DISASTER THY NAME IS
Dwayne Allen – tell you all the time – not to chase points. Still, a zero catch effort a week after three scores... that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
Kelvin Benjamin caught one pass for 11 yards and he was “benched” (or was he?) late after a second pass thrown his way was given little to no effort on. Benjamin scored three times the first two weeks but he has been EXACTLY the player I warned everyone he would be this season as he’s scored just twice since. The last two games he’s caught three balls for 29 yards. #MightAsWellBeInStreetClothes
Drew Brees failed to throw a touchdown pass for the second straight game. Drew Brees threw for three picks for his second straight games. Two things to note. (1) Michael Thomas didn’t play in Week 14 (foot). (2) Brees had two touchdown passes dropped in the end zone in Week 14. #NotThatThoseOfYouWhoStartedBreesCare
Derek Carr used 41 passes in Week 14 against the Chiefs to throw for... no scores and 117 yards. He was ineffective as any quarterback, in the history of the league, who threw 40 passes in a game. He had gone for at least 260/2 each of the previous three games.
Amari Cooper caught five balls but they went for 29 yards. He’s been under 60-yards in five consecutive outings after he went nutso for 173 yards on 12 catches against the Bucs to close out October.
Stefon Diggs hasn’t scored in five games and had a stinker against the Jags with three receptions for 55 yards. That’s a three game average of 50.3 yards for the “#1WR” for the Vikings.
Mike Evans caught three for 38 yards last week. We all expected a massive rebound effort versus the Saints. It didn’t happen as he caught just four of eight targets for 42 yards. Evans averaged 12.0 targets a game his first 11 games. He’s seen a total of 14 targets his last two outings. He’s also failed to score in 4-of-5 outings. #SoulCrushing
Larry Fitzgerald hasn’t scored in eight games, but the volume is always there. He saw nine targets, a traditionally normal number for him, but he was able to catch just three passes for 12 yards in a disastrous effort as Carson Palmer looked completely unlike a solid NFL quarterback. Twelve yards. #GoodnessGracious.
Devonta Freeman had scored two touchdowns in each of his last two outings. He produced no scores in Week 14 and his overall effort was destructive to his owners as Freeman touched the ball eight times leading to 18 yards. My goodness, Terron Ward had 10 touches for 24 yards. #WhatTheHell
Melvin Gordon carried the ball three times for five yards before injuring his hip. The last 10 games he had run for two scores or 70 yards nine times (he missed out with 69 rushing yards once). He had also caught at least four passes in 6-straight. He caught none against Carolina.
Jimmy Graham caught one ball for 16 yards. One. He should have had a 58 yard score though as Russell Wilson simply missed him on a pass.
Ladarius Green caught two balls for 26 yards. #YouOnlyHaveYourselfToBlame
Mark Ingram ran for 14 yards in Week 14. That’s two games in a row with seven carries. #UnbelievableForAFormerRB1
DeAndre Hopkins... don’t even know why I should be noting it anymore. Two catches, 33 yards. #SameCrapAsAlways
Marcus Mariota completed six passes in Week 14 as he had a 30 percent completion percentage. That’s the lowest in a win, with a minimum of 20 passing attempts, since 2009.
Brandon Marshall caught there balls for 33 yards. He’s been under 50-yards in 4-of-5 games. He used to get 50-yards in a half.
Donte Moncrief hurt his hamstring, again. He didn’t catch a pass. He had scored in 5-straight games.
Cam Newton is embarrassingly bad right now. In 4-straight games he’s failed to complete 15 passes. In 4-straight games he’s failed to throw for 250-yards (three times he failed to reach 195 passing yards). He has one or zero touchdown passes in 6-of-7 games. He’s run the ball 19 times the last four games for 56 yards. He doesn’t look like he even cares at this point as his performance has regressed this season in every conceivable objective measure. #HeIsTotallyUseless
Terrelle Pryor – say hello to Robert Griffin III. Pryor caught one pass for three yards. #OMG
I said all week that Jordan Reed either had a grade-3 separation with his shoulder and wouldn’t play, or the team was lying. Reed played in Week 14 and... caught one pass for 10 yards. #YouWereScrewedIfYouPlayedHim
Ben Roethlisberger failed again on the road. He flat out stinks right now. He failed to toss a score, threw three picks, and for the third time in four games he failed to throw for 225 yards. Since returning from injury he’s been no better than average, and Week 14 was yet another low point in a season that has included 10 scores and seven picks the last seven games.
Russell Wilson had five interceptions in 12 games coming into Week 14. He tossed five interceptions against the Packers in Week 14. One pass was late and meant nothing, while two of them were not his fault including a brutal non-catch by Doug Baldwin. As Jeff Mans put it... Wilson went full Colin Kaepernick in this one. #GreatTiming
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Le’Veon Bell notes. (1) He is averaging 128.5 yards from scrimmage per game. That is the highest mark in NFL history (minimum 40 games). (2) Bell has produced 1,616 yards from scrimmage through his first 10 games of the season. The only player ever with more was Jim Brown in 1963 when he produced 1,704. (3) Bell ran for 236 yards, a team record. (4) Bell gained 298 yards in Week 14, more than the entire Bills team (275). That’s the first time a player has done that this season.
The Bengals produced 101 of their rushing yards after contact against the Browns in Week 14. LeSean McCoy ran for 27 yards on 12 carries in Week 14 for the Bills. He produced 30 yards after contact.
Tyler Boyd hauled in six balls for 49 yards in Week 14. Oh yeah, he also ran twice for 40 yards as a ball carrier. That’s a four-week run with only one score but an average effort of 5.25 receptions and 57.8 yards. Do that for 16 games and you end up with 84 receptions and 924 yards.
The Broncos really ran the ball nine times with Devontae Booker and Justin Forsett? Really? They ran the ball a mere nine times for 18 yards while Forsett lost a fumble. Booker had one more snap than Forsett, though of course that doesn’t matter in the least. #DisasterBomb
Jamison Crowder caught two of five targets for 37 yards. That’s five receptions in two games and three of four with three or fewer. He’s caught three or fewer passes in 6-of-10 games.
Eric Ebron caught 14 passes in Weeks 8-9. The Lions had a Week 10 bye. In the four games since then Ebron has gone for 11 receptions and no scores. In fact, he hasn’t scored since Week 1. #ExcitedAboutHimForNoRealReason
Zach Ertz saw 13 targets in Week 14 catching 10 of them for 112 yards. That’s a rather amazing 28 target the last two games for Ertz who also has at least 11 targets in ¾ games. All of a sudden is seeing the workload of two normal tight ends. He’s scored twice in four games. #PutMeInCoach
Taylor Gabriel scored a 64 yarder for the Falcons. There wasn’t a defender within 10 yards of him when he caught the ball. #BlownCoverageSpecial Even with no Julio Jones, Gabriel managed just six targets... a season best.
Pierre Garcon has caught at least five passes in 5-of-6 games now as he went for 5-59-1 in Week 14. He’s only scored twice in eight games, but he’s been averaging about six grabs for 70 yards for well over a month now.
Doug Martin was supposed to lose work in Week 14. Didn’t happen. Martin carried the ball 23 times, and caught to balls, as he hit 23 carries for the third time in four games. In the three games he’s carried the ball 23 times he’s run for 63, 87 and 66 yards. #Liars
Jerick McKinnon caught six balls in Week 14 for 38 yards, but on the ground it was another disastrous outing of 31 yards on 14 carries. It’s amazing to think that he is far and away the best option in the backfield for the Vikings. Matt Asiata scored but he also ran for 37 yards on 11 carries and was repeatedly stuffed on short yardage plays that included a fumble at the goaline. This team cannot run the football. #DontCountOnAdrianPeterson
DeVante Parker went for 13 receptions and 182 yards in Weeks 10 and 11. The last three games he’s caught eight balls for 112 yards. He caught two balls for 14 yards in Week 14. Still cannot trust him at all, which is especially true now that Ryan Tannehill is out with his knee injury. #Tease
Jordy Nelson has caught 57 scores from Aaron Rodgers tying the Brett Favre/Antonio Freeman duo for the most in team history.
Bilal Powell entered Week 14 with 311 rushing yards. He destroyed the Niners for 145 yards on 29 carries. He also scored twice as a runner against a beleaguered Niners club. He entered the game with one rushing score. #ThatsWhatHappensWhenMattForteGetsHurt
Philip Rivers has 12 turnovers in four games as it’s become a bumbling zone of ineptitude with some of the Chargers offensive performers. At this point, it’s more likely than not that Rivers will turn the ball over twice than he will throw for 275 yards. #Crumbling
Aaron Rodgers got a ton of time to throw against the Seahawks and throw he did for three scores and no picks. That’s the 37th time he has done that, fourth most in NFL history.
Jonathan Stewart didn’t run for 70-yards in Week 14 but note that he scored and busted nine tackles, a massive number that ties for the second most of his career.
Carson Wentz has attempted 106 passes the last two games. That should be his total for three games, not two. Wentz didn’t play poorly at all in Week 14 as he threw for 314 yards and a score, but he also was picked and lost a fumble late to end the Eagles chance of winning. That’s four touchdown passes in six games for Wentz who has seven picks in four outings.
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).