NFL Week 12 Fantasy Football News: Peyton Hillis, Aaron Rodgers, And Dwayne Bowe Flying High

Oakland Raiders WR Jacoby Ford leads his team in receiving with 108 yards, more than double the next-best Raiders total. He also collected 10 more yards on his single carry than the rest of his team has managed in 11 carries. Oh, and he scored their only offensive touchdown. Oh, and their other touchdown, a 101-yard kickoff return to open the game. And have you seen the video of his 52-yard, interception-saving grab that set up the Raiders only other score?

This is the second time in three games that Ford had completely taken over the Raiders offense. Two weeks ago he put up 148 receiving yards, including the catch that set up the winning field goal, and a kick return touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. The main difference today is the Raiders D hasn’t been able to keep the Miami Dolphins from kicking field goals every couple minutes.

Too many NFL prospects with eye-popping 40-yard-dash times have unpolished ball skills, footwork, and field awareness. But Ford is proving he’s not workout warrior, clawing passes away from defensive backs in critical situations and breaking huge plays in bursts.

The upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers — just a few weeks removed from their “best in the NFC” moment — are getting a jolt today from the Baltimore Ravens. In no area is the disparity more apparent than quarterback play, with Joe Flacco throwing for 265 yards and two touchdowns at the end of the third, while Josh Freeman has only completed nine of his 25 attempts for 94 yards, a 3.8-yard average.

WR Derrick Mason and TE Todd Heap have caught the bulk of Flacco’s yards, 87 and 79 respectively, plus a touchdown each. Baltimore has doubled Tampa’s first down total, outgained them by 130 yards so far.

Freeman’s seven-game touchdown streak, and three-game multiple-touchdown streak, are in danger. He’s never been a huge yardage guy, with only two games over 250 yards, so his low totals today aren’t that huge of a concern. Baltimore’s got a pretty good defense, if you haven’t heard.

WR Dwayne Bowe has been a fantasy monster in November, and today has been no different.

Already, the stud receiver has eight catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Each time it seems the Seahawks are going to come up with a big stop on defense, Bowe works his magic and manages to move the chains with some help from QB Matt Cassel.

Cassel is having a big day also, and has completed 15 of 20 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns.

Chiefs have been moving the football with balance on offense, though, as RB Jamaal Charles has 10 carries for 83 yards. His longest was a 23-yard run.

The Chiefs are dominating this game, and have the Seahawks out-yarded, 302-71. Seattle will need some long, sustained drives to get their defense a rest if they want to get back in this game.

Still, WR Dwayne Bowe and QB Matt Cassel are having huge fantasy football performances thus far.

Fantasy owners of St. Louis Rams QB Sam Bradford likely aren’t playing him as a regular weekly starter. Though he’s played well on the field and is putting up decent fantasy numbers, he simply doesn’t have the weapons to produce big points with any regularity.

Except when he’s playing the Denver Broncos, apparently. Bradford has three touchdowns before halftime, already a career high. He already has 216 yards, too, needing only 74 more in 32 minutes to set another personal best. So who’s pulling in all these passes? And are any of them worth a fantasy roster spot?

TE Michael Hoomanawanui, who had a touchdown last week, grabbed another today, but it might be time to think about picking up WR Danario Alexander for some bench duty. He’s only played three games this year, but has now gone over 70 yards in two of them and could hit 100 today. In case you needed any more confusion, TE Billy Bajema has caught two touchdowns today.

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QB Jay Cutler and QB Michael Vick are making fantasy owners happy today.

We are only in the second quarter of the Bears Vs. Eagles game, and already the two have combined for three touchdowns thus far. 

Cutler has completed three of four passes for 69 yards. The most impressive thing, is that two of said passes went for touchdowns! Vick has been good early also, completing seven of 11 passes for 75 yards.

Receivers Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett have touchdowns from Cutler; with Maclin being the recipient of VIck’s sole touchdown pass, coming on 3rd & goal.

Keep it here; as we project a lot more points to be scored, with both quarterbacks putting up big fantasy football numbers as a result. This game is fixing to be very exciting. The Bears currently lead, 14-13, but the Eagles have the football at midfield, within striking distance. 

Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson got into a scrap with Tennessee Titans CB Cortland Finnegan, putting a stop to what had been another productive outing. The Texans were up 20-0 over their division rivals at the time, with Johnson’s nine catches on 11 targets helping to lead the way.

With Johnson likely to miss a game or two, consider giving WR Kevin Walter or WR Jacoby Jones a start, or TE Joel Dreessen, who’s had two strong weeks in a row now. Walter has four touchdowns in seven games, with two games over 90 yards receiving. Jones only has one touchdown in nine games, but with QB Matt Schaub distributing he’s sure to get looks in Johnson’s absence. If you’re into looking for deep sleepers, consider WR David Anderson. He has multiple catches in two straight games with Johnson around.

As always, if you have RB Arian Foster, play him regardless of who’s on his or any other sideline.

You can see video of the Andre Johnson fight here.

Buffalo Bills RB Fred Jackson is over 100 total yards for the third straight week, with a touchdown for the fourth straight. The majority of his yards have come on receptions. Pittsburgh Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall is having a good game of his own, with 84 yards and a touchdown already. With a whole quarter to go, Mendenhall could have his first 100-yard day since week three against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

QB Ben Roethlisberger and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick also have a nice duel going, with Big Ben’s 195 yards trumped so far by Fitzpatrick’s 203 and a touchdown. WR Hines Ward is playing well again after missing a game in week 10 and only grabbing a few passes against the Oakland Raiders. WR Emmanuel Sanders, thought to be just a temporary replacement for Ward, is again a small part of the Steelers offense with a couple catches today.

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Feels like we go through this every week, but various Jacksonville Jaguars are tearing up the stat sheets today. The mighty New York Giants defense is struggling against QB David Garrard and the rushing attack of Maurice Jones-Drew and Rashad Jennings.

Jennings scored his second NFL touchdown and first of 2010 in relief of MJD, who has 78 total yards. If he grabs 22 more, he’ll have his fourth-straight 100-yard rushing game. Garrard has only thrown for 91 yards and has tossed a pick, but he made an absurd weaving touchdown run that made everybody say the “he’s not the fastest quarterback, but he’s not the slowest” thing we say every couple weeks.

TE Marcedes Lewis, WR Mike Thomas, and WR Mike Sims-Walker have a handful of catches and yards among them. If the Jags are going to keep it going today, it looks like it’ll be on the ground.

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UPDATE: Andre Johnson was ejected in the fourth quarter for fighting with Titans CB Cortiand Finnegan.

The Houston Texans three-headed monster, since every team with three good offensive players must be referred to as having a three-headed monster, is off to a hot start against the Tennessee Titans. Anything would look mighty compared to what the Titans are trotting out today, with one-headed human Rusty Smith leading Tennessee to 54 total yards. The Texans are up 14-0 at the half.

QB Matt Schaub is 19 of 25 with two touchdowns, one to WR Andre Johnson and one to TE Joel Dreessen, who was one of last week’s highest-scoring tight ends. Schaub has multiple touchdowns in five games this year.

RB Arian Foster leads the team in both rushing and receiving yardage, with 114 yards from scrimmage. He has approximately one billion yards from scrimmage this season, with over 100 yards in all but two games. He has yet to score today, but has tended to score in bursts. If Tennessee’s offense can’t get going, the Texans are going to start running more at some point.

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Young guns Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan are squaring off in the Georgia Dome today with a lot on the line. Both quarterbacks moved the ball well in the first half, throwing for over 100 yards already, but a pair of goal line plays gave Ryan the early edge.

As the second quarter clock wound down, Ryan found a wide-open TE Tony Gonzalez in the end zone for the game’s sole touchdown. Gonzalez has four catches on four targets today, including a fourth-down conversion grab that the Green Bay Packers probably should’ve challenged. It’s Gonzo’s first touchdown since week six and continues Ryan’s ten-week scoring streak.

Rodgers has 25 rushing yards in addition to his passing yardage, but coughed up a fumble on a goal line sneak. It was Rodgers’ first fumble of the year and his first turnover since week seven.

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Peyton Hillis fantasy owners, your ace may be leveling up. Sure, he’s already scored two touchdowns with over 47 minutes left to play. And yeah, he’s on pace for something like 160 yards even though he’s only caught one pass for 21 yards so far. But the Cleveland Browns just let him throw his second pass of the season — though it fell incomplete, and though pretty much everyone would let Hillis throw instead of Jake Delhomme, how much more dangerous can Hillis get?

Hillis has a touchdown in every game this season, but this is somehow only his second multi-touchdown game. Doesn’t it seem like he’s had more than that? Hillis has been among the most consistent fantasy stars this year, but could be on his way to one of his two biggest games.

The last team to hold Hillis below 100 total yards was the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 24. The only team to keep him out of the end zone was the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 17.

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