NFL Week 14 Recap
Very, very interesting week in the NFL it was. 8 underdogs won, which is a record for 2023. Considering Desmond Ridder and Jake Browning finished in the top 5 for fantasy, this makes sense. The top 5 QBs this week were Lamar Jackson, Desmond Ridder, Justin Fields, Jake Browning, and Matthew Stafford. Jake Browning is playing incredibly well as he fills in for Joe Burrow. He is keeping their playoff hopes alive! Tough to see Jalen, Tua, and Goff finish with less than 10 points each. Not their best weeks.
The RB scene was a little unusual this week. The top 5 consisted of Ezekiel Elliott, Breece Hall, James Cook, Saquon Barkley, and Raheem Moster. Some usual suspects, but Zeke finishing as the RB1 this week was not on my radar. Neither was Josh Jacobs and D’Andre Swift having shitty weeks, but here we are. Saddle up for playoffs, boys!
Looks like when in doubt, trust the veterans when it comes to late-season production. The top 5 WRs this week were Deebo Samuel, Drake London, D.J. Moore, Cooper Kupp, and DeAndre Hopkins who snuck in on Monday Night Football. sucks to see studs like Tyreek, Devonta Smith, Stefon Diggs, Mike Evans, Ja’Marr Chase, and Amon-Ra finish with 10 points or less each. Not ideal in the final week of fantasy football!
The top 5 TEs were extremely unusual this week. Evan Engram scored 30+ points, he was #1. David Njokue scored 27, he had 2 touchdowns. Isaiah Likely, Hunter Henry, and George Kittle rounded out the top 5. For those relying on LaPorta, Goerdert, or Kincaid it was an unfortunate outcome for you. Better luck next week.
Let’s see how these underdogs in week 14 got the job done!
Patriots vs Steelers
It turned out better than expected for what many thought would be a miserable game to watch. Plus, the “over” of this game was a winner. We like those games! The Steelers didn’t have a lot of fantasy production. Mitch Trubisky led the team with 20.6 points. Trubisky threw for 190 yards and a touchdown but added a goal-line quarterback sneak to his stat line. Diontae Johnson had a pretty solid week. 14.7 fantasy points, which is his third-highest score this year. 3 catches for 57 yards and a touchdown for him. A bit of a fall-off after him. Jaylen Warren was the team’s third-highest score with 8 points, followed by Najee with 7.8 and George Pickens 6.9. Pat Freiermuth is still on the struggle bus, recording 6.8 points this week.
There were some rather unusual fantasy numbers put up by Patriots players. Zeke led the way with 27 points this week. He was the RB1 overall in week 14. Vintage Zeke! Love to see it. Bailey Zappe and his big week was good for 20.9 points. He tossed the rock for 240 yards and 3 TDs. The lucky recipient of 2 of the passing TDs was Hunter Henry. Henry caught 3 passes for 40 yards and 23 TDs giving him 19 fantasy points this week. Awesome week from a highly streamed TE in week 14. If you were desperate and played JuJu Smith-Schuster this week, you should be pleased with 13 points! Decent revenge game if you ask me. The Patriots succeeded in playing spoiler this week and upsetting the Steelers.
Buccaneers vs Falcons
Another hard-fought NFC South game in this one. The Falcons came up short, however. The final score was 29-25 with another game-winning drive by Baker Mayfield. Despite playing a fantastic game, Desmond Ridder couldn’t get the job done. Ridder had 347 passing yards, 1 passing TD, and 1 rushing TD. Overall, he scored 25.38 points this week. QB2 overall in week 14. I would say the most shocking result from this game was Drake London racking up 172 receiving yards on 10 catches. That puts him at WR2 overall this week. Something we aren’t used to seeing from the Falcon’s offense. Bijan had a great week, scoring 19.8 points. Bijan had 88 yards from scrimmage, 5 catches, and a rushing TD. Hell, even Kyle Pitts got in on the action. Pitts caught 3 passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. While we saw great fantasy production from the Falcons’ players, they still suffered a tough loss this week.
The Bucs are now sitting in first place in the NFC South. It might be gross, but it still matters! Baker Mayfield and the Bucs are winning games when they matter! Only 4 more to go. Rachaad White is a large reason as to why the Bucs got the win this week. 135 total yards of offense, 2 catches, and a touchdown for the young running back. He led the team with 25.2 points this week. After him was Baker Mayfield with 20 points. Baker had 144 passing yards, 2 TDs in the air, and one rushing TD. Unfortunately, there’s a good fall-off after Baker. Chris Godwin was the team’s third-highest score with 10.3 points. 5 receptions for 53 yards this week. Cade Otton saved his week with the go-ahead TD late in the 4th quarter. 9.6 points for him off of 2 receptions for 16 yards and the TD. Mike Evans had a very disappointing week. Only caught 1 pass for 8 yards. He must’ve taken his foot off the accelerator once he hit 1,000 yards…
Lions vs Bears
The Lions did not quite look like the team we saw in the first half of the season. Only 13 points were scored in this one. All in the second quarter. Leading the way in fantasy production was the rookie RB, Jahmyr Gibbs. Gibbs scored 17 points this week. 66 rushing yards, 3 catches for 16 yards, and a rushing TD. He’s going to be special in this league for years to come! Josh Reynolds snuck in a solid week, racking up 13.4 points. He had 3 catches for 44 yards and a touchdown. David Montgomery came in at third-most points with 11.5 this week. 66 rushing yards and 3 catches for 19 yards. Just missed that touchdown! A tough week for Amon-Ra St. Brown (ARSB). ARSB only hauled in 3 passes for 21 yards (5.1 pts). Tough outing for those relying on him in a must-win week. Goff finished with a measly 6.44 points this week.
The Bears, with Justin Fields under center, are averaging more points per game than the Kansas City Chiefs. How about that stat? Wild. D.J. Moore absolutely loves having Fields as his quarterback. WR3 overall this week with 26.8 points. Moore caught 6 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown while adding 20 rushing yards and a rushing TD on top. He has been a great pick for my fantasy teams this year. Fields came in right behind Moore with 24.72 points in week 14. QB3 overall this week. Fields threw for 223 yards and a touchdown while running for 58 yards and a TD. Hell of a week for the young QB. Cole Kmet had a decent day for a tight end. 5 catches for 66 yards for Kmet. Not much production elsewhere from the Bears. D’Onta Foreman hit 9.2 points, for those who were desperate at running back this week. Regardless, great win for the Bears!
Colts vs Bengals
The Colts, much like the Lions, scored all of their points (14) in the second quarter. Took a tough loss in the process. Michael Pittman Jr. was really the only Colts player to have meaningful fantasy production. Pittman caught 8 passes for 95 yards this week. Good for 19.5 points after a 2-point conversion reception. Gardner Minshew managed to score 14 points. He threw for 240 yards and a TD. Zack Moss and backup tight end, Will Mallory, each scored 9.6 points. Josh Downs struggled to get anything going, as he only recorded 3 receptions for 32 yards (6.2 pts). Not a great week for the Colts, who clearly miss Jonathan Taylor in the backfield. They face the Steelers, Falcons, Raiders, and Texans to finish the season. They need to win a few of those to win the division! Should be an exciting finish!
The Bengals look almost more efficient on offense with Jake Browning under center. I don’t know if that’s even true, but watching them without Burrow is so different. They’re finally feeding Mixon, which has to be helping a lot. Jake Browning led the team in fantasy points with 23.7, as he threw for 275 yards, 2 TDs in the air, and one QB sneak at the goal line. Joe Mixon had yet another solid week. Mixon ran for 79 yards, caught 3 passes for 46 yards, and scored a touchdown. Giving him 21.5 points this week. On top of Mixon’s success this week, we saw the rookie, Chase Brown, take off this week. Brown had 105 yards of offense, 3 catches, and a touchdown on a long screen pass. 19.5 points for him this week. Unfortunately, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins struggled to get much going as they scored 15 points combined. Hopefully, they show up in the fantasy playoffs. Great win for the Bengals this week!
Jaguars vs Browns
I am shocked Trevor Lawrence was cleared to play after suffering a sprained ankle in week 13, but here we are. Overall, he had a pretty solid week. 247 passing yards with 3 TDs (17.38 pts). The problem was the 3 interceptions he threw. That messes up any team’s chance of winning. Despite losing, Evan Engram had one hell of a day. The overall TE1 this week with 32.5 points. He caught 11 passes for 95 yards and 2 TDs. After going 12 weeks with no touchdowns, Engram now has 3 in the past two weeks. Long overdue! Travis Etienne had the third-highest score with 17.2 points. Etienne ran for 35 yards, a touchdown, and caught 4 passes for 37 yards. Not bad, not great.
I don’t know how they did it, but the Browns snuck out another solid win. Joe Flacco baby! He was watching games from his couch 4 weeks ago, now he’s leading the Browns on a playoff surge in December. What a time to be alive. David Njoku is sure happy he is here because he had a massive week. Njoku caught 6 passes for 91 yards and 2 TDs. A stellar 27-point performance for Njoku this week. Flacco had an impressive 20-point week. 311 yards and 3 TDs for the trusty vet. Jerome Ford continued his streak of consistency this week, scoring 13.2 points. 84 yards from scrimmage and 3 catches for Ford this week. Amari Cooper hit double-digits for the first time in a month with 12.7 points. The Browns defense was the third-highest score this week for them. Weird week, but hey, got the win!
Panthers vs Saints
Rough outing for the Panthers this week, huh? 6 total points and not much offensive success. The leading scorer was Adam Thielen with 12.4 points. He caught 5 passes for 74 yards. His highest point total in 3 weeks. Chuba Hubbard has been a bright spot in the offense. This week he had 87 rushing yards, which makes it 2 weeks straight of 80+ rush yards for Hubbard. Hubbard scored 11.6 points this week. After those two, there is almost no fantasy production. Bryce Young had 7.48 points and Miles Sanders had 7.4 points as well. not a great week for the Panthers. I wish I had more to recap, but that’s all they gave me!
Derek Carr could have no feeling in his lower extremities and he would still start at QB. This man is insane. Cleared concussion protocol to play this week, but was dealing and HAS BEEN dealing with rib issues all season. Unreal. The Saints’ defense was the real MVP this week, as it was the team-high score. 18 points for the D/ST. Alvin Kamara was the skill position high-scorer. He had 13.5 points. Yeah, surprising to say the least. Might be because he had -11 receiving yards. Yes, NEGATIVE 11. Luckily, he had 53 rushing yards and a touchdown to make up for it. Chris Olave had a decent week with 12.8 points. He caught a touchdown, giving him 4 receptions for 28 yards and the score. Weird week for the Saints offensively, but a win is a win!
Texans vs Jets
Week 14 was full of low-scoring offenses, and the Texans were one of them. They lost this game 30-6. Granted, C.J. Stroud left the game with a concussion, Nico Collins left with a calf injury and Tank Dell is on IR. So all of their typical players who help the offense were not present. Tough position to be in. I’ll start with the leading scorer, Devin Singletary, who scored 12.5 points. The player closest to Singletary almost had half of that. Not great. Singletary had 65 rushing yards and the only touchdown. Brevin Jordan scored 6.5 points on 3 catches for 35 yards. Re-group next week, Texans.
The Jets might’ve seen the best performance of Zach Wilson’s career on Sunday. 300 passing yards and 2 TDs for the young buck. 19.24 points for him this week. If it weren’t for Dallas’s kicker, Greg Zuerlein would’ve been the #1 kicker this week with his 17 points. Breece Hall was the leading scorer for the Jets this week with 26.6 points. Hall had 126 total yards of offense, 8 catches, and a receiving TD. Love to see it! Garrett Wilson topped 20 points this week. He had 9 receptions for 108 yards! I love seeing him ball out. If you happen to stream Tyler Conklin this week, at least he got you 9.7 points. I know I got his player prop bets right!
Ravens vs Rams
This was probably the game of the week! From the get-go, it was a great watch. Cooper Kupp did Cooper Kupp things. Catching 8 passes for 115 yards and a TD. That put him at 25.5 points this week. WR4 overall for week 14. Matthew Stafford played lights out as well. He threw for 294 yards and 3 TDs. Good for 23.66 points and QB5 overall. Rookie tight end, Davis Allen, stepped up in Higbee’s absence scoring 15 points off of 4 catches fo 50 yards and a TD. Love to see it! Kyren Williams got his managers 145.3 points this week. Anything in the teens is a win for me. Williams had 114 rushing yards and 3 catches. No paydirt for him this week. Bummer. Can’t forget Puka! Puka Nacua scored 14 points as well. 5 catches for 84 yards this week. Tough loss for the surging Rams team.
The Ravens really like to keep their fans on their toes. This one came down to a final drive where the Ravens tied it to go to overtime. In OT, Tylan Wallace returned a punt for a TD to win the game! What a thrilling way to go out. Lamar Jackson had a fantastic week, as he was the QB1 in week 14. 31 points for Lamar. He had nearly 400 yards of total offense (316 passing, 70 rushing) and 3 touchdowns. Zay Flowers now has 2 straight games of 20+ points. I can’t think of a better time for that as fantasy playoffs begin. 6 catches for 60 yards and a TD for Zay this week (20 pts). Odell Beckham Jr. had himself a nice revenge game. OBJ caught 4 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. He has been super reliable in this offense lately with Mark Andrews on IR. Filling in for Andrews has been Isaiah Likely, who scored 19.3 points this week on 5 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. The Ravens took back the #1 seed in the AFC and look to further their dominance going forward.
Raiders vs Vikings
I have been doing these articles for 2 seasons and I think this is the first game I’ve felt like it doesn’t deserve a recap. Because ti was 3-0. The final score. 3 total points were scored between two professional football teams. Davante Adams was somehow able to put up 12.3 points during this shitstorm. 7 catches for 53 yards this week for Adams. Jakobi Meyers had 7.5 points off of 5 catches for 25 yards and Josh Jacobs had 7 points from 34 rushing yards and 2 catches for 16 yards. Tough week to have Daniel Carlson as your kicker. He had a goose egg (zero points) this week. Tough, tough loss for the Raiders this week.
The Vikings got the win…but it’s tough to call that one a victory. Sure they scored the most points. But this was UGLY. T.J. Hockenson was able to reach double-digits, with 10.3 points. He caught 5 passes for 53 yards. Ty Chandler came in second, with 7.2 points. He ran for 35 yards and had 3 catches for 7 yards. As I said, there was little to no fantasy production in this game. Alexander Mattison scored 6.6 points and got hurt yet again. Justin Jefferson was playing this week, but of course, he got rocked on a catch and is dealing with a chest injury making him day-to-day. Jordan Addison had another unimpressive week with only 4.7 points. He hasn’t done a damn thing since week 8. Yikes. What a weird way to win a game. 3 to 0…..
Seahawks vs 49ers
The Seahawks went into this matchup with Geno Smith questionable to play, and he was ruled out before the game. Tough to throw in Drew Lock against one of the better, if not the best, defenses in the league. He managed to throw for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns (15.26 pts), but also tacked on 2 interceptions. No bueno. Lockett was the leading skill player with 14.9 points. Lockett caught 6 passes for 89 yards. D.K. Metcalf got ejected in the second half, surprise surprise. All it takes is one play to get under D.K.’s skin. He finished with 13.2 points. Kenneth Walker had 9.4 points, which isn’t terrible against that defensive line. Tough stretch for the Seahawks recently as they have lost 4 straight games.
The 49ers look solid. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Deebo Samuel has been lighting up the last few weeks. WR1 overall this week and a massive 34-point week. Deebo accumulated 150 yards of offense on 7 catches. He also added a deep touchdown catch. Brock Purdy had a solid week against the 49ers again. 368 passing yards and 2 touchdowns will get the job done. 21.42 points for Brock. George Kittle continues to dominate the tight end world as he had 16 points this week. Only 3 catches this week but he had 76 yards and a touchdown in the process. Brandon Aiyuk had another WR1-worthy performance, hauling in 6 passes for 126 yards (16.6 pts). There is so much talent on this 49ers offense it is insane. Can’t forget about Christian McCaffrey and his 16 points. He ran the ball for 145 yards and had one catch. So many fantasy-relevant players without having to score a touchdown.
Bills vs Chiefs
Kansas City is in a bit of a slump right now. They have now lost 3 out of the last 4 games. They lost unconventionally, as I am sure you have seen by now. Stinks, because that play would have been legendary from Travis Kelce. Kelce finished with 14.3 points this week. He had 6 catches for 83 yards. He had been meddling in the mid-teens the past month, and that’s not what you want to see from a first-round fantasy pick. Rashee Rice, on the other hand, has been playing great. Another big week here with 18.2 points. He has averaged 19 points in the last three weeks. This week he had 7 catches for 72 yards and a touchdown. Love to see it! Mahomes finished with 13.64 points. A solid 274 passing yards, but only 1 touchdown was thrown this week. If you streamed Jerick McKinnon, you were pleased to see him fall in the endzone. 12.7 points for McKinnon who filled in for Isiah Pacheco.
It’s crazy to me that the Bills won this game with Stefon Diggs being somewhat irrelevant to the game. James Cook put the team on his back, that’s for sure. James Cook finished with 25.1 points this week. He ran for 58 yards, caught 5 passes for 83 yards, and scored a touchdown flipping into the endzone! He has been a great value this season. Josh Allen had a solid 20-point week. He tossed the rock for 233 yards, 1 passing TD, 32 rushing yards, and a TD on the ground. I call that a prototypical Josh Allen week. Strangely enough, there is quite a dropoff in fantasy production here. The next high score is Dalton Kincaid with 7.1 points, followed by Dawson Knox and his 6.6 points. Stefon Diggs had a stinker week only scoring 6.4 points. Weird win for the Bills, but they got the W, and that’s all that matters.
Broncos vs Chargers
The Chargers are down bad. They’re now sitting at 5-8 with no Justin Herbert due to his finger injury. Not a great situation to be in that’s for sure. It was nice to see some production from Austin Ekeler again. Ekeler scored 21 points this week off of 100 yards of offense, 5 catches, and a touchdown. Keenan Allen didn’t quite have the week we are used to seeing from him. Keenan had 12.8 points from his 6 catches for 68 yards. I saw he injured his heel, so keep an eye out for that if he’s on your fantasy team. Quentin Johnston had a solid night. While he only had 3 catches, he racked up 91 receiving yards in the process. Not too shabby. The Chargers have a tough road ahead of them.
The Broncos inch closer and closer to a playoff spot every week. This makes it 6 wins in the past 7 weeks for the Broncos. What a wild story they are writing. JAvonte Williams led the way with 18 points this week. He ran for 66 yards, caught 3 passes for 25 yards, and ran a touchdown in. Russell Wilson has been a “copy and paste” fantasy player for the past month. His last four fantasy scores including this week are 14.46, 16.76, 15.84, and 15.46 points. Consistency. It might be super average, but it’s consistent! Courtland Sutton continues to be a touchdown machine as he caught another this week. He finished with 15.2 points and caught 3 passes for 62 yards. Their defense was a top-3 scorer this week, which is a big reason why they got the win.
Eagles vs Cowboys
I’m not sure if the Cowboys’ defense is THAT good or if the Eagles’ offense is struggling THAT bad. Maybe a mixture of both? I don’t know. What I do know is that D’Andre Swift needs more than 11 carries for 39 yards (3.9 pts). They gotta establish the run again so they can free up the passing lanes for Jalen Hurts. Hurts only had 197 passing yards and 30 rushing yards (8.88 pts). His lowest-scoring week of this season. Hopefully, he’s just getting that out of his system for fantasy playoffs! I’m sure he cares about us… At least A.J. Brown was able to score 16.4 points. He caught 9 passes for 94 yards but had a fumble. DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown, and Jalen Hurts all had fumbles this week. Not great. DeVonta Smith had 10 points and that’s about it for production from Eagles’ players.
The Cowboys are unstoppable right now. 5 wins in a row for them and they have games remaining against Buffalo, Miami, Detroit, and Washington. There’s a world where they win out, but there’s also a world where they won’t need to win the final 2 games of the season and they sit important players. Maybe. I don’t know how often and how early teams can sit star players in regular season games, but if they clinch the division & a playoff spot is locked in, why risk it? This week, CeeDee led the team with 19.1 points. Lamb had 6 receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown. Dak scored 17.94 points this week. The defense did a lot of the dirty work for them, so he didn’t need to pop off essentially. 271 yards and 2 TDs for Dak. The past month has been solid for Tony Pollard. He scored 16 this week and has averaged 18.5 points per game in the last month. Love seeing that as fantasy playoffs near. Jake Ferguson had a solid 12.2 points and Brandin Cooks put up a measly 5.7 this week. Oh well.
Giants vs Packers
The Packers had this game in the palm of their hands. Well, more like Malik Heath’s palms. But he dropped a go-ahead touchdown pass. Tough look. At least Jayden Reed stepped up with Christian Watson out. Reed finished with 20.5 points this week. 8 receptions for 27 yards as well as 4 rushes for 38 yards and a TD. Love to see him all over the field. The Packers must be glad they took 2 tight ends in the draft because Tucker Kraft is playing very well in Luke Musgrave’s absence. Kraft had 10 points. A.J. Dillon performed about how you’d expect him to perform. A good chunk of rushing yards and that’s about it. 9.8 points from him. Jordan Love has been hot, so to see him only throw for 218 yards and one TD is a bummer. Tough week for him only scoring 8.92 points and taking a loss.
Tommy DeVito might just be the answer for New York! Maybe. He sure is exciting to watch play I’ll tell you that much. Saquon put the team on his back this week, as he scored 23.1 points. He ran for 86 yards, caught 3 passes and scored 2 touchdowns. Someone else who showed up this week was Wan’Dale Robinson. He finished with 17.5 points, giving him his season-high score for 2023. Robinson had 6 catches for 79 yards and 36 rush yards. I wish he found the endzone. Tommy D put up 17 points this week. Not too shabby in my opinion. He logged 150 passing yards but also ran for 70. DeVito was all over the place! He drove down at the end of the game and got them in position to kick a field goal for the win and they got it, which is awesome for New York.
Titans vs Dolphins
I stayed up way too late to watch my Dolphins rip my heart out. The Dolphins had a 14-point lead with about 4 and a half minutes left in the game. The defense blew it and we lost the #1 seed in the AFC because of it. Raheem Mostert did his best to help, scoring 23 points. He ran for 96 yards and scored 2 touchdowns. Love to see the production even with Achane back. Jaylen Waddle was the next-best score. He had 13.9 this week off of 6 catches for 79 yards. De’Von Achane put up 12 points this week. 47 rushing yards and 5 catches for 24 yards. Would love to see him get going in the next month of football. Tyreek got hurt early in the game but returned in the second half. He finished with 10.1 points and many are praying his injury is not long-lasting. Tua only had 240 passing yards, not a great night (9.1 points). Tough loss for the Phins.
The Titans pulled off a miracle, as they are the only team to come back from a 14-point deficit within the last 4 minutes of a game. Or at least I saw that on X (formerly Twitter), so take it with a grain of salt. DeAndre Hopkins led the Titans with 25.4 points this week. He had a huge game, catching 7 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. Not too far behind was Derrick Henry and his 18 points. While the Dolphins shut him down (only 34 rush yards and 17 receiving), he found paydirt twice. Not ideal. Tyjae Spears had a solid game as he scored 17.8 points. His season-high score! Perfect timing against my Phins! Will Levis finished with 16.58 points. He threw for 327 yards and a touchdown. Great win for the Titans in this one.
