NFL Week 14 Recap: Instant fantasy football takeaways from Thursday’s game

• Amon-Ra St. Brown helps the Detroit Lions to victory: St. Brown suffered an ankle injury last week, making it seem unlikely that St. Brown would play in this game. Instead, he caught six passes for 92 yards to boost Detroit’s playoff chances.
• The Dallas Cowboys to lose CeeDee Lam: The former All-Pro wide receiver was playing his best game of the season until a concussion cost him nearly half the game.
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Dallas Cowboys @ Detroit Lions

Amon-Ra St. Brown starts despite injury: St. Brown ultimately did not miss a game due to his ankle injury.

St. Brown played four games on Thanksgiving before suffering an ankle injury that forced him to miss the rest of the game. Although the injury was not considered season-ending, it still seemed likely that he would miss a game or two. He didn’t train all week, but was able to get through the pre-match warm-ups without any problems and was eventually active. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said on the pregame show that he might not see his usual number of snaps.

The Lions targeted St. Brown on their first play of the game, and he left the field after that play. He returned for the Lions’ third game and ended up playing every other offensive game for the remainder of the first half.

Detroit was without Kalif Raymond, who missed his second straight game due to an ankle injury. This meant Isaac TeSlaa was the third wide receiver. Half of his receptions were touchdowns, and that continued this week with two receptions and one touchdown. Tom Kennedy, who made his first catch in three seasons last week in place of St. Brown, was the fourth wide receiver and took a few snaps of TeSlaa during the game.

Anyone hesitant to put St. Brown back in fantasy lineups this week shouldn’t hesitate next week, given how much St. Brown played in this game and the extended free time Detroit has before their next game.

The Lions are making a change at tight end: Anthony Firkser started his first game since 2022, while Brock Wright was placed on injured reserve.

Sam LaPorta is on injured reserve and is unlikely to return this season. Brock Wright missed last week with a neck injury, and Detroit opted to place him on injured reserve for this game, which will keep him out for the remainder of the fantasy season.

Since Wright’s injury, Ross Dwelley has been the Lions’ top tight end. Firkser was signed to the practice squad after LaPorta’s injury less than a month ago, and he was signed to the active roster before the Thanksgiving game with Wright out. Firkser has a history as a receiving tight end, while Dwelley was traditionally a blocker, so it made sense that Firkser would play more in a game where Detroit focused on passing. He caught a seven-yard pass, while Dwelley caught a four-yard pass.

Although Firkser was the starting tight end this week, his time as a starter may be short-lived. Shane Zylstra returned to practice from injured reserve on Monday. He was limited in his first practice due to a knee injury and did not practice the rest of the week, but he could be the Lions’ starter upon return. He has been with the team since 2021 and notably had three touchdowns in one game in 2022.

It’s unlikely that any Lions tight end will have any value to fantasy managers over the next three weeks, but if they do, it would most likely be Zylstra.

Monitor CeeDee Lam‘s health: Lamb suffered a concussion in the third quarter and was quickly ruled out.

Lamb has had a very successful season, catching at least four passes for 65 yards in every game other than Week 3 where he played just seven snaps due to injury. He had four games of over 110 yards before this week, including on Thanksgiving. He had gained 121 yards in this game on the Cowboys’ second offensive play of the second half. He suffered the concussion two plays later on a target in the end zone while trying to make a catch. Only a few minutes passed between Lamb going to the medical tent and being excluded.

George Pickens was the other top Cowboys wide receiver, but he had a relatively quiet night with five receptions for 37 yards. Prior to Lamb’s injury, Ryan Flournoy was playing a little more than normal, and Kavontae Turpin was playing a little less. The Lions play man coverage more often than any other defense, and Flournoy plays better against man coverage while Turpin plays better against zone, which could have influenced this decision. After Lamb’s injury, Flournoy and Turpin were more consistent on the field. Dallas played from behind, so the team was down to 11 men. Flournoy made the most of his opportunities, catching nine passes for 115 yards and a touchdown.

The Cowboys have 10 days until their next game, giving Lamb more time to complete the concussion protocol than most players do after a week. This was Lamb’s second recorded concussion, with the first occurring in 2021. The Cowboys face the Minnesota Vikings next week and they have allowed the fewest fantasy points to wide receivers. Outside of leagues with 16 or more players, it is best to leave players like Flournoy and Turpin on the waiver wire given the matchup.

Various comments

• Cowboys halfback Jaydon Blue was a healthy inactive, his fifth straight absence.
• Dallas wide receiver George Pickens was limited during practice Monday due to calf and knee injuries.
• Cowboys wide receiver Jonathan Mingo was active this week after being a healthy inactive last week. He takes the place of Jalen Tolbert, who was a healthy inactive. Dallas has alternated between the two in each of their last four games.
• Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson played more than 80% of Dallas’ offensive snaps for the second time this season. His rushing speed tends to increase when Dallas plays from behind.
• Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey made field goals of 29, 42, 55, 57 and 63 yards, giving fantasy managers who drafted him this week a significant advantage, especially in leagues with bonuses for longer field goals.
• Lions running back David Montgomery was held under 40% of offensive snaps for the fourth straight game. He averaged 41.1% of Detroit’s offensive snaps through the first 10 weeks.
• Jahmyr Gibbs scored three touchdowns in this game. It was his third three-touchdown game in the past five weeks.
• Detroit running back Sione Vaki was limited in practice all week due to a thumb injury and was questionable, but played.
• The Lions activated wide receiver Malik Cunningham from the practice squad for this game on Thursday. This was possibly a precaution in case St. Brown was unable to play much. The former Baltimore Ravens quarterback/wide receiver signed with Detroit before playing against Baltimore, but has stuck with the practice squad since then. He played his first NFL snap since 2023 and received his first NFL carry.
• The Lions claimed Hayden Rucci off waivers from the Miami Dolphins earlier this week, but he was healthy inactive.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays have been removed from the other three statistics.
• Objectives may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be the result of an obviously thrown pass, where the NFL could give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data does not.
• Carries are only possible on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles do not count toward the total number of carries in the game.