jarvis Landry who had one of his best fantasy outputs of the season with 11 catches for 87 yards on 14 targets Jay Ajayi was held to his lowest rushing total since October. The entire offense was simply stymied by Baltimore. Joe Flacco, on the other hand, was phenomenal. He put up his best performance of the season with 381 yards and four touchdowns. His ol’ pal Dennis Pitta benefitted the most with nine catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns.

Hey uh, remember when Colin Kaepernick was playing well in the Chip Kelly system and felt like a comfortable streaming option? Many had them in their top ten for the week, but Chicago’s weather and defense had other ideas. Kaepernick completed just one of five passes for five yards and was sacked six times before being replaced by Blaine Gabbert in the fourth quarter. San Francisco completed the first half with -14 yards. I’m guessing (hoping) Kaepernick will be back as the starter in week 14 at home against the Jets, but we will have to wait until later in the week to find out about that. For Chicago, Matt Barkley didn’t come close to 300 yards passing again in his second start, but he didn’t make any serious mistakes and allowed rookie Jordan Howard to carry the load with 117 yards and three rushing touchdowns. Bears get the win and hand the Niners their eleventh straight loss.

My prediction that the Chargers would win out and make the playoffs came to an end on Sunday when the Buccaneers beat them 28-21 on a go-ahead 12-yard touchdown reception by Cameron Brate. Philip Rivers and the Chargers were driving but in the final minutes, he threw a pass to Dontrelle Inman that never got there. Keith Tandy jumped the route and ended the Chargers playoff hopes. I’ll tell you what, though, the Chargers could be a juggernaut in 2017. With a healthy Keenan Allen back across from breakout Tyrell Williams and Hunter Henry in the middle, the Chargers have an exciting young passing offense to go along with the emergence of Melvin Gordon. Joey Bosa is a legit difference maker on defense. If he hadn’t missed the first four games due to contract disputes it’s entirely likely that the Chargers would have a better record. Nonetheless, they have a lot of things to be excited about for 2017.

Things looked grim for the Raiders midway through the third quarter down 24-9 but as he has done all season long, Derek Carr rallied his team to score an unanswered 29 points and beat the Bills 38-24. LeSean McCoy had a huge day, leading the team in both rushing and receiving yardage. Sammy Watkins was back after an apparent setback midweek and led the team in targets with nine, but only caught three for 38 yards. Michael Crabtree continues to be Carr’s go-to guy, out targeting Amari Cooper 11-4. Cooper did convert two of those though for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Eli Manning threw two interceptions and a Giants team not as good as their record indicates fell to the Steelers 24-14 on Sunday. Odell Beckham did all he could with ten catches for 100 yards on 16 targets but he didn’t have a ton of help. It was another ho-hum 100-yard and a touchdown kind of day for Le’Veon Bell who also caught six balls for 61 yards. Antonio Brown got in the end zone too but it was a healthy Ladarius Green that had the 100-yard receiving day to go with a touchdown of his own. The Steelers appear to be healthy and rolling on both sides of the ball at just the right time to make a run deep in the playoffs. Despite tough matchups with the Bills and Ravens coming up, you should thank your lucky stars if you have a piece of this offense heading into the fantasy playoffs next week.

Just when you thought it was safe to put the Cardinals on a crash cart and call it a season, they come out with a performance at home reminiscent of the 2015 playoff team. Carson Palmer threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns on his way to a 31-23 Victory over Kirk Cousins and Washington. David Johnson shows no signs of slowing down despite the heavy workload. He led the team in rushing attempts (18), rushing yards (84), rushing touchdowns (1), receptions (9), receiving yards (91), and had a receiving touchdown. Johnson has been a key to fantasy success and no doubt will continue to lead his owners to championships. He became the only player other than Edgerrin James to have 12 consecutive games to start a season with 100 or more yards from scrimmage. Larry Fitzgerald reached a career milestone, passing both Cris Carter and Marvin Harrison to move into third all-time on the receptions leader list behind only Tony Gonzalez and Jerry Rice. Fitzgerald is still 400 receptions behind Jerry Rice, but became the youngest player in NFL history to reach 1,100 receptions.

In the final game of the night, the Seahawks rolled over the Panthers. Hilarity ensued on the opening play for Carolina. Cam Newton was benched for the first play for violating dress code leaving Derek Anderson to take the first snap of the game. The coaching staff drew up a pass play for him and he promptly threw an interception. Needless to say, Cam was back in on the next series. He didn’t fare much better, but did create fantasy production once again for Ted Ginn. The two hooked up again this week for a 55-yard touchdown.

Thomas Rawls was back in a big way for the Seahawks. He ran it in from eight yards out in the first quarter and broke off a 45-yard rushing touchdown on another drive in the second quarter. He took a scary hit that sent him into the concussion protocol but was cleared quickly and returned in the second half. Rawls finished with 106 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries. Another 2015 Seahawks star had their first big performance of 2016 Sunday night. Tyler Lockett took his only carry 75 yards for a touchdown and added five catches for another 63 yards. The Seahawks seem to be gelling on both sides of the ball just in time for the playoff push.

That will do it for the week 13 wrap up! Good luck to everyone in their first round playoff matchups next week!

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matt price