What We Saw: Week 11

Panthers @ Ravens

Final Score: Ravens 13, Panthers 3

Writer: Brett Ford (@fadethatman on Twitter)

The Ravens’ Defense looks really good… thanks in large part to Baker Mayfield. Baltimore allowed just 232 total yards of offense, including just 36 yards on the ground, while Lamar Jackson and the Ravens’ offense did just enough to get the victory in front of the home crowd on Sunday afternoon.

From a fantasy perspective, the whole game was largely disappointing as just about every player aside from Ravens’ wide receiver DeMarcus Robinson underperformed relative to their projected fantasy output.

Let’s dig in.

Carolina Panthers

Quarterback

Baker Mayfield: 21/33, 196 Yards, 2 INT | 2 Carries, 12 Yards

Remember a year ago when Baker Mayfield was the star of those mildly entertaining Progressive Insurance commercials while in Cleveland, and the Browns were… uh… yeah I’m not exactly sure where I was going with this, but Mayfield is not a viable fantasy quarterback.

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He completed 21 of his 33 attempts, but was sacked four times and picked off twice in the final five minutes of the game as the Panthers’ offense was forced to rely on its aerial attack to try and get back into the game.

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Baker Mayfield is an outstanding option at quarterback for dynasty teams that are actively tanking. That’s about it.

Running Back

D’Onta Foreman: 11 Carries, 24 Yards | 1 Target

Chuba Hubbard: 4 Carries | 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 25 Yards

Raheem Blackshear: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 14 Yards

Dont’a Foreman is a good fantasy running back… just not this week. Foreman had a team-high 11 rushes but gained only 24 yards as the Ravens’ revamped defense bottled up the run game.

Chuba Hubbard rushed four times for zero yards and caught two of his three targets for 25 yards. There are better options for a streaming running back, especially in a matchup as bad as this one.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Terrace Marshall Jr.: 6 Targets, 3 Receptions, 76 Yards

Shi Smith: 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 26 Yards, 1 Fumble (Lost), 1 Fumble (Recovered)

DJ Moore: 5 Targets, 3 Receptions, 24 Yards

Ian Thomas: 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 24 Yards

Laviska Shenault Jr.: 4 Targets, 4 Receptions, 7 Yards

Are we done with DJ Moore yet? After signs of life in weeks seven and eight, Moore has let his fantasy managers down ever since with three-straight weeks of less than 30 receiving yards. Since week nine, Moore has been so putrid that he isn’t even the top fantasy receiver on his own team. Bench him. Drop him. Trade him for literally any warm body. It’s not worth the headache.

After a home run play last week against the Falcons, Laviska Shenault struck out this week with four catches for seven yards. Shi Smith might be in the forever-doghouse after fumbling twice (and losing one). Terrace Marshall Jr. popped off for three catches and a team-high 76 yards, and has been Carolina’s top receiving option the past three weeks. He might be worth a flyer in the deepest of leagues. But it’s so difficult to roster any Panther pass-catcher when they rely on Mayfield for their production.

Baltimore Ravens

Quarterback

Lamar Jackson: 24/33, 209 Yards, INT | 11 Carries, 31 Yards, TD

Lamar Jackson was pretty awful from a fantasy standpoint. He was headed for a season-low for fantasy points until he rushed for a score in the fourth quarter to salvage his day.

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He held the ball in the pocket for too long on seemingly every dropback, and was picked off in the second quarter as his low pass was swallowed up by a defensive lineman.

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He hasn’t looked like the Lamar Jackson we saw early in the season and it’s unclear whether it’s the contract talk that has had an effect on his play or maybe something else. One report a few weeks ago suggested that Jackson was not as invested this season as he had been in the past since the Ravens didn’t extend him, a form of quiet-quitting perhaps. Since week three, Jackson has reached 20 fantasy points just once… and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better.

Running Back

Kenyan Drake: 10 Carries, 46 Yards | 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 7 Yards

Justice Hill: 7 Carries, 30 Yards | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 8 Yards

Patrick Ricard: 1 Carry, 4 Yards

Kenyan Drake ran 10 times and caught two out of four targets for a combined 53 yards. Justice Hill ran seven times for 30 yards and added three catches for eight yards.

This backfield misses Gus Edwards in the worst way.

It becomes so difficult to roster any of the running backs in the Ravens’ backfield simply because Lamar Jackson soaks up so much of the work. Jackson rushed a team-high 11 times, scoring Baltimore’s lone touchdown on the ground and pilfering it from Drake, who was stopped on the one-yard line the play before.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Demarcus Robinson: 9 Targets, 9 Receptions, 128 Yards

Mark Andrews: 8 Targets, 6 Receptions, 63 Yards

Josh Oliver: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 2 Yards

Isaiah Likely: 3 Targets, 1 Reception, 1 Yard

James Proche II: 2 Targets

Devin Duvernay: 1 Carry, 4 Yards | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 3 Yards

Mark Andrews was back on the field for fantasy managers, which is a big milestone in and of itself, but his production left something to be desired. With “only” six catches for 63 yards, Andrews wasn’t the impact player his managers drafted him to be, but it was at least encouraging for him to be involved as much as he was.

DeMarcus Robinson had himself a day. He garnered a 28.1% target share, pulling in all nine of his targets for nine receptions and 128 yards, easily a season high in both categories. In the absence of Rashod Bateman, Robinson has very clearly overtaken Devin Duvernay for the Ravens’ top wide receiver, though he remains a volatile bye week streaming option at best.

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