NFL Fantasy Football Reactions: Week 15

As always, plenty of the top fantasy players disappeared during the fantasy playoffs. Obviously, a number of players also did their job and came through as expected. Overall, in leagues in which teams can earn a bye week in the fantasy playoffs, the bye allows some to avoid that variance. Hopefully, those who had playoff games this weekend, were on the positive side of fortune. Let's look at today's NFL action.

Reactions

• For years, the Bills had one of the best passing attacks in the NFL. Since Joe Brady took over as offensive coordinator a month ago, the offense  has leaned heavily upon James Cook as a runner and receiver. Coming into this game, Cook had at least 100 scrimmage yards in four straight games. Those performances paled in comparison to what he did to Dallas. The second-year player had the game of his life with 221 scrimmage yards and a pair of touchdowns. No other Buffalo player had a strong fantasy performance. Fortunately for Josh Allen, he was able to run in a touchdown to give him a pair of scores on the day to go with minimal yardage. Allen attempted just 15 passes due to game script. Outside of Cooks and Allen, start any Bills players at your own risk. It's nearly impossible to consider Gabe Davis when setting lineups. Not only does he have five goose eggs on the season, but he has them in three of his last four games. Finally, Stefon Diggs has failed to reach 10 PPR points in four of his last five games, so even he is a risky fantasy option.
• We've heard a narrative for most of the season that the Cowboys are not the same team on the road as they are at home. Their performance against Buffalo will make that narrative even louder. The Cowboys were unable to move the football against the Bills defense. Things were so bad that Buffalo brought their backups in with 11 minutes left in the game. That allowed Dallas to get a late rushing TD from CeeDee Lamb. When looking ahead to the fantasy semifinals, it does appear a bit troubling that Dallas will be on the road at Miami next week. It may help that the Dolphins are dealing with injuries, but the Cowboys will feel the pressure to challenge the negative narrative they face. In good conscience, I won't recommend benching any of the key Cowboys simply because they're playing on the road. 
• The Buccaneers had one of their best offensive performances of the season. It was a bit of a surprise, especially with them traveling to Green Bay. As we've often seen, the Packers played an extremely soft brand of defense. That led to Baker Mayfield throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns. Despite coming into this game with a knee injury, Chris Godwin was dominant. He caught 10 of 12 targets for 155 yards. Fortunately, Mike Evans found the end zone in a game he reached just 57 yards. Over the weeks, we've become accustomed to seeing Rachaad White have excellent  fantasy performances. He did it again. The running back posted 139 scrimmage yards and a receiving touchdown. We're never quite sure what to expect from the Tampa Bay offense on a weekly basis, but the most reliable options remain Evans and White.
• It was surprising to see Green Bay fail to top 20 points. They were facing a Buccaneers defense that was decimated by injuries. Also, Tampa Bay had not been playing well against the pass for much of the season. Jordan Love had a solid fantasy day with 284 yards and a pair of TDs.. Surprisingly, the leading receiver was Dontayvion Wicks. The young wideout caught six of seven targets for 97 yards. Those who had to start Wicks as a flex were rewarded for having faith in him. Although it was great to see Aaron Jones back from injury, his 69 yards was uninspiring, especially after he had much of that yardage on the first drive of the game. Jayden Reed led the team with eight targets, leading to a solid fantasy day consisting of 52 yards and a TD.  As we reach the end of the season, Reed is the one player who appears to have the best weekly floor. 
• It was just another day at the office for the 49ers. Even though they had an easy matchup at Arizona, the fact they hung 45 points on them is no less impressive. Christian McCaffrey was the main superstar. He posted 187 yards and three touchdowns. Although Brock Purdy passed the ball just 25 times, four of those throws resulted in touchdowns. Even though Deebo Samuel had 59 scrimmage yards, he found the end zone twice. Of course with so few passing attempts, not everybody was going to have a great game. George Kittle caught two passes for 54 yards while Brandon Aiyuk caught three passes for 37 yards. As I say most weeks, you risk missing an upside game if you bench any of the top 49ers players. 
• Although Arizona was outmatched by the excellent San Francisco defense, they did get a couple of decent fantasy performances. For those who started James Conner, he had a 44-yard run to get him up to 89 scrimmage yards. The powerful running back also scored on a goal-line carry to give him a strong fantasy performance. Despite a difficult positional matchup, Trey McBride continues to dominate. He was the only Arizona player with more than three targets. with 11 passes thrown his way, he caught 10 of them for 102 yards from Kyler Murray. The only must-start in this offense is McBride.
• Fantasy managers were rightfully concerned when Tyreek Hill was unable to play due to his ankle injury. We've seen the Miami offense struggle without their superstar on the field. It was also worrisome that the Dolphins were facing an outstanding Jets defense. Jaylen Waddle took care of business, leading the team to a blowout victory. Waddle was the only player on the team to post big yardage. He ended the day with 142 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. Raheem Mostert continued his incredible season. He scored twice to give him 20 touchdowns on the season. Despite not reaching 50 scrimmage yards, the TDs gave him a strong performance. Otherwise, Tua Tagovailoa and De'Von Achane provided a bit of production, but nothing that significantly helped for fantasy. 
• Things could not have gone worse for the New York Jets. Coming off a week in which they had strong fantasy production from Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson, the team imploded against Miami. Those who needed to start Wilson and or Hall ended up with very little fantasy production. there wasn't a single player who did well. 
• Going into New Orleans with a limited offense often leads to problems. That's exactly what happened to the Giants. Including the quarterback, Tommy DeVito, no player reached 12 fantasy points. With New York being blown out in the third quarter, Saquon Barkley was limited to nine rushing attempts and two targets. Also, Darren Waller returned from injury. The veteran tight end looked great on a 29-yard reception, but he ended the day with four catches and 40 yards. Realistically, the only player that we can trust in this offense is Barkley, and even in that case, he's not a lock to come through in each game.
• The Saints didn't have to do very much to earn the victory against the Giants. Although Derek Carr threw just 28 passes, he turned that into three touchdowns. Otherwise, the most effective remaining player was Alvin Kamara. The running back had 21 touches, and he was able to churn out 110 scrimmage yards. It certainly hurt the potential for a big offensive game that the team was without Chris Olave. That said, they never had to be very aggressive in a game they controlled from start to finish.
• Joe Flacco gives, and he also takes away. He threw a pair of interceptions that gifted Chicago 14 points. Those points allowed the Bears to have a lead for almost the entire game. When all looked lost, the veteran quarterback mounted an incredible comeback. Flacco threw for 374 yards and two touchdowns to go along with three interceptions. In each of his three starts, he's been a useful fantasy option. As he often does, Flacco leaned heavily upon Amari Cooper and David Njoku.  Both receivers reached 100 yards and scored touchdowns. The duo accounted for half of the passes that were thrown. Cleveland got very little from their running game, but they also had to abandon it when trailing in the second half. Although the offense can break down in any given week, it seems reasonable to put Flacco, Cooper and Njoku  in the fantasy circle of trust.
• There's little question that the Bears offense was going to be overmatched in a game at Cleveland. DJ Moore led the team with 52 scrimmage yards. Although the Bears scored 17 points, that was largely on the back of their defense. They returned one interception for a touchdown. They also took another pick deep in the red zone that resulted in Cole Kmet finding the end zone. On the last play of the game, Justin Fields attempted a Hail Mary pass. The ball was knocked around and fell right in Darnell Mooney's hands, but the receiver was unable to maintain control of the ball. That play would have resulted in a last-second win for Chicago. As usual, the backfield was an unpredictable mess. With the Browns pass rush becoming a bigger problem as the game went on, Roschon Johnson ended up leading the backfield in rushing attempts and targets. It'll likely be an exercise in futility to expect this backfield to have clarity as the season winds down. 
• In a game that was heavily impacted by rain, the Falcons laid one of the biggest fantasy football eggs of the weekend. Bijan Robinson had eight touches that resulted in 17 yards. He also fumbled the football. After the fumble, Tyler Allgeier took a prominent role down the stretch. Fantasy managers who survived this week will have to make a decision on how much to trust Robinson going forward. Typically, he sees enough volume to be a solid fantasy contributor. Unless you have ridiculous options along with Robinson, it's likely there's no other choice but to start him. Over the course of the season, we've seen drastic splits for Drake London in home games versus road games. London was held without a catch until the fourth quarter, The second-year receiver ended up catching two passes for 24 yards. Unfortunately, the home/road trend seems real. It'll be very difficult to trust London in any games that are played outside of Atlanta.
• The Panthers were able to secure their second victory of the season with a last-second field goal. Carolina was only able to score nine points, but it was enough. The only fantasy player to have a solid performance was Chuba Hubbard. The second-year running back had 24 touches that led to him record 103 yards. Hubbard continues to be a fantastic volume-based fantasy play. Whether he gets it done as a runner, receiver or at the goal line, he's had a great weekly floor. He should be trusted in fantasy lineups each week. 
• In last week's game, Hunter Henry had a big fantasy performance despite being targeted just three times. It was very difficult to expect him to repeat that success with such low volume. Against the Chiefs, the volume was no issue. Henry easily led the team with nine targets, catching seven passes for 66 yards and scoring another touchdown. Henry injured his knee late in this game, so fantasy investors will need to pay attention to his status going into next week. Unfortunately, Ezekiel Elliott was the target of the Kansas City defense. That led to him having a very disappointing afternoon. Despite receiving 11 rushes and six targets, the veteran running back totaled 46 yards. To make matters worse for Elliott, Kevin Harris secured the only rushing touchdown on one of his four carries. If Elliot receives another start, fantasy managers will have to consider a potentially vast range of outcomes if choosing to place him in lineups.
• From a fantasy football perspective, the Chiefs got slightly back on track against the Patriots. Patrick Mahomes had a rare 300-yard passing game. Facing a New England defense that gives up plenty of production to receiving backs, both Jerick McKinnon and Clyde Edwards-Helaire had strong fantasy performances. For the fourth game in a row, Rashee Rice saw at least nine targets. The rookie continues to be extremely productive. Rice caught all nine targets for 91 yards and a touchdown. I believe he must be  considered an auto start each week. As expected, the Patriots did all they could to limit Travis Kelce. The superstar tight end dropped a likely touchdown that would have salvaged his fantasy day. Otherwise, his five receptions resulted in just 28 receiving yards. The KC offense remains week-to-week. Other than Rice and Kelce, It's difficult to have a high level of trust in any of the players having a ceiling outcome in a given week.
• After producing a pair of goose eggs, Noah Brown went into this game with a negative trend. In addition, Case Keenum was his quarterback, as C.J. Stroud missed this contest with a concussion. I found it nearly impossible to recommend Brown as an option in the fantasy playoffs given these circumstances. The former Cowboy ended up with an excellent performance. Brown easily led the team with 11 targets. He hauled in eight passes for 82 yards and a touchdown to help lead the under-manned Texans to an improbable victory. Also, it seemed reasonable that the Titans would sell out to stop Devin Singletary and make the backup quarterback beat them. The veteran running back was up to the challenge. Singletary handled 30 touches and gained 170 scrimmage yards. The only thing missing from him having a mammoth fantasy day was the fact he didn't score a touchdown. At this point, it'll be very difficult to bench Singletary based on volume and his recent production. As we know, all players have downside in any particular matchup. Such is the case for Singletary as well, but volume is king in fantasy football, and Singletary has that in his favor.
• For years, Derrick Henry had many mammoth fantasy performances against the Texans. Clearly, Henry is no longer the fantasy force that he once was. Regardless, it was unbelievable that the star runner posted 10 yards on 20 touches. This came after Henry had been outstanding when playing on his home field. In addition, DeAndre Hopkins was coming off an amazing effort against the Dolphins. He was nowhere close to that level of production this week. Hopkins was targeted nine times but caught just two passes for 21 yards. This performance could not have been more disappointing for his fantasy investors. It's possible that Tennessee made the mistake of taking a wounded opponent lightly. We see this happen all the time. It's probably best to treat this week as if it didn't happen when making lineup decisions on Henry and Hopkins next week.
• Sam Howell has been a very useful fantasy option for many this season. However, his real- life performances can be very troubling for an offensive coordinator. Apparently Eric Beinemy and/or Ron Rivera had enough when they were trailing the Rams midway through the fourth quarter. Howell was benched for Jacoby Brissett. In just 10 passing attempts, Brissett threw for 124 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It'll be interesting to see how the Commanders handle the quarterback position going into Week 16. Curtis Samuel scored a pair of touchdowns, with one coming from each of the two quarterbacks. He remains a volatile weekly option with upside. After posting a zero in his last game, Terry McLaurin came up huge catching 6 of 12 targets for 141 yards and a touchdown. It's always dangerous to bench McLaurin, as he is a legitimate superstar who is often hampered by circumstances outside of his control.
• In a game that ended up with a close final score, The Rams were largely in control throughout the entirety of their victory over the Commanders. Matthew Stafford didn't have to do very much, but he ended up with 258 yards and two touchdowns. For the second week in a row, Cooper Kupp went over 100 yards with  a touchdown. After periods of not knowing what we'd get from him each week, he seems to be a player we can trust down the stretch.  Also, for the third week in a row, Demarcus Robinson came up with another solid fantasy performance. Even though he's been unreliable as a fantasy option throughout his career, Sean McVay is coaching at such a high level right now Robinson cannot be discounted as a potential flex option. There's not much to say about Kyren Williams. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that he has to be considered a top-five running back going forward. nothing has changed.

Injuries

The following players injured and were unable to return to action:

•  Jayden Reed injured his toe In the fourth quarter. It was unclear how severe the injury was.
• Marquise Brown aggravated a heel injury that's been a problem for weeks.
• Hunter Henry suffered a knee injury.
• Zach Wilson suffered a concussion after a horrible start to the game. Trevor Siemian wasn't much better when finishing out the game.