Raiders’ young studs headline Week 11 All-Bust Fantasy Team

With just two weeks remaining in regular seasons for most fantasy leagues, it’s truly put up or shut up time. Many an owner’s playoff dreams were likely crushed in Week 11, and the players in this week’s All-Bust lineup were responsible for more than a few of them.

Notes: Each week’s entries are determined by calculating the difference between the projected Yahoo point totals and the actual outputs of each player. PointAfter visualizations illustrate the players with the worst sums. All projected point totals were pulled Sunday morning from Yahoo’s standard scoring system.

[Week 11's perfect fantasy lineup: Top scorers at each position]

QB: Derek Carr, Raiders

Projected points (position rank): 22.4 (2nd)

Actual points (position rank): 7.6 (26th)

Carr had averaged 24.9 points in four games since Oakland’s bye week coming into Week 11. Detroit’s pass defense, meanwhile, had given up the third-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. Sunday seemed like the perfect opportunity for the second-year quarterback to cement his status as a QB1.

Instead, Carr barely completed half of his attempts (13-for-25) for 169 yards, and had his first scoreless outing since Week 1.

It was a wholly discouraging performance from Carr and a backbreaking loss for Oakland, whose playoff chances are now thin. Still, Carr has built up enough trust in 2015 to warrant a start next week when the Raiders face Tennessee.

RB1: DeMarco Murray, Eagles

Projected points: 16.4 (4th)

Actual points: 7.1 (29th)

Murray certainly wasn’t awful, but the three tailbacks who underperformed their projections worse (Devonta Freeman, Chacandrick West, Justin Forsett) all suffered injuries that precluded them from the All-Bust lineup.

In a game against Tampa Bay that suddenly turned into a 45-17 blowout, Murray’s chances were limited (13 carries, 64 yards). It must feel like a missed opportunity for Murray’s owners given the absence of Ryan Mathews (groin). The Eagles’ rushing offense has seen improvement such an early-season swoon, but it must bother Murray a little that the Cowboys have averaged more rushing yards than his new team without him.

RB2: Chris Ivory, Jets

Projected points: 12.8 (12th)

Actual points: 4.5 (39th)

Ivory’s role in New York’s offense was noticeably subdued, as his eight carries were six less than his previous season low.

He was productive when he got the ball (4.5 yards per carry), but coach Todd Bowles might have limited his touches to prevent his bellcow from tiring out during the second half of the season. Ivory’s taking on a much larger load than he ever has before in the NFL, and he’s averaged just 43.8 yards over the last five weeks.

WR1: Amari Cooper, Raiders

Projected points: 10.9 (10th)

Actual points: 0.4 (92nd)

Derek Carr will shoulder his share of the blame for the Raiders’ third straight loss since jumping into the AFC playoff picture. But Cooper turned in an even worse performance than his quarterback did against Detroit.

The rookie had easily the worst game of his young professional career, committing two drops and catching just one of his four targets in Oakland’s 18-13 loss to the Lions. Cooper now has 10 dropped passes on the season, second only to Mike Evans.

WR2: Tavon Austin, Rams

Projected points: 8.8 (22nd)

Actual points: 0.1 (94th)

Wes Welker’s presence has not been beneficial for Austin, who has just seven touches in the two games since Welker signed with St. Louis.

Austin was second in targets to Jared Cook against Baltimore, but he’s only caught 3-of-9 targets in the last two weeks, and lost a fumble on Sunday. He’s quickly gone from being a sneaky flex option to unplayable, especially with tough matchups against Cincinnati and Arizona looming.

TE: Antonio Gates, Chargers

Projected points: 8.8 (4th)

Actual points: 0.6 (46th)

It was an all-around horrible week for tight ends. Of the top 12 projected tight ends who played Sunday, only two (Greg Olsen and Tyler Eifert) topped five points. Eric Ebron even logged a goose egg, which was doubly frustrating for his fantasy owners since he dropped a pass in the end zone.

But no one underperformed his projection more than Gates, who only mustered one catch for six yards in San Diego’s embarrassing 33-3 home defeat to Kansas City. The veteran was expected to get a lot of love from Philip Rivers with Keenan Allen and Malcom Floyd injured, but Gates was targeted less than Stevie Johnson, Dontrelle Inman and Javontee Herndon, a rookie with one career reception coming into the game.

Gates is still averaging more receptions per game than he has since 2005, and is tied with Danny Woodhead for the team lead in red zone targets (eight). If the Chargers can snap out of their offensive funk next week against Jacksonville, Gates will likely be a part of the resurgence.

FLEX: Matt Jones, Redskins

Projected points: 7.1 (30th)

Actual points: -0.8 (75th)

Jones was the worst running back you could have possibly slotted into your lineup this week. He netted zero yards on five carries and lost a fumble during the second quarter. His only production was gaining 12 yards on two catches.

Jones’ issues, along with Carolina’s massive lead, opened the door for third-down back Chris Thompson to assume more backfield duties than usual. The only thing that likely kept Jones from being benched was Alfred Morris’ rib injury. Despite Jones’ awful showing in Washington’s 44-16 loss, he’d still be the obvious candidate to benefit from a prolonged absence from Morris.

D/ST: Philadelphia Eagles

Projected points: 9.0 (4th)

Actual points: -1.0 (28th)

The Eagles’ defense was flat-out dominated in every aspect by Tampa Bay, giving up 45 points to a team that had mustered just 10 against Dallas a week ago. It was a stunning development, especially for a unit that hadn’t previously allowed more than 27 points this season.

Jameis Winston threw for five touchdowns, adding more evidence to the growing belief that his turnover-prone start to the season (seven interceptions through Week 4, two in his last six games) was no omen of his true potential. Meanwhile, Doug Martin (27 carries, 235 yards) gashed Philadelphia’s highly regarded run defense, allowing Tampa Bay to dominate ball possession until the game was well in hand.

Kicker: Blair Walsh, Vikings

Projected points: 8.2 (T-12th)

Actual points: 1.0 (T-27th)

Walsh snapped his streak of 15 consecutive field goals last week, but he was still a top-five kicker who had averaged 13 points over his previous five games coming into Sunday.

That productive run ended with a thud, along with all of Minnesota’s NFC North momentum in the team’s humbling 30-13 home loss to Green Bay. Walsh missed an extra point with the Vikings down 19-13 late in the third quarter, a mistake that was magnified when the Packers scored and converted a two-point attempt on the ensuing possession to stake out a 14-point lead. That deficit proved insurmountable for Minnesota, as Walsh never got another chance to add to his measly one-point output.

Will Laws is a writer for PointAfter, a sports data aggregation and visualization website that's part of the Graphiq network.