Sunday Aftermath: Justin Herbert's injury, AD Mitchell's big day and more
Four Week 13 Storylines
Justin Herbert busts his hand, uncertain for Week 14. Being a Charger? You know it don't come easy. After a September that suggested this might finally be theyear for our beleaguered Bolts, it's instead been ayear. As in, it's been a long year, brother." Bad enough, but especially so since it's encompassed only two months in Chargerland. LT Joe Alt is out, which has had Herbert running for his life. Now he has a broken finger, one that requires surgery. Herbert being a football player, he will probably somehow play through for it Week 14 against the Eagles. Herbert being a Charger, it figures to go disastrously. Not producing like a QB1 for some time now, Herbert will be impossible to rank inside the top 12 should he manage to suit up for the final week of the fantasy regular season.
Adonai Mitchell sends a disturbance through the fantasy force. If our guy could only catch aball, he would be a star. Sunday he caught eight of them, but he also caught the oneof them, finally hitting the big play he has been building toward all season, if not all decade. Mitchell's 52-yard score featured him both blowing right by the corner and also coming back to an imperfect pass to make a beautiful sliding grab in the end zone. Week, spiked. Career, potentially saved. Longtime readers of this website know you can hardly declare mission accomplished" when a player of Mitchell's ilk finally has a good game, but we have proof of spiked week concept. Although as volatile as they come, Mitchell's WR4 upside can no longer be denied heading into Week 14 against the Dolphins.
Bryce Young goes sicko mode in upset victory. Young's latest comeback victory was tallied in the utmost of styles. The young quarterback has eight career touchdown passes of 30-plus yards. Three of them came against the Rams on Sunday, including what proved to be his game-winning, 43-yard dart to Tetairoa McMillan. Young remains frustratingly inconsistent, but that in and of itself is progress. Before he was just consistently bad. Now there's an Any Given Sunday element to his game that has him doing things like coming back and beating the best team in the NFC. He's still too much of an enigma to trust in one-QB fantasy leagues, but Young is quietly raising his floor while, yes, actually hitting his ceiling every now and then.
Aaron Rodgers adds broken face to litany of indignities. Frozen Favre" comes to mind. If you don't remember Favre's broken jaw against the Patriots during his final season, that's ok. It's a lot like what we saw from Rodgers on Sunday. One key difference is Rodgers actually returned to the game. The question is why. Increasingly injured and entirely immobile, Rodgers has no one to throw to. Of the players who are out there catching passes, they are constantly drawing Rodgers' ire. This is joyless football, but more damningly, it's ineffective, boring football. There is no point to this experiment. There are no upside outcomes. It's hard to hang it up. Rodgers, of course, deserved to go out on his own terms." They've just proven to be exceptionally depressing. Not even DK Metcalf is looking like more than a boom/bust WR4 for the fantasy playoffs.
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Four More 13 Storylines
Michael Pittman Jr. turns invisible as Colts begin to fade in earnest. MPJ is the ultimate safe pair of hands. The guy who can move the chains on second or third down. So why does he have just eight catches for 59 yards over his past three appearances? Daniel Jones and matchups. The Colts are no longer dictating the pace of play. Playing from behind far more often over the past month, they find themselves in more obvious passing situations. That, to put it mildly, is not where Jones shines. So it has counterintuitively hurt Pittman's volume and production as the Colts have been in more traditional passing scripts. Playing from behind also means a greater emphasis on down-field wideout Alec Pierce. Suddenly, it's not just about moving the chains, but having to make something actually happen. That is not Pittman's specialty. Pittman is still startable, but he's back in his low-ceiling WR3 ancestral homeland rather than his high-floor WR2 environs from earlier this year.
Brian Thomas Jr. barely contributes in return as Parker Washington leaves with injury. How badly has Brian Thomas Jr. struggled this season? The official Jaguars account is tweeting out blockinghighlights. Active for the first time since Week 9, Thomas could muster only two catches on three targets. Although it's the Jags had more than a half of non-competitive game script against the Titans, target rivals Jakobi Meyers and Brenton Strange both managed to go at least 3/45/1. Washington was lost in the process, clearing out some of the target competition riff raff, but it might almost be to the point that you're better off letting BTJ go off on your bench rather than sinking your third receiver spot. If you don't have that luxury or don't believe in sitting supposed stars, Week 14 opponent Indy is at least down its No. 1 corner after losing Sauce Gardner to a calf injury.
Bucky Irving shakes off snap count for touch domination. Technically, the Bucs were not lying. Irving's snaps were indeed rationed. He was on the field for just 54 percent of the plays. It's just, when he was out there, he was getting the ball. 19 times to Rachaad White's five and Sean Tucker's two. There was no committee. There was certainly deliverance for a Bucs offense that needed an extra element with the passing attack amongst the most injured in the league. In the end, it was not a dominant Irving performance, but one that gave the defense something extra to think about. It also hinted at much more to come if 19 handles is Irving's return baseline. If you made it this far with your playoff odds intact, Irving is looking like quite the hold.
Aaron Jones injures shoulder yet again as Max Brosmer goes Peterman Mode. Jones is one tough player - with one loose shoulder. The Vikings want Jones to be the focal point of their offense as their passing attack ceases to exist. His upper body simply will not allow it. It's removed any hope of a rescue mission for this moribund offense, and left fantasy managers without a potential RB2. With Jones likely to miss Week 14 against the Commanders, it creates yet another spot start opportunity for Jordan Mason, though the 49ers castoff has lacked explosiveness while displaying only modest efficiency. With touchdowns all but impossible to come by in this offense, Mason remains an uninspiring FLEX.
Early Waivers Look (Players rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues)
QB: C.J. Stroud (@KC), Tua Tagovailoa (@NYJ), Tyler Shough (@TB), Tyrod Taylor (vs. MIA), Marcus Mariota (@MIN)
RB: Bhayshul Tuten, Chris Rodriguez Jr., Bam Knight, Blake Corum
WR: Adonai Mitchell, Jayden Higgins, Josh Downs, Luther Burden III, Jalen Coker, John Metchie, Dontayvion Wicks, Devaughn Vele, Isaac TeSlaa
TE: Colston Loveland, Brenton Strange, Dalton Schultz, Evan Engram, Harold Fannin Jr., Darren Waller, Isaiah Likely
DEF: Chiefs (vs. HOU), Bucs (vs. NO), Vikings (vs. WAS), Dolphins (@NYJ), Commanders (@MIN), Titans (@CLE)
Stats of the Week
Trey McBride already has more touchdown receptions (seven) from Jacoby Brissett in seven career starts than he does from Kyler Murray (five) in 38 career starts.
Along those same lines, Jacoby Brissett is now tied with Dak Prescott for the most 300-yard passing performances of the season (four).
If you thought Max Brosmer went beyond merely pulling a Nine" and instead pulled a Peterman," that's because he did, via Benjamin Solak: Max Brosmer is the first quarterback to throw 4-plus interceptions in his first career start since ... Nathan Peterman in 2017."
Awards Section
Week 13 Fantasy All-Pro Team:QB Patrick Mahomes, RB Bijan Robinson, RB RJ Harvey, WR AJ Brown, WR Rashee Rice, WR Jameson Williams, TE Brock Bowers
Week 13 All Bank Examiner Squad:QB Lamar Jackson, RB Saquon Barkley, RB Devin Neal, WR Justin Jefferson, WR Zay Flowers, WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, TE Oronde Gadsden
Jacoby Brissett Performance of the Week, Besides, of course, Jacoby Brissett:Marcus Mariota.
Aaron Rodgers Tweet of the Week, via Mike DeFabo:A Fire Tomlin" chant has broken out here.
Quote of the Week, from Titans Special Teamer Julius Chestnut:#Titans Julius Chestnut on his scuffle with Jaguars punter Logan Cooke: I was just trying to play hard. He came up to me and said he was gonna kill me."
Well That Was Easier Than Expected:Having to trust the Jaguars in my survivor pool.