Fantasy Sports

Oh dear. Reed’s latest fantasy rug pull was by far his most painful, as the Packers scored 31 points against a struggling pass defense. Jordan Love did play an awful first half, but he came alive after the break, mostly by targeting Christian Watson. Reed drew a 14-yard DPI that doesn’t show up in the box score, but the brutal truth continues to be that he is not commanding looks. He’s drawn more than six targets one time all season, and been held to three-or-fewer three of the past four weeks. Ouch. With all 32 teams active for Week 15, Reed will be a shaky WR3 against the Seahawks.

The 100-yard outing was Watson’s second in four weeks. This one was difficult to see coming at halftime, as Watson was sitting on just one catch for 20 yards, one where he went airborne and lost a fumble. Watson smoothed things over by hooking up with Jordan Love for a pair of second half highlights, including a 59-yard catch on the second play of the third quarter. Not that it was all roses, as Watson also got a Josh Jacobs receiving score called back on an admittedly dubious OPI call. Watson is as volatile as ever, but it’s been nice to see him finally mix some spiked weeks back in. Romeo Doubs’ (concussion) health will be a Week 15 variable against the Seahawks.

That kind of statline is just what the PPR doctor ordered, though aside from his three-yard touchdown in the first quarter, Montgomery was having a rough night in short yardage until the Lions’ final drive. That’s when D-Mont took a daring 4th-and-1 handoff with 0:43 remaining and gained seven yards to essentially ice the game. In between, Montgomery got stood up on several goal-line carries. He has nevertheless now scored in 11-of-13 2024 appearances. Bonkers. Montgomery has 10 days to rest up for a Week 15 home date with the Bills’ leaky run defense.

It was the tale of two halves for Love, who entered the break just 3-of-7 for 31 scoreless yards. Amazon’s Kaylee Hartung even asked Matt LaFleur — what’s with the lack of passing? Love then hit Christian Watson for a 59-yard, non-scoring strike on the second play of the third quarter and finished the drive 2-of-4 for 71 yards and a touchdown. Targeting Watson would remain a theme, as the inconsistent wideout caught three second half passes for 94 yards after those numbers were 1/20 before the break. Love dropped some ridiculous dimes without too many groaners mixed in. The Packers’ run game has been working, but Love is averaging only 22 attempts over the past month for no real discernible reason. He should probably be cut loose a little more, but we don’t expect that for Week 15 against the Seahawks’ fast-improving defense.

The three-score effort was Goff’s fourth of the season, while the interception was his first since his five-pick fiasco against the Texans four weeks ago. Locked in a tight battle, including trailing for large swaths of the second half, alleged front-runner Goff kept his wits about him even after a terrible third quarter INT allowed the Packers to go up 21-17 after trailing 17-7 at halftime. Spreading the ball around — six different Lions caught at least five passes — and employing tempo on many key downs, Goff played an effective, efficient point guard. All three of his scores came from inside the Packers’ three-yard line. Goff now has 10 days to rest up for a critical home test against the high-flying Bills.

Jacobs was not technically targeted in the passing game, though he actually had a fourth TD called back by a Christian Watson pick play. The scores were his 10th, 11th and 12th of the season, with seven of those coming in the past three weeks. Jacobs is regressing to the mean after experiencing rough touchdown luck the first two months. It’s not hard to see why, as the sixth-year pro has been a tackle-breaking force his first season in Green Bay, very much including Thursday evening. Totally dominating the Packers’ backfield touches, Jacobs will remain a high-end RB1 for Week 15 against the Seahawks even with all 32 teams finally active.

In theory it’s concerning, though the Seahawks do not follow the same injury report rhythms as other teams. They are both new issues for Walker, however, so it’s possible he didn’t feel right Thursday after getting in a “limited” session on Wednesday. For now, he should be considered genuinely questionable for Sunday’s Cardinals rematch. We will hopefully get some clarity — or perhaps an injury report removal — on Friday. Zach Charbonnet is a must add insurance back if he’s been cut loose in the leagues where you roster Walker.

It’s actually a downgrade for Metcalf after he was “limited” on Wednesday, but he sat out Wednesday and Thursday last week before playing against the Jets. The Seahawks remain one of the league’s most inscrutable injury report teams. We suspect Metcalf will be out there again against the Cardinals.

Designated to practice last week, Higbee is now poised to actually return vs. the Bills. Sidelined since last season’s Wild Card Round, Higbee has always commanded more targets than you would expect, but the Rams’ offense has become a black hole behind target dominators Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. That being said, veteran Higbee is probably going to fare better than Colby Parkinson and Davis Allen, who both struggled mightily as pass catchers in Higbee’s absence. Higbee will crack the top 30 for Week 14, but only just so.

Asked about his status, McConkey projected optimism but did not guarantee he would suit up against the Chiefs. “Shoot, if I can play, I’m gonna play,” McConkey said. “At the end of the day, I’m gonna do whatever I need to do to get out there.” McConkey has been limited in both practices to start the week, which is a good sign for his Week 14 availability. With that in mind, the knee injury is something he picked up in Sunday’s win over the Falcons, and is worth keeping an eye on until the team releases its final injury report on Friday.