Mostly NFL Notes: Talking Blake Bortles and a look back at Week 16
Over his last eight games, Brandin Cooks has produced a season’s pace of 1,344 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. He’ll easily be a top-10 fantasy WR entering 2016. Speed kills...Blake Bortles continued his trend of racking up fantasy points after getting off to a slow start, but it all counts the same to his owners. The Jags were held scoreless against a historically bad defense until less than two minutes were left in the first half, but Bortles finished with 368 passing yards and four touchdowns (and a two point conversion). An afterthought at drafts, he's now on pace to finish with 4,468 passing yards and 37 touchdowns (adding 331 rushing yards and two scores on the ground)...The previous NFL record for touchdown passes allowed in a season was 40. The Saints have now yielded 43 with a game left to play...Allen Robinson went off for another 151 yards and is now up to 14 touchdowns on the year, including this 90-yarder Sunday. He didn’t make the Pro Bowl.
Denard Robinson fumbled, had a drop and ran for just 20 yards in the most favorable matchup for running backs there is, although he did add 51 receiving yards. Still, I had him as an easy top-10 RB this week...Julius Thomas was even more disappointing, as he saw just two targets for 12 yards against a New Orleans defense that had allowed by far the most fantasy points to opposing tight ends...Tim Hightower racked up 169 yards from scrimmage with two touchdowns and was the source of many fantasy championships in Week 16. After not having played since 2011, he’s seen at least 29 touches in two of his past three games...Props to Drew Brees for playing through such a serious foot injury in a lost season, and he continues to be a dominant force at home.
Ryan Tannehill got 8.7 YPA, but that resulted in zero touchdowns, and he lost 50 yards on six sacks. He’s been a major disappointment this season and doesn’t look like the team’s long term answer at quarterback...I’d be surprised if Miami doesn’t turn to Jay Ajayi as its main back next year, letting Lamar Miller walk...Frank Gore looked like one of the better players on the field Sunday, highlighted by this impressive TD run... I’ll be ranking DaVante Parker ahead of Jarvis Landry next year, although the latter did haul in this sick catch Sunday.
Kirk Cousins committed the worst gaffe I’ve ever seen, but over the last seven games, he has a 73.2 completion percentage with a 9.3(!) YPA and a 16:2 TD:INT ratio (with three rushing scores). He should enter 2016 as easily a top-10 fantasy QB.
Johnny Manziel ran for nearly as many yards (108) as he threw (136), which I’m guessing hasn’t happened many other times...Since starting 1-5, the Chiefs have won nine straight and have clinched a playoff spot before the Broncos...Cleveland forced its first turnover since Week 12, and just after Kevin Harlan stated Travis Coons has had all three of his “long” field goal attempts blocked this season, KC proceeded to block its first one since 2012.
Facing a Baltimore secondary that entered with a 28:4 TD:INT ratio, Ben Roethlisberger somehow finished with zero touchdowns and two interceptions, and he’s lucky another 100-yard pick-six was called back thanks to someone lining up in the neutral zone. It was a truly baffling performance with the playoffs on the line after Pittsburgh shredded the league’s best defense last week...Baltimore came in having allowed the most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers, ceding an NFL-high 25 touchdowns, so I didn’t expect Martavis Bryant to grab one catch for six yards.
This knockout was pretty legit.
The Texans started 1-4, lost Arian Foster early on and are using their fourth quarterback of the season yet are now the favorites to be the No. 4 seed in the AFC...Harry Douglas, Delanie Walker and Anthony Fasano combined for 34 targets. Dorial Green-Beckham saw three...Antonio Andrews caught zero of two targets and gained one yard on two carries while losing a fumble that was returned for a touchdown in an epic performance.
Coming off two games in which he had just one catch, Calvin Johnson saw 10 targets, an amount he’s exceeded just once since Week 4. Still, Megatron will clearly be downgraded further on draft sheets next year...No player rushed for 75 yards or recorded 80 receiving yards in this game that totaled 49 points...Sunday marked the first time the 49ers scored a touchdown in the first quarter this season.
Mike Evans had another brutal drop on a would-be long touchdown, as it remains unclear if he’s good at football...Matt Forte and Jeremy Langford combined for 33 touches, so naturally they scored zero touchdowns while Ka’Deem Carey scored two...I love Alshon Jeffery’s talent and situation, but considering his injury history, he won’t be a top-10 WR on my board entering 2016...Here’s Austin Seferian-Jenkins saving his fantasy day thanks to a hail mary...Doug Martin got 2.9 YPC and lost two more fumbles yet currently ranks second in the NFL in rushing yards. I’d have no confidence drafting him next year.
Kellen Moore produced a 41.9 completion percentage, although he didn’t take a sack. It’s pretty funny Brandon Weeden, who was the first to replace Tony Romo this year in Dallas, might start a playoff game this season (although Brian Hoyer will hopefully be back soon enough)...Despite terrible QB play, over the past three games Darren McFadden has gotten 7.1 YPC...Tyrod Taylor had just four fewer rushing attempts (14) than passes...It has to be infuriating for Karlos Williams owners to get a home game against the Cowboys without LeSean McCoy in Week 16, only to see Mike Gillislee get the start and steal 11 touches.
Headlines of the Week: Knife-Wielding Santa Claus Robs KFC...Nicolas Cage Returns Stolen Dinosaur Skull He Bought...Japanese Man Dies Of Caffeine Intoxication...Virginia DMV Now Allowing Customers To Smile In License Photos...Fish In Bristol Lake To Be Killed To Deter Angling...Joyriding Monkey Steals Bus While Driver Sleeps.
Cameron Artis-Payne impressed last week and coaches suggested he’d see even more work moving forward. Up against a Falcons defense that’s allowed the fourth-most fantasy points against running backs, he sure seemed like a decent RB2, only to see Fozzy Whitaker start and get all the work early, as CAP finished with just five carries...Devonta Freeman hasn’t reached 75 rushing yards in any of his past six games, and he hasn’t reached 90 since Oct. 25. Of course, his work at the goal line and as a receiver have kept him plenty valuable. Freeman is going to be one of the trickier players to rank in next year’s drafts...This Cam Newton run was ridiculous...Carolina had won 18 straight regular season games before losing Sunday. The 14-1 Panthers have been outscored by 32 points over the past 5.5 quarters...It was the Julio Jones show, as he tore apart a strong Carolina secondary, securing 9-of-11 targets (with one drop) for 178 yards and this touchdown catch that was the play of the day.
At age 31 and joining a new team, Brandon Marshall now has a career-high 13 touchdowns with Ryan Fitzpatrick as his quarterback and a teammate with 11 receiving scores of his own. Who didn’t see that coming? Marshall and Eric Decker have scored in the same game an incredible eight times this season...There was talk about the Patriots actually wanting to lose Sunday for playoff reasons, and then after the Steelers lost, New England elected to kick after winning the coin toss in overtime and seemingly laid down and allowed a touchdown. I don’t really believe this, but as someone who has a sizeable bet on Pittsburgh to win the Super Bowl, I’m not totally ruling it out.
Song of the Week: Grimes - Kill V. Maim
Case Keenum threw for 103 yards, yet the Rams won by six points in Seattle...Kenny Britt burning Richard Sherman for a 28-yard touchdown wasn’t exactly expected...Doug Baldwin is now up to 11 touchdowns over the last five games, and his 10 targets Sunday were somehow his most over that span. He’s one of two wide receivers with 14 TDs on the year who didn’t make the Pro Bowl...Seattle had gone 25 straight games with 100 rushing yards or more, but that came to an end thanks to Christine Michael and Bryce Brown totaling 15 yards on 13 carries. This had far more to do with the Seahawks’ blocking and St. Louis’ defense than either’s skills, although a healthy Thomas Rawls is clearly the best player at the position on this team...Seattle had another streak end, as they entered having led an NFL-high 62 consecutive games but never did so Sunday...Todd Gurley getting 85 rushing yards (4.5 YPC) and a score against the toughest run defense was pretty impressive. He’ll be a top-five pick next year.
Police Blotter: Taekwondo Teacher Arrested For Knocking Out A 5-Year-Old...Woman Arrested After Fighting With Husband Who Wouldn’t Stop Farting...Impaired Zamboni Driver To Be Charged...Woman Bit Off Husband’s Ear Over A Beer...13-Year-Old Leads Cops On High-Speed Chase.
Aaron Rodgers took eight sacks, got 5.4 YPA and committed three turnovers in a 30-point loss to the Cardinals. He lost more yards on sacks (70) than any Packers receiver gained...David Johnson is really good, and the lopsided score helped by two defensive touchdowns (including this one in which Eddie Lacy got embarrassed) really hurt his and Carson Palmer’s fantasy owners...Davante Adams is really bad, and after not recording a single catch that went for double-digit yards over the past four games despite being the No. 2 receiver for a Rodgers led offense, he celebrated a nice gain by spiking the ball, resulting in an obvious 15-yard penalty...Michael Floyd should be ranked as a top-15 fantasy WR next year at minimum.
“Making A Murderer” is amazing and a must-watch. It’s probably my favorite TV show of 2015 in a year that had great competition. Go watch it ASAP.
It’s almost as if losing Odell Beckham Jr. hurt the Giants’ offense. Seriously, he’s probably the most important player to his team who’s not a quarterback (or named J.J. Watt)...Blair Walsh is now 32-of-37 on FG attempts and 31-of-35 on extra points this season...The Vikings scored 49 points despite not having a single player reach 60 receiving yards. In fact, Minnesota has averaged 43.5 points over its past two games, with Teddy Bridgewater averaging 22.5 pass attempts...The lopsided score Sunday night really hurt Adrian Peterson’s fantasy owners, who watched aghast as Jerick McKinnon ran wild in the fourth quarter while rushing for two scores, including this one for 68 yards. Fantasy football isn’t fair.
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