Week #12 of NFL action is behind us, and another week of daily fantasy football is behind us. If you did well in your league, awesome! Use that strategy appropriately in the coming weeks, and you should keep doing well. If you did not perform quite as well as you would have liked to, then take a look at our analysis of the weekend’s play and see how that applies in the coming weeks to try and give yourself every edge you can get.
Busts of the Week
Jarvis Landry, WR, Miami Dolphins
On a day where the Dolphins had a stronger than normal passing day, Landry should have been the prime candidate to benefit from this, but he ended up having a subpar day instead. He had 4 receptions on 7 targets, and a total of just 47 yards. He also picked up an additional 7 yards in punt returns, but this wasn’t nearly enough to help his fantasy standing at all. There were no touchdowns. Landry should have benefitted from QB Ryan Tannehill’s day, but he wasn’t able to capitalize on it.
Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks
Wilson had one of his worst games of the season on Sunday, losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He threw 17 receptions on 33 attempts, had just 151 yards in passing, 0 touchdowns, and was sacked 6 times. He also threw 2 interceptions and had a fumble. This is a game that the Seahawks were expected to win, and it was really Wilson’s to lose. However, the Tampa Bay defense outperformed what was expected on that side of things, being a nice fantasy surprise for those that took a risk on them.
Todd Gurley, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Gurley shouldn’t have been a surprise to underperform this week, but many experts still thought he would have a good showing here. Gurley had 50 yards rushing and zero touchdowns. He did have 4 receptions for 39 yard, which helped, but this was still below expectations. Also, it’s worth noting that this is not a number likely to be repeated as 31 of those yards came on a single catch. Gurley is a versatile athlete, and as he gains experience he will improve. But until the team starts working better as a unit, he will always underperform what he’s capable of.
Diamonds Popping Out
Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints
Brees had one of his highest scoring games of his career on Sunday, helping the Saints rout the Los Angeles Rams. He threw 4 touchdowns and had a rushing one. There were a total of 310 yards passing and 1 rushing. It was a strong showing from Brees. The only downside was that he had a fumble for a loss and was sacked twice. No interceptions were thrown. Brees threw 36 passes, 28 of which were complete.
Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins
Tannehill has struggled quite a bit this season, and although he has continued to rely more heavily on the rush, this was a stronger than usual game from him. He threw 30 passes, 20 of which were complete, for a total of 285 yards. He had 3 passing TDs, and 34 rushing yards. He was sacked twice, but in many leagues, this doesn’t impact his fantasy worth in any way. Tannehill has shown that he is a decent QB, but this kind of fantasy performance is not something that we should count on seeing again this season. The Dolphins have rebounded their season a bit, but it’s mostly because of a strong running game.
Mark Ingram, RB, New Orleans Saints
Ingram showed us his top form on Sunday, scoring one rushing TD and one passing TD. There were 146 rushing yards and 21 passing yards on one reception. Ingram has been hit or miss this season, but on average, he is a great RB. As a fantasy player, he is even better thanks to his versatility. This was on display for all to see on Sunday.
