What We Saw: Week 16

Carolina Panthers vs Indianapolis Colts

 

Will Grier’s NFL debut was rocky at best in a blowout win by the Colts. Nyheim Hines returned two punts for touchdowns as Indy’s defense and special teams carried them to a win. Christian McCaffrey was held to 54 yards on the ground and was unable to score in the game, but he astoundingly caught all 15 of his targets for 119 yards en route to yet another monster game by the MVP candidate. Three separate Colts had rushing touchdowns, including Marlon Mack who led his team with 95 yards on the ground. Jacoby Brissett also had a rushing touchdown but he was pedestrian through the air, leading to down days by all of the Indianapolis receiving targets.

 

Carolina Panthers

 

Quarterback

 

• Will Grier: 27/44, 224 yards, 3 INT, 5 sacks | 4 carries, 17 yards
• Michael Palardy: 1/1, 12 yards

 

This was the first NFL start for the 2019 3rd round pick and it was underwhelming at best. He was inaccurate on the majority of his throws and mostly dumped the ball off to Christian McCaffrey throughout the day. Grier had to break out of the pocket on multiple occasions and showed some impressive athleticism evading a few sacks, but his inexperience ultimately showed itself in the form of three picks. I thought he had a decent 1st quarter but he got significantly worse as the game went on. It also didn’t help that D.J. Moore left the game with a concussion. With a 1 pm showdown against the division champion Saints, Will Grier should be avoided in all fantasy formats.

 

Running Backs

 

• Christian McCaffrey: 13 carries, 54 yards | 15 targets, 15 receptions, 119 yards
• Reggie Bonafon: 2 carries, 12 yards

 

Christian McCaffrey eclipsed 100 receptions on the season, the second straight year he’s accomplished the feat. After going down 14-0 early on, McCaffrey single handedly drove the Panthers down the field to put them in scoring position where Will Grier nearly threw a touchdown on 3rd down before getting sacked on 4th down. Grier needed a safety valve all day and McCaffrey stepped up big time, hauling in every target thrown his way. If D.J. Moore misses next week’s game, McCaffrey will be the lone consistent playmaker on the offense and a must start against a Saints defense that has subpar in recent weeks.

 

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

 

• Greg Olsen: 5 targets, 2 receptions, 33 yards
• DJ Moore: 2 targets, 1 reception, 1 yard
• Curtis Samuel: 5 targets, 2 receptions, 17 yards | 2 carries, 4 yards
• Ian Thomas: 3 targets, 3 receptions, 16 yards
• Chris Hogan: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 16 yards
• DeAndrew White: 3 targets, 1 reception, 12 yards
• Brandon Zylstra: 1 target, 1 reception, 3 yards

 

The story of the day for the Panthers receiving core is that DJ Moore left the game early on with a concussion. He did not return and will likely be in the concussion protocol this week. Keep an eye on his status and if he misses the game then that would elevate Curtis Samuel to WR1. Samuel didn’t have a very good day and his prospects certainly don’t improve after how Will Grier looked today, but a WR1 against a Saints team that has given up 300 yards or more through the air in 5 of the last 7 weeks is still valuable. I wouldn’t recommend considering any other Panthers next week as it will likely again be the Christian McCaffrey show.

 

Indianapolis Colts

 

Quarterback

 

• Jacoby Brissett: 14/27, 119 yards, 3 sacks | 3 carries, 37 yards, TD | 1 target, 1 reception, 2 yards

 

Jacoby Brissett wasn’t asked to do much today after Indy went up 14-0 early in the first quarter. He had a mediocre game through the air but his legs, like the rest of the Colts on Sunday, did all of the work needed by scoring the first touchdown of the game early in the first quarter. Brissett has been a solid game manager for most of the season and that was all that was required of him today. He held onto the ball and didn’t make any egregious mistakes which is all you can ask for when the ground game was as solid as it was today. Expect a similar type of game out of Brissett again next week against a Jaguars defense that couldn’t stop the run if their lives depended on it.

 

Running Backs

 

• Marlon Mack: 16 carries, 95 yards, TD | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 6 yards
• Jordan Wilkins: 9 carries, 84 yards, TD
• Nyheim Hines: 1 carry, 4 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 2 yards | 2 punt return TDs

 

The Colts offense was led by its three running backs. Marlon Mack was five yards short of 100 yards and many of us were tearing our hair out watching Jordan Wilkins run all over the Panthers in the second half when Mack could have been getting those yards. It was still good to see Mack running hard and displaying the patience that has gotten him to 1000 yards on the ground this season. I love Mack’s chances for a repeat next week against the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars defense.

 

Nyheim Hines was the story of the game, not for his work on offense but for his work on special teams. He returned two punts for touchdowns on the day, including one 7 minutes into the game that put it out of reach. While he doesn’t get many opportunities on offense he has shown on multiple occasions that he can be a dynamic playmaker on the field, and if I were the Colts I would be looking for more ways to get the ball in Hines’ hands.

 

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

 

• TY Hilton: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 26 yards
• Zach Pascal: 3 targets, 1 reception, 6 yards
• Jack Doyle: 4 targets, 2 receptions, 17 yards
• Marcus Johnson: 4 targets, 1 reception, 2 yards
• Dontrelle Inman: 2 targets, 1 reception, 18 yards
• Mo Allie-Cox: 1 target, 1 reception, 21 yards
• Ross Travis: 2 targets, 1 reception, 19 yards

 

This was a quiet day for every Indianapolis receiver as they had no reason to throw the ball at any point in the game. Both TY Hilton and Jack Doyle led the team with four targets each but both had disappointing days that likely hurt your team. It is a promising sign that Hilton was able to make it through the game without reaggravating any lingering injuries, but with next week’s matchup against another poor run defense, it may be the same story on a different day for TY.

 

–Ben Brown (@FelixTheDog23 Twitter, iamatechnician Reddit)