The NFL, and fantasy football, feel more like wars of attrition than ever before. Maybe we say this every year. But I look at my benches and see a whole lot of the players who got me into the playoffs. Now the playoffs are here and their backups are the ones in lineups. Winning fantasy drafts is big, but especially this year, it only gets you so far.
Vikings at Bengals: Wild game, especially late. Props must be given to Jake Browning, who's come off the bench and played well enough to probably earn a starting job somewhere at some point. Huge game also for Tee Higgins, with one of the cooler touchdowns of the year, reminding everyone that Higgins at one time looked kind of similar to JaMarr Chase. Vikings blow it late, the kind of game they probably should have won, especially when factoring in Nick Mullens "throwing" one of the uglier interceptions in the history of the league. Mostly good numbers from key fantasy guys though, including Jordan Addison (benched in most leagues probably) and Ty Chandler, Justin Jefferson decent, made it through the game too.
Steelers at Colts: Gardner Minshew. Can look very very bad and very competent. This was one of the better games for him, with the Steelers crashing from a seeming playoff lock to last place in the AFC North. They're bad, they don't score, they've got some talented players but if they're not getting in the end zone, and they're not, it's hard to recommend any of them. Zack Moss probably would have had a big game had he not gotten hurt (on a touchdown catch, at least). Michael Pittman also left after an ugly hit.
Broncos at Lions: After playing so well for most of the last two months, the Broncos were godawful on offense and defense in this one. Jared Goff looked like a league MVP, Russell Wilson looked like he had the slowest internal clock in the history of clocks. The negative of a running back committee reared it's ugly head; both Lions running backs were effective and productive, but Jahmyr Gibbs scored both touchdowns, leaving those with David Montgomery wanting a little more. Nice game to be starting Sam LaPorta, obviously.
Falcons at Panthers: Driving rain throughout this game, as warned, helping to keep passing numbers down (and they might well have been down anyway). Most frustrating, particularly for Falcons fans, Bijan Robinson woefully underutilized, getting vultured for a touchdown by Cordarrelle Patterson, watching Tyler Allgeier get a bunch of empty carries. When the Falcons miss the playoffs and Arthur Smith gets fired, I think this loss to a lowly Carolina team will be one of the exhibits.
Bears at Browns: We could talk about the first 59 minutes and 55 seconds. Joe Flacco throwing 3 interceptions, the Bears taking a 17-7 lead (and blowing it, with David Njoku making some big catches). But it's hard not to focus on what should have been the game-winning completed Hail Mary touchdown, but for Darnell Mooney, on his back catching the ball but kicking it out of his own hands before simply securing it. Simple, no, not really, but man it was right there, the play of the week, but Mooney couldn't complete it. Rough, and it affects a lot of AFC playoff hopefuls.
Bucs at Packers: Seemingly queued up for a playoff spot after beating the Lions on Thanksgiving, the Packers have now lost to the lowly Giants and pretty much got pushed around at home by the Bucs. Another Mike Evans touchdown, some nice production for Rachaad White, and a monster game for Chris Godwin. I know the Packers have had some defensive injuries, but a pretty bad performance. Good numbers for the Green Bay passing game in defeat; problems are defensive these days.
Jets at Dolphins: Jets officially eliminated, but at this point I'd kind of like to see Aaron Rodgers on the field anyway. Or even more Trevor Siemian. Just no more Zach Wilson, who left this game injured, but wasn't playing well beforehand. Raheem Mostert is having a great year, and he's also been a little lucky the last two weeks, with opponents fumbling near their own goal line to set him up for 3 of his touchdowns. Yes I'm still salty about a tough loss to Tennessee. Huge game for Jaylen Waddle, that's why you make sure to start him when Tyreek is out. I guess I'll be recommending Jets stars when they play Washington next week, but it'll be tough even with that ridiculously friendly matchup.
Giants at Saints: Not gonna lie I'm a little weary of all the stuff about Tommy DeVito, Tommy DeVito's agent, and Tommy Cutlets. I live in New York so I guess maybe I'm seeing and hearing more of it than others, I don't know. Giants aren't very good, they lost this one badly, they underutilized Saquon Barkley and Taysom Hill reminded us all why I hate to ever recommend the guy, because just when you think they should use him more, they instead proceed to use him less. Saints and Bucs take the lead in the NFC South.
Texans at Titans: Low-scoring affair, as you might expect with defenses playing fairly well lately and one of the quarterbacks Case Keenum. But the Titans couldn't put things away, and Keenum made enough plays (some good, some lucky) that the Texans were able to come back, force overtime, and pull it out. Will Levis suffered a late ankle or leg injury but reports right after the game suggested he was OK, we'll see. Houston survives and probably will have C.J. Stroud back next week, last three weeks will be wild in the AFC.
Kansas City at Patriots: Patriots defense had been having a pretty nice year, and they kept things close for a while here. But too much Kansas City, with Rashee Rice and both running backs -- Jerick McKinnon with a TD shovel and catch, CEH with a TD -- stepping up. Would have been nice to have Pacheco available, oh well. Hunter Henry the lone viable Patriot. Chad Rylan butchered another field goal, I'm not sure why Belichick doesn't seem to care.
49ers at Cardinals: The Niners are really rolling right now. That's six in a row, and I'm not sure any have been close. They play Baltimore this week, maybe that will be a tougher one, but hard to bet against them. If you were facing Christian McCaffrey your fantasy season is probably over; if you drafted him and started him, you're probably moving on. Big day for Brock Purdy and Deebo Samuel too. For the Cardinals, well, big games for James Conner and Trey McBride. Marquise Brown left early with the heel injury that bothered him in practice; Brown has seemingly been injured all season, sometimes playing and putting up good numbers anyway, and sometimes having games like yesterday. Not worth the risk at this point.
Commanders at Rams: Rams largely took advantage of the dream matchup. Stafford, Kupp, and Kyren Williams all paid off. Puka Nacua, well, more would have been nice. Demarcus Robinson has emerged as a legit No. 3, which has perhaps hurt a little. On Washington's side, Sam Howell was lifted early for Jacoby Brissett, missing out on some garbage-time production to the benefit of Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel. I haven't seen what Ron Rivera had to say about it; Howell was certainly struggling, but benching your starter for Brissett when the team is 4-9 is an interesting choice.
Cowboys at Bills: This was a brutal one for fantasy purposes. Unless you started James Cook, anyway, and at least Josh Allen (2 TDs) and CeeDee Lamb (a late rushing score) understood the assignment by not destroying the teams who started them. But the Bills pounded away on the ground, keeping the Dallas offense off the field and putting more pressure on them in their limited chances. Lots of playoff teams who got there with Dak tearing it up in the friendly confines of his home stadium probably got bounced this week (and Dallas is in Miami next week, which has similar potential to keep Prescott and company on the sidelines). Kind of unfortunate, but nobody who plays fantasy football can be surprised when things don't go your way in the playoffs; benching Dak didn't seem like much of a choice at this time yesterday.
Ravens at Jaguars: This game is discussed in detail elsewhere on the site. For me, I'm mostly interested to see what it's like next week, when the Ravens play at San Francisco after bludgeoning everyone else for most of the season. And troubled by the reality that Jacksonville could actually lose the NFC South to the Texans or Colts.
Monday, Monday: Sounds like Drew Lock is the likely starter for Seattle, and potentially Marcus Mariota for Philadelphia (though at this writing, I still expect Jalen Hurts to play through illness). The NFL flexed this game to Monday night, replacing Kansas City at New England, which doesn't look as good in retrospect. Either way, I think the Eagles will win this game, but I'll call it 24-17 with Hurts, compared to maybe 20-16 with Mariota -- probably more of a defensive and field-goal laden effort with the backups in the lineup.