Week 13 is sometimes a playoff game, sometimes the last regular-season game before a playoff game, sometimes a game you have to win to make the playoffs or win a division. So it's pretty frustrating if say you started Jimmy Graham and got zip out of him, or faced Keenan Allen or DeAndre Hopkins on their huge, outlier games that they haven't had all season. But for everyone burned by those games, somebody else profits. So there's that. Try to think about that when you're cursing your luck. Yeah, I know, I can't really do it either. I don't care about those other teams!
Chargers at Ravens: Pretty entertaining game, and an impressive comeback win by the Chargers. Their defense really couldn't stop the Ravens, but they held them to field goals at times and moved the ball all day long. Philip Rivers was hitting Antonio Gates early and Keenan Allen late, making a lot of big plays despite heavy pressure. Still doesn't look good for the Chargers getting to the playoffs given their schedule, but there's some heart there. ... Interesting how the Ravens gave Justin Forsett a couple of goalline carries, maybe having finally seen enough of Bernard Pierce. Forsett got stuffed twice, and then they had Flacco sneak it in with Pierce in the backfield.
Browns at Bills: Brian Hoyer struggles and is benched for Johnny Manziel. Manziel makes some big throws and runs in a touchdown. He's probably the starter the rest of the way, which for the Browns will probably end with more losses than wins no matter who starts. Isaiah Crowell struggled, giving Terrance West some chances. West fumbled twice, although he was ruled down on one of them. Not surprising neither did much against Buffalo's tough run defense Crowell should still be the starter. ... Quiet day for Sammy Watkins, though he did get an end zone chance (safety jumped the route and picked it off). Another solid day for Robert Woods. When Buffalo gets that quarterback thing figured out they'll have a pretty good team, but that's been said since Jim Kelly retired. ... Good game for Josh Gordon, particularly in PPR, not great.
Titans at Texans: Bills are 7-5 and now the Texans are 6-6, but neither team is likely to make the playoffs. Hope is alive; there are going to be a lot of teams fighting for those wild-card spots. Basically everyone but the Jets, Jaguars, Raiders, and these Titans, who lost Zach Mettenberger to injury. Bad run defense, bad run offense, and I guess you can question their pass defense what with them letting Ryan Fitzpatrick throw 6 touchdowns! Who started him in Super League? Crazy. ... Did mention that DeAndre Hopkins was at his best with Fitzpatrick in the lineup. He was awesome today. Typical strong all-purpose day from Arian Foster, too, who nearly caught a 2nd touchdown. Bishop Sankey, well, doesn't look like the next star running back. Still.
Washington at Colts: Fast start for Washington, but those don't matter much against an offense that can throw the ball like the Colts against a defense that can't stop the pass. Huge game for Donte Moncrief, good game for T.Y. Hilton, and you get the sense that that's going to be a great duo for the next several years for the Colts. Long Dan Herron touchdown run. Yes, he is much better than Trent Richardson, who carried 8 times for 12 yards. ... Typical numbers from Alfred Morris in a loss; 70ish yards with no touchdowns. He did have a nice early touchdown run erased by a holding penalty. Colt McCoy moved the offense really well, throwing for nearly 400 yards and 3 TDs in a losing effort. Got blindsided for a sack/fumble/defensive touchdown, too, but that happens when you have to pass every play.
Giants at Jaguars: This may have knocked a friend out of a suicide pool, I'm not really sure. I wasn't really surprised by this one, either. Giants just don't seem to care as much when it's all over. Still a nice game for Odell Beckham Jr., and a strong outing by Rashad Jennings against his former team. Left with an ankle injury, so maybe Andre Williams (who looked OK, though he clearly cannot catch a cold) will get another chance to start this year. Both Jennings and Williams got chances at goal line. Even threw Williams a pass down there...off his hands, of course. ... Not a great game for Denard Robinson, though he did have a nice run down near the goal line, setting up a touchdown to Cecil Shorts III...erased by a holding penalty. Later a nice touchdown grab by Marqise Lee. Jacksonville's top receiver seems to change week to week. Another end-zone target for Marcedes Lewis, but YOU DON'T GET POINTS FOR THOSE.
Panthers at Vikings: Two blocked punts for touchdowns? What? How do you let that happen twice in the same game? I'll just go ahead and say I watched very little of this game. Good thing there are very few good fantasy options, just Kelvin Benjamin and Greg Olsen, who had modest numbers. It's over for Carolina, and you have to figure some coaches will be gone. Uh, probably that special teams guy, for one.
Saints at Steelers: Figured the Saints would lose this one after the game they played Monday against Baltimore, but the Steelers are just soft enough on defense to lose to just about anyone. Apparently they committed their entire defense to making sure Jimmy Graham didn't beat them. He didn't catch a pass, killing some fantasy teams along the way of course, but job well done by Pittsburgh. It was just all of Drew Brees' other receivers who caught touchdowns. Pittsburgh managed a lot of late, meaningless production, including both of Antonio Brown's touchdowns, so at least you got that if you started him. Good numbers from LeVeon Bell and Mark Ingram, albeit no TDs for Ingram since the pass came so easily. Roethlisberger targeted Lance Moore (twice) and Darrius Heyward-Bey (once, intercepted) in the end zone, maybe a sign that it wasn't Todd Haley's best gameplan.
Raiders at Rams: Breakout game for Tre Mason. Big game for Stedman Bailey. Horrible game by the Raiders, who got their one win and will apparently now mail it in the rest of the way. ... I drafted Stedman Bailey in dynasty, hung onto him for a year, dropped him, picked him up again, dropped him during his suspension, picked him up again, yada yada. Dropped him two weeks ago, right before he broke out. Same deal with Denard Robinson and multiple other youngsters. I may not be quite patient enough at times. Anyway, I think we can all agree that Mason is the story here, he's not going to disappear like Zac Stacy has, and he's a nice dynasty hold. And if you're starting any Raiders at this point, you're going to be disappointed.
Bengals at Buccaneers: OK, so the Bucs completed a pass to get into game-winning field goal range in the final minute. Marvin Lewis threw a challenge flag, saying there were 12 men on the field, and the officials took away a timeout, since you can't challenge in the last two minutes, but looked at the play and called the penalty. Bengals win. Apparently this is a rule change, that the 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty has been done away with. So tell me how it's fair that a team benefits from challenging an unchallengeable play? Ridiculous. League might have to go back to the drawing board on that one. And it's huge, too, what with the Bengals in a dogfight for the AFC North. ... Cincinnati's offense didn't do much in this game. A touchdown to A.J. Green, another near-miss to both him (picked off) and Mohamed Sanu. Bucs defense playing better, but that's probably the tough, season-killing loss that really finishes them. I think they'll get rolled in Detroit next week. Hey, you can think about picking up Doug Martin if he's available, a nice TD run. Looks like the wheel of chance has spun back around to him. And...he probably won't score again all season.
Cardinals at Falcons: Underestimated the Falcons/overestimated the Cardinals here. Atlanta plays better at home and was shockingly effective against Arizona's defense. Huge day for Julio Jones, you wonder where that's been for half the season. Andre Ellington left due to injury. Just a bad loss for Arizona, which suddenly doesn't look so secure atop the NFC West. They could actually end up playing at Atlanta as a wildcard the way the NFC is shaping up.
Patriots at Packers: I probably came out of this game with more respect for these quarterbacks than I had going in. Both played great, as the situation called for, but somebody had to win. Rodgers to Davante Adams was a great combination, though Adams dropped what would have been a game-clinching touchdown late on a perfect throw. Brady nearly had a game-winning touchdown (maybe) to Gronkowski, but he couldn't hang on while tumbling to the ground with a defender. A back and forth game, strong performance by Eddie Lacy. Just a fun game to watch, presumably most football fans did.
Broncos at Kansas City: Eventually, you need to be able to make some plays on offense. Throwing to wide receivers and such. And that's why Kansas City can't win consistently in matchups like this one and why they either won't make the playoffs or won't do anything if they get there. Good defense, great running back, but just not enough passing offense to get it done. ... Again I ask, why did the Broncos mess around so long with Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman? C.J. Anderson is great. OK maybe not great. But he's pretty good, and in this offense he's great. I think he's better than Knowshon Moreno, at least. Denver looked pretty good in all phases in this game.
Monday, Monday: Jets-Dolphins, whoohoo. You almost certainly don't have any Jets going in this game, and the only Dolphins I've seen starting around my leagues this week are Ryan Tannehill, the defense, and maybe Caleb Sturgis. If Sturgis scores 5 points tonight, which is reasonable (though it will probably be more), I'll have my third tie in one league, which seems unthinkable. PPR league, too. I'm rooting for it just because of how impossible it sounds. Maybe the Jets come out playing well on defense and lose this thing 20-13, but it's not going to be a fun game to watch regardless. No more nationally televised Jets games after this, so we've got that going for us. Which is nice.