What We Saw: Week 16

New York Giants vs. Washington Redskins

 

In what was poised to be a pretty ugly game between two pretty bad teams, both teams actually looked surprisingly good, and ended up playing a thrilling game that featured loads of offense and even went to overtime.

 

New York Giants

 

Quarterback

 

• Daniel Jones: 28/42, 352 yards, 5 TDs | 3 rushes, 12 yards

 

What a game for Danny Dimes, he looked really good. A lot of this game was thanks to Saquon Barkley being incredible, but Jones took advantage of a really poor Redskins secondary and threw the ball a ton. I think the Redskins were also likely really guarding against Barkley since he absolutely tore them up, and I think that could have contributed to Jones’ success, but he looked solid, making some good throws and some deep throws. It also didn’t hurt that the secondary he was going up against was doing things like forgetting what an HB seam route is:

 

https://gfycat.com/snivelingsizzlinggalah

 

Running Backs

 

• Saquon Barkley: 22 carries, 189 yards, 1 TD | 4 targets, 4 receptions, 90 yards, 1 TD

• Damari Scott: 1 carry, 5 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 11 yards

 

Saquon Barkley is so good, it’s ridiculous. He was just doing Saquon Barkley things this whole game, absolutely shredding the Redskins’ defense on the ground and in the air. I mean, look at this:

 

https://gfycat.com/pitifulpeskycanadagoose

 

Saquon’s had some great games this year (including one last week against the Dolphins), though he’s also had some duds, but this was his best fantasy game of the year, and if you made it to the finals with Saquon in your lineup, you probably just won your league thanks to him.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight End

 

• Golden Tate: 11 targets, 6 receptions, 96 yards

• Kaden Smith: 8 targets, 6 receptions, 35 yards, 2 TDs

• Cody Latimer: 7 targets, 5 receptions, 44 yards, 1 TD

• Sterling Shepard: 6 targets, 6 receptions, 76 yards, 1 TD

• Darius Slayton: 2 targets, 0 receptions

 

It was kind of interesting how the targets shook out this week. I wasn’t overly shocked that Golden Tate ended up leading the team in targets, and while he had a really solid fantasy day in PPR leagues, obviously it would’ve been nice had some of Daniel Jones’ five touchdowns went his way. Kaden Smith however had quite the game. He’s been doing alright since taking over for Evan Engram but the two touchdowns gave him far and away his best game of this year. As for Cody Latimer, it’s a nice game but you can’t trust him next week considering his five catches are the most he’s had all year, and while I would’ve liked to have seen more targets for Sterling Shepard, he still got you a nice game for the second week in a row.

 

Washington Redskins

 

Quarterback

 

• Dwayne Haskins: 12/15, 133 yards, 2 TD

• Case Keenum: 16/22, 158 yards, 1 TD | 1 carry, 1 yard, 1 TD

 

Dwayne Haskins was actually looking really good in this game making some really nice throws, showing off his arm, but unfortunately, he ended up leaving the game with an injury, and in came Case Keenum. Keenum looked pretty solid too, though certainly it helped that both of them were up against a pretty bad Giants secondary. Still, they both looked solid.

 

Running Backs

 

• Adrian Peterson: 15 carries, 36 yards, 1 TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 19 yards

• Chris Thompson: 8 carries, 34 yards | 4 targets, 4 receptions, 18 yards

• Steven Sims Jr.: 2 carries, 9 yards | 10 targets, 6 receptions, 64 yards, 2 TDs

 

Adrian Peterson kinda did what he does, running up the middle and slamming into guys, but the Giants run defense held strong and kept him to just 2.4 YPC, though if you started him, he did bail you out a little with a touchdown. But here’s what was weird – Steven Sims Jr. led the team in targets, had 64 receiving yards and two touchdowns after getting just 28 total targets over the past three weeks and never more than four targets since Week 14. It’s a great game for Sims, but not one you can trust at all.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

• Terry McLaurin: 9 targets, 7 receptions, 86 yards

• Kelvin Harmon: 6 targets, 5 receptions, 58 yards

• Jeremy Sprinkle: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 14 yards

• Hale Hentges: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 28 yards, 1 TD

• Cam Sims: 1 target, 1 reception, 15 yards

 

Aside from Sims Jr.’s strange game with 10 targets and two touchdowns, the rest of the Redskins’ receiving corps kinda shook out the way you’d expect. It’s Terry McLaurin and not really anything else you can count on. Hale Hentges weirdly gets a touchdown, but McLaurin is the only guy you can trust in the Redskins’ receiving corps.

 

–Ben Palmer