A lot of ugly football played yesterday. Things got salvaged by some fantastic finishes to the early games, but along the way there were drops, turnovers, benchings and some just plain bad passing, running, playcalling and the like. And NFL and fantasy coaches alike probably have a lot of things they'd like a do-over on. Let's get to it.
Eagles at Ravens: So that Ravens defense has shown some cracks lately, against the Patriots and now the Eagles. They won, after the Eagles tried going for 2 after a touchdown scramble by Carson Wentz in the final seconds, but their defense got ripped up by Ryan Mathews, who few likely started. Good games for both Ravens running backs and Steve Smith Sr. caught a long touchdown. Conditions difficult for passing. Ravens have a division title bout with the Steelers next week. Eagles out.
Browns at Bills: Isaiah Crowell has had some nice games this year, but you can only go far with backs on teams you know are going to lose. Crowell got stuffed, I had several players on my bench (including a pair of backup running backs, Derrick Henry and Mike Gillislee) who would have been better. For the Bills, nice day for LeSean McCoy and the ground game, as expected, and Charles Clay, somewhat less expected. I've now seen three games of Robert Griffin III this year and I feel quite comfortable saying, it's over. He will not be an NFL starter next season. Some fantasy value (48 rushing yards and a touchdown) but he doesn't look comfortable playing quarterback.
Packers at Bears: So I benched Aaron Rodgers, and wouldn't have felt good about it had not Davante Adams dropped 2 perfectly thrown balls in the end zone in this game. Incredible. Both drives Green Bay had to settle for field goals. But when they ran the ball, Ty Montgomery just tore it up, putting up huge numbers, justifying a ranking that looked pretty wild when it first showed up. A nice daily play. Despite a couple of ugly, ugly Matt Barkley turnovers, the Bears hung around and drove down the field to potentially win the game in the final minute. But the playcalling or execution was bad, they had to settle for a field goal, and Rodgers hit the big play to Jordy Nelson to set up the winning points. Naturally. ... Nice return for Alshon Jeffery, playing for a contract from someone else.
Steelers at Bengals: Jeremy Hill a whole lot better than expected against Pittsburgh's defense. Actually looked like he got into the end zone on another series (the Bengals eventually scored on an Andy Dalton sneak). But the Bengals maybe got a little conservative with their lead, made a mistake or two, and frittered away a nice lead and a win. Disappointing day for the Steelers offense, I can't say I was surprised after Bell's huge game last week. Antonio Brown did have a touchdown called back and another near miss (I know, doesn't make you feel any better. Unless you were facing him!).
Jaguars at Texans: Tom Savage seemed to be a plus for DeAndre Hopkins. Came in after a couple of Brock Osweiler picks (one not totally his fault, should have been caught) and led Houston up and down the field and got the win. Jacksonville, of course, simply didn't do enough on offense and frittered away a sizable lead to lose. Kind of feel bad for Blake Bortles at this point, though I realize he's causing his own problems here. I think Lamar Miller got hurt late in this one, that will need to be looked into. Anyway, big win for Houston, and Savage probably starts the next two weeks. Gus Bradley fired, you probably heard.
Titans at Kansas City: Titans scored a touchdown to pull within 17-16 in the final 3 minutes and went for 2. I don't have a huge problem with the decision, but if you're going to do that, at least come up with a play that doesn't look like you have no idea what you're doing. With a mobile quarterback, mobilize that guy! But Titans force punt and kick a second-chance 53-yard field goal to win. Impressive, and just kind of amazing all the miracle finishes for the Titans this year. They're having one of those years. ... Long rushing touchdown for Tyreek Hill. Big plays week after week. Derrick Henry a better fantasy game than DeMarco Murray thanks to a couple of goal-line carries. Murray can't like that.
Colts at Vikings: Hard to figure the Colts, who just seem to be a step slow on the uptake. They came out with a run-heavy game plan that they should have used against the Texans a week ago and they'd already have control of the AFC South. Fantasy-wise, big stories are Robert Turbin vulturing a pair of touchdowns from Frank Gore, and Adrian Peterson going nowhere and basically being removed from the game plan (with the Colts taking a huge lead). That's it for the Vikings, who probably wish they hadn't given up their first-round pick in next year's draft. Productive game for Kyle Rudolph, not Stefon Diggs. Phillip Dorsett actually caught, not dropped, a long touchdown.
Lions at Giants: Expected a low-scoring defensive struggle, and so it was, though at least Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard, the guys you probably started, caught touchdowns, and Golden Tate had a nice game for the Lions. Beckham had another long touchdown called back by a holding penalty. But a good game for most key starters, and now it looks like Week 17 Sunday night will be Packers-Lions. Although there will probably be other good choices, but that looks potentially best. Paul Perkins more effective than Rashad Jennings, but still a committee.
Saints at Cardinals: So if you're like me, you had a lot of Saints benched, or at least expected them to do nothing against the Cardinals defense. And of course they went out and lit up the scoreboard in a wild shootout, which I guess means good weather is better for offenses than cold, bad weather. Except San Diego-Oakland was 19-16. Anyway, Drew Brees had a Brees game and all of his wide receivers had great fantasy days on benches of those who thought the Cardinals would play as well as they played for most of the season. It happens. Big numbers for the Cardinals too, less surprising.
49ers at Falcons: Atlanta really steamrolls bad teams. Sad that the team I had Devonta Freeman on was eliminated because he did absolutely nothing last week, so I missed out on his huge day. Aldrick Robinson went over 100 yards, doing more with the A.Robinson tag than the Jacksonville guy. Somebody had to catch balls with Julio out and Taylor Gabriel sidelined part of the game with a shoulder injury, though he returned. San Francisco got a little garbage production from fliers like Garrett Celek and to a lesser extent Kaepernick, though not enough from Carlos Hyde.
Patriots at Broncos: Kind of a poor game to watch. It was cold, Denver's offense was deadly ineffective in all respects, I was stuck with Brandon McManus in the FFPC bracket (no transactions at this point). New England's passing game didn't do much. Dion Lewis back in the mix getting far more touches than James White. so there you go. Probably be a nice option against the Jets next week. Edelman and Demaryius Thomas did fine for you...no other receivers.
Raiders at Chargers: Well, so the big Philip Rivers versus Aaron Rodgers decision worked out fine for me. Not as much as anyone would have liked, though, and the same was true for Oakland. If you got burned by Kenneth Farrow, well, there was some risk there, and that's why. He's not good. Just kind of an ugly game to watch. Lot of that going around! One catch for Amari Cooper. Friend of mine agonized over Diggs versus Cooper versus Crowder all week. 0-2 so far.
Bucs at Cowboys: Pretty good game, especially if you had Ezekiel Elliott or Jason Witten in an FFPC league -- 1.5 points for each of his 10 receptions, hey-o! It's funny, every once in a while Dallas decides they'll throw 10-12 passes at Witten. A few weeks back he was shut out entirely. Crazy. Bucs still have playoff aspirations, but it will be difficult.
Monday, Monday: Presumably plenty of playoff matchups are resting on players in this one, especially Washington players. Would be nice, I think, to have a wide-open, entertaining game after some of the lower-scoring games yesterday, although I suppose it depends what your matchups look like -- maybe a defensive struggle sounds great. Personally I'm rooting for Pierre Garcon. Washington 26, Carolina 17.