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Fantasy Watch
Quick Hits: Week 15
The Cardinals continue to find a way to win, and it all starts with a good run game and a great defense. The Cardinals have both and the run game is coming from two relatively unknowns in the NFL. Both rookie RB Kerwynn Williams and second year RB Stepfan Taylor have given the Cardinals a spark as of lately. The duo combined to run the ball 29 times for 136 yards which really helped them juice the clock.
They needed a big game out of those young guys because now the Cardinals have absolutely no one at QB now that Drew Stanton is out with a knee sprain. The Cardinals have a choice to make between Ryan Lindley who has been around the Cardinals off and on since he joined the NFL or the rookie with huge potential in Logan Thomas. My money is on the rookie Thomas; Lindley looked awful in mop up duty and Thomas is so athletic he can bring another element to the Cardinals offense.
The Rams are an elite QB away from being a playoff caliber team.
Every single Cowboys game I watch comes down to three players performing well in order for them to win. Luckily for the Cowboys those players have done just that for the majority of the season. When Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, & DeMarco Murray are firing on all cylinders there isn’t an NFL defense that can stop them. Romo threw for 265 yards and three TDs, Bryant caught those three TD passes, and Murray ran the ball for 81 yards and two TDs.
That was the biggest game Mark Sanchez has played in, in years, and he laid an egg. Sanchez proved that he is not the type of QB you can trust to make big plays in big games, he is a really good backup QB. Sanchez tossed two INTs in a close loss to the Cowboys proving that the Eagles really do need Nick Foles back.
Teddy Bridgewater is going to be a star in the NFL. He really has overachieved given the offensive talent he has with the Vikings. He has really no dominant WRs, his RBs are backups or special teams players on the majority of any other team in the NFL, and his TE can never stay healthy. Given all that Bridgewater still was able to throw for 315 yards and keep his team in the game the entire time against a very good Lions team.
There is one Vikings WR that continues to stand out and that is Charles Johnson. Johnson continues to be Bridgewater’s favorite target, this week Johnson caught five passes for 72 yards to lead all Vikings WRs.
The Lions have really found how to get the most out of Joique Bell. Bell can really do it all, he can run, he can catch, and he can block. This week Bell had 19 touches for 103 yards as he continues to shred opposing defenses.
Peyton Manning proved that he doesn’t have to throw for 300+ yards in order for his team to win. This week Manning went 14/20 for just 233 yards with one TD. The real star yet again was Demaryius Thomas who caught six passes for 123 yards and a TD. Thomas continues to be one of the best WRs in the NFL.
Phillip Rivers needs to get some help from his RBs, especially when Ryan Matthews is out with injury (which seems like more often than not). This week the Chargers ran the ball 20 times for 56 yards as a team which is a big reason as to why they lost.
The Jets finally won their third game of the season. By winning that game it truly proved that Geno Smith is not the answer at QB, heck he might not even be a backup QB for the Jets next season. Smith had one of his better games of the season and his stat line was: 16/28 for 179 yards with one TD and no INTs. That looks like a decent game, then you realize he was playing against the now 2-12 Titans who literally have played musical chairs at QB all season long.
The Titans have some talent at WR/TE if they could ever get someone to play QB half way decent and consistently without getting injured. The likes of Nate Washington, Delanie Walker, Kendall Wright, and Dexter McCluster have all the makings of a dynamite offense.
Johnny Manziel looked absolutely awful in his first NFL start, if his second start looks anything like this game then the Browns fans will have something to worry about.
The Bengals have two of the best young RBs in the NFL in Jeremy Hill & Giovani Bernard. Hill is the workhorse as he ran the ball 25 times for 148 yards and two TDs. Bernard is the change of pace RB, he ran the ball 15 times for 79 yards and had three receptions for 24 yards.
Greg Olsen is quietly having a pro-bowl type season at TE. This week Olsen had 10 catches for 110 yards and for the season he has 81 receptions for 960 yards and six TDs for a helpless Panthers team.
You have to give Kelvin Benjamin OROY just based on the fact that he has been the true #1 WR for the Panthers since day one. This week he had 8 catches for 104 yards and for the season he has 67 receptions for 952 yards and nine TDs. Benjamin is a stud.
Mike Evans is another rookie WR who is having an impressive rookie campaign. Evans has 59 catches for 948 yards and 11 TDs. Benjamin gets the slight edge over Evans because Evans benefits from playing across the field from Vincent Jackson who is still an elite WR.
That Bills defense is a force to reckon with. They caused Aaron Rodgers to throw his first two INTs since the early stages of this season. The Bills have a dominant defensive front to go with a sneaky good secondary. If the Bills could ever get the whole drafting a QB thing right they would be a pretty darn good team.
Just give the ball to Eddie Lacy and watch him work. He is big, he is fast, and he always keeps those tree trunk legs moving. Lacy ran the ball 15 times for 97 yards against a very good Bills defense. Lacy has been a stud all season.
The Texans lost a close game to the Colts this week but they got to see what they have in their QB of the future in Tom Savage. Savage has a big arm and he seems more than capable in running the Texans offense. In a short window he went 10-19 for 127 yards with an INT. He seems to get the Texans in an offensive rhythm that they haven’t been able to find all season. Look for Savage to get a long look these last two games.
The Raiders have a lot of young offensive talent that they will be able to build around. It all starts with QB Derek Carr who is having an above average season given the mess he was thrown into. Add Latavius Murray, Mychal Rivera, and Brice Butler and the Raiders have a young stud at every level on offense to build around.
Alex Smith is doing everything he can to make sure the Chiefs do not miss the playoffs in year two of him running the show at QB. Smith had a great game throwing for 297 yards with two TDs showing that he is more than capable of winning football games. What is more impressive is he continues to have a great season without a decent WR on his roster. This week his TD passes went to RB Knile Davis & TE Travis Kelce. Both Davis and Kelce are young and talented with very bright futures.
Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins are not quite there. Tannehill is going to be a very good QB for a very long time once the Dolphins build around him. This season has proven to the Dolphins brass that they can entrust in Tannehill to lead them to victories. Now add some talent on the offensive line, RB, and TE and the Dolphins will be ready to roll for the 2015 season.
Tom Brady just does not age. This week is another example of Brady’s greatness as he led the Patriots to a 27 second half points in a victory of the Dolphins. Brady is a star.
Just throw the ball to Rob Gronkowski and watch him work his magic, he might go down as the best TE of all time if he can stay healthy for a few seasons in a row.
The Redskins offensive line is a joke. It has been getting their QBs hurt all season and hasn’t given their RBs an inch of room to work with. RGIII looked great when he entered the game completing his first six passes and tossing a TD. Then his offensive line stopped blocking and he took seven sacks through the rest of the game.
Eli Manning as of lately has been playing quite well. This week in a victory over the Redskins he threw for three TDs and 250 passing yards. Sure it helps to have a rookie stud like Odell Beckham Jr to throw the ball to. Beckham caught 12 passes for 143 yards and all three off Manning’s TD passes. Can you imagine what Beckham will be able to do when he plays an entire season?
The Steelers offense much like the Cowboys offense runs through three players; Ben Roethlisberger, LeVeon Bell, & Antonio Brown. Roethlisberger threw for 360 yards with no turnovers, Bell had 25 touches for 119 yards, and Brown caught 10 passes for 123 yards. All three of these guys are playing at pro bowl caliber levels and are doing everything they can to make the playoffs.
Matt Ryan is one of the best QBs in the NFL and he plays for a team that has no offensive line, nothing at RB, and a defense that plays when it wants to. Ryan has played great all season long, this week in a loss he threw for 310 yards with two TDs and one INT.
Every time the Falcons need Harry Douglas to step up and be a #1 or #2 WR he fills in admirably. Douglas filled in for the injured Julio Jones this week and responded by catching 10 passes for 131 yards. Douglas could be a true #1 WR for a plethora of other NFL teams.
Just like that the 49ers playoff hopes are over. They didn’t even play bad, the Seahawks led by Russell Wilson & Marshawn Lynch just played better. The Seahawks look like they are there way to winning another super bowl with how they have been playing lately. That defense looks dominant.
Drew Brees is going to make sure his team makes the playoffs no matter how bad his defense is. Brees and that Saints offense is hard to stop once they start rolling. Brees went 29/36 for 375 yards and three TDs in a shellacking of the Bears.
Mark Ingram & Pierre Thomas provide a nice 1-2 punch at RB with Ingram firmly taking over control of the #1 RB duties this season. Ingram has played worthy of his draft slot this season and has earned himself quite the raise in pay. Ingram had 17 carries for 59 yards and a TD and Thomas had seven touches for 94 yards with most of his damage being done as a pass catcher.
Josh Hill is a TE we should really start paying attention to as this season inches towards the playoffs. Hill is a second year guy out of Idaho State and he has caught five TDs this year alone. He benefits from playing across from Jimmy Graham in two TE formations which creates mismatches for him with opposing defenses double teaming Graham. Hill is 6’5 and weighs 250 lbs. with exceptionally good hands. Brees has taken a liking to him in the Red Zone.
The Bears don’t have a QB problem they have a Jay Cutler problem. Cutler has completely lost his ability to read a defense. He tossed three INTs against the Saints who have the 31st ranked defense in the NFL. That is just awful, and to think all the talent on offense he has with the likes of: Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, Matt Forte, and Martellus Bennett. That is a group of guys any QB would dream to get to play with. Cutler needs to go, it’s a shame they gave him that huge contract in the offseason with so much dead money for such a lousy player.
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