NFL Week 12 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Sunday's games

Bijan Robinson’s first two-touchdown day: The Atlanta Falcons first-round rookie had to split backfield carries but finished second on the team in targets, allowing him to catch a 26-yard touchdown and run for a 10-yard touchdown.
Mike Evans reaches his 90th career receiving touchdown: Evans scored twice and now has the 15th-most receiving touchdowns in NFL history. He needs one more touchdown to tie Davante Adams and Isaac Bruce at 13, and two touchdowns to tie Rob Gronkowski at 92.
Pat Freiermuth is back: The Pittsburgh Steelers fired Matt Canada and reports suggested it would be Jaylen Warren and George Pickens getting more involved in the offense. Instead, Freiermuth posted the first 100-yard performance of his career.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

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New Orleans Saints @ Atlanta Falcons

Bijan Robinson: 16 carries, 91 yards, 1 touchdown; 3 receptions, 32 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown
Chris Olave: 7 receptions, 114 receiving yards

Saints lose all of their starting wide receivers: By the end of this game, New Orleans didn’t have any of its usual starters.

Michael Thomas landed on injured reserve earlier in the week due to a knee injury.
Rookie A.T. Perry had completely taken Thomas’ role in their last game once Thomas went down with an injury. Rashid Shaheed’s target share increased, but his playing time didn’t.
That changed this week with Shaheed playing in nine of a possible 11 snaps on the first two drives and Perry played five.
Shaheed went to the medical tent in the first quarter. He was able to return to the game but limped off again in the second quarter. He was eventually ruled doubtful and didn’t return.
Chris Olave was off to one of the best games of his career, but he suffered a concussion early in the third quarter and also didn’t return.
This left the team with Perry and Lynn Bowden as the primary wide receivers for the rest of the game with Keith Kirkwood also playing the clear majority of snaps as the third wide receiver.
The injuries at wide receiver left Derek Carr spreading the ball out in the second half. Kamara led the team in receiving yards in the half at 44 while Juwan Johnson, Keith Kirkwood and Taysom Hill were all around 20 receiving yards.

The Falcons’ backfield becomes a three-man rotation: Cordarrelle Patterson ran the ball eight times for 43 yards.

Patterson had only run the ball three times at most in any other game this season outside of the week where Bijan Robinson was dealing with a headache.
He was playing significant snaps, but most of it came at wide receiver. Prior to Sunday and ignoring Week 8, he played 36 snaps at wide receiver and 32 at running back.
He play just as many snaps out of the backfield as he did as a wide receiver for the first time since Week 7, and he played more snaps as the only running back on the field in early down situations than any other game this season.
The Falcons were winning this game so they could focus on the run and everyone was playing well. All three running backs averaged between 5.4 and 6.4 yards per carry.
Luckily, the only team the Falcons face throughout the rest of the fantasy season with a record better than 4-7 is the Indianapolis Colts. The Falcons should be winning games and get to run a lot. Therefore, Robinson should still see plenty of volume even if they are rotating three players in and out.

Jonnu Smith’s declining role in Atlanta: Smith was once a top-10 fantasy tight end for the season, but his role in Atlanta has declined in the last three games.

In Weeks 9 and 10, MyCole Pruitt played more snap than usual, cutting into Smith’s time.
This week, Parker Hesse cut significantly into both Smith and Pruitt’s playing time.
Hesse led the Falcons’ tight end room in offensive snaps last year. He started this season on the practice squad. He was elevated for Week 1, but not Week 2 and eventually suffered an injury that kept him on the injured list from Weeks 5-11.
He was elevated for the second time this season and ended up with the second-most offensive snaps among tight ends on the team.
The Falcons ran 23 snaps out of 11 personnel, which is more than usual, and Hesse was on the field for 15 of them, blocking on 14 of those 15 plays.
Kyle Pitts and Smith remained the primary tight ends in 12 and 22 personnel. Pitts took most of the snaps out of 21 personnel, which led Pitts to play more snaps than Smith.
Smith gained 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in Week 9 but caught one pass for one yard in Week 10 and didn’t see a target today.
The Falcons have a favorable schedule the rest of the way, but Smith isn’t a big enough part of the offense to remain on fantasy rosters.

Miscellaneous Notes

Saints rookie running back Kendre Miller missed his second-straight game due to an ankle injury. New Orleans stuck with a two-man rotation at running back with Williams cutting into Kamara’s playing time slightly more than usual.
Saints tight end Juwan Johnson missed a little time after a helmet-to-helmet hit. He spent some time in the blue medical tent, but he was able to return to the game.
Falcons wide receiver Mack Hollins missed a second-straight game with an ankle injury. This should be an opportunity for Van Jefferson to play significant snaps, but instead, he’s been splitting time with KhaDarel Hodge and Scott Miller for the second, third and fourth wide receiver roles for Atlanta.
Chris Blair made his NFL debut for Atlanta in this game. Blair went undrafted in 2020 and spent the 2021 season with the Green Bay Packers practice squad. He got an opportunity with the DC Defenders of the XFL where he finished second in receiving yards in the league at 607, and his 77.5 PFF receiving grade was also second, just ahead of Josh Gordon.
He was called up from the practice squad for this game and played eight offensive snaps.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati Bengals

Pat Freiermuth: 9 receptions, 120 yards
Najee Harris: 15 carries, 99 yards, 1 touchdown

Pat Freiermuth shines in his second game back: Freiermuth became the eighth tight end to achieve a 100-yard receiving game this season.

Freiermuth’s start to the season was very quiet, as he accumulated eight receptions for 53 yards over his first four games before missing the following five games.
He played in just over 50% of Pittsburgh's offensive snaps last week, splitting significant snaps in 11 personnel with Darnell Washington.
His offensive role was very similar this week, playing in over half of the 11 personnel snaps. A big difference this week is the Steelers took several more snaps in 13 personnel this week than last week, allowing for more playing time by all of the tight ends.
The big difference is his target rate was significantly higher in this game than in the other games this season. It was at 7.7% last week and 44.0% this week.
He is unlikely to see a target share above 40% again anytime soon but ideally, the change in offensive coordinator for Pittsburgh will continue to mean more targets for Freiermuth going forward even if he continues to be rotated out significantly.
The Steelers have the fourth-best schedule for tight ends over the rest of the season according to our strength of schedule tool and the ninth-best during the fantasy playoffs.

Bengals adjust offensive strategy: The Bengals were in 12 personnel for 23% of their offensive snaps after using it 10% of the time previously.

Roughly one-third of their previous uses of 12 personnel were simply late in the game when they were running out the clock. That was the first time this season it was a big part of their normal offensive philosophy.
Part of this was likely because Tee Higgins missed another week due to a hamstring injury.
Trenton Irwin was consistently on the field with Ja’Marr Chase in 12 personnel. Tyler Boyd didn’t play a single snap in 12 personnel in this game.
Irwin continued to take the majority of 11 personnel snaps like usual, but Andrei Iosivas mixed in significantly for Irwin and ended up with more targets.
This change also made the Bengals’ tight end rotation even more crazy than usual. Mitchell Wilcox and Drew Sample were the pair in 12 and 22 personnel while it was mostly Irv Smith Jr. or Tanner Hudson splitting snaps in 11 personnel.
The Bengals used 02 personnel for six plays with Sample as the second tight end, which is why he ended up leading the unit in offensive snaps.
In general, this all meant a larger rotation of players than usual for Cincinnati, making it even harder for any player outside of Ja’Marr Chase to be fantasy-relevant among the wide receivers and tight ends.

Miscellaneous Notes

Bengals rookie running back Chase Brown was activated from injured reserve and was active for this game, but he didn’t play a snap on offense.
Joe Mixon’s 16 rushing yards were the fewest for him in a game since 2019 back when Giovani Bernard was playing significant snaps.
The change from Matt Canada reportedly would mean more opportunities for Jaylen Warren and Diontae Johnson, but Warren’s usage relative to Najee Harris was the same, and Pickens' target rate has remained between 15-18% each of the last four games.
The one slight change in player usage is Calvin Austin III cut into Allen Robinson II’s 11 personnel playing time slightly. Austin played 15 snaps in 11 personnel this week compared to Robinson's 37. Last week, it was eight to 42.

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Houston Texans

Nico Collins: 7 receptions, 104 yards, 1 touchdown
Calvin Ridley: 5 receptions, 89 yards, 1 touchdown

Dameon Pierce returned to Houston: Pierce returned to Houston after missing the last three games due to an ankle injury, but he wasn’t back to being a starter.

Devin Singletary had earned the first and second 100-yard rushing performances by a Texans’ running back this season over the last two weeks, so he had earned the starting job.
Houston made Mike Boone a healthy inactive. Boone had been playing most passing situations in recent weeks while Singletary had that role at times earlier in the season.
Singletary started the game and played every snap on the Texans' first two drives.
Pierce’s playing time largely came in stretches at a time — a stretch late in the first quarter, late in the third and in the middle of the fourth.
Despite the large discrepancy in snaps, the two saw a near-even split in carries. Singletary ran six times for 18 yards and Pierce ran five times for 14 yards.
The Texans fell behind early and spent most of the day passing the ball where Singletary remained heavily involved with six receptions for 54 yards.
Some thought Pierce would at least be the short-yardage back, but that didn’t appear to be true in this game.
Singletary should have more fantasy value going forward thanks to his receiving production. Chances are he will also lead the team in carries but not by much.
Pierce can remain on fantasy rosters in case he receives more playing time going forward and they were just easing him in Sunday.

Monitor the news on Dalton Schultz: The Texans lead tight end took his last offensive snap at 9:22 in the fourth quarter.

Schultz was not on the injury report all week, but his playing time was limited early in the game. In the first quarter, he only played in four of a possible seven snaps in 11 personnel with Brevin Jordan taking the other three.
He was back to taking every snap in 11 personnel in the second quarter but then took only three-of-five in the third quarter.
Throughout those three quarters, he only played in five of a possible 14 snaps outside of 11 personnel. He wasn’t playing much outside of 11 personnel early in the season, but Teagan Quitoriano landing on injured reserve had changed that.
Eric Saubert was missing in more in other personnel groupings after not playing at all last week.
Schultz played snaps at the beginning of the quarter, but Brevin Jordan took 16-of-20 snaps in the fourth quarter while the Texans attempted a comeback.
Schultz ended the day with 22 snaps in 11 personnel compared to Jordan's 21. Schultz was playing over 10 times more snaps in 11 personnel than Jordan over the previous 11 weeks.
There was no word on any injury for Schultz, but the playing time early in the game suggests Jordan may have earned more playing time. Jordan’s receiving grade was 74.3 over the first 11 weeks compared to 71.7 by Schultz, albeit on a much smaller sample size.
This will be a situation worth monitoring over the week. If we don’t receive any news about this change in playing time, then it might be difficult to leave Schultz in fantasy starting lineups next week if he’s only playing half of the pass plays.

Robert Woods sees his playing time drop: Noah Brown was out again due to injury, but Woods’ snaps decreased regardless.

Woods was rotated out of 11 personnel more than usual with John Metchie III playing more snaps.
He caught two passes for 40 yards, which was decent, but his best two games as a Texan came in Weeks 1 and 2.
This is a good indication that once Brown is healthy, he will likely take over as the clear No. 3 wide receiver over Woods.
We have not seen all four of the Texans’ top wide receivers healthy since Week 1, before Tank Dell broke out as a potential generational receiver.
Woods will still probably rotate on the field significantly in both 11 and 12 personnel once Brown is healthy.

Monitor Travis Etienne’s health: Etienne went to the locker room in the second quarter due to a chest injury. He was able to return but not at 100%.

Etienne played in 12 of a possible 14 snaps in the first quarter, which was fairly typical for him.
He only ended up playing seven-of-19 snaps in the second quarter due to the chest injury.
Etienne seemed to be back to normal in the third quarter with 15 of a possible 19 snaps but then, he only played in six-of-16 in the fourth quarter despite this being a close important divisional game.
This is the third straight game where Etienne’s playing time has been significantly less than early in the season, making this presumably a new normal for Etienne.
He was still able to touch the ball 24 times in this game but was ineffective at 2.8 yards per carry. This was his sixth-straight game under 4.0 yards per carry and third-straight without a touchdown.
He still needs to be in fantasy starting lineups with the volume, but he no longer seems to be a top-five fantasy running back.
It’s worth noting D’Ernest Johnson dominated the backup snaps over Tank Bigsby. He is probably the handcuff running back to target in Jacksonville.

Miscellaneous Notes

C.J. Stroud led the team with 47 receiving yards and scored a rushing touchdown. It was his third rushing touchdown of the last five weeks and it doubled his career-high in rushing yards.
Zay Jones received more playing time this week compared to last week in his return from injury, but he’s still not seeing as much playing time as he did to start this season or all of last season.
Evan Engram’s playing time has been slightly down over the last two weeks. This could be another case of Jacksonville trying to keep their star players rested for later in the season. He’s still seeing more than enough targets to feel comfortable leaving him in fantasy starting lineups.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Indianapolis Colts

Mike Evans: 6 receptions, 70 yards, 2 touchdowns
Jonathan Taylor: 15 carries, 91 yards, 2 touchdowns

Colts backfield returns to a committee: Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss were back to rotating by drive rather than Taylor dominating snaps.

Taylor played 12-of-13 snaps on the first two drives followed by Moss playing 12-of-13 on the following two.
Taylor played most of the snaps on the fifth and seventh drives while Moss took the most on the sixth and eighth. At this point, Taylor had a lead in snaps at 28-27.
In the fourth quarter, the Colts stuck with Taylor for 12-of-15 snaps, as he led the backfield in snaps for all three drives in the quarter. This was the only reason Taylor ended up with a clear lead in offensive snaps.
Taylor ran six times for 44 yards and a touchdown in the quarter, which made up most of his rushing production. Moss was leading the backfield in rushing yards over the first three quarters.
Taylor is still a must-start for fantasy purposes, but this rotation might keep him outside of the top five most weeks.

Josh Downs returns to Indianapolis: The third-round rookie missed significant playing time in the Colts' previous two games due to a knee injury.

Downs was on fire before the knee injury. He scored 66.5 PPR points from Weeks 5-8, which ranked 11th-most among wide receivers.
He left Week 9 early and played in Week 10 despite not practicing, only playing a few snaps here and there.
Luckily, the Colts had a bye week in Week 11, giving Downs time to recover. He didn’t show up on the injury report at all over the last week.
He returned to his usual role of almost always playing in 11 personnel and not playing in other personnel groupings. He caught five-of-12 targets for 43 yards.
Considering how well Downs played before the injury and how many targets he received in this game, Downs should be picked up in any league where he was dropped in the past month.

Buccaneers make a chance at fourth wide receiver: Deven Thompkins’ playing time has steadily declined throughout the season.

Thompkins started the season competing with Trey Palmer for the third wide receiver spot after Russell Gage landed on injured reserve during the preseason. Palmer clearly won the spot by Week 3.
Undrafted rookie Rakim Jarrett was competing with Thompkins for the fourth wide receiver spot in recent weeks, but he landed on injured reserve earlier last week due to a quadriceps injury.
David Moore, who was a significant role player for the Seattle Seahawks from 2018-2020, was elevated off the Buccaneers’ practice squad for this game. He ended up with more snaps and more routes run than Thompkins.
The fourth wide receiver spot won’t mean anything in most fantasy leagues, but if something were to happen to Mike Evans, Chris Godwin or Palmer, then we would see Moore play a significant role in this offense.

Miscellaneous Notes

Baker Mayfield left the game on the first drive after a quarterback sneak due to a leg injury, but he was able to return on the following drive.
Rachaad White was added to the injury report as questionable on Saturday, but the injury had no impact on his playing time Sunday.
Andrew Ogletree was inactive for the second straight game due to a foot injury. Fifth-round rookie Will Mallory was much more involved than past weeks, specifically in 11 personnel, which is why he ran more routes than the other tight ends. He caught two passes for 29 yards. His playing time isn’t enough for him to be fantasy-relevant in most leagues, but there is a chance he could earn more time.

New England Patriots @ New York Giants

Rhamondre Stevenson: 21 carries, 98 yards, 1 touchdown; 5 receptions, 9 receiving yards
Jalin Hyatt: 5 receptions, 109 yards

Rhamondre Stevenson’s season is back: Stevenson’s playing time has been increasing each of the last few games.

The Patriots have largely rotated Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott by drive all season.
Stevenson started the season as the third-down back regardless of the rotation. Over time, New England became more comfortable with Elliott in passing situations, but that trend has reversed.
The rotation by drive continued in this game, but if Elliott was in for a drive that lasted for more than four plays, Stevenson would take over .
The Patriots were also fine with Stevenson receiving two drives in a row so that he could play during two-minute drills.
This was the second straight game where Stevenson ran the ball at least 20 times and third straight game where he gained at least 80 rushing yards.
Part of his success is the game scripts, as the Patriots have been losing very close games rather than getting blown out.
He should continue to be in fantasy starting lineups even if the matchup isn’t great.

Your weekly Patriots wide receiver update: The Patriots wide receiver rotation has constantly evolved, which continued in this game.

DeVante Parker missed the last two games after suffering a concussion in Week 8. He was back to playing nearly every snap in 11 personnel and partaking in the 12 personnel rotation.
Prior to his concussion, he was rotating some with Jalen Reagor. Since that time, Kayshon Boutte has overtaken Reagor on the depth chart. Boutte was active Sunday while Reagor was a healthy inactive.
For most of the game, Parker was joined by Demario Douglas and JuJu Smith-Schuster in 11 personnel. The three of them and Tyquan Thornton all played significant 12 personnel snaps.
Demario Douglas suffered a head injury on a punt return to start the fourth quarter that kept him out for the rest of the game.
New England only used 11 personnel in the fourth quarter. Thornton took Douglas’ snaps.
Douglas was the clear top target of both quarterbacks, catching six passes for 49 yards on nine targets.

Darius Slayton accomplishes the improbable: Slayton became the first player since 2020 to be active after initially being declared doubtful.

Slayton didn’t practice at the start of the week due to a neck injury and was limited in practice on Thursday and Friday.
Despite being active, Sterling Shepard started in Slayton’s palace. Shepard has spent all season as Slayton’s backup.
Shepard played all of the snaps on the first two drives while Slayton mixed on the third drive.
Slayton played his usual role over the rest of the game, playing roughly as many snaps as Jalin Hyatt and Wan’Dale Robinson from the third drive on.
The Giants have their bye week next week, which should give Slayton plenty of time to recover even further before their next game.

Miscellaneous Notes

Fifth-round rookie running back Eric Gray was activated off injured reserve prior to this game. He was the third running back on the depth chart, overtaking Jashaun Corbin, who was inactive. Gray only played one offensive snap.
The Patriots benched Mac Jones at halftime in favor of Bailey Zappe. Neither quarterback was effective and either one could start next week.
The Patriots’ desire to run the ball out of 12 personnel left Mike Gesicki as a clear third on their tight end depth chart. Gesicki also played less than usual in 11 personnel, and the team used much less 13 personnel this week than last.

Carolina Panthers @ Tennessee Titans

Derrick Henry: 18 carries, 76 yards, 2 touchdowns; 1 reception, 0 receiving yards
Chuba Hubbard: 14 carries, 45 yards, 1 touchdown; 5 receptions, 47 receiving yards

Chuba Hubbard leads Panthers backfield: Carolina has continued to evolve how their running backs were utilized.

Raheem Blackshear was a healthy inactive, which left Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders as the team’s only active running backs.
Hubbard and Sanders played an even split in snaps on both early downs and third downs last week, but Hubbard dominated those situations this week.
Sanders played the goal-line snaps and Hubbard took short yardage last week, but it was the opposite this week.
Both running backs were seeing multiple snaps on each drive with the exception of the end of halves where Hubbard would stay on the field, so Carolina could be very intentional about their specific situation usage.
Hubbard put up better numbers in this game both as a rusher and as a receiver, making it likely Hubbard remains the lead back next week.
The situation is fluid enough that if Sanders were to have a big game, he could potentially win the starting job again.

DeAndre Hopkins’ playing time decreased: Hopkins played the fewest amount of snaps since Week 4.

The Titans have generally rotated wide receivers more than most teams under Mike Vrabel, which has continued with Hopkins. He’s consistently played less than last year with the Arizona Cardinals and earlier in his career.
That continued in this game and was more extreme than usual because the Titans gained a lead early and never lost it.
Hopkins still played in 19 of a possible 21 snaps in 11 personnel, but only 11-of-25 snaps in 12 personnel.
He also didn’t play at all in their seven combined snaps out of 13, 21, 22 and 23 personnel.
Both Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Chris Moore played much more in those other personnel groupings.
Treylon Burks missed his third straight game, so these tendencies would have been worse for Hopkins had Burks been playing.
Hopkins still caught three passes for 49 yards. He led the team in receiving yards.
Every remaining team on the Titans' schedule has a winning record, so we are unlikely to see this kind of game script again this season.

Miscellaneous Notes

Tyjae Spears left the game briefly after taking a big hit, but he was able to quickly return to action.
Terrace Marshall Jr. was a healthy inactive for Carolina for a second straight game.
Laviska Shenault Jr. suffered an ankle injury early in this game and didn’t return. This all led Ihmir Smith-Marsette taking over as the fourth wide receiver for Carolina.
If Shenault’s injury is serious, expect Mike Strachan to get signed from the practice squad and take over as the fourth wide receiver.
Hayden Hurst missed another game for Carolina, but they remained in a three-man rotation where all three players received one target.

Los Angeles Rams @ Arizona Cardinals

Kyren Williams: 16 carries, 143 yards; 6 receptions, 61 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns
Tyler Higbee: 5 receptions, 29 yards, 2 touchdowns

Kyren Williams returns to the Rams: The Rams' starting running back returned from injured reserve and led the Rams to victory.

It was pretty clear heading into the week that Williams would be a full-go, but we also knew the Rams wouldn’t send him out for 100% of the snaps — as he was doing before the injury.
He played 29 of a possible 40 snaps in the first half, with Royce Freeman taking the third drive and three other snaps.
At that point, the Rams were up 21-8, and Williams had touched the ball 14 times, racking up 120 yards and a touchdown.
Williams played 50% of the snaps with the starters in the second half, with Freeman taking the other half.
The Rams put in backups on the last drive, and that’s when Zach Evans received his three snaps.
Williams can safely be put back in fantasy starting lineups, regardless of the opponent.

Don’t overreact to Tutu Atwell’s game: Atwell led the Rams in receiving yards with 76, but his role wasn’t as big as usual.

Atwell has been the Rams’ third wide receiver ever since Cooper Kupp returned from injury. There have been games where he rarely left the field and others where another wide receiver rotated in and out with him.
Atwell and Demarcus Robinson ended up rotating by drive in the first half. This led to a near-even split over the first half, with Robinson taking 21 snaps and Atwell taking 19.
Robinson took over in the second half. The two split snaps on the first two drives of the half, with Robinson taking a few more snaps than Atwell on both drives.
The Rams went with backup wide receivers on the last two drives, with Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp playing one snap each and Atwell not playing at all.
Because of this rotation, Atwell probably shouldn’t be considered off the waiver wire in most leagues.

Michael Carter makes his Cardinals’ debut: The former New York Jet was a significant part of the Cardinals' offense in the fourth quarter.

Emari Demercado was back from injury for Arizona after missing the last three games. This was the healthiest Arizona has been at running back in a long time, allowing Keaontay Ingram to be a healthy inactive and Tony Jones and Corey Clement to stay on the practice squad.
It was originally thought that Carter would take hold of the third-down role, which he held with the New York Jets.
Instead, Demercado regained his third-down job from earlier in the season, with Carter cutting significantly into James Conner’s early-down and short-yardage role.
Carter took only three snaps in the first three quarters, all on early downs.
The Cardinals were down 31-8 by the time they got the ball in the fourth quarter. They decided to give Carter a chance by giving him the ball for 24 of the 27 fourth-quarter snaps.
The stat lines for both running backs were fairly similar. Conner ran six times for 27 yards and caught four passes for 5 yards. Carter ran four times for 19 yards and caught four passes for 15 yards.
Conner didn’t get many opportunities today, but he has generally graded well as a runner this season. His job shouldn’t really be considered in jeopardy, but there is a chance Arizona is down by a lot late in other games, so Carter might get more chances.

Miscellaneous Notes

Tyler Higbee scored his first and second touchdowns of the season in his game, but he also hasn’t gained more than 50 yards since Cooper Kupp returned from injury.
Brycen Hopkins has been the Rams’ primary backup tight end all season, but he was a healthy inactive. Hunter Long took his place. Long was traded to the Rams this offseason as part of the Jalen Ramsey trade. He missed most of the season due to injury but made his debut with the Rams last week as a special teams player and this week as the backup tight end.
Michael Wilson missed another game for Arizona, allowing Greg Dortch to receive significant opportunities again. He caught three of his eight targets for 27 yards and a touchdown.
Zach Pascal spent most of the season as Wilson’s backup. Pascal missed last week and was limited this past week with a hamstring injury. Dortch may have simply passed him on the depth chart, or it’s possible the Cardinals restricted his playing time in this game.

Cleveland Browns @ Denver Broncos

Samaje Perine: 7 carries, 55 yards, 1 touchdown; 1 reception, 11 receiving yards
Jerome Ford: 9 carries, 65 yards; 4 receptions, 14 receiving yards

Monitor Amari Cooper’s health: Cooper suffered a rib injury in the middle of the fourth quarter and didn’t return.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters after the game that the X-rays were negative.
The Browns wide receiver rotation was relatively normal before the injury. Cooper, Elijah Moore and Cedric Tillman all played between 43 and 46 snaps in the first three quarters.
Once Cooper left with the injury, David Bell completely took over.
It’s worth noting Marquise Goodwin is the Browns’ other primary backup wide receiver, but he missed his third straight game after suffering a concussion.
Cooper had a relatively quiet game before the injury, catching just two passes for 16 yards.
It was hard enough starting Cooper with how he’s played with the backup quarterbacks so far this season. If he’s not at 100%, it will be even harder to have him in starting lineups.

Javonte Williams dominates offensive snaps: Williams played 70% of his team's offensive snaps for the second time in his career.

The only other time he surpassed 70% was in Week 13 of his rookie season when he started and Melvin Gordon was out with an injury. In that game, he ran 23 times for 102 yards and caught six passes for 76 yards and a touchdown.
He’s slowly but surely been playing a higher percentage of snaps on early downs and in short-yardage situations.
The Broncos happened to be in many of those today, and they were rarely in clear passing situations, allowing him to reach his season-high in snaps.
The only problem is that Samaje Perine was on the field for half of the goal-line situations, which led to Perine's 3-yard touchdown run. Russell Wilson also scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown. This left Williams without a touchdown.
Despite the relatively low fantasy total, this remains an encouraging sign for his fantasy future, especially if he ever takes more of the third-down snaps.

Miscellaneous Notes

Dorian Thompson-Robinson left the game late in the third quarter with a concussion and didn’t return. P.J. Walker took over and will start if Thompson-Robinson misses a game.
Jerome Ford received the highest snap share of his career, largely because of the game script. Ford has been playing in passing situations, while Hunt has played in short-yardage situations, and the two split early downs with Ford playing more than Hunt. The Browns spent most of the game in passing situations, which meant more snaps for Ford.
Marvin Mims’ snap share has declined each of the last two weeks, largely due to the game script and the Broncos running fewer three-receiver sets.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Las Vegas Raiders

Isiah Pacheco: 15 carries, 55 yards, 2 touchdowns; 5 receptions, 34 receiving yards
Rashee Rice: 8 receptions, 107 yards, 1 touchdown

Isiah Pacheco shines without Jerick McKinnon: The Chiefs’ receiving back missed Week 12 with a groin injury.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire took most of McKinnon’s snaps, taking over on third downs.
The big difference for Pacheco is that he took most of the goal-line snaps. Typically, McKinnon enters the game in goal-line situations to help with passing plays.
Pacheco converted two carries from the 1-yard line into touchdowns.
Pacheco also took more snaps on early downs than usual, leading to more targets. His five receptions tonight marked his second-highest single-game total.
This more than made up for the fact that Pacheco averaged 3.7 yards per carry, his fourth-lowest rate of the season.
We can expect Pacheco’s role to return to normal once McKinnon is back, but it was good for him to show the Chiefs that he can take a bigger role in passing situations and at the goal line.

Your weekly Chiefs wide receiver update: Rashee Rice took advantage of other wide receiver injuries to post career-high marks in targets, receptions and receiving yards.

Mecole Hardman landed on injured reserve with a thumb injury last week, while Kadarius Toney was ruled out for this game with hip and ankle injuries.
This allowed the Rice, Skyy Moore and Marquez Valdes-Scantling to see slight increases in playing time.
Rice, Hardman and Toney typically line up in the slot more often than they line up out wide. If anything, it was surprising that Rice didn’t see a higher increase in snaps.
Richie James started the season as part of the wide receiver rotation but then spent time on injured reserve and was inactive on his return. He also rotated in a little bit.
Justin Watson was the star of Week 11, but this week, his playing time decreased a little from the previous week. He caught a touchdown pass, but that was his only reception of the game.
Rice is the only fantasy-relevant wide receiver on the roster — which has been true for some time — but these injuries should help his floor.

Jakobi Meyers bounces back: The Raiders' second receiver put together his best game in over a month.

Meyers was one of the bigger surprises early in the season, recording at least 50 receiving yards in five of his first six games and scoring five receiving touchdowns in that time.
His role in the offense had declined in the previous four games. He caught nine passes for 127 yards in the four games combined.
He bounced back in a big way this week, catching six passes for 79 yards and a touchdown.
The Chiefs have spent all season shutting down No. 1 wide receivers. Davante Adams’ five receptions for 73 yards is the best a top wide receiver has played against Kansas City all season.
The fact that both wide receivers did so well against this defense is a sign that Meyers could have brighter days ahead in this Raiders offense.

Miscellaneous Notes

Josh Jacobs recorded his second 100-yard rushing game of the season. This was the fourth time in his career that he gained 100 rushing yards in a loss, with three of those coming against the Chiefs.
Travis Kelce ended his slump. After three straight games of less than 60 receiving yards, he had one of his better games of the season, catching six passes for 91 yards.

Buffalo Bills @ Philadelphia Eagles

DeVonta Smith: 7 receptions, 106 yards, 1 touchdown
Gabe Davis: 6 receptions, 105 yards, 1 touchdown

Quez Watkins returns for Philadelphia: Watkins played for only the fourth time this season.

Watkins has been the Eagles' third wide receiver for most of the last three seasons. He missed time early in the season with a hamstring injury and landed on injured reserve.
The Eagles added Olamide Zaccheaus this offseason to help with the wide receiver depth and added Julio Jones when Watkins landed on injured reserve.
Jones recently surpassed Zaccheaus on the depth chart, and he remained the third wide receiver in this game even with Watkins back.
Jones played 28 of 40 snaps in 11 personnel, with Watkins taking 10.
Zaccheaus played more snaps than Watkins because the Eagles used 10 personnel on 18 snaps, in which Watkins was typically the odd man out. The Eagles' 18 snaps in 10 personnel were the most by a team in a game this season.

Khalil Shakir’s role expands again: His playing time has been on the rise nearly every week and his role reached a new high in this game.

The Bills made Deonte Harty a healthy inactive. Harty started the season as the Bills’ third wide receiver, but he lost that job to Shakir and his role has steadily declined.
This left Trent Sherfield as Shakir’s primary competition for playing time.
The Bills ran 95 plays in this game, the most for a team in a game. When a team runs a lot of plays, players typically get rotated out more than usual, and we see snap shares decrease compared to usual.
Instead, Shakir played more than ever.
While this is generally good news for Shakir, there is a chance his playing time will decrease when Dawson Knox returns. The Bills never used a traditional 12 personnel in this game, although they did run 14 plays with a tight end and a sixth offensive lineman.
Once Knox is back, they will be running much more 12 personnel, where Shakir is unlikely to be on the field.

Miscellaneous Notes

Last week, Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra shared tight end duties with Dallas Goedert out. Calcaterra suffered an ankle injury late last week and missed this game. Stoll remained the primary tight end, but the Eagles spent so many passing plays without a tight end that Stoll was barely involved in the passing game.
Ty Johnson was the Bills’ third-down back last week, but Latavius Murray regained the role for this game. Johnson still mixed in occasionally on early downs.
Leonard Fournette remained on the practice squad for the fourth straight game.

Baltimore Ravens @ Los Angeles Chargers

Keenan Allen: 14 receptions, 106 yards
Zay Flowers: 5 receptions, 25 yards, 1 touchdown; 1 carry, 37 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown

Keaton Mitchell’s role grows: The Ravens’ undrafted rookie has slowly but surely taken more of the early-down snaps.

Mitchell played nearly half of the early-down snaps last week. This week, he took over half of the snaps, taking away playing time from Gus Edwards.
Edwards was still getting significant work on third downs, but this week, Justice Hill regained the third down role.
It was still a three-man committee in terms of carries, but Mitchell’s stat line was better than Edwards'. Mitchell gained more yards on his best carry than Edwards got from all of his carries combined.
Mitchell has now averaged at least 6.0 yards per carry in three games, while Edwards has hit that mark just twice.
Mitchell remains a top waiver wire option because he is one of the few running backs available in over 50% of leagues who is their team’s best option at the position. There is also a chance Mitchell takes more playing time from Edwards and Hill.

Isaiah Likely leads the Ravens tight ends: Mark Andrews suffered what is likely a season-ending injury in Week 11, making this the Ravens' first game without the All-Pro tight end.

Likely was on the field for most plays, including all snaps out of 11 and 12 personnel.
The Ravens continued to use 20 personnel (which has no tight end) at times. This is typically how Andrews received breaks, and it was similar with Likely tonight.
The big difference in how the Ravens used Andrews compared to Likely was 21 personnel. Andrews played roughly 80% of 21 personnel snaps, where Likely split those snaps with Charlie Kolar. These are mostly run plays, so it doesn’t greatly impact Likely’s route participation.
Likely led the team in receiving yards with 40 on four receptions.
The Chargers had allowed the third-most fantasy points to tight ends this season, so many fantasy managers were hoping for a bigger game from him, but he is still one of the best tight end options available off the waiver wire.

Monitor Quentin Johnston’s health: Johnston missed most of the second half after going to the medical tent.

Johnston’s role was normal in the first half, playing 22 of a possible 26 offensive snaps. He was rotated out more than usual in the third quarter and didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter.
After the game, coach Brandon Staley said it was a rib injury but also that it was a coach's decision not to put him back in the game. It’s possible Johnston will be benched going forward.
The Chargers were playing from behind, so they stuck with 11 personnel throughout the second half.
Jalen Guyton missed last week but returned to be the primary addition in three-receiver sets this week. He consistently played once Johnston was out.
Alex Erickson served as Guyton’s replacement last week and took over for Johnston in the second half.
None of these wide receivers accomplished much in the game, with Keenan Allen dominating targets and tight end Gerald Everett and running back Austin Ekeler being the clear second and third receiving options.

Miscellaneous Notes

Rashod Bateman’s playing time has slowly but surely increased since Week 5. That ascension continued in this game, largely at the expense of Odell Beckham Jr.
Nick Vannett missed this game due to a concussion, but Gerald Everett returned to the Chargers tight end rotation. Everett saw his usual role, largely splitting pass routes with Donald Parham Jr.

Table Notes

Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.