Wow! What a weekend of NFL football! The Bears almost came back from a 0-16 deficit to the Lions, but they disastrously mismanaged the last 30 seconds of the game, which later got their head coach fired, on Thanksgiving day.
On Friday, the Raiders came back from a 2 TD deficit, and had the Chiefs all but beat, when Raider’s center Jackson Powers-Johnson hiked the ball without QB Aidan O’Connell watching, causing a fumble that the Chiefs recovered to end the game.
On Sunday, Pittsburgh beat divisional rival Cincinnati in a shootout to hold on to their divisional lead. The Commanders molly wopped the Titans. Houston, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Seattle and Tampa Bay all trailed and had end of game heroics to pull off victories.
Let’s dive in to some personal performances, and see how the fantasy numbers fit into it all!
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Quarterbacks
Studs:
Jameis Winston, Cleveland Browns – Winston has been a real spark in this Cleveland offense ever since QB Deshaun Watson went down. The #1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, moved on from the Bucs and has been a back up for the Saints the past 4 years. Now he is making the most of an another opportunity, with the Browns. This week on Monday Night Football, against a very good Denver defense, Winston completed 34 of his 58 passes for 497 yards and 4 TDs. He only had 1 INT until his last 2 drives that unfortunately both ended with an INT. That wasn’t enough to keep him for earning fantasy QB1 honors for the week though!
Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders – I really thought, prior to the season, that this rookie had the potential to be a pretty good quarterback. I never imagined he would be this good. I wrote an article last year listing fantasy football’s greatest rookies in the 21st century, mainly to see how they have made an impact in fantasy over the past 23 years. It will be interesting to see how Daniels measures up after the completion of the 2024 season.
Daniels and the Commanders opened up a can on the Tennessee Titans this week, with a final score of 42-19. Daniels started strong and efficient completing 25 of his 30 passes for 206 yards and 3 TDs. While he did have an INT in the 3rd quarter, he added 34 yards rushing and 1 TD, great for fantasy scores.
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills – Playing on a field covered in snow, Allen made NFL history by passing for a TD, rushing for a TD and catching a TD, all in one game. The Bills had obvious home field advantage, as the 49ers, who don’t play in snow at home, were visibly unable to keep their footing in this lopsided 35-10 Bills win. Allen passed for 148 yards and 2 TDs, and rushed for 18 yards and 1 TD.
Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers – Wilson got his worst throw of the game out of the way early in the 1st quarter (his 4th attempt), which was picked and taken to the house the other way. After that, he went crazy passing for 414 yards and 3 TDs, and the Steelers needed every bit of it to pull off a shootout win against Cincinnati, 44-38.
Honorable Mentions:
Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears – 20/39 passing for 256 yards and 3 TDs; 39 yards rushing
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens – 23/36 passing for 237 yards and 2 TDs; 79 yards rushing
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolpins – 37/46 passing for 365 yards and 2 TDs
Duds:
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers – They say Purdy has had issues with gripping the ball when it’s wet, due to his hands being a little bit on the smaller side. So you can’t grip the ball, and you can’t get your footing because you are playing in a foot of snow. And what happens? You have your dud game of the season passing for only 94 yards.
Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons – The Falcons are on a 3 game losing skid, and Cousins has thrown an INT in each of them. This week was especially bad against the Chargers, as Cousins helped Atlanta play their way out of a win. 2 of his 4 INTs came in critical times and places in the 4th quarter, all but sealing the loss. Although his 245 passing yards are respectable, he had 0 TDs in the 13-17 loss.
Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers – Herbert isn’t really a top fantasy QB option, but he has been pretty solid over the past 5 weeks. This week, however, Herbert only threw for 147 yards and 0 TDs, in their 17-13 win over Atlanta. In fantasy, that’s a dud.
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Wide Receivers
Studs:
Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland Browns – Week 13 marks the 5th time this season that we have a QB/WR duo on top of their prospective positions. Jeudy, returning to the City where he was drafted #15 overall in the 2020 NFL draft, had his best game of his career, hauling in 9 passes for 235 yards, 1 TD and a 2 point conversion catch. It’s almost heart breaking that the merits of this combo resulted in a 32-41 loss to the Broncos.
Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders – McLaurin had his third (2) TD game of the season this week, both TD catches coming in the 1st half. The Commanders jumped out to a commanding lead over the Titans and focused more on running the ball in the 2nd half, giving McLaurin much less opportunity to add to his impressive start to the game. He finished the contest catching all 8 of his targets for 73 yards.
Keenan Allen, Chicago Bears – Outside of week 6 when the Bears played the Jaguars and Allen hit pay dirt twice, Allen’s season has been rather blah. He hasn’t even been worth a roster spot on a fantasy team. That is until the past two weeks. This week, he found the end zone twice again, adding 73 yards receiving on 5 receptions.
Parker Washington, Jacksonville Jaguars – I have to admit, I don’t get a chance to watch a lot of Jaguars football, so I had never heard of this guy until Sunday, when I was like, who is that #11 guy? That unheard-of-to-me-WR pulled in 6 of his 12 targets for 103 yards and 1 TD.
Honorable Mentions:
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Tennessee Titans – 3 receptions for 61 yards and 2 TDs
Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 8 receptions for 118 yards and 1 TD
Marvin Mims Jr., Denver Broncos – 3 receptions for 105 yards and 1 TD
Duds:
Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams – After missing 4 games with an injury, Kupp put together 5 solid weeks of fantasy stat lines, but that came to a screeching halt Sunday against the Saints, where he was only able to bring in 3 of his 6 targets for a mere 17 yards.
CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys – I’m not giving Lamb a pass for not playing in the 4th quarter due to aggravating a shoulder injury. He hasn’t produced anywhere near where fantasy owners were expecting all season, outside of the 49ers game in week 8. In 3 quarters against an opportunistic defense in the NY Giants, Lamb only secured 2 passes. They did go for 39 yards, but the final stat line just isn’t good enough for fantasy owners.
Garrett Wilson, New York Jets – I had Wilson as one of the top fantasy WRs going into the season, but that was prior to the acquisition of WR Davante Adams, and the realization of how poorly QB Aaron Rodgers would play. Wilson probably should have been on the studs list, but Rodgers can’t get the ball to a spot wher Wilson can catch it. Wison was only able to get to 5 of Rodgers’ 10 poorly thrown balls, for 41 yards.
Running Backs
Studs:
Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Last week this rookie set new personal highs in touches (18) and yards from scrimmage (152). He blew right by that this week with 25 carries for 152 yards. He also caught all 3 of his targets for an additional 33 yards. Yards combined plus a rushing TD earns Bucky RB1 honors for week 13. Irving has clearly made the case for lead back in Tampa.
Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons – The fact that the Falcons asked Robinson to touch the ball 6 more times than he ever has before tells me they lost confidence in QB Kirk Cousins for the day. Cousins finished this game with 4 INTs, basically killing any chance Atlanta had in a win. They pounded the ball on the ground with Robinson as much as possible, as he finished with 26 carries for 102 yards and 1 TD and secured all 6 targets for an additional 33 receiving yards.
Najee Harris, Pittsburgh Steelers – It looks like the Steeler’s game plan was to get Harris going early in this match up, as he accounted for 53 of their first 60 yards gained. He continued to grind out yardage with a total of 16 carries for 75 yards and 1 TD, also securing all 6 targets for 54 yards receiving.
Honorable Mention –
Rico Dowdle, Dallas Cowboys – 22 carries for 112 yards and 1 TD
James Cook, Buffalo Bills – 14 carries for 107 yards and 1 TD
Joe Mixon, Houston Texans – 20 carries for 101 yards and 1 TD
Josh Jacobs, Green Bay Packers – 19 carries for 43 yards and 1 TD; 4/4 receptions for 74 yards
Duds:
Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs – Now that RB Isiah Pacheco is back from injury, Hunt has lost his role as lead back, and didn’t look comfortable in a splitting carries type of situation. His 7 carries only produced 15 yards and his 2 receptions netted 0 yards.
Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers – Hubbard’s already disappointing day of rushing for only 43 yards was amplified when he fumbled in OT, ultimately costing the Panthers a chance to win. Hubbard will face a tough defense in the Eagles next week, so we’ll see if he’s able to increase his production or not.
Kenneth Walker III – Walker struggled to get anything going on the ground against the Jets. He gained nothing on a pair of carries inside the 5 yard line, missing on an opportunity to score. The Seahawks inserted RB Zach Charbonnet to vulture some carries from Walker, who ended up scoring from 8 yards out. Walker finished with 49 rushing yards and lost 3 yards on 2 receptions.
To get all the latest gear for these players and more, go check out the NFL Shop now!
Tight Ends
Studs:
Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders – This rookie sensation is a silver lining to this stale, anemic Raider offense. Now that WR Davante Adams has moved on, Bowers is the Raiders #1 offensive weapon. Currently, he is TE1 for the season with his 84 receptions for 884 and 4 TDs. He is TE1 for week 13 with his 10 receptions for 140 yards and 1 TD.
David Njoku, Cleveland Browns – Njoku was a part of the Monday Night Football shootout with the Denver Broncos, where he, and teammates WR Jerry Jeudy and QB Jameis Winston all made studs lists. Njoku had a whopping 17 targets, hauling in 9 for 52 yards and 2 TDs, both scored in the 1st half.
Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens – QB Lamar Jackson scrambled, looking for an open receiver. With none to be found, he found his comfort blanket, known as Mark Andrews, and just threw it high enough to be out of reach for everyone but Andrews, who leaped up and brought it down for a TD. Andrews finished the day with 6 receptions for a total of 67 yards and said TD, in a losing effort against the Eagles.
Honorable Mentions:
Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers – 6/7 receptions for 68 yards and 1 TD
Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions – 3/6 receptions for 6 yards and 2 TDs
Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans – 5/7 receptions for 61 yards and 1 TD
Duds:
George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers – This was just a nightmare of a game for the 9ers in Buffalo’s blizzard conditions. RBs Christian McCaffrey and Jordan Mason both went down with injury, QB Brock Purdy passed for only 94 yards, and they were blown out 10-35. Oh, and Kittle secured just 1 pass for 7 yards.
Defense/Special Teams
Studs:
Ja’Quan McMillian intercepting a pass from QB Jameis Winston, which he took to the house in the 4th quarter. The Broncos were leading by 2 at the time.
Denver Broncos – Strangely enough, a defense that was involved in a shootout was also the top fantasy defense for the week. The Broncos may have given up 32 points, but they also recorded 3 sacks and 3 INTs, 2 going back for TDs.
Los Angeles Chargers – The Chargers had more of a traditional hard fought defensive battle holding the Atlanta Falcons to 13 points. The bolts recorded only 1 sack, but picked off QB Kirk Cousins 4 times, 2 of them by Tarheeb Still who took one back 61 yards for a TD.
Duds:
San Francisco 49ers – If you had the 9ers in your line up this week, you lost fantasy points in doing so. This is a defense that has been towards the top for the past few years. I know they have some key injuries, but this defense just isn’t it. On Sunday night, they allowed 35 points to Buffalo, and didn’t record 1 fantasy stat. No sacks, INTs, fumble recoveries…nothing.
Thanks for checking out this week’s edition of fantasy’s studs and dud! I hoped you enjoyed the read and can use the information for your future fantasy endeavors! I always enjoy some fantasy football talk, so please feel free to leave any opinions and/or comments below!
Great analysis of Week 13’s studs and duds! It’s always fascinating to see how player performances can swing so drastically, especially during the critical weeks of a fantasy football season. The balance between sticking with your big names and taking calculated risks on emerging talent is what keeps it so exciting.
I run a similar blog focusing on fantasy football here in the UK, where we dive into Premier League picks. It’s interesting to see how the dynamics differ across sports—do you find that NFL players with higher ceilings justify more risk compared to the consistency we look for in footballers? Always curious about how strategies translate across leagues!
Hey Rick!
Thanks for taking a moment to leave a note! I really appreciate it! That’s awesome you have a blog about fantasy football in the UK. I’ll have to check it out!
In regards to your question regarding higher ceiling vs. consistency, I think I lean towards consistency. A player that scores18 fantasy points one week, and only 3 fantasy points the next, is not my cup of tea. If you are in a format where your roster goes head to head each week with other fantasy owners, you very well may lose the week your player has the dud week. I would much rather have a relatively decent idea of what to expect from that player and figure out my roster from there.
Now if you participate in an auction value league or daily fantasy, where players have $ value, those boom or bust players can be golden, as you may get them at a lower price, and hit big on fantasy points.
What an exciting and drama-filled week in the NFL and fantasy football! From incredible comebacks to heartbreaking mistakes, Week 13 showcased the unpredictability that keeps us glued to the game. The standout performances of Jameis Winston and Jayden Daniels proved the importance of seizing opportunities. At the same time, heartbreaking errors like Jackson Powers-Johnson’s botched snap reminded us how quickly fortunes can change.
The fantasy insights were spot-on, particularly highlighting players like Bucky Irving and Brock Bowers, who are establishing themselves as must-haves. It’s a perfect reminder to adapt, trust emerging talent, and make those crucial game-time decisions to stay competitive in fantasy leagues!
Hey andrejs!
Thanks for your great comments! You certainly have a good grasp of what fantasy football is all about! Always adjusting your line up, looking for emerging talent like Irving and Bowers, and making good decisions when setting your line up.