D.J. Moore : D.J. Moore went off Sunday with 7 grabs for 157 yards and a TD. The Panthers’ rookie has been getting better and better as the season goes on. What does the rest of the season hold? Well, the bad news is that Moore has 6 or more targets only twice this year (Sunday being one of those times). Thus, he will have to be very efficient to put up the fantasy points. That said, the good news outweighs the bad. First, he will get a rushing carry or two each week which will add some free fantasy points to the sheet. Second, the schedule is just tasty – Tampa, Cleveland, Atlanta and a potential shoot out with New Orleans. There is some risk but I believe.
Tre'Quan Smith : I think only Howard Bender predicted this break out game. After putting up a goose egg in week 10 (including zero targets), Smith exploded with 10 catches for 157 yards and a TD on 13 targets. Wow! He outscored Alvin Kamara , Mark Ingram and Michael Thomas . That is hard to do! Smith is a player you will have to really study each week to figure out if you can roll with him (matchups etc). However, as much as I like his talent and explosiveness, he is banged up heading into a Thursday game in Week 12 and then faces the tough Cowboys DST in Week 13 that held the Falcons to one touchdown Sunday. Bottom line. Do not give him away but if someone is willing to pay full freight, a deal makes some sense.
Doug Baldwin : Doug Baldwin reeled in 7 balls for 52 yards and a TD on 10 targets. Nice game! The bigger news is that he reported being pain free for the first time this season right before this week’s game. Baldwin has always been an underrated receiver when healthy. With two games against San Francisco and one against the Chiefs on the horizon, I like the odds of Baldwin being a factor down the stretch in fantasy and reality. Buy low(ish) while you still can. [Note – his usage in terms of targets looks like this over his last four games: 3, 4, 5, 10].
Golden Tate : Golden Tate lead the Eagles in targets Sunday with 8. He caught 5 of those for 48 yards. Yeah, I know 5-48 is hard to get excited about. However, that he lead the team in targets in just his second week says something. The Eagles are a mess. However, if you drafted Tate as the high floor, high volume guy, I think he has returned to just that. After all, the Eagles cannot really run the ball. With the Giants on the schedule next, Tate makes an interesting buy low candidate.
Allen Robinson : Last week we wrote: “Allen Robinson returned to action with a bang posting 6 grabs for 133 yards and two TD. Before Sunday, Robinson had only one game with more than 5 grabs since the 2016 season. So, is he back? Maybe but I cannot trust it. A lot of injuries and a lot of options (Miller, Gabriel, Cohen, Burton) tell me to sell high after this great game if you can.” Well, sell high was the plan. Robinson laid a fantasy egg Sunday night with just 3 grabs for 39 yards while Anthony Miller got the TD and Taylor Gabriel got the targets. Next!
Final Note: Yep, more about my Cowboys. With Amari Cooper keeping defenses honest and Sua-Filo taking over for Connor Williams and keeping DT’s out of Dak’s face, the Cowboys offense is starting to look better and better. With a potential high scoring game against the Saints in Week 13 and then games against the Bucs and Colts in the fantasy playoffs, guys like Zeke, Dak Prescott , and Cooper could all be difference makers. Looking forward to that! Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy the family, food and football (not necessarily in that order!)