There are fantasy owners across the world this morning who are drinking their coffee and smiling ear-to-ear. They just got a big lead in their first-round fantasy playoff matchup. These lucky owners had the good fortune to draft Brandon Marshall (or trade for him) all for a moment like Sunday. The Denver Broncos didn’t win, but Marshall owners are likely to win after the WR set an NFL record. With 20 receptions on the day, Marshall set the NFL record for catches in a game, besting Terrell Owens’ record by one catch. If you had Marshall in a regular scoring league, you’re happy; if you have him in a PPR league, well, they might have to hospitalize you for being too dang happy on a Monday morning.
Monday Morning Memo: Brandon Marshall Was Good
Marshall’s 200 yards and two touchdowns earned him 32 fantasy points (tops among wide receivers entering the Sunday night game), and if you were Marshall’s owner in a PPR league, he’d have netted you 53 points. To put that number in perspective, it’s more than any receiver has had in a game all season, even besting Miles Austin’s breakout 47-point Week 5, and overall trails only Chris Johnson’s 54 points of Week 2.
To all the fantasy owners who had the misfortune of playing against Brandon Marshall this week, your playoff plans might already be over. Unless you had some of these guys:
Chris Johnson - 117 yards rushing, 69 receiving, 3 TDs
Andre Johnson - 11 catches for 193 yards, 2 TDs
DeSean Jackson - 178 yards receiving, 1 TD, punt return for a TD
Or RBs like Adrian Peterson, Ryan Grant and Ray Rice who also had big days.
- Then there’s the flip-side. Tristan Cockcroft put together an All-Studs Who Were Duds Team for Sunday.
QB: Aaron Rodgers, first among quarterbacks entering the week, 7 points
RB: Steven Jackson, seventh, 4
RB: Rashard Mendenhall, 14th, 6
WR: Randy Moss, first, minus-1
WR: Reggie Wayne, third, 4
RB/WR: Roddy White, 6th, 4
TE: Visanthe Shiancoe, 7th, 1
K: Matt Prater, 7th, 3
D/ST: Saints, 1st, 2
- Did any of you get lucky with SB Nation’s Flash In The Pan pick for this week? We pointed out Quinton Ganther of the Redskins who didn’t disappoint us. 50 yards rushing, 43 receiving and 2 TDs.
- Of course it’s not all fun and games. Someone has to get hurt.
Lions RB Kevin Smith is likely done for the season with an ACL tear.
Titans QB Vince Young had to leave the game after he came up lame with a hamstring problem.
Raiders QB Bruce Gradkowski hurt a knee and couldn’t finish the game.
Broncos RB Correll Buckahlter has a bum ankle.
And for IDP leagues, DeMarcus Ware was carted off with a neck injury but he had movement in all extremities.
- Looking ahead, are you depending on the Colts offense for some of your fantasy roster? The moment of truth is drawing near as the Colts won again and now have the AFC top seed locked up. Jim Caldwell’s dilemma: chase history for a perfect season or rest his starters for the playoffs and avoid injuries. Watch the Colts closely this week for clues. Here’s Dave Richard’s prediction at CBSSports.com.
A hunch? They’ll make their run for history, and as soon as a game has been decided (win or loss), the starters will head for the sidelines. Against Jacksonville, that might take a while, but against the Jets and Bills we might not get even three quarters out of Manning & Co. This makes starting most Colts a little risky, especially the receivers and especially Reggie Wayne because he’s failed to get over 100 yards in four straight games.
Good luck with that one.
- We give the last word to Dave Richard.
Week 14 will be remembered as a week of boom or bust. There wasn’t much middle ground -- Fantasy players either did amazing or did poorly. Those owners who had enough big producers won out; those who were disappointed are left holding the bag until next year.
The following players (non quarterbacks) scored two or more touchdowns this week: Reggie Bush, Dallas Clark, Fred Davis, Quinton Ganther, Ryan Grant, Andre Johnson, Chris Johnson, Thomas Jones, Brandon Marshall, Willis McGahee and Adrian Peterson.
The following teams had their receivers individually fail to top 85 yards receiving: Bears, Bengals, Bills, Browns, Buccaneers, Colts (!), Cowboys, Falcons, Jaguars, Jets, Lions, Packers, Panthers, Raiders, Rams, Redskins, Saints (!), Seahawks, Titans and Vikings. That’s 20 teams. Yikes.
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