Week 11 Winners and Losers

Week 11, in many ways, is one to forget. Looking back all the way to Thursday night, Kyler Murray suffered an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. Reports are optimistic, but this is an injury that usually keeps a player out for a couple of weeks (see Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Darnold, Christian McCaffrey). The number one pick in the 2020 draft, Joe Burrow, took one too many hits in a loss to the WFT, ending his season. Rex Burkhead was having the best season of his career before that came to an unceremonious end against the Texans. COVID continues to affect teams, and now it looks like the Ravens will be in intensive protocols with reports of multiple positive tests.

Not all was bad, as it finally seems like week 11 was the week of the stud tight end (finally). For the most part, there weren’t too many surprises at the top of the leaderboard when we look at top fantasy scorers. For the numbers, we look at full PPR scoring. Let’s get into some Winners and Losers for week 11:

Winners

1) Tight ends finally showed out. Excluding Taysom Hill, the top 3 tight ends were Kelce, Waller, and Andrews. Finally, some predictability. Dallas Goedert also finished as the number 4 TE even with Carson Wentz (see: losers) was just, awful. In all, a total of 14 tight ends finished with 10+ PPR points this week. Some disappointing performances came from Austin Hooper (6.3) Logan Thomas (2.8), and Hayden Hurst (0.0).

2) Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook: Both players finished top 2 at the position. Although the Vikings took a shocking loss to the Cowboys this week, Thielen found the endzone a couple of times and one on an absolute ridiculous one-handed catch. CeeDee Lamb was not to be outdone though. If you haven’t seen either catch, I recommend flipping on SportsCenter.

3) Deshaun Watson: He absolutely exposed the Patriots secondary. Coming into yesterday, the Patriots were allowing the most yards per play in the NFL. Because of the slow, ground-and-pound style of offense the Pats play, they were able to hide some of the defensive inefficiencies. Yesterday was not the case. New England needed to play catch-up most of the game, and Watson gladly took advantage. Looking at the next few games for Watson, I expect another trouncing against the Lions, but then Houston faces Indy, Chicago, Indy again, before playing the Bengals in what would be the fantasy championship game. Most leagues have a trade deadline sometime around Thanksgiving; if you have Watson on your roster, it may not be a bad time to sell very high. You could get some seriously great returns, especially if your team is primed to make the postseason.

4) Justin Herbert owners: Seriously, I envy all of you. I own exactly 0 shares of Justin Herbert. When he replaced Tyrod Taylor, I had little expectations. What has he done since? He is simply the QB2 since week 4, averaging a measly 26.5 FPPG. Only Kyler has been better, and Mahomes is behind him by nearly 2PPG. What he’s done as a rookie is unprecedented.

5) Michael Thomas: Yes, plenty of other receivers had better games than him. But for someone who was drafted as either the #1 or #2 WR off the board, it is a relief to finally see him finish as a WR1 on the week. He came in at #11, with 19.4 PPR points. It will be interesting to see what he and Taysom Hill can continue doing. I’m definitely not saying that Taysom Hill is better for Michael Thomas; I think he is getting healthier at the right time. Thomas can finally be someone on your roster who can bring you to a championship, if you’ve managed to be successful enough with him on your bench for the majority of the season.

Losers

1) Carson Wentz: Carson was a pick of mine to be a streaming option for this week and for the remainder of the season. He only has one more difficult matchup; too bad he may not even be around to see those. The Eagles have stated that Carson is still their guy. But at a time when his receivers are getting healthier and the NFC east is still a hot dumpster fire, it was an opportunity for Philly to respond with a win. Instead, you get two costly interceptions (the pick-6 wasn’t his fault, hit as he was throwing), and the Eagles drop to 3-6-1. In a local poll from CBS in Philadelphia, 90% of Eagles fans would like to see Wentz ride the pine. It could finally be Jalen Hurts season, and I am fine with that.

2) Indianapolis running backs: It isn’t Indy’s fault this is happening. They are doing what they need to in order to win football games. In a somewhat stunning victory over the Packers, it was the running back carousel once again. This time, it was Jonathan Taylor leading the team with 15.4 PPR points. That is a good stat line for a fringe RB1/RB2, but you just don’t know who the hot hand will be each week. In week 10, it was Nyheim Hines to the tune of 28 PPR points. In week 11, Hines as a low-end RB3 with 8 PPR points. The one thing that seems certain? It won’t be Jordan Wilkins. Stay away if you can, but Taylor did come with hefty draft capital this year. Their schedule is soft for the rest of the year so you can play them if you need to, but just keep your expectations low.

3) Alvin Kamara: I preface this statement with this; I still love Kamara as a premier talent in this league and a bona-fide stud. But alarms are sounding in my head. With Taysom Hill on the controls for at least the next two weeks (and potentially the rest of the season), Kamara caught zero passes this week. He finished this week as an RB3 in PPR formats, just 10.5 PPR points. If the targets are not there for Kamara in the pass game, his sky-high ceiling needs to be adjusted down just a bit. I think Sean Payton is smart enough to scheme plays for his all-world running back.

4) The Detroit Lions: This game was tough to watch. Matt Stafford’s thumb was clearly an issue, even if he said it was “fine.” No Kenny Golladay and no DeAndre Swift spelled trouble from jump street. The end result? 0 points on the board, and a throttling at the hands of the Teddy Bridgewater-less Carolina Panthers. Until further notice, you have to avoid the Lions. I don’t think Swift is back for Thanksgiving, and if so, you might be switching over to Christmas movies before halftime.

5) Lamar Jackson: Analysts everywhere, and myself included, saw this as the final breakout game for Lamar Jackson and this Ravens offense. They instead lost to the Titans in a huge matchup and fall to 3rd in the standings in the AFC north, behind the Steelers and Browns. At 6-4, there is a real chance they miss the postseason. For your fantasy team, you ended up with a middling QB2 that was outscored by Andy Dalton. Side note: if you still have Marquise Brown anywhere, drop him. He finished as WR105 this week. Let someone else watch him put up goose eggs on their bench. You can go out there and put in a claim for someone like Michael Pittman Jr.

Who else helped win or lose a week for you? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.