CASE SUMMARY: For most players, their fantasy league's season concluded either this past Sunday (Week 16) or the Sunday prior (Week 15), making these weeks either the Super Bowl or championship playoff weeks. Start/sit decisions are vitally important, as the stakes are higher and one bad choice can be the difference between hoisting a chmpionship trophy and falling short, as most fantasy players have seen, or have expereinced themselves. For leagues who played their Super Bowl this week, the MVP's were the Giants' tandem of Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones. Barkley had the best game of his career and set highs in multiple categories, as well as for the entire league in 2019. His 189 yards rushing was a career high, and 2nd best of any RB this season (Fournette had 225). Combined with 90 receiving yards, and Barkley's 279 total scrimmage yards was the league best (for RB and WR/TE) in 2019. He also scroed twice (1 rush, 1 rec) for a total of 42 points, the 3rd best total by any RB this season. Barkley struggled to live up to preseason expectations (where he was a top 3 overall pick by virtually all publications) for much of the season, including missing 4 weeks to injury, and scoring only 3 TDs all season, through Week 14. However, last week against Miami, he rushed for 112 and scored twice, and added 313 receiving yards. Doing so ensured Barkley would regain elite positioning among fantasy experts, and his game against Washington confirmed his elevation was not an aberration. Normally the Judge would not consider a player like Barkley for comparing analysts, because he is unanimously ranked as an elite "must-start" by everybody. Whether he's ranked 3rd or 5th is mostly irrelevant, if you own Barkley, you're starting him no matter what. This is the same reason Christian McCaffrey, Lamar Jackson, Michael Thomas, etc. rarely appear among the Judge's verdicts, because reviewing those players doesn't help to differentiate the experts. Barkley's performance, however, was so noteworthy and so much better than anyone else (2nd best non-QB was Kenyan Drake, 10 full points behind, and who the Judge looked at just last week), and during many leagues' Super Bowl, that he felt is was important to note. Despite Barkley's massive success on the ground (or maybe because of it), his teammate Daniel Jones was also able to post monster numbers, throwing for 352 yards and 5 TDs against the Redskin defense, with the final one being the overtime game-winner. Jones had stepped aside for two weeks to allow Eli Manning to have a curtain call, but was named the starter on Friday. Jones had thrown for 4 TDs twice this season, but never before had 5, and his 352 yards was also his highest. His total of 35 points was his best scor, edging out (by one point) his debut in Week 3 where he threw for 2 TDs and ran 2 in himself. The top fantasy wide receiver of the week was involved in an overtime game, as the Bengals, incredibly, came back from 28-6 mid-3rd, and 35-12 in the 4th quarter to tie the score with 29 seconds left (then the Dolphins won in OT). However Tyler Boyd did not touch the ball in OT, instead, he collected the majority of his 128 yards and 2 TDs during the comeback. Boyd's 128 yards were his highest since Week 3 last year, and this was his first 2-TD game since Week 6 of last year. He had 3 TDs on the year, coming into the game. His 29-point outing was the best of his career and the best by any RB/WR/TE on the Bengals (including Joe Mixon) since John Ross scored 31 in the season's opening week.

CASE SUMMARY: Kenyan Drake (ARI) and Breshad Perriman (TB) provided the top fantasy performances of the week at RB and WR, respectively. Both of these players, however, were too far off of the analysts' radar to make qualified differences. Drake was ranked in the 20s by all analysts, while Perriman, whose opportunity emerged after injuries to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, was ranked in the 40s or 50s by all analysts, with 2 exceptions. Miles Sanders was one of three 30-point RBs (1/2 PPR), behind Drake and another typical McCaaffrey Sunday. And among WRs, only Perriman and Julio Jones topped the 30-point mark. On the week that was the fantasy Super Bowl in many leagues, expert opinions on Sanders and Jones were more valuable than ever.

CASE SUMMARY: 2019 has proven to be a year where young quarterbacks have elevated themselves to the ranks of the elite, like Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson and Josh Allen, while some older QBs like Brady or Ryan or Rivers have, for the first time, fallen to the middle of the pack. One QB who appeared to be headed to that latter category was Drew Brees, who missed 6 games earlier in the season, and since returning, put up three 3 TD games but also a zero-TD and a 1-TD game. His fantasy output peaked at 24 points in Week 8, and was coming off an 11-point day (184 yards, 1 TD), heading to play against the stout San Francisco defense. But instead of struggling, Brees exploded for 6 total touchdowns (5 pass, 1 rush) in this terrific 48-46 shootout, racking up 40 fantasy points. It was just the 3rd 40-point day from Brees this decade and the 4th 40-point day from any QB this season. Another QB the Judge spotlighted recently was Jameis Winston, who had a relatively big day along with some other unheralded QBs in Week 12. But this week, he had the best fantasy day of his 5-year career, and 2nd best behind Brees this week. Winston tossed 4 TDs and ran one in himself while leading the Bucs with 456 yards to a comeback vistory against Indianapolis. He may have even outscored Brees if not for 3 picks, maintaining his spot as the QB with the most INTs (by a lot, Winston's 23 are 7 more than Mayfield in 2nd place). And what about the 3rd QB this week, the only other to exceed 30 points -- the much-maligned Mitch Trubisky. Mitch had his best game of the season last week against Detroit, but this week he one-upped himself. He threw for 244 yards and 3 TDs (and 1 INT), but he also ran 10 times for 63 yards and a TD. His previous rushing high of the season was just 18 yards. His 32 point total was the best of his career, except for a spectacular 6-TD day in Week 4 last year. The Judge also wants to acknowledge Zach Ertz, who led all TEs this week. It's no surprise that Ertz was the leading TE, as he is solidly among the league elite, but he did score his best fantasy game of the year and 3rd-best TE performance of the season. But the dramatic way Ertz did it, and during most leagues' playoffs, was extraordinary. Ertz didn't really get going until very late -- he caught the tying TD from Carson Wentz with 1:56 left in regulation, then the winning TD in overtime. Ultimately, he finished with 9 catches for 91 yards and 2 TDs, good for 25 points (using a 1/2 PPR system). More importantly, one of the playoff games in the Judge's primary fantasy league was a tight matchup coming into Monday Night's Eagles-Giants faceoff, with the leading player (who was the league's scoring leader) needing to fade a big day from Ertz. For 58 minutes he appeared to have the victory, but the late TD was the killer, denying this owner a trip to the fantasy Super Bowl next week.

CASE SUMMARY: When it has come to big fantasy points this season, the Miami Dolphins have generally been on the wrong end of it. Even this week, the 2nd-highest scoring WR was Alshon Jeffery, who played at Miami. His 9-for-137 (plus a TD) day came as a surprise to many since Jeffery had been sidelined with an ankle injury for the previous 4 weeks. However the *top* scoring WR was Miami's own DeVante Parker, who caught 7 passes for 159 yards and 2 TDs. It was Parker's first multi-TD game in his 5-year career and a career best in yardage. His 31 points (1/2 PPR) was obviously a best, in fact Parker had never exceeded 20 points before. For Jeffery, who finished with 9 catches, 137 yards and a TD, it was the first 100-yard game of the season, and his best fantasy total since 2015. The week's top fantasy scorer overall was New England's James White, who, for only the second time this season, got more rushing attempts than Sony Michel (14-for-79, vs Michel's 10-for-45). White's participation in the passing game was not a surprise, although his total output may have been: 8 catches, 98 yards, and 2 TDs. Coming into the game, White had scored only two TDs all season. White's best fantasy day had been last year's 27 point day against Miami (see?) but on Sunday he exceeded that total by 6. More interestingly (or frustrating, for White's owners) was that this performance came immediately after his worst game by far, when he had only 3 total touches for negative 1 yard, in heavy rain against Dallas. Earlier in the season, Michel was the more productive fantasy back, as he collected 6 TDs in the first 7 games. However since Week 8, White has outscored Michel every game except that Dallas debacle, as Michel has not scored during this period. NOTE: Since this was Thanksgiving week, there were 3 games played on Thursday instead of the usual one. The Fantasy Judge normally gathers his ranking data as late in the week as possible, and did so this week on Sunday morning. Fantasy experts may (and should, if they are providing the latest updates) adjust their rankings after Thursday games are played, therefore it is highly likely that the experts changed some rankings after the Thursday games were played.

CASE SUMMARY: The Judge started writing this week's case file Monday afternoon, then of course Lamar Jackson made his Monday Night debut then blows the field away, becoming the top scorer of the week and putting up his own career best with a 5 TD performance. However from the Judge's perspective, as incredible as Jackson is, he's a unanimous Top 3 QB and therefore his stats match up with expectations. Outside of Jackson, this week's top QBs definitely exceeded expectations. The next 5 QBs are not named Mahomes or Watson or Wilson, in fact they are all guys most fantasy owners have shrugged at all season: Ryan Tannehill, Sam Darnold, Jameis Winston, Baker Mayfield, Kyle Allen. Tannehill led the pack with 259 yards and 2 TDs, plus another 2 running, combining for the first 30+ point day of his 7-year career. Darnold also had a career-best fantasy game, crossing 300 yards for the 2nd time this year, passing for 2 TDs and scoring one himself. Winston visited Atlanta and had his first 3-TD day since Week 4, although he still hurts himself by throwing lots of interceptions (he had 2 this week, and 15 over his last 6 games). Mayfield, against the Dolphins, also threw for his first 300-yard day since Week 4, but he had his first 3-TD game of this season which helped him reach a season high in fantasy points. Kyle Allen had thrown 8 INTs over the past 4 weeks, but he avoided throwing any on Sunday, instead throwing 3 TDs for 256 yards for his best fantasy day since he debuted in Week 3. Needless to say, this crew was not at the top of many fantasy experts' rankings coming into the week, the Judge wants to see if any anticipated a big day from any of them.

CASE SUMMARY: Anytime the Buffalo Bills are the biggest story in football it's a bit melancholy, as it's nearly impossible to think about the Bills without thinking about heartbreak, about Scott Norwood, about the great Tim Russert, about "nobody circling the wagons," and about one of the Judge's first bosses, a die-hard native of Buffalo on whose desk another colleague cruelly left 9 apple turnovers the day after Super Bowl XXVII (9 turnovers, you know?). Regardless, there's no denying that Buffalo is in the fantasy spotlight this week, with QB Josh Allen leading all QBs in points along with John Brown, the top fantasy receiver, after the Bills 37-20 win over Miami. Yes, Miami gave up a lot of fantasy points, big surprise. Allen had his best game of the season and 2nd best of his career (#1 game was also against the Dolphins, in Week 17 last year), with 256 yards and 3 TDs plus 56 rushing yards and a TD. Brown has firmly been established as Allen's top target, and is on pace to have a career year in every statistical category. He already has 85 targets and 817 yards, a pace to finish at 136 and 1307. This week was Brown's first 100-yard day since Week 1, and his first 2-TD game of the season (actually, his first since his rookie season in 2014). The Judge also looks at the Jets' Ryan Griffin, who was the top TE for the second time in the past 4 weeks, and the #2 and #3 WR's, D.J. Chark and Calvin Ridley.

CASE SUMMARY: The Top 5 QBs this week were: Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones, Pat Mahomes, Kyler Murray and Dak Prescott. The only guy who isn't a consensus must-start is Jones. And instead of keeping anyone in suspense, every expert rated Jones between 13th and 18th among QBs, in fact all but 3 had him between 15 and 17. Nobody rated Jones as a starter, and given the tight window, the Judge will not award any points based on predictions regarding Jones. Among RBs, the Top 5 was all chalk: Henry, Jones, Cook, McCaffrey, Gordon. WR is the usually most volatile position, and the Top 5 contains names like Christian Kirk, Darius Slayton and Golden Tate along with expected names like Tyreek Hill and Amari Cooper. Kirk was the obvious star, 6 catches, 138 yards and 3 TDs on his way to 34 points (1/2 PPR scoring), well ahead of Slayton (10-121, 2TDs) and everyone else. Kirk actually had zero TDs this year coming into the game. Tate was actually just outside the Top 5 in PPR leagues as he had just 4 catches but 2 TDs and 95 yards. (In case you were wondering, while there were some Tyreek Hill non-believers last week, this week every expert had him ranked 7th or higher, with multiple experts ranking him in their top 3.) Slayton was a bit too far off the radar for any expert to rate highly. Except for one expert (see below) his highest ranking was 39th among WRs, with most experts placing him solidly in the 40's. As such, no points will be awarded for Slayton's rankings either.

CASE SUMMARY: Give me a quarterback for an undefeated team, against the worst pass defense in the league, on Thursday night, where the winning team has scored 30+ in 4 of the last 5 weeks. Will Jimmy Garoppolo see a better matchup all season than this game against the Cardinals? And yet, as the Judge will point out, none of the experts had any faith in him, missing out on his 4 touchdown, 317 yard day (136.8 QB rating), tallying more fantasy points than any QB besides Russell Wilson (who many experts accurately ranked at #1). Speaking of Wilson, his arm helped elevate his teammates Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf to the #1 and #3 scoring WRs of the week. Lockett has been solid all year, but hadn't reached 15 points (1/2 PPR) since Week 3, until Sunday's 13-152 + 2tds for 33 points, easily his best of the season. Metcalf has looked great for a rookie all season, seemingly on edge to break out any moment. Sunday was his first 100-yard game (123) plus his most catches (6) and a 53-yard TD (his longest), totalling 24 points. Rounding out receivers, Mike Evans had a big day, 12-180 + a TD (surprising nobody), as did Tyreek Hill, 6-for-140 + 1 TD, even without Mahomes. Hill had 3 catches of 30 yards or longer, helping him to finish 4th among WRs. It was Hill's best fantasy performance of the year, after missing 5 games to injury, although since returning, coming into this game he was averaging 16 PPG (again, 1/2 PPR).

CASE SUMMARY: Week 8 may have been the most "predictable" weeks of the season so far. By that, the Judge means that the top performers tended to be players ranked among the elite by most analysts. Yes, there were some surprises, like Jets TE Ryan Griffin leading all tight end scoring with his 2 TDs (Griffin had fewer than 3 points in all but 1 previous game this year) and Daniel Jones leading scoring among QBs (#2 and #3 were Watson and Rodgers, each within 1 point of Jones's total). But of the 5 players who recorded 30+ points (based on 1/2 PPR scoring), 4 were highly ranked by most analysts. WRs Mike Evans and Cooper Kupp scored 37 and 31 points, respectively. Evans's 198 + 2td against Tennessee wasn't even his best fantasy day of the year, as he had 190+3 for 37 points in Week 3 against the Giants. Kupp's day was his best this year, and his 220 yards (+1 td) was the 2nd most yardage by any WR this year (Amari Cooper had 226 in Week 5). But Kupp has been solid all year, so this day was certainly not beyond expectations. Among RBs, Aaron Jones monster day was mostly a result of catching passes. He rushed 3 times for 67 yards, but added 7 catches for 159 yards and 2 TDs for a total of 38 points. But fantasy owners remember Jones massive 4 TD, 45 point day in Week 5. Latavius Murray was terrific last week replacing Alvin Kamara, but he outdid himself this week with 32 points off of 102+1 on the ground and 55+1 receiving. Perhaps the return of Drew Brees made the Saints rushing game more effective. The only "surprise" 30+ day came from San Francisco's Tevin Coleman, with a total of 4 tds, 105 rushing yards and 13 receiving. Coleman, who missed 4 weeks with a high ankle sprain, had come close but had not crossed 100 yards yet this season, and had just 2 TDs total. Coleman had a 145-yard rushing day and a 156 scrimmage yards + 2 td game last year with Atlanta, and in 2016 had a 3-TD day, but this week was the best overall performance of his career.

CASE SUMMARY: Aaron Rodgers. Heard of him? He just had the best fantasy day of any QB so far this season against Oakland. 429, 5 TDs, plus another touchdown he ran in. Perfect QB Rating. You would think a sure Hall of Famer would be on everybody's must-start list, but Rodgers has struggled this year, and coming into Week 7, his average of 15.6 fantasy points per game was 16th in the league, behind Jacoby Brissett, Josh Allen, and Sam Darnold. He only had one 20+ point day before this week. So the Fantasy Judge will be looking for the experts who ranked Rodgers among the elite must-starters, but who previously downgraded him, signalling that simply starting Rodgers every week was not a championship-winning strategy. The biggest RB performances came from backups Chase Edmonds (126 + 3TDs, 24 rec'v) and Latavius Murray (119 + 2, 31 rec'v). The Fantasy Judge gets his info from experts as late as Saturday in most cases, after Alvin Kamara was ruled out (David Johnson started his game). Some experts adjusted rankings to account for Murray's increased role, although given that he was facing the Bears' excellent defense, some were still wary of his upside. With Johnson listed as the starter, it would have been extremely difficult to anticipate Edmonds getting the bulk of carries for Arizona.

CASE SUMMARY: The most eye-opening performance of the fantasy week was Stefon Diggs's blowout, 167 yards + 3TDs. Diggs has not had a good start to the season, with just 1 TD and only 1 100-yard day. His second-highest yardage day was only 49 yards. Last week the Fantasy Judge discussed Adam Theilen's big day after calling out Kirk Cousins, noting that television analysts were seriously discussing whether Minnesota would cut Cousins altogether, despite his massive, fully-guaranteed contract. Since then, Cousins turned in his best 2 games, topping 300 yards in both and throwing for a combined 6 TDs vs just 1 INT. His combined QB Rating is the best in the league over the past 2 weeks. The Fantasy Judge wants to know which analysts had any faith in either Diggs or Cousins and which had completely given up on them. The other eye-opening day came from James Conner in front of a national audience Sunday night. Despite Pittsburgh having to start their 3rd-string QB, Conner was able to generate over 119 scrimmage yards and reached the end zone twice, to lead all RBs in fantasy points. Conner's start to the season has been disappointing for a consensus first-round pick, and Conner owners can't be blamed if they had removed him from a starting role. Which analysts saw Conner's potential this week?

CASE SUMMARY: Week 5 was full of huge performances, perhaps most surprisingly, Will Fuller's 217 + 3 stat line. But even the ratchety Fantasy Judge won't hold it against any of the fantasy experts for not seeing that coming. Instead, we're going to focus on Packers RB Aaron Jones and Viking WR Adam Theilen. Some fantasy experts are high on Jones due to his ability to score touchdowns even on limited rushing days, others focus on the yardage numbers and have slid Jones down their rankings. Today, the bulls definitely won out, as Jones gained a total of 182 yards and scored 4 TDs, against a pretty good Dallas defense (7th in ypg through 4 weeks). Meanwhile in Minnesota, Adam Theilen was all over the news this week feuding with his quarterback Kirk Cousins, as the Vikings are averaging just 169 passing yards per game, 2nd-worst in the league (after the Jets). Theilen called Cousins out and actually managed to get an apology from him. Cousins delivered on his word, hooking up with Theilen 7 times for 130 and 2 TDs.

CASE SUMMARY: The highlight of the week among running backs was Nick Chubb breaking off an 88-yard run, the longest play from scrimmage so far this year. Not only was Chubb virtually untouched, there was nobody – blockers or defenders – even in the picture once Chubb crossed the 50-yard line. This play locked down the win for the Browns and boosted Chubb to the #1 fantasy RB this week. But nullify this specific play, and Chubb still had 95 scrimmage yards + 2 TDs. Baltimore isn't a bad defense but its defensive stats are slightly deceiving because their first two opponents were Miami and Arizona, not the most dynamic of offenses. The other story of the week was Wayne Gallman, stepping in for injured Giants superstar Saquon Barkley. Everyone was keeping track of this game (something that hasn't said about the Giants in a while) to see how Gallman would fare, as well as whether QB "Danny Dimes" could repeat his spectacular debut performance. While Jones, unsurprisingly, regressed a bit from a statistical standpoint (the Giants won 24-3, Jones's performance was fine), Gallman played well, 63+1 on the ground and 55+1 on 6 catches. Unfortunately, most experts did not trust Gallman and kept him out of their RB2 lineups.

CASE SUMMARY: “Hard Knocks” star Darren Waller candidly revealed his struggles with substance abuse that had temporarily derailed his NFL career. But he also discussed his fight to stay clean and to unlock his potential as an elite tight end. Waller’s first two games hinted at his talent, as both games exceeded previous career highs for yards and catches. However this week, Waller’s talent was on full display, catching 13 passes for 134 yards, both single-game highs for any TE so far this season. His only negative, from a fantasy standpoint, was that Waller did not get in the end zone – but his performance was still (in PPR leagues) the 2nd best fantasy point total for TE’s in 2019. Which fantasy experts had Darren Waller as a starting TE?

CASE SUMMARY: While Melvin Gordon has been holding out, San Diego's Austin Ekeler has seized his opportunity so well, he was the leading RB in Week 1. In Week 2 he was a bit less prolific, scoring a single TD vs 3 in opening week, but was still 5th or 6th in weekly scoring (depending on PPR status) among RBs and maintained his overall season lead in fantasy points. But some experts have been treating Ekeler as little more than a fill-in until Gordon returns, hesitant to recommend him as an RB1, even tough he averaged 5.2 yards per carry last year! Which experts failed to predict Ekeler would start the season as an elite, must-start running back?

CASE SUMMARY: Baltimore's Lamar Jackson (324 yds, 5 TD) and Dallas's Dak Prescott (405-4) led all QBs in fantasy scoring in the opening week. Although both players were certainly on everybody's watch list, they were generally ranked outside the starting group (Top 10) on most pre-season draft boards. However, given their opening week matchups, Jackson at Miami and Prescott vs NYG, some experts elevated one or both into their recommended starting selections.