Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

—Written by Brian Dezelske
—Edited by Marc Caviglia

Week 11 of the 2012 NFL season was, by far, the most upside down week of football we have witnessed so far. Sure, a couple things went down as per usual, like Peyton Manning throwing three touchdowns… again! But Sunday was dominated by the likes of Chad Henne, Garrett Graham (not to be confused with Jimmy Graham), T.Y. Hilton and something called Bilal Powell, who came from out nowhere to shred the fantasy football scene and force fantasy pundits to dive deeper into their drunken stupors.

For the second time this season, we witnessed a quarterback eclipse 500 yards passing in a game. Also in that game, we watched two wideouts break 200 yards receiving. This game also gave the NFL its’ first-ever overtime game where both teams kicked field goals before the game was decided. Hopefully by now everyone knows we’re talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars-Houston Texans game.

Did any of the aforementioned names put up big enough days to make this week’s article? There’s only one way to find out and that’s to keep reading. Happy Thanksgiving!

Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals

Larry Fitzgerald just can’t catch a break. He’s been struggling with ineptitude at the quarterback position ever since Kurt Warner retired, and it continued this past Sunday when Ken Whisenhunt benched John Skelton in favor of rookie sixth-rounder Ryan Lindley—a really bad move for Fitzgerald owners. Fitz finished with just one catch for a measly 11 yards as the Arizona Cardinals dropped their sixth-straight game.

This week the Cards host the St. Louis Rams who only gave up nine fantasy points and zero touchdowns to Kevin Kolb in their first meeting back in Week 5. Obviously Kolb won’t be playing and it’s being reported by Marc Sessler of NFL.com that Whisenhunt has not named a starter for this Sunday’s game. Frustrated owners will want to monitor this closely and maybe look at sitting him as we near the playoffs.

Jordy Nelson & James Jones, WR, Green Bay Packers

The much-anticipated return of Jordy Nelson didn’t quite go as planned for fantasy owners who were relying on him to step up against the Detroit Lions. Also performing a disappearing act was James Jones. They combined for just 78 yards on nine catches—not the stuff we’ve come to expect from the Green Bay Packers high-powered offense. It’s a good thing Randall Cobb showed up to play, because he was all they had on offense and the only reason they won that game.

Hopefully Nelson and Jones can turn it around Sunday night when they head to Jersey to take on the New York Giants. The G-Men have struggled against the pass at times and are giving up the seventh-most points to opposing receivers. If the Packers offensive line can neutralize their pass rush, Aaron Rodgers should be able to get these two receivers into the mix.

Dwayne Bowe, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

If Larry Fitzgerald and Dwayne Bowe were playing a game of one-upmanship, Bowe would have been declared the victor in a tightly contested match. He finished Sunday with zero catches for zero yards, edging out Fitzgerald’s 1 reception for 11 yards. In his defense he was injured in the second quarter and did not return to the game

As far as this Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos is concerned, he is listed as questionable and Romeo Crennel didn’t rule him out. Owners will want to monitor this situation closely as it’s looking like he will be a game-time decision.

Denarius Moore, WR, Oakland Raiders

It looks like Denarius Moore caught wind of the one-upmanship contest that Dwayne Bowe and Larry Fitzgerald were having and decided he wanted in on that; it’s arguable that Moore had a worse afternoon than either Bowe or Fitzgerald.

He finished with one catch for a whopping nine yards against the New Orleans Saints who may currently boast the 31st-ranked pass defense, but everyone knows is the worst in the league. They’re giving up an average of 27.6 fantasy points to the receiver position which is a league high, they’ve given up a league-leading 15 touchdowns to wide receivers as well. So with all this in his favor it makes sense that he would flop the way he did.

Hopefully that was just an accident and he gets back on track when the Oakland Raiders travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals. He’s still Carson Palmer’s No. 1 target and has four touchdowns in the last six games. Palmer will have added incentive to play well in his return to Cincy, so he will want to get Moore involved early and often.

Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons

Matty Ice looked more like Matty Frozen last Sunday. He threw five interceptions and zero touchdowns, but somehow managed to will the Atlanta Falcons to a 23-19 win over the Arizona Cardinals. It was a disappointing performance for owners, but not something that anyone needs to worry about. He only has three games with at least three interceptions in 72 career starts, making this performance nothing more than an outlier.

Look for the Falcons quarterback to get back on track this Sunday when they head to Tampa to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs are the NFL’s 32nd-ranked pass defense and they allow the fifth-most points to opposing QB’s. Owners should just throw what happened last week out the window and start him with confidence moving forward.