Fresh off Sunday’s slate of games, Fantrax looks back at all the good, the bad, and the interesting from the Sunday slate of NFL games in the Week 12 fantasy football recap.
Hopefully, we can use what we learned in the first 12 weeks of fantasy football to help make better lineup decisions moving forward. This weekly column will highlight the week’s slate from a fantasy perspective, while also analyzing what trends to pay attention to in the weeks ahead.
For Week 12, we will look at the slate highlighted by a massive day from Josh Jacobs, Trevor Lawrence looking like the number one overall pick, and Garrett Wilson benefitting from a quarterback change.
Week 12 Fantasy Football Recap
Week 12 Studs
The Philadelphia Eagles Rushing Attack
You may have seen the graphic on Sunday Night Football late in the game, but the combined rushing performance compiled by the Eagles in Week 12 (363 yards) was their most in 80 years. Several have already noted that only seven times in NFL history has a team rushed for more yards in a single game, and only once since 2oo7. Jalen Hurts and Miles Sanders combined for over 300 yards of the team’s total and somehow Hurts found time to throw for another 153 yards and two scores. Remember about a year ago when people were concerned about Hurts’ accuracy and if he was a quarterback you could rely on to take a team to the next level? Yeah, that was stupid.
Justin Herbert
Before Jalen Hurts laced ’em up on Sunday night, Herbert led the position in fantasy points on the day. His three touchdowns, no picks, and 38 rushing yards to go along with 274 passing yards were a welcome sight for fantasy managers who had been dealing with a prolonged streak of mediocrity. Herbert’s 28.76 fantasy points were his first time scoring over 20 points since October 2nd against the Houston Texans. And it was Herbert’s first time with more than two touchdown passes since September 15th.
Kyler Murray
After missing two weeks due to injury, Kyler Murray tallied three total scores for the third time this season in one of the most entertaining games of the day against the Los Angeles Chargers. Murray was denied a chance to add to his massive fantasy day after the Chargers went for two at the end of regulation instead of playing for the tie. But fantasy managers won’t complain about 26.24 fantasy points including seven rush attempts for 56 yards. It was his sixth time in seven healthy games Murray has totaled at least six rushing attempts.
Trevor Lawrence
On October 30th, Lawrence’s season bottomed out when he scored just eight fantasy points after throwing for just 133 yards and two picks against Denver. But since then, Lawrence has looked like the player the Jaguars wanted with the number one overall pick in 2021. He has a 6:0 TD/INT ratio over his last three including three touchdowns and 321 passing yards against a tough Ravens team on Sunday. But perhaps most encouraging, he did it all on a day when Travis Etienne got hurt and Christian Kirk was largely ineffective. With games against Detroit, Houston, and Tennessee coming up in their next give, Lawrence just may still have some meat on the bone for his usage toward a fantasy championship.
Mike White
Another three-touchdown, no-pick performance on Sunday came from Mike White, who has ascended to the first chair for the New York Jets after the Zach Wilson debacle of the past few weeks. White breathed sudden and refreshing life into Garrett Wilson and Elijah Mitchell and led the Jets to a trouncing of the Chicago Bears. After this kind of performance from White, there really is no turning back from him now. The Jets are legitimately good this year with one of the best defenses in the league and they won’t want to waste any more of those performances.
Josh Jacobs
In terms of total yardage, Jacobs almost outgained the Philadelphia Eagles all by himself. Despite being added as a late addition to the injury report on Friday, Jacobs came in and rolled over Seattle for 303 total yards and two touchdowns, including an 86-yard walk-off score in overtime that made the Seattle defense look like they were treading water in Elliott Bay. The 229 rushing yards were more than 70 better than his previous career-high (154) and the receiving yards (74) were 20 more than his closest game. This is the running back game of the year, and it may be a long time before someone tops Jacobs’ 45.30 fantasy points.
Brian Robinson, Jr.
This was the breakout game everyone was predicting would happen for Robinson last week against an atrocious Houston run defense. Just one week later against Atlanta, Robinson bags his first 100-yard rushing game, his first receiving score, and the highest fantasy points of his career (19.5). The problem for fantasy managers, however, is the rest of season schedule is not favorable to his usage. His bye is still to come in Week 14, and he also sees the Giants twice, the 49ers, and the Cowboys over the balance of the season. Only the Browns in Week 17 represent a good matchup the rest of the way for Robinson.
Garrett Wilson
Mike White was certainly the offensive tide that raised all New York ships on Sunday, and popular sleeper and DFS target Garrett Wilson was the clear beneficiary. His five catches for 95 yards and two scores were the ingredients in his 23.90 masterpiece that fell just short of his best game of the season (26 fantasy points on Sept. 18th). While Wilson was borderline droppable in redraft formats with Zach Wilson under center, now he is right back in the top-20 conversation for wide receivers.
Chris Godwin
The fantasy gods were clearly smiling on all those who rostered and started Godwin in PPR formats this week. His 12 catches for 110 yards and a score represent 29 points in PPR formats. Godwin’s 13 targets were at least four more than any other player on the Buccaneers and it’s clear that even with Mike Evans, Rachaad White, and Julio Jones around, Tom Brady has eyes for Chris Godwin.
Zay Jones
Someday when Zay Jones is a great-grandfather, he will gather all the great-grandkids around, pop the tape of Sunday’s game into the VCR (or whatever the kids use these days) and show them the best game of his career. Jones may not have scored in Sunday’s game, but he pulled in 11 of his 14 targets for 145 yards in another PPR manager’s dream scenario. He was regularly and frequently torching an undermanned Ravens’ secondary and Trevor Lawrence locked into Jones all day.
Tee Higgins
Higgins had been trending up for several weeks with Ja’Marr Chase still out of action, but it wasn’t until Sunday in Week 12 that he finally broke out for 114 yards and a score, just his second touchdown since the calendar turned to October. Higgins played the most snaps, ran the most routes, and earned the most targets of anyone on BOTH sides of the Cincinnati-Tennessee tilt on Sunday. He will remain very fantasy relevant when Chase returns, but that should happen by the time Week 13 rolls around.
Josh Oliver
And Mark Andrews managers cry out in one voice “Those catches and that touchdown are supposed to be ours!!” Oliver’s 15.6 fantasy points on 76 yards and a touchdown were all more than he totaled the rest of 2022 before Week 12. Andrews has been slowly coming back from injury and he was seeing some tough coverage on Sunday, so I don’t fully expect Oliver to turn this into a Wally Pipp/Lou Gehrig situation. Once Andrews is at full strength, Oliver will be relegated back to TE2 or TE3.
David Njoku
Tight end was a bit of a wasteland on Sunday. Oliver and Travis Kelce led the way at the position, but Njoku also had a nice showing with 11.4 fantasy points after earning seven targets, catching five of them including a touchdown. It’s a nice audition for next week when the Browns’ offense looks to take a massive step up with Deshaun Watson able to get back into the flow of things. Njoku should be one of the big beneficiaries of the change.
Week 10 Duds
Russell Wilson
Answer this question honestly. Who would you rather have leading your fantasy team the rest of the way: Mike White or Russell Wilson? Taylor Heinicke or Russell Wilson? Marcus Mariota or Russell Wilson? I truly believe I would rather have all of them over Wilson the rest of the way. He has been that bad. There were 24 quarterbacks who started an NFL game on Sunday. Care to guess who scored the fewest fantasy points among all 24? That’s right, Mr. Unlimited Ways to Disappoint You, Russell Wilson. His 6.48 fantasy points were a new season-low for Wilson.
Tua Tagovailoa
Seeing a box score of 299 yards and a touchdown pass doesn’t typically make you think “bust” about a quarterback. But Tua had been so unbelievably hot his last three games, and on Sunday he faced the Texans who were bottom-1o in opponents’ completion percentage and opponents’ yards per completion over the last month. The Dolphins did score 30 points, but a rushing score here, and defensive touchdown there, add in a dash of Tyreek Hill leaving with cramps, and the ball was just too often taken out of Tua’s hands.
Christian McCaffrey
Below we look at what a potential Elijah Mitchell injury could do for Christian McCaffrey’s prospects in San Francisco, but right now it’s just six out of his last seven games with less than 20 fantasy points. We all remember the 36-point explosion for McCaffrey against Los Angeles four games ago, but in his four other most recent games, he is only averaging 11 fantasy points per game in half-PPR formats. Sunday’s 32 rushing yards and 17 receiving yards don’t inspire a lot of confidence in using him moving forward. But more opportunities may be coming.
Alvin Kamara
With Andy Dalton under center, Kamara is crumbling faster than a New Orleans levee in the middle of a hurricane. Kamara posted only 50 total yards on Sunday but also lost two fumbles for the first time in his career. Depending on your format, Kamara may have given you zero or even negative points against the 49ers this week. And next week he goes from the team allowing the second-fewest fantasy points to running backs (San Francisco) to the team allowing the fourth-fewest (Tampa Bay). The October stretch of strong games is long forgotten by now.
Dameon Pierce
One of the fantasy football stats that caught some viral attention on Sunday is that Dameon Pierce has 15 total rushing yards on 14 carries in his last seven quarters of football. The Texans are such an abomination on offense right now as they tank for Bryce Young, Pierce is becoming unstartable. Even when the Texans had a one-yard TD to get, they brought in Dare Ugunbowale to take it.
Christian Kirk
For as strong a connection Lawrence had with Zay Jones on Sunday, Kirk and Lawrence looked more like the Odd Couple against Baltimore. They only connected on four of nine targets for just 46 yards and this comes after Kirk averaged 22 fantasy points per game the last two weeks. He did have 180 yards and three scores in those last two games, so more strong connections with Lawrence are likely in his future.
Deebo Samuel
Samuel came into Week 12 Questionable with an injury, so maybe he gets a pass here, but this is perhaps more about his relative Bust status for the season. Since Week 7, Deebo is 49th in fantasy points among wide receivers as he has quit running with C-MAC in town, his outlier yards after the catch pieces aren’t there this year. Add in an injury risk every week, and he is firmly in the full Bust category for fantasy.
Mike Evans
Christian Kirk and Trevor Lawrence looked like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson compared to Mike Evans and Tom Brady on Sunday. After nine shots down the field to Evans against the hapless Browns, only two of them connected for 31 yards and a 4.1 fantasy point day. That’s now three straight games below 10 fantasy points for Evans and even the targets have dropped below 10 in his last two. As Chris Godwin has reemerged, Evans has taken a back seat. Is it possible Brady doesn’t actually have the arm strength anymore?
George Kittle
The Saints are an absolute lockdown against opposing tight ends, and Kittle got caught in their trap on Sunday. The Saints allow the fewest points in the league to tight ends (4.0 per game) and Kittle left the home game against them with just 4.1 points on three catches and 26 yards. The more macro problem for Kittle and players like Brandon Aiyuk is that San Francisco really wants to unleash their new two-headed running back monster on the league. Over the last three weeks, the 49ers have the fourth-lowest passing play percentage in the league.
Mark Andrews
See “Oliver, Josh.” No real reason to panic here, especially after playing the most snaps and seeing the most targets for the Ravens.
Injuries to Monitor
Elijah Mitchell Sprains Knee on Sunday
49ers’ RB Elijah Mitchell sustained a possible MCL sprain during Sunday’s win over the Saints, per HC Kyle Shanahan. Mitchell dealt with an MCL sprain earlier this season, but the team suspects this one is not as bad. More testing ahead.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 28, 2022
Analysis: This isn’t your normal next-man-up situation since Mitchell has been in an equal timeshare with Christian McCaffrey, one the best running backs alive. C-MAC should receive more work if Mitchell is out, but San Francisco also appears to be saving people for the brutal playoffs at this point.
Allen Robinson the Latest Rams Injury
#Rams coach Sean McVay tells reporters that WR Allen Robinson suffered a season-ending foot injury and needs surgery. Source said it’s a stress fracture that, assuming he has surgery, will require a screw.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 28, 2022
Analysis: If you didn’t think this was a lost season for the Rams already, this should seal the deal. Besides Robinson, I don’t believe we see Kupp, Stafford, and perhaps Higbee the rest of the season. Plenty of people were high on Robinson after the move to the Rams, but it’s now plainly clear he is just washed.
Justin Fields and Darnell Mooney Both Injured for Bears
Mooney is done for the season
Shutdown Fields ASAP cuz this is starting to have long-term effects on the Bears' 2023 playoff-run season
— Balakay (@Balakay) November 28, 2022
Analysis: Fields was a Saturday scratch for the Bears because of the shoulder problem he suffered in Week 11. Not soon after Sunday’s game started, Mooney left with a severe ankle injury that we now know will keep him out the rest of the season. This obviously and clearly impacts Justin Fields for many reasons. He loses his best receiver. The team has no motivation to win now. Fields still seems hurt.
This news about Mooney may usher in the shutting down of Justin Fields sooner than we think.