Studs And Duds From Week 12

Studs

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN – He didn’t find the endzone in this game but we can forgive him because he racked up 190 yards!  About time CJ. I’ll be treating him as a low end RB1 until im sure he really has it turned around. Hopefully he does and hopefully its not too late for you.

Drew Brees, QB, NO – The Saints have been a very good football team all year long. Brees and the offense played as close to perfect as I have seen them play all season last night and Brees ended up the top-scoring fantasy player in the NFL for week 12. If you own Brees and are headed into the playoffs, you should be ecstatic. This offense is scary to say the least and with Graham and Sproles really entrenched into this offense now, they are firing on all cylinders.

Roy Helu, RB, WAS – The Skins finally had a solid running game this week with Helu carrying the load and Torain riding the pine. We have little reason to expect Shanahan to keep riding Helu but he will remain a solid flex play for as long as he keeps being the most productive back on that offense.

Victor Cruz, WR, NYG – I am almost tempted to start rankings Cruz above Nicks but I just won’t be able to do it.  Cruz is a must-start and really ought to be above Manningham on the depth chart when both guys are healthy. Cruz’s hands and speed are a scary combination that have really proved to be a difference maker for the Giants.  Nicks is still the go-to-guy and a better red-zone target so he will remain above Cruz on my rankings but the gap is getting very narrow.

Beanie Wells, RB, ARI – Beanie is incredibly frustrating from a fantasy standpoint. He is #9 in the NFL among RBs for fantasy points scored yet he has had 4 pretty terrible games and very possibly cost you wins in each of those weeks. Bottom line with Wells is that when he is healthy, you have to start him.  The Cardinals offense relies heavily on the running game to provide balance and he WILL see a large number of carries in every start that he gets.

Johnny Knox, WR, CHI – Caleb Hanie played pretty poorly in this game but the Bears were competitive in the game and Hanie was able to exploit the Raiders’ secondary at times and find his top receiver on a fair few big plays. Knox had a great game all around and helped with kick returns too but I would be careful trusting him too much next week.  I want to see him do it next week before I bother to try and start him with my season on the line.

Duds

Jordy Nelson, WR, GB – This was a bit of an off-week for Rodgers and the Packers.  They won fairly convincingly but Jennings, Nelson AND Jones didn’t all catch TD passes.  Off weeks are tough… Keep starting Nelson as he scores far more often than not and there are a lot of mouths to feed in that passing game.

Frank Gore, RB, SF – Don’t beat yourself up for starting him, you had to. But, only one straw was going to break in that game on Thanksgiving night and it wasn’t the Ravens’. With the Rams and Cardinals as opponents over the next two weeks, Gore is sure to get things turned around.

Vincent Jackson, WR, SD – I still can’t decide what the bigger story was out of that GREAT game on Sunday between the Chargers and the Broncos; the Chargers’ continued collapse or the Broncos continued surge.  One thing is sure, talent isn’t enough.  Jackson and Rivers should easily both be top 10 fantasy producers at their positions but Norv Turner does not seem to have this team playing for anything at the moment.  VJax is just a mediocre WR2 the rest of the way and ideally you can use him in your flex.

Mike Wallace, WR, PIT – I loved Wallace this week and couldn’t have been more wrong.  I would love him again next week if they played against the Chiefs again however.  I didn’t see a lot of this game but it was disheartening that the Steelers were not able to rout the hapless Chiefs. A win is a win however so we will have to just keep playing our Steelers and not panic much over a mediocre game.