• Amon-Ra St. Brown leads the Lions: The Lions’ receiving corps was the healthiest it has been in months, but that didn’t stop St. Brown from recording his third 100-yard game of the season.
• Isaiah McKenzie’s best game of the season: He scored his fourth touchdown of the year and gained over 100 yards for the first time this season.
• Devin Singletary remains the Bills’ lead back: James Cook and Nyheim Hines barely touched the football, even though their playing time looked to be on the rise.
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PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2022.
Buffalo Bills @ Detroit Lions
- Amon-Ra St. Brown: 9 receptions, 122 yards, 1 touchdown; 1 carry, 7 rushing yards
- Isaiah McKenzie: 6 receptions, 96 yards, 1 touchdown; 2 carries, 7 rushing yards
The Lions are getting healthier at wide receiver: The Lions had their top-three veteran wide receivers active for the first time since September.
- D.J. Chark returned to the Lions lineup last week after suffering an ankle injury in Week 3. He played two or three snaps per quarter a week ago.
- Chark was on the field much more regularly against the Bills, consistently playing in three-receiver sets and sometimes in two-receiver sets.
- Josh Reynolds suffered a back injury in Week 8. He was limited in practice all week and was questionable coming into the game. The Lions largely restricted him to single-receiver sets, which left him run-blocking more often than not.
- Kalif Raymond remained the No. 2 receiver behind Amon-Ra St. Brown.
- Raymond finished second on the team in receiving yards but will likely see a reduction in snaps next week if Reynolds is healthier.
- Jameson Williams was added to the injured reserve/designated to return list earlier in the week. He could be ready to play as soon as next week, which might limit the workload of receivers not named Amon-Ra St. Brown.
- Williams can be picked up off the waiver wire as a lottery ticket, but Chark and Reynolds should be avoided due to their health and Williams’ potential emergence.
D’Andre Swift slowly trending up: Swift still isn’t playing as much as expected, but his playing time is trending in the right direction even if his touches aren’t.
- Justin Jackson had played more snaps than Swift from Week 9-10, and he handled more carries and more pass plays.
- Swift’s playing time was up in this game because he was more consistently on the field on third downs. Last week, all three running backs took multiple snaps on third and long.
- He was close to scoring on a number of plays.
- His increased snaps mostly came at the expense of Jackson. Jamaal Williams’ role in the offense remained the same.
- Swift has been a touchdown-dependent player since Week 1.
- The Lions’ schedule over the next five games is relatively favorable for their running backs, so it’s probably still too early to give up on Swift.
Drop Nyheim Hines: Hines played his fourth game with the Bills, but he has barely made an impact on offense.
- He played four snaps in the first quarter but then didn’t take another snap on offense.
- Coach McDermott has been happy with Hines on special teams but didn’t seem particularly optimistic about getting him more involved on offense.
- There is still a chance Hines gets more involved in the offense, but that might be seeing 15-25 snaps a game. It seems unlikely that he’ll play enough snaps to be a fantasy starter.
- Even if Devin Singletary were to get injured, it seems James Cook would be the primary running back.
- It’s also worth noting Cook’s playing time remained similar to recent weeks, and his touches went down rather than up despite his 86 rushing yards on Sunday.
Isaiah McKenzie’s big game: McKenzie was the most dominant receiver for the Bills against the Lions, and there is a wide range of outcomes for McKenzie over the next five games.
- He was consistently rotating in and out of three-receiver sets, with Khalil Shakir also seeing significant work from the slot.
- Shakir is playing more in general, as he’s also the primary backup on the outside with Jake Kumerow on injured reserve.
- McKenzie averaged 0.37 PPR points per route against man defense heading into the game compared to 0.17 against zone.
- The Lions had played man coverage at the fifth-highest rate in the league heading into this game.
- Typically, the low snaps and good matchup would mean McKenzie will decline, but the Patriots face the Patriots and Dolphins in two of their next three games. They rank third and second, respectively, in how often they use man defense.
- His only other game this season with 50 or more receiving yards came against Miami in Week 3.
New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys
Coming soon…
New England Patriots @ Minnesota Vikings
Coming soon…
Table Notes
• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
