I saw a funny line on Twitter yesterday that went, “At some point, Philip Rivers is going to drop back, look down field and see nothing.” With all the injuries the Chargers have suffered to their receiving corps — Malcom Floyd, Legedu Naanee, Antonio Gates — Rivers is seemingly running out of options, but you wouldn’t know it by the numbers (295 yards, 4 TDs) he put up against the Texans. I mentioned rookie Seyi Ajirotutu (4-111-2) as a good desperation play in my weekly Love ‘Em & Leave ‘Em picks, and I wish I would have taken my own advice. (I picked up Michael Jenkins instead, on Falcon super-fan Anthony Stalter’s advice. Thanks for nothing, Stalter.) Randy McMichael (2-23-2) caught only two passes, but they were both TDs. Ryan Mathews (11 touches, 60 yards) had a nice thing going before he left the game with an ankle injury. For the Texans, Owen Daniels was a scratch and Joel Dreessen (5-66) had the second-most yards of any Texan receiver. Andre Johnson (4-41) was quiet.
LeGarrette Blount (13 carries, 46 yards) followed up a big Week 8 performance with a less-than-stellar day, but the Bucs weren’t able to commit to the run since they trailed for much of the game. Carnell Williams vultured eight carries and didn’t do anything (13 yards) with them.
Steve Johnson (11-145) is entering must-start territory. His streak of consecutive games with a TD ended at five, but with 145 yards and 14 targets, he’s clearly Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s favorite target. Roscoe Parrish (7-60-1) has now caught 23 passes in the last four weeks and is worth a look in PPR leagues. C.J. Spiller (7 carries, 20 yards) had just one fewer carry than Fred Jackson (8 carries, 16 yards, TD), so the RB situation may be tightening up in Buffalo. For the Bears, Matt Forte (17 touches, 61 yards) had a surprisingly quiet game against the Bills’ league-worst rush defense. Greg Olsen (3-29-1) caught a TD and was the most-targeted (8) receiver for the Bears.
Peyton Hillis (29 carries, 184 yards, 2 TD) is a beast. He ran over and around the Patriots this week and even caught three passes for 36 yards. On the flip side, BenJarvus Green-Ellis (9 carries, 14 yards) really struggled after a big Week 8 performance against the Vikings. Danny Woodhead (11 touches, 92 yards) continues to be the safer option, at least in PPR formats. Aaron Hernandez (5-48-2) caught a couple of TD passes, but only one was actually intended for him. The other was a deflection and Hernandez made a nice adjustment on the catch.
Calvin Johnson (1-13) visited Revis Island and…well…let’s just say that it didn’t go very well. Nate Burleson (7-113-1) picked up the slack but he wasn’t in very many lineups this week. Brandon Pettigrew (3-18-1) caught another TD to save an otherwise quiet game. He very nearly had another. Matthew Stafford (240 yards, 2 TD) had a nice game before being forced out do to an unspecified injury to his throwing shoulder. Needless to say, this is worrisome. For the Jets, Santonio Holmes (5-114) finally had a big game thanks to his 52-yard catch that set up the game-winning field goal in overtime. Dustin Keller (4-59) is suffering from a lack of targets. Holmes’ return negatively impacted Keller’s production.
Percy Harvin (9-126) was limping around in warmups, but turned in an excellent game, which saved Brett Favre (446 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) and maybe the Vikings’ season. With Randy Moss now gone, Favre spread it around to Bernard Berrian (9-89, 11 targets), Visanthe Shiancoe (4-66-1, 5 targets), Greg Camarillo (4-66, 5 targets) and Greg Lewis (4-30, 6 targets). Aside from Shiancoe, any value here is going to disappear if/when Sidney Rice finally returns. Looking at the Cardinals’ running game, Beanie Wells (1 carry, -2 yards) was supposed to start, but he didn’t play much at all, so his knee is clearly still a big issue. After being passed by LeRod Stephens-Howling (4 carries, 0 yards) last week, Tim Hightower (13 carries, 39 yards) got the start and did his typical 3.0 ypc thing.
Jonathan Stewart (5 carries, 30 yards) had a nice game going until he was knocked out of the game after a hard hit by Darren Sharper. Tyrell Sutton (7 carries, 41 yards) filled in, but he left with an injury as well. Steve Smith 1.0 (1-9) was very nearly shut out and should be avoided in bad matchups at this point. Matt Moore (13 yards) was knocked out of the game and any semblance of a passing game went with him.
Ronnie Brown had his best game in seven weeks, gaining 99 yards and scoring on a 12-yard run. It’s a good sign that he got it going against a pretty good Baltimore rush defense. The Miami passing game is a mess. Chad Henne (231 yards, 3 INT) had a rough games and none of his receivers did much of anything save for Brian Hartline (4-85), who had a 34-yard catch.
Austin Collie (1 catch, -1 yards) made his return and was knocked out — literally — on a near-catch down the seam and left on a stretcher. He was sitting up and alert later on, so that’s good, but his short-term availability is in doubt. Peyton Manning (287 yards, TD, 2 INTs) leaned heavily on Jacob Tamme (10-101-1, 16 targets) and Reggie Wayne (11-83) and surprisingly less-so on Pierre Garcon (2-15, 7 targets). Blair White (3-42) stepped into Collie’s WR3 role.
The Raiders were in dire need of some receiving help, and I thought that Darrius Heyward-Bey (0-0) might be the one to step up after a very nice Week 8, but DHB once again proved that, like people in masks, he is not to be trusted. Luckily for Oakland, rookie Jacoby Ford (6-148) decided to have his coming out party. Not only did he look great shredding the Chiefs’ pass defense, he returned a kickoff in the third quarter for a score. He’ll be a hot waiver wire pickup this week as the Raider receiving corps are in disarray. Meanwhile, in our weekly examination of the Chiefs backfield, Jamaal Charles (15 touches, 100 yards) had a much better ypc than Thomas Jones (5.3 vs. 1.7) yet Jones got 19 carries to Charles’s 10. It’s befuddling.
In the night game, James Jones (8-123-1) definitely had an ‘up’ in his up and down season. As a Packer fan, I’ve seen him play a lot, and the last couple of weeks it didn’t really seem like he was working to get open when Aaron Rodgers left the pocket. He has the talent to be an excellent WR2, but there are times that he disappears. He didn’t disappear against the Cowboys. Dez Bryant (9-86-1) was terrific for the Cowboys, and has definitely caught the eye of Jon Kitna (183 yards, TD, 2 INT). I am starting to get a little worried about Miles Austin (2-16). Preceding his Week 8 performance against Jacksonville (7-117), he had back-to-back bad games against the Vikings (2-12) and the Giants (3-38). The schedule doesn’t get much easier over the next month (NYG, NO, IND), so if you are thinking about moving him, now might not be a bad time.
