Robby Anderson doing his best Julio Jones impression highlights this week’s NFL Week That Was.

Robby Anderson:  Robby Anderson lit up the scoreboard Sunday reeling in 6 catches for 146 yards and two TD.  But for Julio Jones’s once annual blow-out, Robby Anderson would be the headline of many a fantasy article this week.  So, to help balance the scales, Robby Anderson is the Week That Was headline – an honor well-deserved.  For those who have not focused on gang green, Anderson’s performance has been par for his course.  Anderson has hit paydirt six times in the last 5 weeks and at least once in each of those 5 weeks.  Bottom line – the Jets’ wideout is a fantasy stud who has earned the Adam Thielen-esque stature of set it and forget it.

Marcus Mariota:  Marcus Mariota continues to disappoint in fantasy and in real-life.  Sunday against the lowly Colts, Mariota was 17-25 for only 184 yards.  To make matter worse, Mariota threw 2 more INT giving him 6 in the last two weeks.  Indeed, Mariota has not thrown more than two TD in any game this year and had more TDs than INTs in only 2 of the 11 games his team has played.  If Mariota is your fantasy QB, you need to look hard at the waiver wire for possible substitutes.  Otherwise, he may drag an otherwise strong team down come playoff time. 

Marshawn Lynch:  Marshawn Lynch posted a workman-like performance that while not pretty, provided fantasy owners with solid production.  Lynch carried 26 times for 67 yards and a TD.  He also hauled in 3 receptions for another 44 yards.  Altogether, that is 29 touches and 20+ fantasy points in PPR.  I have been saying all along that the Raiders had been holding back on Beast Mode’s usage to keep him fresh for this very type of post-Thanksgiving usage.  I am all in on Beast Mode over the next 5 weeks.  You should be too.

Samaje Perine:  Samaje Perine is taking “next man up” very seriously and he is standing up tall.  With the injuries to Fat Rob Kelley and Chris Thompson, Perine has become a one man show and a fantasy must start in the process.  Thursday night, Perine carried 24 times for an even 100 yards and added another 3 grabs for 30 yards.  So, even without a TD, that volume resulted in 16 fantasy points in PPR.  More impressive however was that the high-volume production came just four days after 24 touches and 126 total yards.  As with Lynch, his volume is the key to fantasy success.  Perine will get that volume.  Looking forward to next week, unless Sean Lee returns for the Thursday matchup in Dallas, Perine should have himself another solid game.  As a Cowboys fan, I am rooting against him in week 13 but as a fantasy owner, I am looking to add as many shares as I can.

Kareem Hunt:  Kareem Hunt tallied only 26 total yards Sunday likely taking all of his fantasy owners down loser’s lane.  To be fair, Hunt was given only 12 touches in this game.  If this game was an outlier, I would dismiss it.  However, just two games ago, the Chiefs’ brain trust gave Hunt only 13 touches.  Surprise, surprise – they lost both games.  If you own Hunt, you have to keep running him out there but x him out of DFS consideration and see if someone in your league thinks he has bounce back potential and make a deal.  Ugh.

Brandin Cooks:  Last week we wrote: “Brandin Cooks had himself a Mexican holiday Sunday afternoon hauling in 6 passes for 149 yards and a TD on 9 targets.  That is 20 targets in the last two weeks since the Pats came off a bye.  More important than the numbers is the eye test.  Watching this game, you saw that Brady really trusts Cooks, Brady really wants to throw the deep ball and that Cooks can simply outrun almost any defensive back.  Many a fantasy team and DFS weekly winner will have Brandin Cooks on their roster.”  I hope you listened as Cooks responded with another strong fantasy week – 6 receptions for 83 yards and a TD (plus 11 rushing yards as a bonus).  That amounts to 21+ fantasy points.  I will take that every Sunday!

Final Note:  I am still mystified by the Cowboys cutting McFadden when they badly need a spark like the one he gave them in 2015.  Hopefully, they will rise to the occasion Thursday and keep their season alive but I really wish someone would explain this to me.  [Note – that McFadden chose to retire in a classy fashion still does not fully explain how this all transpired in this author’s view]