Ezekiel Elliott has ended his appeal. He'll return Week 16. Beyond what is being said publicly, I think the reasoning is clear: If he had delayed this suspension by another two weeks, and if the Cowboys reached the postseason, he would have missed their first-round playoff game. The fact is, Dallas's only chance at a Super Bowl is with Elliott on the field.
Tyrod Taylor has been benched. Fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman will start Sunday's game in L.A. against the Chargers. This will either go down as head coach Sean McDermott's most brilliant move of the season, or as his most idiotic.
McDermott knows this situation better than anyone. Who am I to question an NFL head coach? There's more to football than stats. Much more. But it's worth noting Taylor's 16th in the league in QB rating this season despite having one of the league's worst receiving corps. The arrival of Kelvin Benjamin and impending return of Charles Clay were promising signs. But let's be clear here: Taylor was entirely competent despite throwing to wideouts Jordan Matthews, Zay Jones, Andre Holmes, and Deonte Thompson. Before Sunday's clunker, Taylor was a low-end QB1 with a favorable schedule. Last year he was the eighth highest scoring fantasy QB despite missing a game. The year before, he was the 14th highest scoring QB despite being the only top-17 QB to miss more than one game (his per-game fantasy points were sixth highest in the league).
By all accounts, Peterman is a smart young quarterback with mid-range QB skills. If the season ended today, Buffalo would be in the playoffs. It's flat-out bizarre for a potential playoff team to replace a capable veteran with an unproven late-round rookie. Peterman could prove me wrong and shine. But the more likely scenario is that he struggles and the Bills lose their next three games @Chargers, @Chiefs, and against the Patriots. Then the 5-7 Bills--essentially eliminated from the playoffs--will have thrown away the season on a mere hope that the eighth QB taken in this year's draft could step in and immediately become a top-16 NFL QB.
While we're on QBs, Blaine Gabbert is replacing the injured Drew Stanton in a road game against Houston. There's no upgrade or downgrade here. Gabbert isn't startable, and as with every recent season, Arizona remains one healthy, reasonably good QB away from making some postseason noise.
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Tonight's game features two likely playoff-bound teams that are struggling offensively. Last year Tennessee was third in the NFL in rushing yards and had a rising star at QB. This year Tennessee is 27th in rushing yards, while Marcus Mariota still hasn't found his groove (10 TDs and six turnovers in eight games).
Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger has played worse than Mariota and more than half of the NFL's other starting QBs. He's averaging 1.3 TDs per game--a measure of futility he hasn't endured since 2008. And as I've highlighted several times, the running game has been surprisingly weak (26th in YPC and in the bottom half in yards per game).
The difference maker tonight will be the Steelers' defense, which is easily a top 5 unit and which should hold the Titans in check. As I've told a couple people, this will be Big Ben's (consensus 10th ranked Week 11 QB) first 3+ TD performance of the season, as Pittsburgh should cruise to a 30-13 win. The 14th ranked Mariota won't meet expectations, and neither will the 15th ranked Murray, who dozens of fantasy experts somehow believe will be a QB1.
And because there's often balance in the fantasy universe when it comes to elite talent, Antonio Brown is headed toward a 10-catch, 120-yard, two-TD day.
Tyrod Taylor has been benched. Fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman will start Sunday's game in L.A. against the Chargers. This will either go down as head coach Sean McDermott's most brilliant move of the season, or as his most idiotic.
McDermott knows this situation better than anyone. Who am I to question an NFL head coach? There's more to football than stats. Much more. But it's worth noting Taylor's 16th in the league in QB rating this season despite having one of the league's worst receiving corps. The arrival of Kelvin Benjamin and impending return of Charles Clay were promising signs. But let's be clear here: Taylor was entirely competent despite throwing to wideouts Jordan Matthews, Zay Jones, Andre Holmes, and Deonte Thompson. Before Sunday's clunker, Taylor was a low-end QB1 with a favorable schedule. Last year he was the eighth highest scoring fantasy QB despite missing a game. The year before, he was the 14th highest scoring QB despite being the only top-17 QB to miss more than one game (his per-game fantasy points were sixth highest in the league).
By all accounts, Peterman is a smart young quarterback with mid-range QB skills. If the season ended today, Buffalo would be in the playoffs. It's flat-out bizarre for a potential playoff team to replace a capable veteran with an unproven late-round rookie. Peterman could prove me wrong and shine. But the more likely scenario is that he struggles and the Bills lose their next three games @Chargers, @Chiefs, and against the Patriots. Then the 5-7 Bills--essentially eliminated from the playoffs--will have thrown away the season on a mere hope that the eighth QB taken in this year's draft could step in and immediately become a top-16 NFL QB.
While we're on QBs, Blaine Gabbert is replacing the injured Drew Stanton in a road game against Houston. There's no upgrade or downgrade here. Gabbert isn't startable, and as with every recent season, Arizona remains one healthy, reasonably good QB away from making some postseason noise.
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Tonight's game features two likely playoff-bound teams that are struggling offensively. Last year Tennessee was third in the NFL in rushing yards and had a rising star at QB. This year Tennessee is 27th in rushing yards, while Marcus Mariota still hasn't found his groove (10 TDs and six turnovers in eight games).
Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger has played worse than Mariota and more than half of the NFL's other starting QBs. He's averaging 1.3 TDs per game--a measure of futility he hasn't endured since 2008. And as I've highlighted several times, the running game has been surprisingly weak (26th in YPC and in the bottom half in yards per game).
The difference maker tonight will be the Steelers' defense, which is easily a top 5 unit and which should hold the Titans in check. As I've told a couple people, this will be Big Ben's (consensus 10th ranked Week 11 QB) first 3+ TD performance of the season, as Pittsburgh should cruise to a 30-13 win. The 14th ranked Mariota won't meet expectations, and neither will the 15th ranked Murray, who dozens of fantasy experts somehow believe will be a QB1.
And because there's often balance in the fantasy universe when it comes to elite talent, Antonio Brown is headed toward a 10-catch, 120-yard, two-TD day.