💥 A Team Left For Dead EXPLODES

How am I going to tell my kids about the Jags' mascot?

In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by Sirius XM:

I think that's a wrap on the Zach Wilson era in New York.

Mike White, the Jets' third-string QB to start the season and a 2018 fifth-round pick, replaced Wilson yesterday and tossed 3 TDs and 315 yards vs. the Bears...in a monsoon, no less.

His yards per attempt (11.3) and expected points added per dropback (0.65) were both better than every single game Wilson has ever played. He put up the best numbers of any QB to face the Bears this season, and that list includes the likes of Tua, Dak, and Rodgers.

In addition to fully unlocking Garrett Wilson (more on him below), White also brought Elijah Moore (2-64-1) back to life.

Moore was so giddy about the turn of events that he delivered a string of incredible quotes in the post-game press conferences, including this gem:

It's yet another reminder of how quickly things can change in the NFL. Read on for six other top performances from yesterday's action, including a massive day from Josh Jacobs.

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Kendall Valenzuela and Peter Overzet are ready to help you win it all as they discuss playoff strategy for waiver wire targets, start/sit decisions, streamers, and more.

Every Monday, Pete will share his six big takeaways from the week's action compliments of our friends over at Bud Light. Let's crack open that six pack, Pete...

🍺 1. Josh Jacobs goes nuclear

On Friday, JMToWin highlighted that one of Jacobs or Davante Adams had scored 30+ DraftKings points in six straight games. Well, that trend continued yesterday in a big way with Jacobs exploding for 303--yes, you read that correctly--total yards and 2 TDs. He punctuated the 48.3 fantasy point day with an overtime walk-off TD run. Congrats to everyone who drowned out the offseason noise of the team not picking up his fifth-year option and drafting Zamir White.

🍺 2. Now that's the Chris Godwin we remember

Godwin finally had himself a day. He tallied 110 yards and 1 TD on 12 receptions vs. the Browns, reminding us of the vintage games he gave us before he tore his ACL and MCL a little less than a year ago. Godwin is now averaging an elite 27.2% target share over his last six games, and the Bucs have one of the juiciest schedules for the fantasy playoffs (CIN, @ARI, CAR). Giddyup.

🍺 3. Garrett Wilson unleashed

Mike White and Elijah Moore stole the headlines, but Wilson also deserves the spotlight. After his 5-95-2 line, the rookie proved all he needed was baseline-level competency from his QB to showcase his elite talent (seriously, check out this juke after the catch). He's now tallied a 26% target share over his past four games and is set up to be a league-winner for as long as the Jets keep Zach Wilson away from the field.

🍺 4. The Jags pull off a stunner

Despite losing Travis Etienne early in the game with a foot injury, the Jags stormed back late to upset the Ravens. Lawrence strung together big throw after big throw in the 4th quarter while orchestrating a comeback for the history books:

Lawrence (321 yards and 3 TDs) and Zay Jones (11-145) led the way for the Jaguars in the box score, and it finally feels like Lawrence is finally delivering on what we all hoped he would be in a functional offense.

🍺 5. Tee Higgins, a grown ass man

With Ja'Marr Chase out at least one more week, Higgins threw a party in the Titans' secondary. He racked up a nice 7-114-1 line, which included this sick TD in the fourth quarter that helped propel the Bengals to a big road victory. He's now Top 10 in receiving yards this season.

🍺 6. DJ Moore, also unleashed

Zach Wilson is to Garrett Wilson as Baker Mayfield is to Moore, which is to say, the worst kind of ball-and-chain. With Darnold under center, Moore went 4-103-1 and got the best of Denver's star DB, Patrick Surtain.

🎩 This is the funniest thing from the 2022 NFL season. I NEED ONE OF THESE HATS.

🩲 We are absolutely begging the Jags mascot to put some clothes on. Vaguely NSFW.

🎸 Jimmy G, rockstar. He's got the pose down.

🗑️ The Broncos are unbelievably bad. Like historically bad.

👐 The best catches from Week 12. Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, and David Njoku.

🚑 A key injury to keep tabs on. This could have a big impact on CMC's workload.

🚀 This WR is setting up to be the best DFS play tonight. Find out why from OWS & PFF.

We're humans who play fantasy football, which means we are prone to overreact. In this weekly series, Kendall will lead us in overreacting to Sunday's action...

🏆 Get Mike White to the Hall of Fame

Alright, even THAT is pushing the title of this segment to the edge, but Jets quarterback Mike White had himself a day! After Zach Wilson got benched, White took full advantage of his starting opportunity, throwing for 315 yards and three touchdowns, along with 24.96 fantasy points. If anyone ever thought there was a quarterback controversy surrounding the Patriots or Cowboys, then you may want to add the Jets to the list.

It’s the tale of two very different weeks. Just eight days ago, Wilson went 9 of 22 for 77 yards (remember, they had more punts than completions). Tensions were high, and Wilson’s bad weekend was capped by an even worse quote that made its rounds on social media. Fast forward to now, and everything feels different. White threw two touchdowns to rookie wide receiver Garrett Wilson, who hadn’t found the end zone since September. He also got wide receiver Elijah Moore involved in the touchdown party, giving Moore his first score since Week 13 of last season.

But where do we go from here?! Yes, White beat a really bad Chicago Bears team without their star quarterback. Head coach Robert Saleh specifically said Wilson’s career “is not over” with the New York Jets. But White proved himself in Week 12, potentially giving his team the best chance to win.

I mean, his 149.3 passer rating was the best for any Jets quarterback since Geno Smith’s perfect 158.3 rating in 2014. The Jets have now won six of their last eight games and are third in the tight AFC East. Bring on the quarterback controversy.

Bring on the Hall of Famer, Mike White.

🚀 It's time to get excited about Trevor Lawrence

Congratulations if you were already on the Trevor Lawrence hype train! Sunday’s game was one you’ve been waiting for: 321 yards, three touchdowns, and 24.94 fantasy points were the best totals of his career. But the final minutes of the game against the Ravens is really when we watched Lawrence flourish before our eyes.

He completed 7-of-9 passes for 91 yards, a touchdown, and a successful two-point conversion to take the lead. It was the exact game-winning situation we have been waiting for. Sure, the Jaguars' postseason hopes are all but over, but watching your franchise quarterback develop and get better might be sweeter than any flukey playoff run. Imagine where he would be if he weren’t in the worst rookie quarterback situation EVER (lol).

Has Lawrence cost the Jaguars a few games? Absolutely. But we’ve seen progress during this two-game stretch, and it’s better than nothing.

It's island game time, and we have you covered from a fantasy, DFS, and betting perspective. We also have previews and picks for every game in our Game Hub! Steelers @ Colts, take it away Geoff...

 📺 Steelers at Colts (-2.5) – 39.0 total

The Steelers and Colts are two four-win teams desperately needing a win to stay alive in the playoff hunt. This Monday Night Football matchup will mark Jeff Saturday’s third game as head coach for Indianapolis. The Colts have played much more inspired football under Saturday but have still managed just 41 points scored (20.5 points per game) over the last two weeks.

Matt Ryan is getting another start, and he may find some success this week against a Steelers defense that is ranked third-last in yards per pass attempt this year. The Steelers remain an elite run-stopping unit, but they’ve failed miserably in the secondary, allowing a monstrous 15.1 yards per reception to opposing WRs. If the Colts can keep Ryan upright, expect one or both of Michael Pittman and Parris Campbell to have a big game. Campbell has only seen one less target than Pittman over the last three weeks, and Ryan sports a 96.5 passer rating (the highest on the team) when targeting him this year.

The Steelers enter this game with major offensive issues of their own. Rookie QB Kenny Pickett has thrown for just 3 TDs against 8 INTs in seven appearances and has yet to manage a multi-TD game as the starter. Pittsburgh did land 30 points against the Bengals, but many of those points came when already down big to Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh has gotten better production out of Najee Harris of late, who has averaged 4.72 YPC over his last two games. There’s been a clear focus by Pittsburgh recently to get Harris the ball more, and the fact he was able to hit the 20-carry mark last week against the Bengals (his second week in a row accomplishing that feat) suggests we’ll be seeing lots more of him this week against Indianapolis. Bolstering the case for Najee, backup RB Jaylen Warren has already been ruled out for tonight's game.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the Colts’ rush defense isn’t likely to yield much in the way of yards. They held one of the best rushing offenses in Philadelphia to under 4.5 yards per carry last week and rank second in the league at 3.8 YPC this season. That means the game may come down to Pickett, who will need to connect with fellow rookie George Pickens for some big plays to pull off the win. Pickens isn’t getting a massive share of the targets, but he ranks 5th in overall deep targets on the season and has an elite 15.1 aDOT coming into this game.

The Colts have looked competent of late, and that’s bad news for the Steelers, who likely don’t deserve to be less than 3.0-point underdogs on the road. Matt Ryan is still a savvy QB when given time, and his receivers will win out a ton against this defense. Indianapolis is the stronger side and should take care of business in primetime.

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We have preveiws like this for every game, along with matchup stats, betting picks and more!

Timing is crucial when it comes to sports betting. Lines get released late on Sunday night, and every Monday, our betting specialist Matt LaMarca drops by to give you his first look at the betting markets. All lines from BetMGM...

💸 Browns -7 (@ Texans)

• Pick: Browns-7

The Browns have officially made it. It hasn’t always been pretty – they won just four of their first 11 games – but the DeShaun Watson era is ready to officially begin.

We haven’t seen Watson on the football field since 2020-21, but he was arguably the best quarterback in football that season. He led the league with 4,823 passing yards, and he was also extremely efficient. He averaged 9.5 adjusted yards per attempt to go along with 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Watson did all that for a Texans squad that finished 4-12 and had minimal NFL-caliber talent. His situation with the Browns has the potential to be much friendlier. He has an elite running game to lean on with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, and the defense boasts one of the league’s best pass-rushers in Myles Garrett. The Browns entered Week 12 15th in Football Outsiders' overall DVOA, and they should get significantly better with Watson under center.

On the other side, the Texans are clearly tanking. Tanking isn’t as prevalent in the NFL as it is in the NBA, but that’s the only excuse for their decision to start Kyle Allen again in Week 13. Allen threw two interceptions and was sacked five times by the Dolphins, and the team trailed 30-0 at halftime. If not for the Dolphins showing mercy in the second half, that game could’ve gotten extremely ugly.

This is the perfect spot for Watson to shake off some rust. He’s not going to have to be perfect to win, and Chubb and Hunt should be able to carry the load against a putrid Texans’ run defense. This line is currently available at -7 on BetMGM, but it would not shock me if it approached double-digits by kickoff. The early money is flooding in on Cleveland, and I doubt the books are ready to go down with the Allen ship.

💸 Bengals +3 (vs Chiefs)

• Pick: Bengals +3

This is going to be a fun one. These two teams met in the AFC Championship last season, with the Bengals pulling off a shocking upset. They ultimately eked out a three-point win in overtime despite the best efforts from Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes and the Chiefs essentially had a bye in Week 12. They faced the Bryce Perkins-led Rams, and the Chiefs won the yardage battle 437 to 198. The final margin was 16 points, but that’s not an accurate reflection of how close this game was.

Kansas City is currently leading the AFC, but this team is not without its warts. They have struggled against good teams this season, losing to the Bills and winning by just three points against the Chargers and Titans. They continue to struggle on the defensive side, ranking just 22nd in defensive DVOA.

They’re going to get all they can handle from a desperate Bengals squad in Week 12. Cincinnati improved to 7-4 with a win against the Titans on Sunday, but their playoff spot is far from guaranteed. They’re currently sitting in sixth place in the AFC, giving them just a one-game lead over the Patriots and Chargers. They’re going to get all they can handle from a desperate Bengals squad in Week 12, especially with Ja'Marr Chase likely back in the fold after an extended absence.

Since the start of the 2021-22 season, no team has been more profitable than the Bengals. They’ve posted a record of 26-12 against the spread, and they’re a ridiculous 13-3 as underdogs. I fully expect the sharps to be on the Bengals in this contest, so this line could dip below three before kickoff. Getting a full field goal is key in NFL betting, so this is a strong candidate to lock in early.