Week 11 Booms and Busts: Jameis Winston makes the leap
Week 11 at Philadelphia, we saw Winston 3.0, a star in the making. I guess this is growing up.
Winston filled the box score early and often during Sunday’s 45-17 blitz at Philadelphia, throwing for 246 yards and five touchdowns in the signature game of his brief career. He completed 19-of-29 attempts, took just one sack, and finished the day with a 131.6 rating. Okay, the Eagles might have dropped a couple of possible interceptions here and there, but that’s nitpicking. Winston made good decisions for the majority of the day, threw with poise and anticipation, and kept the offense on schedule.
It's not that unusual to see a rookie quarterback throwing a bunch of touchdown passes, but five in one game is the magic number. Winston's just the third freshman QB to get to five, joining Matthew Stafford, Class of 2009, and Ray Buivid, Class of 1937.
(A handful of quarterbacks have pulled off the four-bagger in their first NFL season, including Russell Wilson, Marcus Mariota, Robert Griffin III, and Dieter Brock. Come on, you loved Dieter Brock.)
Winston spread the ball around at Philadelphia, perhaps the key to his success. He targeted seven different teammates for the afternoon, and no one saw more than seven passes in their direction (or caught more than one touchdown). It’s a far cry from the “Evans or Bust” problem Winston fell into earlier in the year, when Evans had games of 19 and 17 targets. No one denies Evans’s game-breaking ability, of course, but forcing throws when they’re not there — that’s not in anyone’s best interests.
To be fair, it’s easier to spread the ball around when Vincent Jackson (4-5-6-1, six targets) is back in the fold. Evans also had a solid game (4-63-1), a reasonable haul on seven looks. Winston’s other scoring tosses went to players with limited fantasy cred — Cameron Brate, Charles Sims and Russell Shepard. Take what the defense gives you, rookie.
The Bucs also took what they wanted on the ground, with Doug Martin ripping off 235 yards on 27 carries. Sims added 43 yards on 10 totes, solid work in a reserve role. Tampa finished the day with 8.5 yards per pass attempt and 6.7 yards per rush — just about everything worked against a beleaguered Philadelphia defense.
More fantasy fun should be on the way for the Bucs offense. A Week 15 draw with St. Louis could get a little messy, but otherwise, look at the green lights: Indianapolis, Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago. Those are all defenses we want to exploit. The nasty Carolina rematch is stashed in Week 17, a safe harbor. And if talented TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins ever makes it back, Winston will have another exciting target to work with.
-- The less we say about Philly’s offense, the better. Mark Sanchez threw three picks and took three sacks — bad decisions all over the place. DeMarco Murray lost a key fumble. Passes (and interceptions) were dropped. Fans justifiably booed. It’s been an awful home stretch for Philadelphia’s home franchises — the Eagles, 76ers and Flyers are all winless at home for November (and obviously the Sixers have yet to win anywhere). Where’s Ned Bastille when you need him?
-- If a five-touchdown game from a veteran is what you seek, let’s move down to Carolina, where Cam Newton personally demolished Washington his his own highlight film (21-for-34, 246 yards, five scores, no picks). Newton kept the rushing game under wraps, though Jonathan Stewart (21-102) filled that in nicely.
Like Winston, Newton threw his scores to five different receivers (a surprisingly-handy Devin Funchess; Greg Olsen; Ted Ginn; Stewart; Kool-Aid Mike Tolbert). Maybe those MVP chants aren’t misguided after all. The undefeated Panthers finish up this way: at Dallas; at New Orleans; Atlanta; at Giants; at Atlanta; Tampa Bay.
-- Green Bay desperately needed a win of any type at Minnesota and it came through, grinding out a 30-13 victory that felt much closer throughout. And man, what a physical, passionate game this was. I’m curious to see what the Pack will have left in the tank for Thanksgiving.
Welcome back to the season, Eddie Lacy (22-100), and welcome back to relevance, James Jones (6-109-1; maybe it was his power hoodie). Teddy Bridgewater threw for 296 yards and averaged eight yards per toss, but six Green Bay sacks kept the Vikings at bay. After sucking for eight games (129 yards), Kyle Rudolph exploded for 106 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown. If you saw that coming, please dispense with your expected lottery numbers.
-- How long does it take to clean up the Georgia Dome after a game? The Falcons leave so many points on the field. Atlanta somehow fell to Indianapolis despite a 99-yard edge in total offense, and a yards-per-play edge, 5.3 to 4.5. Three Matt Ryan interceptions helped doom the Falcons (one of them run back for a gift TD), and Matt Bryant missed another field goal. Losing Devonta Freeman to an early concussion also hurt; Tevin Coleman (17-48, one fumble lost) was mediocre in his stead.
-- It turns out the Seahawks were misleading us all along with Marshawn Lynch and his abdomen injury. Beast Mode turned into Least Mode at the 4 pm ET hour — a surprise scratch — with understudy Thomas Rawls called in to start. It turned out to be a stroke of good luck for the win-desperate Seahawks, as Rawls jitterbugged through and around the Niners, rolling up a silly 255 yards from scrimmage (30-209 rushing; 3-46 receiving) and two scores in the 29-13 victory. Seattle also enjoyed a couple of touchdown catches from Tyler Lockett, and withstood a couple of botched kicks from Steven Hauschka.
Although the Niners don’t deserve a sonnet for scoring all of 13 points, we should point out Blaine Gabbert was surprisingly competent (98.2 rating, 7.8 YPA, no picks, just two sacks) in the face of the Seattle defense. The Niners also funneled a ton of work to ordinary RB Shaun Draughn — although his 20 touches collected a modest 77 yards, his eight receptions bailed out anyone in a PPR league. Anquan Boldin posted a respectable 5-93-0 line on seven targets, playing every snap like it might be his last. If only everyone viewed it that way.
-- History will record the Baltimore-St. Louis game as a 16-13 victory for the Ravens, but this felt like a game where everyone lost. The Ravens pulled out the last-second win despite two catastrophic injuries — Justin Forsett (broken arm) departed in the first quarter, while Joe Flacco (torn ACL) was hurt in the final period. Javorius Allen (115 total yards on 27 touches) becomes the new feature back, while Matt Schaub is the next quarterback up. Baltimore is that one team that couldn’t catch a break in 2015.
The Case Keenum start didn’t go well (12-for-26, 136 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT), but all anyone will remember is the obvious concussion he suffered in the fourth period — and the shocking way the Rams allowed Keenum to stay in the game. What happened to common sense? What happened to human decency? No matter how St. Louis spins this into Week 12, it looks like Nick Foles will be back on the field soon.
-- Detroit Lions defense, I don’t know what you are anymore. I expected the Packers to rout you last week, and I expected Derek Carr to expose you Sunday. Wrong again, Pianow.
The Lions won ugly for the second straight week, this time by an 18-13 count, and Carr had one of his worst games of the year (13-for-25, 169 yards, 0 TD, 73.6 rating). The Oakland receivers fizzled with Carr, and Latavius Murray was a bust, too, though he did punch in a short touchdown.
Don’t look now, but Matthew Stafford is starting to play competent football again. Perhaps his bottoming out Week 5 against Arizona was more a positive statement from the Cardinals than anything else. Although Stafford didn’t have a touchdown pass in Sunday’s victory, he chucked for 282 yards and added another 31 yards (and a score) on the ground. We’ll look forward to watching him and his resurgent mates on Thanksgiving, when they host Philadelphia.
-- Although the Broncos held on for a 17-15 victory at Chicago, snuffing out a converstion attempt in the final minute, the result felt far more decisive than that. Brock Osweiler was just about perfect in his starting debut (20-for-27, 250 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT), other than occasional lapses with pocket awareness (five sacks). Ronnie Hillman (21-102) and C.J. Anderson (12-59) also kept the chains moving, and Demaryius Thomas had a glorious 48-yard touchdown jaunt. No one is in a hurry to watch injured Peyton Manning play again.
Jay Cutler did all he could despite the missing weapons (no Alshon Jeffery or Matt Forte), throwing for 265 yards on 32 attempts (8.3 YPA). The Jeremy Langford story took a step back: he was bottled up for 25 yards on 13 carries and made just 17 yards on six targets (three catches). His last-minute touchdown brought the Bears on the cusp of overtime, but he was tackled well short of the goal line on the ensuing conversion attempt. Chicago has a quick turnaround for Week 12, facing Green Bay on Thanksgiving night.
Speed Round: The entire Kansas City-San Diego box score feels like a put-on, other than the Chiefs scoring on defense. The Chargers coaching staff should receive an electric shock anytime they call a run for Melvin Gordon. Charcandrick West (hamstring) is day-to-day . . . DeAndre Hopkins needed 12 targets to do it, but a 5-118-2 line against the Jets is something to crow about. One of his scores came against Darrelle Revis. Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick had one of his worst showings of the year (5.5 YPA, 1 TD, 2 INT, 52.9 rating). If you want to be bored to death, watch Alfred Blue’s rushing tape on a loop (21 carries, 58 yards). He did have three useful catches, however . . . Tony Romo threw a couple of picks but otherwise looked spiffy in a 24-14 victory over fading-fast Miami. Darren McFadden (149 total yards) didn’t look like someone who was nicked during the practice week. The Wheel of Miami Receiving Touchdowns fell on Kenny Stills and Jordan Cameron. Looks like the pool carries over for another week.
