So, pretty good chance you either won or lost yesterday based on some big name player underachieving. Maybe it was Aaron Rodgers or Jordy Nelson, both oh so close to bigger days. Maybe it was Russell Wilson, Jamaal Charles, or an inactive like Julio Jones letting you down.
At the risk of getting all philosophical, that stuff happens all year long, and it will happen to you in games that you win. All you can do is hope if one star flops, you've got your lineup filled with enough other good players that they'll pick you up. Sometimes you come up with the best lineup you can and still lose. OK, still with me? Let's go.
Steelers at Falcons: About as expected, more offense than defense here. Roethlisberger didn't thrown any touchdowns, LeVeon Bell scored 2, that wasn't entirely expected -- although it is the way the Falcons defense has been all year. Great yardage and PPR game from Harry Douglas, but the touchdowns go to Roddy White and Devin Hester. But if you started any of them you can't complain too much. Gutsy 3rd and 1 call by Steelers to end game, a downfield pass to Heath Miller. NFC South winner will have losing record. And host a playoff game.
Jaguars at Ravens: Pretty disappointing game if you started anyone on offense for either team, except of all people Owen Daniels. Justin Forsett didn't do enough, Marlon Brown (after being behind Kamar Aiken last week) was ahead this week and led the team in receiving. Bernard Pierce had a late 28-yard run to earn a nice yards per carry, but he was ineffective on most of carries, including at the goal line on his chance there. Not a good player. Blake Bortles sacked 8 times and ended the game with an interception, but he didn't have much chance back there. Some good receiving numbers from Shorts III and Hurns. I continue to believe there's some good young talent in this Jacksonville offense, though they might still have questions at running back.
Packers at Bills: Where to start with this one. Well, Eddie Lacy looked perfectly fine and the Packers featured him, giving James Starks very little work. Saw him drop an easy pass, but whatever, any talk about the two being used in a committee was just talk. Lacy looked great and did his part to win the game. The other big thing here is that if you used Aaron Rodgers or Jordy Nelson, they crushed you, but catch the clip of Nelson dropping a perfect throw that would have gone for a 94-yard touchdown -- ugh. He'd beaten the coverage and was running free and the ball hit him in both hands, and he just let it clang off them. Unbelievable that that happened. Cobb had a decent day, especially in PPR, but not what you hoped for out of the Packers. Yeah, great defense, but the plays were there for Green Bay. One of Buffalo's interceptions bounced off Jarrett Boykin's hands. ... Bills using multiple backs, but Fred Jackson the main guy and gave you a decent all-around day. Kyle Orton not very good and not helping Sammy Watkins out there.
Bucs at Panthers: Panthers win and maybe favorites in the NFC South? Crazy. Decent game from Kelvin Benjamin considering how inaccurate Derek Anderson was. Benjamin got thrown to a bunch of times in the end zone, but throws usually off the mark. Good game from Greg Olsen, that's Anderson's comfort zone. Really impressive touchdown grab from Mike Evans. The other touchdowns in this game were from hard-to-start guys like Josh McCown and Jerricho Cotchery. All in all I think you take what you got out of these teams' offenses and be glad it wasn't worse.
Bengals at Browns: Jeremy Hill huge. No one else had to do anything for Cincinnati, which was good because Andy Dalton seemingly cannot play against this defense. ... And this is why you do not start a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start in the playoffs. The Bengals put the kibbosh on Manziel's scrambling and that was about it for Cleveland's offense. Manziel wasn't hopeless, but his two interceptions were awful, rookie blunders, including a prayer into the end zone, and Cincinnati played keepaway for most of the game. He gets a softer Carolina defense next week, assuming Mike Pettine doesn't go back to Hoyer. And with Cleveland cooked in the playoff chase, there's little point.
Texans at Colts: Not exactly what you were hoping for out of the Colts offense. That's a pretty capable Texans defense that got a lot of pressure on Andrew Luck, getting a pick 6 and forcing a Wayne fumble. One pretty cool offensive play for the Colts, a ball thrown to Hilton in the end zone by a scrambling Luck, the ball was deflected, and Donte Moncrief dove and grabbed it for a touchdown. But it was erased by a penalty, alas. Still, Colts win AFC South, they'll host (probably) an AFC North team in the playoffs. ... Ryan Fitzpatrick hurt, and the Texans offense went with it. Nice yardage game for Arian Foster, but he had a pretty sweet touchdown run called back.
Raiders at Kansas City: If you used Jamaal Charles or Latavius Murray in this game, you got burned. Charles, maybe not fully healthy, looked fine, but when he got spelled by Knile Davis, the backup make the plays for touchdowns. Murray ran fine, but didn't get enough chances in a game that was a blowout in the third quarter. I don't think you can kick yourself for starting either player; the matchups were fine. They just didn't deliver. ... It almost looks like Kansas City wants to keep that streak of not throwing a touchdown to a wide receiver going. Travis Kelce had a nice game, anyway.
Dolphins at Patriots: From what I saw, Ryan Tannehill played a pretty solid game. Finished with good yardage and 1 TD. Should have had another touchdown on a perfect touch pass to Damien Williams, but it clanked off his hands. If I'm a Dolphins fan, I think I'd be hoping that this collapse gets the head coach fired. I would sooner throw my lot in with the quarterback than the coach, anyway. New England rolls onward, not a great game from anyone but at least Blount (sharing carries with Shane Vereen and Jonas Gray, thanks Belichick) got in the end zone. Touchdown for Gronkowski, good PPR numbers from Edelman.
Washington at Giants: That Odell Beckham Jr. is something, huh? Three touchdowns and I believe he had another one called back. Carrying some teams to fantasy titles right now. A good week to pick up Eli Manning and start him, which I considered but didn't do. ... Nothing out of either running game, sorry if you started Alfred Morris. Rashad Jennings hurt early, the risks you take when you start players coming back from injury. ... Scrambling, diving TD by Robert Griffin III as the half ends. A cool play and nice to see for those who are rooting for the guy to make it back to fantasy relevance. Not so much fun for the killjoy refs, though, who ruled he lost possession of the football on the dive, a probably correct call as it turned out. I mean, I suppose. Santana Moss was ejected for arguing it, can't blame him. That play kind of cast a pall over the rest of the game for Washington.
Broncos at Chargers: So Peyton Manning apparently had the flu, and left briefly with a thigh injury he attributed perhaps to dehydration. But throwing the ball he looked OK to me; not like he's hiding some kind of injury, as has been speculated. Whatever; not a big game for Manning, not a slugfest, and if you had pretty much anyone going in this game except for Antonio Gates or Demaryius Thomas, you didn't make out too well. Keenan Allen left with an injury, C.J. Anderson and Julius Thomas had near touchdowns that ended up as very short field goals. Julius apparently wasn't fully healthy because he didn't play a lot, so hope you didn't start him and lose because of it.
Jets at Titans: Well, the payback running back getting extra work against his former team was not Chris Johnson, but Shonn Greene. You'd like to think Rex Ryan thought about such things, seeing as Ken Whisenhunt did, but nope, with the Jets set up close late in the game (thanks to Johnson, by the way), Chris Ivory got the carries and the short touchdown. ... Jets came very close to losing this game in the final seconds on a Music City Miracle II. That would have been the perfect capper to New York's season, though of course their fans want them to lose now to get a shot at the top pick. Who just might be a quarterback.
Vikings at Lions: Vikings went up 14-0 early, then frittered it away in part due to a costly and awful interception. Really a pretty good game by Minnesota, especially on defense, but not good enough. Decent game from Charles Johnson for Minnesota, and that's really about it. Everyone was thinking, why are we playing at 4 p.m.?
49ers at Seahawks: Running backs ruled, with Frank Gore having a good start until leaving with a concussion, and Marshawn Lynch finishing, yet another strong game for him against San Francisco. And speaking of finished, that's the 49ers. They're a dull team that has kind of been going through the motions on offense for most of the season, and it's just as well that Jim Harbaugh is on the way out. Seattle, they're on the way up, it will be a surprise if they can't knock off Arizona and win the division. Good game from Jermaine Kearse, another Seattle receiver you can't realistically start.
Cowboys at Eagles: On a personal note, it was a great week to be down 20 points but starting Dez Bryant. Games like that in weeks like this are why you draft a wide receiver in the late first or early second round. Another big week from DeMarco Murray, too. On the flipside, you had the Eagles scoring 3 rushing touchdowns, none of which were by LeSean McCoy. No way to see him getting vultured twice by Chris Polk coming. Just bad luck, and if you lost with him you curse the fantasy gods and maybe Chip Kelly and move on. ... Nice game from Jason Witten, left on fantasy benches everywhere. Really strong game by Tony Romo, who still has two weeks left to blow the season, but he helped you out last night.
Monday, Monday: Once more I and probably many others are counting on Mark Ingram coming through in a big spot. We'll see, but I admit I'm nervous. Best I can say is that it is difficult to see Chicago really getting up for this game after the way they've squandered their season. Nice defensive matchups for pretty much everyone, so Matt Forte, Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham, Ingram, Martellus Bennett and Alshon Jeffery will have people hanging on every play. Gotta think the Saints will take care of business and win this thing something like 30-20, but they've been a hard team to figure this year. Good luck to all of you.