Thanksgiving is an excuse to get as fat and as happy as possible. Few things make me happier than looking at a bloated box score from someone I had enough faith in to insert into my starting lineup, in Week 12 these players set the table with a veritable feast of fantasy points. Points listed are in standard scoring.
QB: Tom Brady, 23pts
HE’S BAAAA-AAAACK! After court cases, injuries, questionable personnel decisions and other displays of awful luck Brady proceeded to walk out of the locker room down 24-0 with his eternal rival, Peyton Manning on the opposite sideline. What happened next was just what his fantasy owners had been hoping for. He proceeded to rip off 344 yards and 3tds on the way to a come-from-behind victory for the ages.
RB: Knowshon Moreno, 28pts
37 carries, 224 yards and a touchdown. After a stat line like that you’d be on crutches too. Moreno ran roughshod over the New England Patriots in a gutsy effort. You may be more worried about his future after being ridden hard and put away wet this past week, but for this one week Moreno was the bell cow of choice, dispelling worries about his workload diminishing due to upstarts like Montee Ball.
RB: Maurice Jones Drew, 20pts
Rumors of MJD’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, while he hasn’t been the total yardage monster he was in seasons past, he has found the end zone in three straight contests. Also of note is that he caught the ball very well turning all of his targets into catches, and all six of those into 60 receiving yards. MJD who is actually in a contract year would like all his naysayers to know that he’s not dead yet.
WR: Josh Gordon, 29pts
It must be nice to just not give a damn who the quarterback under center is. Gordon has arrived, ladies and gentlemen, and just in time for your fantasy playoffs. While you can’t expect 237 yards and a touchdown on a weekly basis, half of that would probably be enough. If you were smart enough to stash him on your bench during his suspension go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back, mostly because it’s so hard to chest bump yourself.
WR: Tiquan Underwood, 22pts
If I could give extra points for style Tiquan’s Kid ‘n Play-esque hightop would put him on the Stud list every week. Since I can’t, we’ll just have to settle for two touchdowns, and 108 yards on three catches. Underwood should hopefully continue to benefit from the extra attention teams pay to the beast that isVincent Jackson so while you would like to see more receptions, you can probably bet that this isn’t a fluke.
TE: Jimmy Graham, 16pts
Graham’s stats, 5 catches 100 yards and a touchdown are ALMOST as impressive as the goal post wrecking dunk that followed the score. Graham is still something of a DH as his foot injury “slows” him down, but I would take half a Jimmy Graham over a whole lot of the 3 catches for 45 yards that most of the other tight ends in the league offer you.
D/ST: 49ers, 15pts
This is about as dominant as a defensive unit could look when facing other NFL competition. The team from the Bay harassed RG3 all night forcing him into bad throws, keeping him from running and punishing him whenever they could. If you can escape the Seattle matchup unscathed the fantasy playoffs brings Tampa Bay and Atlanta, for which you have to be licking your chops in anticipation.
K: Jay Feely, 18pts
Feely drilled 4 out his 5 field goal attempts and was only a block away from being perfect. In an offense that’s decent but not great look for Feely to keep up his nice run as the playoffs ramp up.
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