Monday Morning Memo: Unknowns Make Their Presence Known; Tom Brady Continues To Disappoint

We already discussed the big shocker from the weekend, the absolutely crazy explosion from Jerome Harrison, and the dizzying number of points put up in the Browns and Chiefs game. If you were brave enough to roll with the right players from those teams in the fantasy playoffs, then you got rewarded big time.

But that game wasn’t the only one to produce some unexpected fantasy explosions. Over in Detroit, Maurice Morris put up 126 yards rushing, 35 yards receiving and 1 TD. The Oakland Raiders gave us Michael Bush and his 133 yards rushing with 1 TD. How about Matt Moore? He managed 299 yards passing and 3 TDs against the mighty Vikings. All three players will be hot properties on the waiver wire this week.

- On the other side, some perennial fantasy studs have picked a bad time to go dud. Tristan Cockcroft at ESPN discusses the demise of the Golden Child, Tom Brady.

At what point should we start to sweat his recent funk? He now has three single-digit fantasy performances in his past four games, and he struggled with his accuracy this week, completing only 11 of 23 passes en route to only six fantasy points. If Brady’s fantasy owners are still alive in their postseasons, they’re surely pleased by his favorable matchups versus the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans the next two weeks, especially with the playoffs very much in his hands. Still, one must wonder how much his nagging injuries are truly bothering him.

Tom Terrific has transformed into Tom Horrific for fantasy owners.

- One man’s loss is another man’s gain. While the Pats have been suffering in the passing game, Laurence Maroney has done a nice job anchoring their running attack, and he turned in another solid performance on Sunday. Maroney has become a dependable option in fantasy.

Even the most pessimistic of Patriots fans who couldn’t trust Laurence Maroney can’t deny his good performance at Buffalo in Week 15. Maroney had 23 carries -- the same amount of Tom Brady pass attempts -- for 81 yards with a touchdown, essentially leading New England to victory on his own. While his play wasn’t off the charts, he still delivered a nice stat line to his Fantasy owners while doing nothing to make people, Bill Belichick included, lose confidence in him.

- Injuries are always a factor in fantasy football, here’s the potential new problems you have to watch for this week.

Michael Turner re-injured his ankle and missed most of the Falcons game.

DeAngelo Williams tweaked his ankle and was held out for most of the game in favor of Jonathan Stewart.

Reggie Bush left his game early with a leg injury and didn’t return.

Percy Harvin has more than migraine issues, it’s reported he has bulging discs in his neck and will visit the Mayo clinic on Tuesday.

- We have to give a salute to Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, who topped the magical 500-yard passing mark. Big Ben ended up with 503 yards and 3 TDs, and that came against one of the best defenses in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers. Meanwhile, in the same game, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers shredded the Steelers defense to the tune of 383 yards passing and 3 TDs plus one rushing TD.