Booms & Busts: Week 13

The Raiders, Commanders, and Chargers’ backups will likely see the field again, as well as a variety of backups in the mix. That’s why utilizing your players’ opponents to maximize potential is so important.

Bucky Irving came on in a flash. A rookie out of Oregon, all signs pointed to the man having a huge stake in the offense. A fourth-round pick going to a team that needed so many things with Tom Brady and Bruce Arians leaving took a running back in the middle of their draft. The writing was on that wall. Bucky has had a stake in the offense since early in the season, but as the efficiency went up and Rachaad Whites stayed the same (at times went down), the leash on his playing time loosened. From a snap count that was 70/30 in favor of White in week 1, last week was the first week that Bucky gained more snaps than White. And he FLOURISHED. One hundred thirty-four all-purpose yards and a tuddy. Now he’s facing inarguably a bottom 3 rush defense in the Panthers. He could get 200 all-purpose yards, as they’re a total run-funnel defense.

Jahmyr Gibbs is one of the most dynamic and electrifying players going. His ability to catch passes and take them to the house as well is an absolute game-changer. There’s an argument that he may be the best running back overall in the league in some circles, so I know this is a layup of a choice. I still don’t think we should look very far past this one. In DFS lineups, get him in. If you can trade for him, make it happen.

In this week’s matchup, Gibbs faces the Bears, who are averaging the 5th-most yards per game to running backs, coming off a game with, at the very least, a David Montgomery injury scare.  If Gibbs can get in a groove and end up as the key component to the offense, he may end up with over 20 carries against a team that struggles not to give up huge chunks of yardage to backs.

Ladd McKonkey is seeing his stock rise at the same time that Justin Herbert is starting to finally figure out what made him such an interesting prospect out of Oregon (damn, I did not anticipate I’d have a glow-up for Oregon in two sections. Prepare for a LeGarrette Blount write-up.) McConkey finds himself in an interesting predicament, as the Chargers are unfortunately going into Week 13 with a Dobbins derailed and a Quentin Johnston “Quentining.” In week 12, Johnston dropped 3 passes, leading to a frustrating finish. McConkey thrives on being a vacuum cleaner of targets. The Falcons are a bottom 5 defense against wide receivers in fantasy points and a bottom 5 defense on receptions. While McKonkey saw 86 percent of the snaps on Sunday, Quentin doghoused himself to just 65 percent of snaps. It could be argued that Ladd being on the field more is helping lead to Herbert’s resurgence. He’s a wee fun, Ladd.

D’Andre Swift is out in Chicago, losing his goodwill in the Windy City. Last week, Swift saw his second-lowest snap count, and Roschon Johnson is breathing down his neck, having almost 40 percent of the snaps himself. Swift hasn’t been economical and has only had over 60 yards on the ground once in his last four games. Not to pile on, he now faces one of the league’s stingiest defenses, let alone on the ground. Just this last Sunday, this Lion’s defense made Jonathan Taylor look like a Little Giants walk-on. The Swift line should be set at 50 yards, and he may still go under. The churning on Swift’s legs is looking like he’s running through heavy mud. While I was always in the belief that Swift was just a stand-in until Johnson figured it out, this could be the week we start to see a full 50-50 backfield.

Christian Watson is living a very strange life as a wide receiver in Green Bay. To be honest, there are weeks where I wouldn’t know if he’s playing in a game, out for it, or thriving, and I missed it if I just turned on the game. His style of play precipitates mostly big yardage chunk plays but is pulled back from his inability to hold on to some balls in an extremely volatile fashion. Just this past week, Watson had a potential game-changing reception that would have led him into the end zone and bounced right through his hands.

Watson will come out against an insanely talented secondary in a week where Romeo Doubs may not play due to a concussion. There’s not a lot to like here for Watson, between the lack of a second wide receiver behind Reed to shadow, leaving Watson prime for a shutdown matchup. He’ll likely line up most of the game against Jalen Ramsey or Kendall Fuller. If anyone could succeed in here, it may be Dontayvion Wicks against a third corner taking the top off the defense. I don’t like this one for Watson one bit. There is a potential that he makes one huge catch, but relying on that in a playoff hunt for our fantasy teams is not ideal.

Mark Andrews, you giant enigma, you. Andrews went the entire first month of the season looking washed. He propelled back up the boards a couple of weeks later and is now holding on in huge part to the touchdown potential.

In his last four starts, he’s had target numbers of

Wk9-2

Wk10-7

Wk11-3

Wk12-5

Last week, he had 5 receptions on 5 targets. Thankfully, he was saved by a tight end, but that was a worrisome game if you remove that touchdown.

The second hardest tight match-up per season matchups against the Eagles, in a matchup where Lamar and Hurts will likely end up airing it out in a shootout. The week after, he was shockingly third in snaps for tight ends on the Ravens. While there are points to be gained in this matchup, I’d put almost all of them behind the legs of Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, and A.J. Brown. Mark Andrews will likely spend the majority of his snaps (again, third highest snap count amongst all three tight ends) blocking for Lamar so that he can get extra time to air some passes out.

Photos courtesy of Icon Sportswire
Adapted by Kurt Wasemiller (@kurt_player02 on IG & Threads, @kuwasemiller on Bluesky)