Welcome in to the impact, where we round up the headlines & takeaways from the past week, giving you the information from Week 13 you need to know.
News
Carson Wentz
Benched, is his time up? Well, this may be a little premature, but the fact is the Eagles looked much better offensively without him. Doug Pederson said on Monday that he had not decided on who the starting QB of the Eagles will be.
There’s no doubt the offensive line is partly to blame with Wentz suffering his 50th sack this season. However, only completing 6 passes on 15 attempts Wentz couldn’t get anything going. With the Eagles desperate and falling behind the suddenly surging Giants there looks set to be more surprises and brash decisions incoming.
David Montgomery
have a day, AGAIN. I predicted a few weeks back that David Montgomery would end up on a lot of championship-winning rosters and it’s looking that way. The stats from the last 2 games are some you would expect from Christian McCaffrey certainly not Montgomery!
Montgomery even had some people labelling hima bust earlier in the season! Back to back games of 22+ points, 175 total rushing yards & 9 receptions for a further 79 receiving yards along with 3 total TDS. His remaining schedule could not be set up any better either. With matches against Houston, Minnesota, Jacksonville & Green Bay coming up.
Montgomery has seen a decent improvement on his YPC compared to last season (3.67 to 4.07). But, more importantly, his receiving work has seen a large increase. In recent weeks he has been targeted 68% more and he’s already caught 14 more passes than 2019 with 4 more games to go.
Keke Coutee
Coutee is the guy to take on Will Fuller’s workload in his absence. He looked the real deal against a stern Colts defense recording a career-high 141 yards on 9 targets. If you were brave enough to start him you were richly rewarded with an 18+ point performance.
Obviously, going forward we can’t expect a monster outing each time. But playing on 75% of offensive snaps and seeing 9 targets his way is very encouraging (Brandin Cook had 8 for perspective). If he’s not already been snapped up off waivers he will be this week. He looks to be the hottest WR add and can be played as a solid WR2/3 with upside going forward.
Trending Up
Kirk Cousins (Redraft)
Unbelievably Kirk Cousins is the QB3 over the past 4 weeks. You like that?! Minnesota on a roll with 5 wins in 6 contests and find themselves in an NFC wildcard place. The 32-year-old Cousins has been immense for fantasy lately throwing for 15 TDs to just 2 INTs in his last 6 games. Kirk Cousins remains a must-start streaming option even with his tougher schedule upcoming.
Cole Kmet (Dynasty)
My advice would be to buy as much Cole Kmet as you can but the window closes fast so act soon. Kmet is threatening a breakout. Leading the team in targets alongside star WR Allen Robinson, Kmet hauled in his 2nd TD catch of the season. But really it’s the snaps and targets that’s got me most excited.
His last 3 games have seen huge bumps in his snap percentage from an average of 34% up to 75%. Equally, his targets have jumped from 0.88 per game to 4.33. In the same period fellow veteran TE Jimmy Graham has regressed from 6.1 targets per game down to 2.3. Additionally, his snap percentage has fallen from 69% to just 47%. It’s becoming clear that the 21-year-old giant TE is the future for Chicago and a great buy right now in dynasty leagues.
Mike Gesicki (Redraft & Dynasty)
Before this week those who had hoped for a Mike Gesicki breakout year (myself included) were pretty off-target. Ranked down in the No.16 spot in PPR formats is not where a lot thought we would see Gesicki who flashed at the back end of the 2019 season.
Thankfully, he returned in a big way in week 13. He managed to score 19.3 points as the Dolphins saw off the Bengals at the Hard Rock Stadium. That’s now back to back decent fantasy performances. Which will be due to his targets increasing to 16 targets in that span. A Matchup against the super Bowl champs in week 14 is another chance for Gesicki to carry on his recent momentum.
Jalen Hurts (Dynasty)
Is there a more broken Quarterback right now than Carson Wentz? As I mentioned previously, Wentz was hugely ineffective on offense. Taking his 50th sack of the season (10 more than any other QB) and already thrown his 15th interception (also leads the league). That was enough for Doug Pederson to pull Wentz, and in went Jalen Hurts in the 3rd quarter.
Hurts was the breath of fresh air the Eagles needed to spark their misfiring offense. Looking far more mobile than Wentz, Hurts was able to run around and orchestrate a TD drive. That spark gave Philadelphia some hope of a late surge. Ultimately, it ended in another defeat. But talk around the media is growing for Hurts to get the start against New Orleans. Which would be a huge increase in his already escalating dynasty value.
Trending Down
Kyler Murray (Redraft)
So I guess it’s pretty bold to include the No.1 fantasy QB on the season in the trending down list. Well, at least owners of Kyler will be concerned for their championship chances with Kyler having by far his worst 2 performances back to back in weeks 12 & 13.
Not one week has Kyler had less than 20+ points until you get to weeks 12 & 13 where he only managed 8.9 & 15.4 points respectively. His rushing floor has dropped like a stone.
Averaging over 67 rushing yards over his first 9 games, Murray has only rushed for 61 yards TOTAL in his last 3 games combined! The shoulder injury is clearly affecting his confidence to take off and run. Until this is better he may churn out some more sub-par performances.
Frank Gore (Redraft)
So this one is not really Gore’s fault, as he was knocked out of the game with a concussion early on. But it was what happened after that exit that has seen his appearance on the trending down list.
Youngster Ty Johnson was able to both breakout somewhat and show much more speed and agility which helped keep New York competitive against the Raiders. TY Johnson broke the 100-yard mark and equally, Josh Adams 74 yards on only 8 carries. The Jets would be silly to turn back to the old man Gore after this showing, he may be finally on his way out.
Carson Wentz (Redraft & Dynasty)
Wentz is a pretty obvious addiction to the trending down list. Playing much like a broken quarterback Wentz was pulled in the 3rd quarter against Green Bay for the rookie Jalen Hurts who looked much better and was able to move the ball. Philadelphia have a huge problem on their hands if Wentz can’t re-establish his form anytime soon as he was handed a huge contract in the offseason and is tied to the Eagles for 4 more years. It’s worth watching the situation play out but for redraft e could be done for the season, for dynasty only a brave man is willing to pay up for Carson going forward.
Zach Moss (Redraft)
Has anybody seen Zack Moss lately? 3 straight dud games, the most recent being the biggest concern. Moss coughed up an costly early fumble and was banished after that. Singletary saw a season high 85% of snaps to Moss’ 15% and in a game that saw Buffalo winning most of the way it was a worrying sign. Moss looked like he was overtaking Singletary as the lead back but that may have changed back around and now trusting Moss going forward for the rest of this season is going to be difficult.
So, that’s it for the Week 12 edition of the The Impact, giving you the headlines & takeaways you need. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. And remember, if you need some help for your season-long leagues you can find our rankings here.
Image Credit: Eric Hartline – USA TODAY Sports
