This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
One week after complaining that Le'Veon Belldidn't score enough touchdowns, which was why David Johnson was a better fantasy running back, the Steelers star rushed for a team-record 236 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 27-20 win over the Bills in snowy Buffalo. And let's not think that all his damage was on the ground, as Bell also caught four of five targets for 62 receiving yards. He has broken the 100-rushing-yard mark in four consecutive games (three on the road), and he scored two touchdowns in Week 10 before the streak started.
Fantasy owners who put their faith in Bell during draft season despite a three-game suspension to start the year have been heavily rewarded during fantasy playoff time, and with the Steelers still fighting for their own playoff lives, there's every reason to believe Bell will continue his heavy usage (he had an astonishing 38 carries Sunday and 80 in the three prior games). Up next is a game against the Bengals, who Bell missed earlier in the season due to the suspension, but backup DeAngelo Williams was able to rush 32 times for 94 yards and also add four receptions for 38 yards and a touchdown.
Bell's heroics weren't matched by Johnson, though he was still able to extend his streak of games with at least 100 yards from scrimmage to start a season to 13, joining Edgerrin James (2005) for the most in league history. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Johnson failed to get
One week after complaining that Le'Veon Belldidn't score enough touchdowns, which was why David Johnson was a better fantasy running back, the Steelers star rushed for a team-record 236 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 27-20 win over the Bills in snowy Buffalo. And let's not think that all his damage was on the ground, as Bell also caught four of five targets for 62 receiving yards. He has broken the 100-rushing-yard mark in four consecutive games (three on the road), and he scored two touchdowns in Week 10 before the streak started.
Fantasy owners who put their faith in Bell during draft season despite a three-game suspension to start the year have been heavily rewarded during fantasy playoff time, and with the Steelers still fighting for their own playoff lives, there's every reason to believe Bell will continue his heavy usage (he had an astonishing 38 carries Sunday and 80 in the three prior games). Up next is a game against the Bengals, who Bell missed earlier in the season due to the suspension, but backup DeAngelo Williams was able to rush 32 times for 94 yards and also add four receptions for 38 yards and a touchdown.
Bell's heroics weren't matched by Johnson, though he was still able to extend his streak of games with at least 100 yards from scrimmage to start a season to 13, joining Edgerrin James (2005) for the most in league history. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Johnson failed to get into the end zone for the first time since Week 8 (not counting his Week 9 bye), a fairly muted performance in the first round of many fantasy playoffs.
One guy who didn't have the touchdown problem was Packers wideout Jordy Nelson, who caught six of seven targets for 41 yards and two touchdowns, his 10th game this season with at least one score. After missing all of last season due to injury, Nelson is now just one touchdown short of matching his 2014 total, and he's just three short of the career-high 15 he had back in 2011 (he already has more receptions this year than five years ago). His yardage totals aren't quite as high as we've seen in the past, but Nelson should easily reach the 1,000-yard mark, paying off the faith (like Bell) of fantasy owners who took him within the top-10 wideouts during their drafts. Unfortunately, it also likely increases injury optimism, as people are much more willing to think of Nelson during draft time next year instead of Jamaal Charles when they are considering a player coming back from a serious injury.
On the other side of the spectrum, many top-tier fantasy quarterbacks failed to live up to pre-weekend expectations, though so many of them struggled that they likely didn't ruin too many playoff matchups. While some guy named Tom Brady still has to play (the Patriots host the Ravens on Monday night), no quarterback this week had beatenAndrew Luck's 25.0 fantasy points (standard scoring), an impressively low total for a week. Luck's day was hardly fantasy-matchup changing, as he completed 24 of 45 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns, while also throwing two interceptions and rushing twice for 32 yards. Of the previous 13 weeks this season, 25.0 fantasy points would have barely registered, and in some cases would have been the worst QB score in 10-team leagues:
Week 13: sixth (high for the week: 35.1)
Week 12: ninth (38.1)
Week 11: eighth (32.9)
Week 10: 10th (35.3)
Week 9: 12th (35.1)
Week 8: 11th (43.0)
Week 7: sixth (31.4)
Week 6: T-11th (39.3)
Week 5: ninth (35.0)
Week 4: T-sixth (42.6)
Week 3: eighth (33.6)
Week 2: 11th (37.4)
Week 1: 10th (37.7)
There were still three quarterbacks who each threw three touchdowns (Matt Ryan, Ryan Tannehill and Aaron Rodgers), but Rodgers led them with 246 passing yards, while Tannehill threw for only 195 and he had an interception. Making matters worse, Tannehill left Sunday's game with a knee injury, and it's believed to be a season-ending torn ACL, which, given the timing, could affect him for next year as well. Ryan, Tannehill and Rodgers were the highest-scoring quarterbacks after Luck, and they were followed by the Lions' Matthew Stafford, who threw for 223 yards and one touchdown. However, it was a rushing touchdown that helped him move up to fifth on the fantasy points list (he finished with 22.7 thanks to two interceptions), and he did it in dramatic fashion, leading the Lions to their eighth fourth-quarter comeback of the season, the most in a year since 1950. However, it came at a cost, as Stafford is believed to have dislocated the middle finger and torn ligaments on his throwing hand in the game. He was able to finish out while wearing a glove, something he'll have to wear, possibly with a splint, for the rest of the season, which is probably not an ideal situation for a guy who throws the ball for a living.
If you're a Russell Wilson fantasy owner thinking it couldn't get worse than his five-interception game against the Packers, at least you didn't have Drew Brees against the Buccaneers. Wilson did finish with fewer fantasy points (17.9) than Jared Goff (18.0) and Blake Bortles (18.2), but Brees was especially terrible, finishing with the 22nd-most fantasy points among quarterbacks (behind even Bryce Petty!), throwing for 257 yards and three interceptions. After throwing for at least 300 yards and two touchdowns in three of four games, Brees has been atrocious in his last two, completing 56 of 85 passes for 583 yards and no touchdowns, while also getting picked off six times. Brees may have helped more than a few teams make their fantasy playoffs, but he was likely just as responsible for having them crash out.
