From Week 9 to Week 12, there were fewer than five quarterbacks a week putting up 20-plus fantasy points. In Week 13 there were 12, and in Week 14 there have been 11, with Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan still to play.
The best fantasy football performances of Week 14
So Le’Veon Bell and Cam Newton were pretty good, yeah?
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Part of that can be credited to the bye weeks, since Week 13 was the first week with all 32 teams active again. Still, that’s not enough to explain these performances.
Of course, the flip side of that is that seven different starting quarterbacks had fewer than 10 fantasy points in Week 14. Basically, what we’re doing is weeding out the middle class among fantasy performances.
What that means is we’re seeing more and more games like Jonas Gray’s huge one a few weeks ago, or Ryan Fitzpatrick’s last week, or ... well, look below. There’s some good ones:
Best quarterbacks of Week 14
Cam Newton, CAR (226 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, 83 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 35 fantasy points)
In Week 6, Newton put up 33 points. Before that point, he had missed a game and averaged fewer than 14 fantasy points a game when he had played. So there’s every chance fantasy owners were sprinting away from Newton when he put up his big game. It drew everyone back in, and from Week 7 to Week 13, he averaged 12.2 points a game. Cue the sprinting away again, so cue Newton’s return to hugeness. If you are a Newton owner, I’d be happy to spot you the money for a package of Tums for all the anguish.
Next game: The Panthers host Tampa Bay in Week 15, which should be a nice matchup for a quarterback, but damned if I know what to do with Newton. Best of luck to you.
Ben Roethlisberger, PIT (350 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, successful 2-point conversion, 28 fantasy points)
If I told you before the season that Roethlisberger would average 19.5 fantasy points a game through Week 14, you would have no problem at all with that and would draft him fairly highly. So it’s not the total, it’s just the path Roethlisberger has taken to that total that has been frustrating. Early in the season, he couldn’t get out of his own way, then there were those two back-to-back six-score games, which he followed up with two relative clunkers, and now he has 53 in his last two. It’s been unpredictable.
Next game: The Steelers travel to Atlanta for Week 15. Just like the Cam Newton section: Man, that looks nice, but what the heck do you expect?
Russell Wilson, SEA (263 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, 48 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 28 fantasy points)
Wilson now has 727 rushing yards on the season, with five touchdowns. Frank Gore doesn't have that. Andre Ellington doesn't have that. Steven Jackson, Joique Bell and Denard Robinson don't have that. Sure, they have some receiving yardage, but Wilson isn't a running back; his value is as a passer. As a fantasy passer, Wilson is only adequate, but that rushing -- Cam Newton has scored more touchdowns in a season, but only had more yards once, and even then it was only 741 -- gives Wilson just about the highest floor of any fantasy quarterback.
Best running backs in Week 14
Le'Veon Bell, PIT (185 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns, 50 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 41 fantasy points)
I had a thought about this:
This is obscene. pic.twitter.com/yb9kaJH0li
— Daniel Kelley (@danieltkelley) December 8, 2014 It was a weird game. Coming into the fourth quarter, the Steelers trailed 21-17, and Bell was having a pedestrian fantasy game. And then Bell scored two touchdowns, the Steelers scored three, and the game became a runaway. Good thing they play four quarters.
Next game: The Steelers at the Falcons next week. Oh god, does Bell look like a nice fantasy option.
DeMarco Murray, DAL (179 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 49 receiving yards, 27 fantasy points)
It's easy, after Le'Veon Bell and Cam Newton and all that jazz Sunday, to forget Murray's Thursday performance. But in that game against the Bears, Murray had 41 total touches -- including nine receptions -- and 228 total yards. I can't say I love the fact that Murray has 373 touches so far, with three games and possibly the playoffs to go, but man is that workload concerning.
Next game: At Philadelphia Sunday night, it's hard to see any reason the Cowboys will stop working Murray to the bone. He's a premium option.
Joique Bell, DET (83 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 50 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 25 fantasy points)
There was some concern in fantasy circles that Bell's work would diminish with the return from injury of Reggie Bush. And I guess it did a bit, since Bush had eight carries and Bell only 18 after 23 a week ago, but it clearly didn't hurt. Bell is unquestionably the top running back in Detroit's offense, and there's no real reason to expect Bush to cut into that any more than, say, Andre Williams cuts into Rashad Jennings' workload when the latter is healthy.
Best wide receivers in Week 14
A.J. Green, CIN (224 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 28 fantasy points)
Full disclosure: I saw very little of the early games Sunday because my family had a birthday brunch for me (gettin’ older on Tuesday, y’all). So on the way home, I started scouring my phone for information about the day’s games, and I literally assumed my app was malfunctioning when I saw Green’s line. 224 yards? That’s a crazy total, Green’s career best by a full 41 yards. Even without his 81-yard touchdown, Green had 143 yards in the game. Good times.
Next game: The Bengals play at the Browns next week. You'd expect Joe Haden to be on Green, which you never love. Then again, T.Y. Hilton drew Haden Sunday, and ...
T.Y. Hilton, IND (150 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns, 1 fumble lost, 25 fantasy points)
In Week 11, Hilton had a brief lull, falling to two fantasy points. Since then, he’s put up almost 19 a game. He has four touchdowns in his last three games, and set season highs Sunday with 10 catches and 19 targets. My favorite part is this: Through Week 7, Hilton had one touchdown in seven games. Since, he has six in six. He’s a monster.
Calvin Johnson, DET (158 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 21 fantasy points)
You probably aren’t happy with your fantasy season if you burned a first-round pick on Megatron. After a great Week 1, he only had one more game of more than eight fantasy points through Week 13, when he put up 26. But if you managed to squeak into your fantasy playoffs despite Johnson (I did in one league!), this certainly looks like the Johnson we all envisioned: 304 receiving yards and three scores in his last two games.
Next game: Hosting the Vikings next week, Johnson will likely be the No. 1 receiver in all rankings.
Best tight ends in Week 14
Jared Cook, STL (61 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns, 18 fantasy points)
There is going to be some guy with Delanie Walker or Jason Witten or someone who made it through the first week of the playoffs and drops that tight end for Cook, and when that guy loses next week I will laaaaugh and laaaaugh. Cook has these games occasionally -- in Week 10, he had 14 fantasy points. His three games before that? 2, 1, 1 fantasy points. His three after? 1, 2, 0. Last year, he had 26 fantasy points in Week 1, then followed that up with 1, 4, 4, 2, 4, 3, 3. He's the kind of guy who will have occasional big games, but they will be utterly unpredictable and impossible to rely on.
Mychal Rivera, OAK (109 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 16 fantasy points)
Rivera followed up his hot stretch about a month ago with six total fantasy points in three games before Sunday’s big performance. So while it’s clear he has these sorts of big games in his repertoire, you’ll excuse me if I’m not convinced. He’s as good a tight end as a lot of guys in the disappointing, maybe-something-can-happen tier, but it’s utterly unexciting.
Next game: The Raiders travel to Kansas City for Week 15. Rivera will be ranked as a mid-level TE2, but not a lot more than that.
Rob Gronkowski, NE (87 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 14 fantasy points)
Gronk’s “bad stretch” was 16 fantasy points over two games over the last two weeks. He put up three fantasy points in Week 2, but hasn’t had fewer than six points in any other game all year, averaging 11.8 over the course of the season. There’s no tight end close to him right now.
Next game: Didn’t even look. It’s Gronk. He’s the No. 1 tight end.
Martellus Bennett, CHI (84 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 14 fantasy points)
Twelve receptions. Fifteen targets. That's crazy for a guy like Bennett. But with Brandon Marshall done for now, and likely the year, Bennett could see heavy usage the rest of the way. After fading between Week 4 and Week 13, Bennett will be rising back up again, and looks like a nice option going forward.
Next game: The Bears host the Saints next Monday night. Bennett will be ranked in the top-five-or-so tight ends.
Best kicker in Week 14
Josh Brown, NYG (5/5 FG, 3/3 XP, 21 fantasy points)
Brown has been an obvious "do not use" kicker almost all season. He hadn't had more than six fantasy points in a game since Week 5, had only reached double digits twice all season. So Sunday's huge game, in which he accounted for 18 of the Giants' 36 points, came out of nowhere. Odds are good it will go back to nowhere next week, but hey, nice game.
Best defense/special teams in Week 14
New York Giants (7 points allowed, 2 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery, 1 touchdown, 8 sacks, 25 fantasy points)
Speaking of out-of-nowhere performances, only three defenses had fewer fantasy points than the Giants entering Sunday. They had 15 points in Week 4, then 15 points combined in Weeks 5-13. Apparently the cure for what ails you in fantasy is to go against a Tennessee Titans team without its quarterback and top two wide receivers. Who'da thunk it.
