Pigskin Papers Postscript - Week 15
JT - Leaving Them all in the Dust
(Posted December 21, 2021)
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Week 15 of the 2021 NFL season has been the most chaotic week of a pretty unusual NFL season. It’s Tuesday, and we’ve already had games played on 4 different days, with 2 more games to go on a 5th day. I know, I know - the week isn’t over yet. So why am I writing a recap? Because I’ve got a schedule, folks!
It’s not just the COVID chaos and rescheduling of 3 games that’s made this week a little crazy. On Sunday afternoon, for only the 3rd time in the Super Bowl era, a team that came into the weekend with the NFL’s worst record (Detroit) beat the team that came into the weekend with the NFL’s best record (Arizona) (minimum 8 games played). Funny thing - the other 2 teams that lost those games (‘95 Cowboys, ‘04 Patriots) went on to win the Super Bowl. Cardinals - you did it! Have some champagne! But that wasn’t all - later that same day, the Bucs became the first team in the Super Bowl era that, while leading the league in points, got shut out at home in a December or January regular season game. In less crazy news, the Jets, Giants, Bears and Jaguars all lost, again. So it’s not like the Earth fell off of its orbit or anything. The Texans won, but alas, they were playing the Jaguars.
Let’s just say that this NFL weekend (all 6 days of it, from start to finish) has been a pretty strange backdrop for Round 1 of the Fantasy Playoffs. Up is down, down is up, cats are chasing dogs, and it seems like half of the league has COVID, or is hurt. And for those who did play, and managed to finish their games - well, let’s just say that if you were counting on Kyler Murray, Tom Brady, Alvin Kamara, Ja’Marr Chase, James Conner, Myles Gaskin (in a dream matchup against the Jets), or a number of other fantasy assets you’ve been riding all year, you’ve got to be wondering what just happened. Meanwhile, the high scorer of the week so far is Tyler Huntley, who was in very few lineups this week. So yeah, it’s been quite a week and we aren’t done with it yet.
Without further ado, here is the Week 15 *partial* recap.
Waiver Wire, Week 16: Here’s the link to my Week 16 Waiver Wire column, which posted this morning: https://www.thepigskinpapers.com/posts-1/pigskin-papers-waiver-wire-week-16
What We Learned - Week 15
Here are a few quick-hit week 15 fantasy takeaways (and some NFL takeaways), in no particular order:
The Packers Sit Atop the NFC - Rodger That
Jonathan Taylor has been the best player in fantasy this year, and is on the kind of run that wins fantasy championships. Just plug him in, sit back, and enjoy. And he should be in the MVP discussion.
15 weeks in, and these are the current #1 seeds in each conference: Green Bay and KC. Yup, they were the #1 playoff seeds last year. Not a surprise, but it took a while to get here. Since his week 1 stinker, Aaron Rodgers has thrown 30 TDs against just 2 INTs, and he has a decent shot at a second straight MVP award. Ride your Packers - all of them. I’m still not sold on offensive consistency from the Chiefs, though.
Brandon Staley and John Harbaugh have taken the big gamble farther than has any other Head Coach. They make “Riverboat Ron” look like a little kid piloting a homemade raft. For the most part, I like it, and agree with most of the decisions they’ve made. But the Chargers should have taken the 3 points at the end of the first half. In any case, you hate the aggression if you have the kicker, but you love it if you have the QBs, RBs, WRs and TEs - and fantasy outcomes tend to cloud our views on these decisions.
Are the wheels coming off in Arizona? That was a brutal performance, against a lesser opponent in a game they needed. They survived without Nuk Hopkins before, and without Kyler also, but right now this team looks like it’s lost something.
Staying in the NFC West, the 49ers are shaping up to be the team nobody is going to want to play in the NFC playoffs. They’re kind of good at everything, especially running the ball, getting the ball in the hands of their playmakers, and playing defense. And for fantasy, right now Kittle, Deebo, Aiyuk and whoever they line up at RB are all very solid plays, with Jimmy G continuing to be a nice under-the-radar QB option.
Before you get too carried away with Duke Johnson, remember 4 things: 1. The Dolphins also have Myles Gaskin, Philip Lindsay and possibly Malcolm Brown available and in the mix this week, 2. Due to COVID, Johnson was the only RB who practiced all week for the Dolphins, 3. Miami is playing at the Saints this week (who’ve allowed the 2nd fewest fantasy points to RBs), and 4. What Johnson did was against the Jets. I’d stay far away from the Miami running game this week.
Speaking of Miami - they have now followed up a 7 game losing streak with a 6 game winning streak. Their win over the Jets was sloppy. Their final 3 is no joke - @NO, @TEN, v. NE. I don’t like any of that for their fantasy players, although Jaylen Waddle and Mike Gesicki are pretty much every week starts.
Be careful starting players on the NYG for the rest of the fantasy playoffs - that offense has been bad all year, and looks dead in the water. The Raiders are another offense to be wary of. They’ve scored only 40 points over their last 3 games and their next 2 games are against good defenses (Denver and Indianapolis).
Can we stop the carving on the Hall of Fame bust for Mac Jones, or is it already finished and on its way to Canton in a shiny oak box? He’s still a rookie, and he looked like one on Saturday night, although he did continue to battle and made some nice plays in a failed comeback. The Patriots’ offense doesn’t have a lot of firepower or explosiveness, and works best when the gamescript favors running, and running play-action off of that.
Travis For the Win!
GOAT of the Week: Travis Kelce. Kelce picked a very nice time to wake up and remind everyone that he’s a very unique weapon, in both real football and at the TE position in fantasy. He’s now on the COVID list but with the new protocols, don’t be surprised if he’s able to play this week. The final line on Thursday night:10-191-2. Wow.
Goat of the week: Tom Brady and the Buccaneers’ Offense. Oh hang on… Kyler Murray just called to complain. He says he deserves this award and he’s sick of Brady always winning everything. He sounds mad. And he pointed out that while the Cards were without Hopkins, and lost Rondale Moore during the game, the Bucs lost 3 very high-end fantasy weapons, all in the same game. Sorry Kyler, but the Bucs just flat-out stunk, and fair is fair. Brady wins again.
Wait, What??? Facts That Interest Me, and Maybe Only Me:
The All-New SanFran Hybrid - Test Drive It Today!
If you were feeling that Sunday was a low-scoring day in the NFL, you weren’t imagining it. Only 40 TDs were scored in the 10 games played - the fewest on a Sunday with at least 10 games since 1994.
The Chargers had 3 possessions inside the KC 5 yard line that resulted in 0 points.
Tom Brady had never lost a game to a team that didn’t score a TD, before Sunday night.
The Chiefs win over the Chargers was the 29th game this year decided on a game-winning final play - that’s the second most in the Super Bowl era (30, in 2012).
The last time Tom Brady was shut out in a game was December 10, 2006, when Brady was 29 years old. There isn’t a single defensive player currently playing in the NFL who was playing in the NFL on that day.
The Colts-Pats game on Saturday night was the first game between these teams since 1997 where neither Tom Brady or Peyton Manning was involved, and the first one since 1995 without Adam Vinatieri being involved.
Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are the only 2 teammates in NFL history who have had 2 separate games where they each caught 10 passes for more than 100 yards.
Deebo is the first WR in the Super Bowl era with a rushing TD in 5 straight games.
T.J. Watt set a new Steelers record with his 17th sack of the season, and his 66.5 sacks in his first 3 seasons is 3rd most all time (since sacks became an official stat).
Speaking of sacks - Bengals’ DE Trey Hendrickson has at least one in 10 straight games - one shy of the NFL record.
On Monday night, Justin Jefferson passed Randy Moss to move into 2nd place for most receiving yards in the first 2 seasons of a career, and now trails only OBJ (and only by 21 yards).
Jonathan Taylor has a rushing TD in 11 straight games - tied for the 3rd longest in-season streak since 1950.
The 2 teams with the largest point differential on the season, by far, are both in the AFC East - Buffalo (+151) and New England (+140).
13 of the 16 AFC teams have at least 7 wins after 14 weeks. That’s only happened once before in either conference, this late in the season (AFC, 2002).
Aaron Rodgers now has 442 passing TDs, tying him with Brett Favre for the most ever for the Packers.
E.J. Speed of the Colts (great name for a football player - it’s up there with D’Andre Swift) is the first player since Ed Reed (1993) to return 2 blocked punts for TDs in the same season.
As I said, this stuff might interest only me.
Thanks for reading the Pigskin Papers. Coming Thursday - the Pigskin Papers Week 16 Fantasy Preview!
DH
***This column (the weekly fantasy recap) appears each Tuesday, as does the weekly Waiver Wire column, and the weekly fantasy preview each Thursday. Please bookmark the site and come back often. You can also follow us on Social Media on Instagram (thepigskinpapers) and Twitter (@PigskinPapers). We appreciate your patronage and welcome your feedback. You can post in the comment boxes or email us at pigskinpapers@gmail.com.***
