Adrian Peterson putting the Cardinals on his back highlights this week’s NFL Week That Was.

Adrian Peterson: Peterson carried 37 times for 159 yards and added two grabs for four yards.  That is a solid 18+ fantasy points in PPR.  With Drew Stanton under center, I do not see AP’s workload reducing any time soon.  Every time people doubt him, “All Day” proves them wrong.  Indeed, he already has two 100+ yard games in his 3 games with Arizona.  With most 30+ year old running backs I would tell you they cannot take the pounding of 30+ touches a week.  Peterson is just a different animal and I believe he can take it and will.  With Seattle coming up on the schedule, AP will still likely be undervalued in your league.  Take advantage.

Alvin Kamara:  Kamara lit up the fantasy football scoreboard Sunday scoring two TDs, amassing 152 total yards and adding 6 receptions for good measure.  In most PPR set-ups, that amounts to 30+ fantasy points.  Awesome.  Kamara got equal time with Mark Ingram as he had just one less touch than the supposed RB1 on his team.  With Atlanta on the schedule in the critical fantasy playoff weeks 14 and 16, Kamara is a must own.  Moreover, given Ingram’s high profile, Kamara actually may still be a buy-low candidate.  Buy if you can.  [Note:  For those of you who ask whether one can play both Ingram and Kamara in your lineup, the answer is yes.  This week it would have netted you 40+ points. I for one am happy to get 40 total points from two RBs any day]

Tyreek Hill:  Hill had one of the most electric plays of the season converting a short pass to a half-ending, miracle TD Sunday against the Cowboys (and yes, as a Cowboys fan I uttered some words that would make people blush on that play but let’s move passed that).  The so-called “Hill Mary” play highlighted just how elusive and gifted Hill is (and how poorly the Cowboys played defense on the play but I digress again).  The problem from a fantasy perspective is that his highlight reel play masks the fact that Hill was given only 6 touches in the entire game.  SIX!  It is hard to consistently put up big fantasy numbers if you do not touch the ball.  Indeed, the Chiefs have yet to get the ball into Hill’s hands 10 times in any game this year.  Conclusion:  If you own and start Hill, make sure you have some good high floor players in your lineup because Hill could easily disappear in a given week.  Indeed, absent the fluke, poorly-defensed end of half play Sunday, Hill would have had just 17 total yards.  17.  Tread cautiously.

Tyrod Taylor: Taylor continues to be fantasy underrated.  Thursday, when his team looked like [expletive deleted], Taylor produced for his fantasy owners throwing for 285 yards and two TD while adding the ever valuable 35 rushing yards and a rushing TD.  Given that his schedule is filled with high-powered offenses such as the Patriots twice, Chiefs and Saints, Taylor will be called upon to do a lot – and will from a fantasy perspective.  In addition, he will finally have a real arsenal soon as Kelvin Benjamin gets acclimated and Charles Clay returns to help Tyrod and Shady score some points.  I am in. He is almost (if not already) plug and play in fantasy.

Marshawn Lynch:  Finally!  In the second half Sunday night the Raiders finally went Beast Mode and it paid off for them in terms of a road win for the Raiders and big-time fantasy points for Lynch owners as the RB went for 57 yards and two TD.  Lynch also added 2 catches for 6 yards.  People have been quick to write Lynch off but this looks more and more like what the Raiders had planned – limit Lynch’s usage and exposure early in the year, ramp him up a bit pre-bye week and then let Beast Mode loose through the last 6 games or so of the season.  With a bye next week (his second if you will given the suspension), Lynch should be fresh to play the smash mouth football we all expected.  With the Raiders’ bye this week, Lynch may be someone you can grab inexpensively from an owner needing to fill injury/bye week holes.  I continue to believe and you should too.  [Note:  while this statistic does not jump off the page, Lynch is averaging over 4 yards per carry in each of his last three games].

Joe Mixon:  Last week we wrote: “Ok, I admit it.  I bought into the Joe Mixon hype this week.  On the surface, 109 total yards plus 3 receptions is not too shabby.  However, a deeper dive shows that Mixon rushed 11 times for just 18 yards and had only 14 touches total.  Worse, 67 of his 109 yards came on one screen play.  Take that out and you are left with 13 touches for 42 yards.  Blech.  With Jacksonville, Tennessee and Denver next up, I am not optimistic.  Worse, it just does not seem that Cincy is willing to make Mixon their bell cow back despite all evidence that they should.  Maybe next year.”  Well despite being without A.J. Green for most of the game, Cincy gave Mixon just 13 carries.  Mixon for his part did little with them, gaining only 31 yards.  Again, I say, maybe next year.  Even in a week with six teams on bye, Mixon hurt you.  Pass.

Final Note:  Those who want to win a fantasy football title in December should keep the rhetoric and hysteria in check in November.  The Rams are not a 50-point team, the Broncos are still a threat at home, the Eagles are good but are not guaranteed to reach the Super Bowl, etc.  Be careful to take a step back and consider your projections and expectations for the season as you plan for either a playoff run or for a run to try and sneak in to the playoffs in fantasy football.