Lots to discuss after Week 12, so rather than waste your time with some not-so-clever introduction, let’s just get right to it…

Christian McCaffrey is unfadeable moving forward

The original thought here was, after another huge week, Saquon Barkley was someone you needed to have in your DFS lineups each week if you wanted to cash. He had five touchdowns in his last two games and was a clear-cut staple in most winning lineups. But having watched Christian McCaffrey ’s masterful performance against the Seahawks on Sunday and looking at both their schedules moving forward, it looks as if it is McCaffrey you covet moving forward and not Barkley. Panthers OC Norv Turner wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to get the diminutive back 20-30 touches per game, and while he didn’t always hit that mark, McCaffrey has seen plenty of work to get him going. In Week 9 against Tampa Bay, McCaffrey shifted into high-gear with 157 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns on 22 touches and now, over the last four games, he’s been an absolute beast with at least 27 fantasy points in three of four games, including two 30-point extravaganzas. Now with the Panthers sitting at 6-5 on the fringe of the NFC playoff picture, they’re going to have to lean on their running back more than ever. Fortunately, we’re looking at match-ups against the Bucs, the Browns, the Saints and the Falcons over the next four weeks and three of those run defenses rank near the bottom in the league right now. Giddy up!

Melvin Gordon owners who didn’t handcuff deserve to be bounced from the playoffs

Week 12 opened up with a bit of a scare for those who own Melvin Gordon as word broke late Friday that he was going to be questionable for Sunday and then Saturday we were told he was a game-time decision. The panic ensued and a lot of his owners were frantically looking for a potential replacement. Um…Austin Ekeler maybe? What? You don’t own Ekeler? You’ve got a star running back who is featured in his team’s offensive scheme and you don’t own his handcuff? What’s wrong with you? Have you learned nothing? If you didn’t own him weeks ago, why didn’t you trade for him? It’s the same thing with those who own Kareem Hunt and Todd Gurley . Last week, I heard a bunch of analysts on SiriusXM imploring you to handcuff these guys for fear of them being sat late in the season. I laughed my ass of because it was at least two weeks prior to that I told you to start stealing handcuffs and stash the likes of Ekeler, Spencer Ware and Malcolm Brown . If you owned any of the top three running backs, you should have made preparations back then. To do it now? Snooze, you lose, jackass! I know, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Well, if you opted to stay thirsty and not protect yourself, I cannot be sympathetic to you crying about missing Gordon now for the next few weeks while he recovers from the MCL sprain he suffered Sunday. You blew it.

The Patriots won’t go gentle into that good night

OK, fine. We can take Sunday’s 27-13 win with a small grain of salt because it came against the Jets, but fantasy owners need to pay attention. Just when you’ve counted out the Patriots and dismissed their aging personnel, they bounce back in such a way that makes you wonder if you can win your fantasy championship with an “old school” lineup. While yes, they couldn’t have done it without Sony Michel rumbling for 133 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, this win was vintage Patriots as Tom Brady threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns – one, a 34-yard strike down the middle to Rob Gronkowski and the other, a 21-yard catch-and-run to Julian Edelman . These guys spent two weeks preparing for this game while listening to the media count them out in favor of the Saints, Rams and Chiefs. The last thing anyone wants to do is put a chip on the shoulder of this team. It would be tough for them to compete with some of the league powerhouses, but do you want to tempt fate and see what kind of a game plan Bill Belichick can drum up against them? Get those Gronk shares now!

Aaron Rodgers is on his way out

The fact that he’s thrown just one pick all year and none in his last seven games is certainly impressive, but are we really to believe that this is the Aaron Rodgers we drafted back in August? The inconsistent completion percentage all year long? Just three games with 300 or more passing yards out of 11 starts? Three touchdown passes in just two games this season? The red zone work has been limited and have we even seen a patented game-winning two-minute drive this season? The schedule may soften a bit over the next five weeks, but is this team even going to the playoffs? And maybe he spread the ball around a little bit, but let’s face it – the only pass-catcher worth owning in this offense is Davante Adams . He sent a few over to Equanimeous St. Brown and Jimmy Graham , but can someone tell him to stop ghosting Marquez Valdes-Scantling ? What the heck happened between these two? We get it, Green Bay. Tough to move on and start anew, but this is starting to look like nothing more than aging mediocrity.

Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards are products of the Ravens’ schedule

Sorry, folks. You can say it til you’re blue in the face, but after watching another start by Lamar Jackson and another game from Gus Edwards , you’ve got to be bat-shit crazy to believe these two are going to be NFL powerhouses moving forward. Jackson scaled back the running this time after almost landing in concussion protocol last week and he looked lost as a passer. He completed just 56-percent of his passes and threw two interceptions en route to a pretty blah performance against a weak Raiders team. Meanwhile, Edwards managed to creep over the century mark again, but only because Baltimore needed to chew up the clock in what turned out to be a pretty lopsided win. The sad part is that the rest of the schedule is littered with defensively-challenged teams like the Falcons, Bucs and Chiefs and fantasy owners who don’t look beyond the surface are going to think this is going to be the tandem to own over the next few seasons. But hey, this is how we raise snowflakes in this day and age, right? Give them a teal ribbon for participation and pat them on the back for a mediocre job to build up their confidence? Thanks, but no thanks. Sign me up to watch the game against the Chargers in Week 16 so I can watch Joey Bosa beat the snot out of them both.

Quick Hits

Unless you’re a Cowboys or a Saints homer, Thanksgiving football sucked this year. That first game was a joke, then second game was just annoying and the third game was a colossal disappointment for fantasy purposes. Pass the turkey and put me to sleep, please.

I guess we know who the real Nick Mullens is, right? That guy we watched against the Raiders a few Thursdays ago? Buh-bye. We’re never going to see that guy again. With or without Marquise Goodwin , if he can’t dominate a lame-duck defense like that of the Bucs, then he’s got no business being in your lineups.

Here’s hoping Doug Pederson realizes the Eagles won the game because he actually stuck to the run-first game plan this week. It would have been real easy to give up on it after Josh Adams ’ 52-yard touchdown run was called back and the running back needed to come out after injuring his shoulder. But Pederson got his guy back, stuck to it and the results speak for themselves. Literally, the easiest formula for success and yet is eludes so many coaches who think they’re just smarter than everyone else.

Kudos to Leonard Fournette for his two-touchdown game, but let’s face it – the only interesting thing about that Bills/Jags game was the fight that saw Fournette ejected for throwing punches.

Philip Rivers could be the most underrated quarterback, especially by fantasy owners. So underrated that the guy tied an NFL record for most consecutive completions (25) and actually broke the single-game with the 25 he opened up Sunday’s game with. He’s also the only quarterback to throw at least two touchdown passes in every game this season. So you just keep sucking off Rodgers and Brady as third and fourth-round picks, people. I’ll keep grabbing Rivers in the 12th and winning.

The Steelers may be 7-3-1 and likely headed for the playoffs, but fantasy owners are going to have to pump the brakes on using Ben Roethlisberger if they want to advance further in fantasy. The guy has thrown five interceptions in his last two games and he does not look like a stable option upon whom to rely for your team. Sure, he’s got home starts in two of the next three weeks, but against the Chargers and Patriots? How can you be confident in that? Did you see that last pick he threw on Sunday?

Great game for Kenyan Drake this week as he found the end zone twice and racked up a total of 96 all-purpose yards, but how do you trust this guy? Forget that….how do you trust Adam Gase?

And finally….Colts look like a different team without Marlon Mack on the field, don’t they? You better hope he clears concussion protocol this week. Not every remaining game is against a doormat like Miami.

I’m sure there’s plenty more to complain about but that will do it for now. I’ll save some for today’s show.

Bender out.