Week 13 was like awaking from a pleasant dream and slowly realizing the scenario in which you were immersed was not real. The Giants were winning by 10 in the fourth quarter, my DFS live winnings on FanDuel were in excess of $19,000 (thanks to Marcus Mariota and Allen Robinson) and my best fantasy teams were winning easily. But the Giants let the Jets back in and blew it in overtime, and the late game action chipped away at my total play by play (As I type this during the fourth quarter, I'm down to $594.) Nonetheless, the euphoria of the dream hasn't quite worn off yet (at least the DFS portion. The Giants portion is obviously gone, but I'm used to that by now.)
• The Giants are such an incredibly stupid team. They ran the ball 23 times against the league's top-rated run defense, getting only 72 yards. That left only 34 passes on which they averaged 8.7 yards per attempt against a weak secondary that was missing Darrelle Revis. In the interest of "balance" they played to the Jets' strengths much more often than they needed to. If the idea were to run every now and then to make the Jets honor it, a 13/44 balance would have been fine, and they almost certainly would have scored more points.
Two particularly egregious calls were (1) when the Giants had the ball 3rd-and-goal from the one-yard line and ran Andre Williams into the teeth of the defense. He was predictably stuffed for no gain, and Tom Coughlin compounded the error by kicking a FG on fourth down. And (2) in overtime, down three, the Giants had the ball 2nd-and-10 from the Jets 34 and ran Rashad Jennings for a four-yard gain, making it a slightly shorter field goal. Even had Josh Brown made the game-tying field goal, the Jets, who had moved the ball with ease, would have had the ball and only needed a FG to win. The play was to go for a game-winning touchdown, and the only plausible way that would happen was through the air. But this is the same story every week.
• Odell Beckham caught 6-of-11 targets for 149 yards and a touchdown and nearly had a second long score that was knocked out of his hands in the end zone. In a game without Revis, though, Beckham should have seen at least 15 looks.
• Brandon Marshall had a great game, catching 12 of 13 targets and scoring. He's still the same player he was when healthy in Chicago.
• Chris Ivory gave way to Bilal Powell due to game flow, and Powell produced. This looks like a poor man's Gio Bernard/Jeremy Hill.
• DeAngelo Williams looks awfully spry for 32, but keep in mind the Panthers never worked him especially hard even when he was in his prime.
• The Matt Hasselbeck story was nice, but he's getting exposed in Pittsburgh.
• Why can't Julio Jones (17 targets, 93 yards) make a big play any more?
• Devonta Freeman hasn't been a productive runner for a while, but his contributions in the passing game make him a near lock to produce whenever he's healthy.
• How does Matt Schaub throw a pick six every week? It's one thing to be inaccurate or telegraph your throws, but how do you cause the defender to return it all the way to the end zone so reliably?
• Allen Robinson has to be a top-five receiver at this point, certainly ahead of Julio Jones. Maybe Antonio Brown and Beckham can rank ahead of him, but I'm not sure I'd feel strongly about anyone else.
• Cam Newton got off to a slow start and still finished with five TD passes, 331 passing yards and 49 on the ground. There are four elite fantasy quarterbacks this year: Newton, Tom Brady, Carson Palmer and Ben Roethlisberger.
• The Panthers play three 6-6 teams and one 5-7 one (the Giants) in their bid to go undefeated. I'd still bet against them doing it.
• Marcus Mariota won't have an 87-yard touchdown run ever again, and he doesn't get to play against the Jaguars secondary every week, but getting Dorial Green-Beckham involved (5-of-6 for 119 yards and a TD) is big for him.
• Blake Bortles now has 27 TDs passes with four games left on the schedule. That's a 36-TD pace.
• Let's not get excited about Denver's Brock Osweiler offense just yet. They scored only 10 offensive points against a defensive doormat in San Diego.
• Jay Cutler was having a great year when there were no expectations, but suddenly the Bears are a fringe contender and big home favorites, and he falls apart. Blaine Gabbert, on the other hand, continues to manage the game like a top-notch backup and even chipped in with a 44-yard TD run.
• The Seahawks exposed the Vikings so badly, they should be treated for frostbite. For the second straight week Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin had big games.
• The Eagles upset of the Patriots was somewhat lucky (they had three defensive/special teams scores), but it goes to show we can never know about a team's motivation, no matter what we watch or read.
• The NFC East is still wide open, and if the Cowboys win Monday night, even they're still in it.
• Even in a disastrous game with his best receivers out and Brandon LaFell dropping passes, Tom Brady managed to throw for 312 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for a score. He was inefficient (5.6 YPA), but he gets it done for fantasy purposes every week.
• The Browns really showed Johnny Manziel these last two weeks. I hope he learned his lesson.