Hot Fire Fantasy Football Questions: Week 12
Our “Hot Fire Fantasy Questions” series examines Week 12 following up recent news, fantasy performances, and implications for owners moving forward. Our Hot Fire contributors from our Fantasy Footballers writing staff includes Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive) and Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg). Give them a follow on Twitter along with all of our Footballers accounts to get goodness like this:
My name is mike. And I survived Amari Coopers thanksgiving explosion. Which #FootClan peeps out there were able to endure?? pic.twitter.com/EwpuNtn73l
— Mike Wright (@FFHitman) November 26, 2018
1. Which 2nd-year player’s monster performance is most impressive: Christian McCaffrey or Juju Smith-Schuster?
All due respect to Juju but, depending on your scoring, he wasn’t even the #1 WR this week. McCaffrey pulling off 100 rushing and 100 receiving is an insanely rare task. Our own Kent Weyrauch pointed out on Twitter that it’s only the 3rd time that has happened this decade. He caught all 11 of his targets and would have been a top 10 WR on just his receiving numbers. CMC is making a late push to finish as a Top 5 RB and if he can pull off half of what he did on Sunday, he should make it with no problem. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
I’ll comment on both because they both knocked my socks off. CMC’s usage is everything we hoped for in the preseason. The targets saw a lull in the middle of the season but they’ve picked up recently as Cam Newton is looking for easy 5-to-6 yard gains instead of chucking it down the field. You have a bonafide RB1 in PPR leagues who is seeing 100% of the RB volume. I started CMC against of all people…. Juju in my main league. I thought the matchup with Chris Harris Jr. was going to give me the upper hand. The 97-yard TD was a massive swing (16.7 points in PPR) but he was peppered with volume all game long. At this point, he belongs in the low-end WR1 conversation and is among the best dynasty assets as he just turned 22! –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)
2. Give us one player who disappointed owners the most in Week 12.
Going back to Thanksgiving Thursday, it’s got to be Alvin Kamara. Kamara owners had to be foaming at the mouth after seeing what pure offense could produce during that Monday night game between the Rams and Chiefs. With the Falcons and their Swiss cheese defense coming to town, it seemed that Kamara would be having a similar scoring extravaganza. Instead, he finished with a modest 98 total yards, 1 reception, and 0 TDs. That is close to or below 10 fantasy points in most scoring formats, not even close to what we were hoping for in a game where the Saints scored 31 points. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
To keep with the Saints theme, Michael Thomas definitely pooped your team Thanksgiving night. It’s not a fault of his own but simply the fact Drew Brees shows no favoritism. There will be weeks where the TDs go Kamara and Ingram’s way or in this case, the way of the illustrious foursome of Carr, Kirkwood, Arnold, and Smith. Don’t feel too much shame. You’ve had arguably the best WR in fantasy so join the rest of us in the occasional poopsville. –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)
3. Which solid RB2 would you want heading into playoffs: Matt Breida, Phillip Lindsay, or Sony Michel?
I’ll take all 3 but if I’m choosing it’s Phillip Lindsay. My reasoning is simple and goes back to one of my favorite phrases: The best ability is availability, Breida and Michel have the potential to take over a game when they play but both have missed time due to injury this season more than once and aren’t as dependable as Lindsay has been thus far. Lindsay, on the other hand, has been low RB1/high RB2 in 4 of his last 5 games and is a jack of all trades in this Broncos offense. Of the 3, he’s the only set it and forget-it-guy. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images
For sheer upside in a given week, Breida can absolutely explode especially for PPR leagues. His involvement in the passing game and Kyle Shanahan makes him the most intriguing. However, the possibility of injury looms for him as well as Sony Michel. Michel is the most dominant between-the-tackles runner and is on the best offense. However, Lindsay has been so consistent which is what I want out of an RB2. He’s had 84+ yards from scrimmage in 5 straight games along with 3 TDs. He’s still running at a 5.8 clip and is seeing 60+ percent of the snaps. –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)
4. Give us one stat line to pay attention to from Week 12.
D.J. Moore was targeted 9 times on Sunday and that makes it 22 targets over his last 3 games. He seems to be starting to develop into the #1 WR that Cam Newton so desperately needs. The reason I draw your attention here is that Carolina has a very WR-Friendly schedule to end the year. All 4 of his opponents from Week 13 to Week 16 rank in the top 10 of points allowed to WRs and 2 of them are in the top 3. Volume is king for WRs and it would appear that as we start the fantasy playoffs, Moore is about to see the lion’s share for Panther WRs going into an extremely favorable schedule. –Ryan Weisse (@TheFantasyFive)
I’m a big fan of Dante Pettis and loved his role coming into this week. When Marquise Goodwin was declared out, Pettis was the one I pivoted to in DFS. In Week 10 before the bye, Pettis ran 71% of his routes in the slot. However, this week he moved outside showing his versatility running 81% of his routes out wide and seeing 91% of the snaps overall. Pettis caught an early TD and finished with 4 catches on 7 targets for 77 yards. He’s a sneaky PPR add and someone definitely to pay attention although he faces Seattle twice in the next 3 weeks. –Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg)