This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
-Although the Chargers couldn't get the road win over the Bills, Austin Ekeler was highly promising in his return from injury. Rather than working back in slowly, Ekeler played a high-volume role off the bat, taking 14 carries for 44 yards while catching 11 of 16 targets for 85 yards. He did all that in what was a down game for Justin Herbert, who completed only 31-of-52 passes for 316 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
-Joey Bosa bullied Bills quarterbacks to the tune of five hits and three sacks, which was understandably difficult for Allen to work through against the Chargers. Completing 18-of-24 passes for just 157 yards, one touchdown and one interception, Allen got more mileage on the ground (32 yards and one touchdown) in the disappointing matchup.
-The Buccaneers chose to approach the Chiefs offense with man-to-man coverage Sunday, a decision that all but lost them the game by the end of the first quarter. The Buccaneers would end up making it close in Kansas City's 27-24 win, but Tyreek Hill had 210 of his 269 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter alone.
-Tom Brady wasn't very good against the Chiefs in real-life terms, but he came through for his fantasy investors by completing 27-of-41 passes for 345 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Ronald Jones did a good amount of the work for Brady after the catch on a 37-yard touchdown reception, and Brady was inefficient toward both Mike Evans (three
-Although the Chargers couldn't get the road win over the Bills, Austin Ekeler was highly promising in his return from injury. Rather than working back in slowly, Ekeler played a high-volume role off the bat, taking 14 carries for 44 yards while catching 11 of 16 targets for 85 yards. He did all that in what was a down game for Justin Herbert, who completed only 31-of-52 passes for 316 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
-Joey Bosa bullied Bills quarterbacks to the tune of five hits and three sacks, which was understandably difficult for Allen to work through against the Chargers. Completing 18-of-24 passes for just 157 yards, one touchdown and one interception, Allen got more mileage on the ground (32 yards and one touchdown) in the disappointing matchup.
-The Buccaneers chose to approach the Chiefs offense with man-to-man coverage Sunday, a decision that all but lost them the game by the end of the first quarter. The Buccaneers would end up making it close in Kansas City's 27-24 win, but Tyreek Hill had 210 of his 269 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter alone.
-Tom Brady wasn't very good against the Chiefs in real-life terms, but he came through for his fantasy investors by completing 27-of-41 passes for 345 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Ronald Jones did a good amount of the work for Brady after the catch on a 37-yard touchdown reception, and Brady was inefficient toward both Mike Evans (three catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns on nine targets) and Antonio Brown (two catches for 11 yards on three targets). Chris Godwin was automatic as almost always, though (eight catches for 97 yards on nine targets).
-Daniel Jones suffered a hamstring injury against Cincinnati that could cause him to miss time beyond Week 12. It's unfortunate especially given how Jones was playing reasonably well Sunday, completing 16-of-27 passes for 213 yards and running for 19 yards before leaving the game. Colt McCoy proved a major downgrade (6-of-10 for 31 yards) and presents a harsh downgrade for all of Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, and probably Evan Engram.
-Derrick Henry (27 carries for 178 yards and three touchdowns) and A.J. Brown (four catches for 98 yards and one touchdown on six targets) did all the work against the Colts, who badly struggled without DeForest Buckner.
-DJ Moore suffered an ankle injury and was missed for a potential touchdown on the play he suffered the injury. As much as Teddy Bridgewater had vaguely acceptable numbers at a glance (19-of-36 for 267 yards, one touchdown and one interception), he generally played poorly against a bad group of cornerbacks. Bridgewater's job security might not be something to fully take for granted.
-In a game where Baker Mayfield posted clean numbers (19-of-29 for 258 yards and two touchdowns), the majority of the work was done by Jarvis Landry, who caught eight of 11 targets for 143 yards and one touchdown against Jacksonville. Austin Hooper caught both of his two targets for 13 yards and a touchdown, but his usage under Kevin Stefanski is almost unthinkable given the contract Cleveland signed Hooper to in the offseason. Hooper is the league's fourth-highest paid tight end this year and there couldn't possibly be more than eight teams that would have utilized him less than Cleveland.
-James Robinson had perhaps his most impressive game yet in a rookie season full of promising details, overcoming a Mike Glennon offense to produce against a Browns defense that has at least been competent against the run in 2020. Robinson ran for 128 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries while adding five receptions for 31 yards on six targets. Collin Johnson was encouraging (four catches for 96 yards and one touchdown on eight targets), but maybe the 6-foot-6 wideout only drew so many targets in a demonstration of giraffe solidarity by Glennon.
-COVID tore through the Broncos QB room and forced Denver to start undrafted slot receiver Kendall Hinton, effectively handing a forfeit victory to the Saints. They no doubt welcomed the help – Taysom Hill couldn't throw at all against the Broncos and might have lost them the game if they had actually needed to move the ball. Luckily for the Saints, the Broncos defense instead collapsed under its impossible task, and the reductive Hill-Latavius Murray ground game was able to carry the Saints to an easy win against a harmless opponent.
-Kyle Shanahan is fallible and sometimes disappoints in certain spots, but he's showing that he might be the league's most dangerous coach when expectations are low. There's no real good reason for the 49ers to get a road win against a 6-3 opponent when they're without George Kittle, Jimmy Garoppolo, Brandon Aiyuk, Nick Bosa and K'Waun Williams, but they pulled it off anyway in the 23-20 victory. Having the league's best cornerback didn't save the Rams from Deebo Samuel, who almost single-handedly carried the 49ers offense by catching 11 of 13 targets for 133 yards.
-Although Jared Goff pretty much blew it against the 49ers on Sunday (19-of-31 for 198 yards and two interceptions), there wasn't much help from the Rams ground game, either, with Darrell Henderson (10 carries for 19 yards) and Malcolm Brown (three carries for four yards) proving nearly useless. Perhaps Cam Akers will get more work in Week 13 after springing a 61-yard run.
-Perhaps it was the result of his injured throwing shoulder or perhaps it was more so to do with the matchup, but Kyler Murray wasn't good against the Patriots on Sunday, completing 23-of-34 passes for 170 yards and an interception while running for 31 yards on five carries. The Cardinals passing scheme is sometimes punctual but never dynamic -- Murray's running ability has bailed out the Cardinals from this reality for much of the year -- and in Week 12 they drew dud cards on all counts.
-Despite securing the victory, Cam Newton was still far worse than Murray in that game, completing 9-of-18 passes for 84 yards and two interceptions, running for 46 yards on nine carries. The highs have been there are a few points for Newton this year, but the lows have been jarring and not always obviously foreseeable.
-Ryan Fitzpatrick didn't have much help against the Jets aside from DeVante Parker (eight catches for 119 yards on 14 targets), but Fitzpatrick held it together well enough to complete 24-of-39 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns. He might need to start more games as Tua Tagovailoa deals with a thumb injury.
-Derek Carr for some reason fell apart against the previously awful Atlanta defense, completing only 22-of-34 passes for 215 yards and an interception. Darren Waller was conspicuously absent (four catches for 23 yards on seven targets) while Josh Jacobs produced just 27 yards on seven carries plus three catches for 17 yards on three targets.
-Perhaps Dirk Koetter can take some of the blame away from Matt Ryan, but it's well documented by now that the Atlanta offense all but collapses once Julio Jones leaves the lineup. Even against one of the league's weakest secondaries, Ryan completed just 22-of-39 attempts for 185 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The running game carried the Falcons even with Todd Gurley out, as Ito Smith (12 carries for 65 yards and one touchdown) and Brian Hill (13 carries for 55 yards) both produced more yardage on the ground than any Falcons player did as a receiver.
