Category: NFL News

Whether you’ve played Daily Fantasy on Yahoo before or are giving it a try for the first time, this weekly column will take a look at the DFS landscape, revealing whom I like building lineups around, stars to fade, undervalued plays and bargain bin options to help you construct a better team.

Lineup building blocks

Christian McCaffrey ($42) vs. Seattle Seahawks

Last week, McCaffrey saw his fewest touches in a game since October and gets a far easier matchup Sunday. CMC leads the NFL with 17 touchdowns, and he faces a Seattle defense allowing the fifth-most fantasy points to running backs. The Seahawks have been vulnerable to receiving backs and have seen their run defense fall dramatically over the last five weeks. The 49ers have the highest implied team total on the DFS slate, so McCaffrey is a building block.

Justin Fields ($34) vs. Detroit Lions

Fields hasn’t had a monster fantasy game since Week 5, but that should change Sunday. His thumb should be healthier following Chicago’s bye, and his 30 rush attempts over his previous two games reveal a ton of fantasy upside. Detroit’s pass defense has been getting destroyed lately, and they’ve struggled especially against mobile quarterbacks. The Lions have ceded the fifth-most passing touchdowns and the fourth-most fantasy points to QBs this season. Fields is a threat to finish as this week’s top-scoring quarterback.

DJ Moore ($25) vs. Detroit Lions

Moore is coming off a bye and should continue to benefit from the return of Justin Fields. Moore has averaged 119 receiving yards and a touchdown over his last six full games with Fields. He’s been fantasy’s No. 2 wide receiver with Fields this season. The Bears get a Lions defense completely falling apart that’s allowing the second-most points per drive over their last six games. Assuming weather cooperates, Moore is in a smash spot facing a Detroit secondary yielding the seventh-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points to wide receivers.

Star to Fade

C.J. Stroud…

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Bill Belichick had Jabrill Peppers’ back after Peppers’ disparaging comments about the Patriots to Saquon Barkley were turned into public consumption. On Thursday night, it was Peppers who came to his coach’s defense after the Patriots upset the Steelers. 

Peppers, who had a big interception late in the first half that led to the Patriots’ game-winning touchdown, spoke glowingly of Belichick after New England’s 21-18 win. The win was just its third of the season, as criticism continues to mount on the outside. 

“We needed this,” Peppers said, via ESPN. “I just feel good we could get it done for Bill and the rest of the coaches. They work extremely hard trying to put us in the right places to make plays, and we did enough to get the win tonight.”

Peppers was then specifically asked about Belichick, who continues to face rumors about his future in New England. 

“I don’t really like all the flak he’s been getting,” Peppers said, “because it’s on us as players to go out there and execute. I personally feel like the game plan has been phenomenal week in and week out, and we’ve had the opportunities to make the plays and we didn’t make them. But we made enough tonight. So we’re going to correct this tape, get our bodies back and move onto K.C.” 

While notoriously known for his gruff demeanor, it’s clear that there’s a side of Belichick that not many on the outside get to see. Belichick has clearly made an impact on Peppers, who was motivated to help his coach get a win on Thursday night. 

Belichick made a point to laud the efforts of his team during his postgame press conference. The future Hall of Fame coach appreciated the level of work his players and coaching staff put in on a short week following a disappointing loss to the Chargers last Sunday. 

“Thought the guys played with a lot of effort, energy, toughness,” Belichick said after the win. “Our guys really stepped up…

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Normally, we would solicit your suggestions for the Panic Meter in an effort to remain focused on the situations of greatest concern to the fantasy football community. This week, however, we are eschewing social engagement, because I have run out of new ways to tell you Lamar Jackson is actually good certain players simply demand our attention.

Here are the five players you need to panic about, if for some reason you were not already actively freaked out…

Saquon Barkley

Panic level: Petrified. Let’s just try to enjoy the week ahead. 😳

At some point, Barkley should probably identify an injured body part that requires him to sit for the remainder of this lost Giants season. It’s possible he’d like to reach some statistical milestone before he taps out — he’s 303 rushing yards away from 1,000 — but it seems wild for a running back headed into another offseason of contract negotiations to handle significant December workloads for this particular franchise. New York hasn’t given us any indication that they will be aggressively tanking, but, well … we’re talking about a 4-win team. Things could be going better.

Monday night’s home matchup with Green Bay is great for Barkley, but things take a rough turn in Weeks 15-17, facing three defenses that have been among the stingiest to opposing backs: New Orleans, Philly and Los Angeles Rams. When we reach the stage of the season in which he has no obvious incentive to put himself at risk and the matchups are terrible, Saquon-related fantasy panic will hit hard.

Tua Tagovailoa

Panic level: Dread of the inevitable 11-point fantasy week is rising. 🥵

Like Barkley, Tua has a terrific matchup ahead (Tennessee), so there’s no great concern about his output in Week 14. We’re good.

But then, one week later, we are very much not good — not at all. Tagovailoa closes his fantasy season with as difficult a 3-game stretch as can be imagined. Just look at these games (and please note the way-too-rosy forecasts):

Tua Tagovailoa’s…

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Who’s Playing

New England Patriots @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Current Records: New England 2-10, Pittsburgh 7-5

How To Watch

When: Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 8:15 p.m. ETWhere: Acrisure Stadium — Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaTV: Amazon Prime VideoFollow: CBS Sports AppFubo (Try for free) For a limited time, new subscribers can save $20 on Fubo’s Pro, Elite, and Premier plans

What to Know

The New England Patriots will head out on the road to face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers at 8:15 p.m. ET on Thursday at Acrisure Stadium. The Patriots are limping into the game on a five-game losing streak.

Sunday just wasn’t the day for New England’s offense. They took a 6-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Chargers.

Meanwhile, the point spread may have favored Pittsburgh on Sunday, but the final result did not. They received a tough blow as they fell 24-10 to the Cardinals.

New England has traveled a rocky road recently, as they’ve lost eight of their last nine games, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-10 record this season. As for Pittsburgh, their loss dropped their record down to 7-5.

In addition to losing their last games, the two teams failed to cover the spread. Looking ahead, the Steelers are the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by six points. This contest might not be the best time to bet the Patriots against the spread since they’ve let bettors down the last five times they’ve played.

New England came out on top in a nail-biter against Pittsburgh when the teams last played back in September of 2022, sneaking past 17-14. Do the Patriots have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Steelers turn the tables on them? We’ll have the answer soon enough.

Odds

Pittsburgh is a solid 6-point favorite against New England, according to the latest NFL odds.

The over/under is set at 31 points.

See NFL picks for every single game,…

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The Texans are signing free agent safety Adrian Amos to their 53-player roster, Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report reports.

Amos asked for and received his release from the Jets last week, and he cleared waivers, making him a free agent.

Amos, 30, has played 11 games with three starts this season with the Jets, seeing action on 265 defensive snaps and 195 on special teams. He has 23 tackles and a pass breakup.

He entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick of the Bears in 2015 and played four years in Chicago and four in Green Bay before signing a one-year deal with the Jets this offseason.

In nine seasons, Amos has totaled 659 career tackles, 10 interceptions, three forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.

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The Jaguars faced unexpectedly steep competition from the Bengals on Monday night, with fill-in quarterback Jake Browning dicing up Jacksonville’s defense. They also suffered a critical loss at quarterback, with Trevor Lawrence exiting in the fourth quarter after suffering a right ankle injury. A visibly frustrated Lawrence required the help of two trainers to reach the locker room.

An MRI has since revealed a high-ankle sprain, coach Doug Pederson told reporters Tuesday. While Lawrence’s ankle is stable, Pederson explained, there is no timetable for the QB’s return, making his status unclear for Week 14 against the Browns.

His injury occurred on a third-and-long Monday with just under six minutes left in the matchup. Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson logged a sack on the play, but it was Jaguars left tackle Walker Little, starting in place of an injured Cam Robinson, who inadvertently stepped on Lawrence’s ankle, causing the QB’s leg to twist as he went to the ground. Lawrence slammed his helmet to the grass after the play, frustrated at the injury, and could only limp gingerly with the help of trainers.

Former 49ers reserve C.J. Beathard, who’s been the Jaguars’ backup QB since 2021, replaced Lawrence under center for the remainder of the contest, going 9 of 10 for 63 yards but falling to Browning and the Bengals, 34-31, in overtime. Beathard also appeared to suffer an injury shortly after entering, favoring his arm after a fumble, but stayed in the game. Jacksonville did not have a third QB available in the event Beathard would’ve been forced out of action as well.

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Quarterback Tyrod Taylor is coming back to practice this week and the Giants opened a spot for him on the 53-man roster on Monday.

The Giants waived quarterback Matt Barkley, who served as rookie Tommy DeVito’s backup for the last three games. They also released quarterback Jacob Eason from the practice squad.

Barkley can re-sign to the practice squad if he clears waivers and it seems likely that the Giants would keep a third quarterback on hand given the injuries that have sidelined Taylor and Daniel Jones this season.

Giants head coach Brian Daboll has not said whether DeVito or Taylor will start against the Packers next Monday night.

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The Green Bay Packers pulled off a 27-19 upset victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. The focus should be on their play on both sides of the ball, but instead, once again, much of the postgame discussion is centered on how the NFL has an officiating problem on its hands.

And deservingly so. On the final drive of the game, the referees made several egregious — and if we’re being up-front about it, extremely obvious — mistakes, and they each individually could be argued to have had a significant impact on the game.

Let’s start with the “late hit out of bounds” that was called on Packers safety Jonathan Owens against Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes scrambled away from pressure and took off for the first-down marker. Owens hit him, clearly within the field of play, but was nonetheless flagged and penalized 15 yards.

As former NFL referee Terry McAulay noted on the broadcast, this is very obviously not a personal foul. And yet, it was called one.

On the next snap, Mahomes connected with rookie wideout Rashee Rice for a 10-yard gain. The ball popped out of Rice’s hands at the end of the play, and the officials allowed Corey Ballentine to return it 68 yards for a touchdown … but Rice was pretty clearly down before the ball came out.

In addition to that, Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco was ejected following the play because he took a swing at Packers DB KeiSean Nixon. The ejection was deserved, but the officials did not take a 10-second run-off following the penalty despite the fact that the Chiefs had no timeouts left.

On the very next play (again), the officials let Carrington Valentine get away with one of the more blatantly obvious instances of pass interference that you will ever see. He pretty much just tackled Marquez Valdes-Scantling just before the ball arrived.

A few players after that, Mahomes completed a 9-yard pass to MVS, who tried to fight his way out…

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