This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
One of the biggest storylines heading into the weekend was Bills head coach Sean McDermott's decision to bench starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor in favor of rookie Nathan Peterman, a fifth-round pick (171st overall) out of the University of Pittsburgh. Taylor wasn't playing like an elite quarterback this year because, well, he's not an elite quarterback, but he led the team to a 5-2 record before losing to the Jets and Saints. Taylor threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 35 yards and another score against the Jets, but his dreadful performance against the Saints (9 of 18 for 56 yards and one interception, 27 rushing yards) led to his benching. In fact, Peterman took over in that game, completing 7 of 10 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown in garbage time.
"I've been impressed with the maturity from Nathan Peterman. I'm comfortable making a calculated risk to try and get us where we need to go."
Nothing exemplifies how risky a move is more than when it goes wrong. And it all went wrong for McDermott and Peterman on Sunday. An interception on his opening drive was returned for a touchdown and it was off to the races for the Chargers' defense, who intercepted Peterman five times in the first half. The first interception wasn't really Peterman's fault, as the ball bounced off his receiver's hands and popped to a defender, but the subsequent four certainly
One of the biggest storylines heading into the weekend was Bills head coach Sean McDermott's decision to bench starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor in favor of rookie Nathan Peterman, a fifth-round pick (171st overall) out of the University of Pittsburgh. Taylor wasn't playing like an elite quarterback this year because, well, he's not an elite quarterback, but he led the team to a 5-2 record before losing to the Jets and Saints. Taylor threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 35 yards and another score against the Jets, but his dreadful performance against the Saints (9 of 18 for 56 yards and one interception, 27 rushing yards) led to his benching. In fact, Peterman took over in that game, completing 7 of 10 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown in garbage time.
"I've been impressed with the maturity from Nathan Peterman. I'm comfortable making a calculated risk to try and get us where we need to go."
Nothing exemplifies how risky a move is more than when it goes wrong. And it all went wrong for McDermott and Peterman on Sunday. An interception on his opening drive was returned for a touchdown and it was off to the races for the Chargers' defense, who intercepted Peterman five times in the first half. The first interception wasn't really Peterman's fault, as the ball bounced off his receiver's hands and popped to a defender, but the subsequent four certainly were, as Peterman looked completely lost on nearly every drop back. He finished 6 of 14 for 66 yards while also fumbling (it was recovered by the Bills) before being replaced by Taylor for the second half. Taylor wasn't great either, including getting stripped on a sack that was returned for a score, but he still completed 15 of 25 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown while also rushing four times for 38 yards and another score in the 54-24 loss. In fact, Taylor was the seventh-highest scoring fantasy quarterback this week (two games pending) despite only playing one half.
Throwing a rookie quarterback in the fire midseason is always a tough decision, and you never really know what to expect, as Bills running back LeSean McCoy described earlier this week:
LeSean McCoy said this on Wednesday about #Bills QB Nate Peterman..."He's gonna throw for 4-5 touchdowns or he's gonna go for five picks? I don't know." pic.twitter.com/CQ86527TdP
— Jonah Javad (@JonahJavad) November 19, 2017
The Bills' offense has been really bad over the bad three games, sure, but you can't ignore the fact the team has given up 135 points in that span. They weren't all given up by the defense, a unit that's particularly taxed because of all the three-and-outs by the offense, but to put all of the struggles on Taylor's shoulders seemed like an decision that should have been second guessed. Instead, McDermott said after Sunday's game that he won't second guess his decision to start Peterman and would evaluate the tape before making a decision on who starts next week.
Fantasy owners were naturally worried that McCoy's value would take a hit because of Peterman, but those worries were unfounded as he rushed 13 times for 114 yards and a touchdown while also adding a 12-yard touchdown reception to finish as the top fantasy running back in PPR formats. One of the knocks on the Bills' offense was that they didn't have that many good receivers, an issue that was apparently more of one for Peterman than Taylor. Jordan Matthews was inactive for Sunday's game because of a knee injury, and then recently acquired Kelvin Benjamin was knocked out because of his own knee issue. Regardless of who starts in Week 12 at Kansas City, it's tough to see anyone other than McCoy having a big fantasy day given the limitations in the passing game.
Peterman added his name to a list of players we saw under center in Week 11 whom we barely considered as starting players in preseason drafts during training camp. Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum, Brett Hundley, Brock Osweiler, Tom Savage and Mitchell Trubisky started Sunday after being clear backups during training camp (Savage won the starting job out of training camp but Deshaun Watson was consistently drafted earlier). Some became starters because of injuries and others due to coaches' decisions, and while few fantasy owners started these guys and were overly optimistic, we not only saw a few of them succeed, but they showed that their teammates can thrive as well.
Gabbert, starting for the injured Drew Stanton, who was starting for the injured Carson Palmer, was the highest-scoring fantasy player of the group, completing 22 of 34 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns while adding three carries for 13 rushing yards in a 10-point loss to the Texans. He did throw two interceptions, but his solid play allowed wideout Larry Fitzgerald to catch nine of 10 targets for 91 yards and a touchdown, making him the seventh-highest scoring wideout for the week. Additionally, rookie tight end Ricky Seals-Jones caught three of five targets for 54 yards and two touchdowns, finishing as the second-highest scoring tight end. Congrats to everyone who had the Gabbert/Seals-Jones stack going this weekend.
O.J. Howard was the fourth-highest scoring tight end after catching three of four targets for 52 yards and a touchdown from Fitzpatrick, who finished just behind Gabbert on the fantasy scoring list for quarterbacks. Completing 22 of 37 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns, Fitzpatrick wasn't able to get Mike Evans involved much, but the wideout still caught half of his 10 targets for 92 yards in a 30-20 win over the Dolphins, who had to turn to their own backup quarterback, Matt Moore, after Jay Cutler was removed to be evaluated for a concussion.
Meanwhile, Keenum continued his excellent play for the Vikings, helping Adam Thielen to six catches on nine targets for 123 yards and a touchdown. Davante Adams caught eight of 10 targets for 126 yards despite Brett Hundley's continued struggles, DeAndre Hopkins caught four of nine targets for 76 yards and a touchdown while seeing plenty of Patrick Peterson (and becoming the first player this season to catch a TD pass in six consecutive home games), and Demaryius Thomas had five catches on nine targets for 64 yards and a touchdown.
On the running back front, Trubisky kept the Lions' defense honest enough that Jordan Howard could rush for 125 yards and a touchdown and Tarik Cohen could rack up 59 yards and a score on 13 touches (nine carries, four receptions). And Hopkins wasn't the only fantasy product for the Texans, as D'Onta Foreman rushed 10 times for 65 yards and two touchdowns and added 15 receiving yards on three receptions while Lamar Miller rushed 22 times for 61 yards while catching four of five targets for 22 yards and a score.
None of this is to say we should start targeting players with poor quarterbacks because we all know that's not a realistic strategy. But it is at least a reminder that poor expected play under center doesn't guarantee poor results for the other skill positions.
In fact, all of this talk about certain players over-performing should push us to recognize that the top quarterbacks for the week were Kirk Cousins (332 passing yards, three touchdowns), Ben Roethlisberger (299 yards and four touchdowns), Tom Brady (339 yards and three touchdowns) and Drew Brees (385 yards and two touchdowns). Each got at least one wide receiver into the top 20 (PPR) at the position for the week, though only Roethlisberger (Antonio Brown) and Brady (Brandin Cooks, Danny Amendola) had top-10 wideouts.
Brees' strong game needs to be examined a bit more, mostly because he has always been known as an excellent fantasy option due to his volume. However, the Saints' offense has been much different this year and it's because of their dedication to the running game, one that saw Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara finish as the second and third-highest fantasy scoring RBs in PPR formats this week. Ingram did most of his damage on the ground, rushing 11 times for 134 yards and a touchdown and catching three of four targets for 21 yards, while Kamara rushed eight times for 42 yards but caught six of nine targets for 74 yards and a score. We've relied on Brees to produce fantasy-relevant wideouts and tight ends for years, but the Saints have finally found a strong balance that has made two of their running backs playable in most fantasy formats every week.
