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The New England Patriots played out one of the all-time ugly on-the-eye games in NFL history against the New York Jets in Week 11. Yet, they clearly were enjoying what they were doing and wanted to savor every moment. Why else would their pace of play drop from 1.879 (No. 27) a week ago to 1.843 (No. 31)? Because the Patriots have clearly decided, in the words of the Mandalorian, that this is the way. This is another fantasy offense that we really don’t want too many pieces of.

The Week 12 TNF Showdown features three matchups: Giants at Cowboys, Bills at Lions, and Patriots at Vikings. This year’s fantasy slate is chalk-full of talent. The Buffalo Bills high powered offense travels to Detroit to face a Lions defense giving up big plays at a high rate. The Dallas Cowboys face off against the New York Giants in a divisional matchup as Dak Prescott looks to continue his streak of top-10 performances. Finally, the night will be wrapped up with a sneaky shootout, where the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings both look to spark their offenses. This week I’ll be short and to-the-point, giving you the starts, sits, and picks for each of these matchups.

Gabriel Davis has averaged over 100 Air Yards and 7 targets the past four weeks. How a wide receiver ranked inside the top 25 scorers at the position in fantasy points per game is priced below $5,500 is unknown to me. He is also playing in a game with the highest projected point total not just on the Thanksgiving slate but on the entire week. If you loved Will Fuller on Thanksgiving two years ago against the Lions when he scored 35 plus fantasy points in Detroit, you are going to love Gabe Davis like your favorite pie. Get him in every lineup on Thanksgiving!

Potentially Tampa Bay’s new starter, Rachaad White has 33 touches over his last two games. He has at least three receptions in five games this season, with 6.8 (No. 22) yards per reception. Leonard Fournette left last game due to injury, but even before that, Fournette was ceding opportunities to White. Young and shifty with 84th-percentile or higher Speed and Burst Scores, White has the chance to boom this week.

With four top-10 TE finishes in his last five games, Juwan Johnson has become an established start option at TE. His production has been touchdown-dependent, however, with five touchdowns in his last five games. The 49ers limit TE touchdowns, so it will be harder for Johnson to hit paydirt this week.

What Pollard and Williams have been able to accomplish in part-time roles all season has been remarkable, even if they’ve admittedly ran hot. This type of game is always the ceiling scenario for Williams who is essentially the James Conner of 2o22 with his run of goal-line touchdowns. We’ve talked about Williams plenty here when D’Andre Swift missed games early in the season, and honestly, his role has hardly changed. The primary driver of Williams’s variance game to game has been script rather than who else is active around him. He is the primary early-down rusher with possession over 80-percent of work inside the five. The complimentary early-down and pass-down roles opened the year as entirely D’Andre Swift’s domain.

When the Patriots are able to run and do they want to run, Stevenson scores fantasy points. His 129 carries heading into Week 11 sat No. 13 and his 24 Red Zone Touches No. 2. Though he has only a modest 95.5 (48th-percentile) Speed Score, his 11.24 (69th-percentile) Agility Score has helped him to a 6.2-percent (No. 18) Breakaway Run Rate. But even when the Pats can’t run, Stevenson scores, anyway. He’s seen 49 targets on the year and a 17.1-percent (No. 5) Target Share.

Williams was cleared to practice this week. I am not sure when he will make his debut, but we are talking about a dynamic, exciting first-round draft pick who could be a Jaylen Waddle-like player in this league. He is a perfect addition for teams that are in great playoff shape and could use a high-upside hammer as a bench stash to put their teams over the top. 

The worst part of our beloved game is the frequency of injuries. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of such a fast-paced, contact-heavy sport. It’s something that is important to remember as we approach the first full week of the preseason. Luckily for the NFL players, they have access to some of the best doctors in the world and can usually return to form at least by the next season. Unfortunately for us fantasy players, it’s not always easy to know when a player will get hurt. To another degree, sometimes your roster isn’t big enough to plan ahead for an injury. This series, the Infirmary Report, will give you advice on the injuries that have happened every week during the season. Without further ado, here is the Infirmary Report: Post Week 11 of regular season action.

I’m still firing McCaffrey up though as a top-tier RB1. His 23-percent Target Share and 5.2 Receptions Per Game rank No. 1 and 2 at the position.

DeAndre Hopkins has been “en fuego” since his return from suspension. Since his Week 7 return, Hopkins leads the position in Targets Per Game (11.75) and Receptions Per Game (9).

The World Cup will be run from November 20-December 18 in Qatar. The first portion of the tournament is the Group Stage, where 32 countries are split into 8 groups and play within their group. The top 2 teams are taken from each group after the whole group plays each other. Those teams will make up a 16 team knockout tournament, single elimination. Oh yeah baby, there is nothing quite like single elimination tournaments. Especially a high-caliber one like the World Cup. The United States are in Group B, along with England, Wales, and Iran. England is the favorite to win the group, but the U.S. is still expected to get 2nd and then advance into the knockout stage. The knockout stage will run from December 3-December 18.