0: The number of targets In Week 12 or Antonio Gates, Sterling Shepard and Brandin Cooks. How is that possible? The Saints scored 49 points and Cooks didn’t see one target. #HowIsThatPossible?
200: Career wins for Tom Brady tying Peyton Manning for most in NFL history.
It’s officially panic time. Jay Ajayi ran for 45 yards on 18 carries against the Niners, the worst run defense in the NFL in 50-years. His last five games include descending rushing totals: 214, 111, 79, 77 and 45. Ok, three linemen were missing for Ajayi, but still, that was the Niners out there.
The Bears dropped 10 passes Sunday, the most in more than a decade. There were three dropped passes in the fourth quarter – that were in the end zone. By Jeff Mans counted that they dropped five potential touchdowns in the game. It was one of the worst displays of pass catching in the annals of the game.
Blake Bortles and the Jags offense stunk again in a loss to the Bills. Bortles threw for just 126 yards in a poor passing effort. However, Bortles did toss two passing scores and ran for 81 yards, so actually, it was like he had a 300/2 day in fantasy. #FantasyAintReality
Isaiah Crowell ran for 44 yards, his second 30-yard effort in eight games. #CueTheParade.
Andy Dalton fumbled four times... losing two. He also tossed one touchdown for the 4th straight games and fifth time in six outings. Didn’t help that he had four passes batted down at the line of scrimmage. #NoUpside
Mike Evans is over 1,000-yards already making him the fourth player in league history to hit that number each of his first three seasons (Randy Moss, A.J. Green and John Jefferson). In 11 games this season Evans has seen at least 11 targets 10 times. #RemarkableWorkload
I know the Falcons are hideous against the tight end, but any game plan that leads to Jermaine Gresham seeing 10 targets and Larry Fitzgerald four is a monumental disaster of epic proportions. Bruce Arians and his coaching staff continue to try and be smarter than the game. Don’t. Just do the following each week. (1) Give the ball 20 times to David Johnson. (2) Target Larry Fitzgerald 10 times. That should happen every game. It didn’t in Week 12 (Johnson had his 21 touches though, inexplicably, he had just 13 carries even though he went for 58 yards). If #1 and #2 don’t occur each week the coaching staff should be fired.
Joe Flacco attempted six passes of more than 10-yards in the air. He threw for 234 yards a score and a pick against the Bengals.
Coby Fleener caught four balls for 59 yards for the Saints. Don’t be fooled though as he was on the field for just 24.3 percent of the snaps, a season low. He also ran just 12 routes in the win, another season low.
Taylor Gabriel caught for balls for 75 yards and two scores for the Falcons. That’s four receiving scores in four games and one rushing score in three outings. Both scores came on screens where Gabriel appeared to be the fastest man to ever step on a football field. Gabriel has been over 50-yards in 4-straight, but there’s no volume here to count on (16 touches in four games), and obviously he’s not going to score every week (Gabriel is the second player in five years to score twice in a game when both passes came on screens). #HesTheNewTavonAustin
Ted Ginn caught four balls for 115 yards and a score in Week 12 thanks to an 88-yard score. Ginn has scored in back-to-back games, but those are his only scores of the season as he’s caught just seven passes in those two games.
Jared Goff threw for three scores in Week 12. It took him 35 career pass attempts to reach that number. It took Dak Prescott 99 and Carson Wentz five.
Frank Gore carried the ball 15 times for 28 yards. Twenty one of those yards came after contract meaning the Colts offensive line gave Gore 0.5 yards per carry before he was hit.
So Rob Gronkowski is a star and always worth an early selection in drafts. #ItsALie – In 11 games this season Gronk has four good games and one passable game. He didn’t play Week 1-2, caught one pass in Week 3-4 and didn’t do anything in Week 12 with a back issue. Let me be clear. That’s 11 games for the Patriots this season. In five of them Gronk has been an utter, completely useless failure. ‘But Ray, he didn’t play in two of those games.’ Even if I give you that he’s still produced 2.1 points in the other three outings... less than one point a game. For goodness sakes, Levin Toilolo has averaged three points a game this season. #StopDraftingGronkEarlyAsItsAWasteOfYourSeason
Tim Hightower had 17 touches to 16 for Mark Ingram. Hightower caught two balls and produced 105 yards from scrimmage, the fourth time in five games he’s reached triple-digits. Meanwhile, Mark Ingram went bonkers for 167 yards from scrimmage with two scores. Ingram was a monster forcing seven missed tackles on the afternoon. #NotSlowedByHisConcussion
Hunter Henry has five touchdowns this season. When he scored his 5th touchdown all other NFL rookie ends had scored a combined five times.
Julio Jones had a ball pop out of his hands on his way to a pick that was entirely his fault. In the end he caught four balls for 35 yards as he couldn’t get loose against Patrick Peterson. That was the second time in four outings he failed to reach 40-yards. It was also the fourth time in nine outings he failed to reach 40-yards. #SoUpAndDown
Colin Kaepernick is the first player in Niners history to throw three scores and run for 80-yards in a game. Kap actually threw for 296 yards and three scores while rushing 10 times for 113 yards. Only five NFL players on any team can match the 100 yards rushing, three passing score feat: Cam Newton, Marcus Mariota, Michael Vick and Randall Cunningham. The Niners also lost the game, their 10th straight loss, the first time that has ever happened in franchise history.
Tyler Lockett didn’t catch one of his six targets. #PleaseStopAsking
Marcus Mariota hit 15-of-17 for 226 yards and two scores when he had a clean pocket Sunday. Dude is growing into a beast in front of our eyes.
LeSean McCoy ran for 103 yards on 19 carries. Take away his 75-yard touchdown run and that’s 18 carries for 28 yards. #LooksBetterThanItReallyWas
Malcolm Mitchell had a touchdown pass go right through his hands for the Pats. He still went 5-42-2 in the effort as he saw seven targets, a career best. Both of his scores came against Darrelle Revis. That’s three scores in two games by the way. Still, he appeared on less than half the snaps while Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan were out there 90+ percent of the time.
Latavius Murray ran for 45 yards on 19 carries in Week 12 (he caught four balls for 43 yards). He also scored a touchdown. My weekly comment on Murray still stands though... he’s run for 60-yards just once this season. Shoot, in his last four outings he’s failed to run for 50-yards three times.
Greg Olsen was the best tight end in football the first six weeks. Then the club had a bye. Since then Olsen has been a relative nobody. He’s scored just once in five games since while his average effort has been 36 yards on 3.9 receptions. Honestly, I blame Cam Newton who continues to be ‘just a guy’ despite all that talent.
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Patriots running back snap counts in Week 12: LeGarrette Blount 27, James White 26 and Dion Lewis 23. Here is their production: Blount 11-67 on the ground, White 4-22 as a pass catcher and Lewis was 6-24 on the ground and 4-34 as a pass catcher. #WhatAMess
Paul Perkins touched the ball 11 times, his highest total in four week. He caught two passes and produced 43 yards. #ShaneVereenIsComing
Matthew Stafford hit 18-of-20 passes against the Vikings when he threw a pass within nine yards of the line of scrimmage. He hit just 5-of-16 passes beyond that mark. In the same game Sam Bradford threw only three of 33 targeted passes more than 10-yards down the field as his 3.5 depth per throw per target tied for the lowest mark in football this season for a single game.
Willie Snead threw for more touchdowns (1) than Brandin Cooks had targets (zero). Cooks still has fewer under 40-yard games this season than Julio Jones. #Fact
Jonathan Stewart scored twice in Week 12 and has scored three times his last two outings. Moreover, that’s seven touchdowns in six games. #RockinAndRollin
Ryan Tannehill had a 150.3 QB Rating when he wasn’t pressured in Week 12. Overall he was sharp against the Niners hitting 20-of-30 passes for 285 yards and three scores while avoiding a pick, the 5th time in six outings that he’s done that. #ItWasTheNinersThough
Justin Tucker became the second kicker ever to hit three kicks of 50-yards in a half (Phil Dawson in 2012). He’s hit 34 kicks in a row.
Russell Wilson entered game play in Week 12 with 79 yards rushing this season. Sunday he ran for 80 yards on eight carries looking extremely spry. Alas, he threw for just 151 yards and two picks without a score as he just can’t seem to get over the hump and back to elite status in the fantasy game.
Make sure you check out Jeff Mans’ Game Recaps.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM EDT on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).