So, raise your hand if Jamaal Charles single-handedly cost you a fantasy championship yesterday?
I see a lot of angry arms in the air. And mine is one of them, unless Calvin Johnson and Matt Stafford both play out of their minds tonight against the Ravens.
I posted on Twitter yesterday that Jamaal Charles' performance was a lot like watching Bo Jackson's Tecmo Bowl character in action, although even Bo would think what Charles did was ridiculous and hard to believe. And what makes Charles' performance even more amazing is that it came on just 16 touches -- eight carries, eight receptions. In other words, Charles took the ball to the house roughly once out of every three touches yesterday. That's nothing short of amazing.
Here's the real kicker, though: Charles wasn't all that helpful in every scoring format. Charles owners who play in leagues which reward rushing yards by running backs were left feeling that life isn't particularly fair since Jamaal only totaled 20 yards on the ground all day. However, in standard scoring formats, it's almost inconceivable that you could have had Charles on your roster and still lost a head-to-head matchup. That's why Charles' performance could arguably be considered the best of all-time even though it wasn't technically the highest point total -- it came during fantasy playoff time. Shaun Alexander had a huge Week 4 back in 2002, but I'm not aware of any fantasy seasons which end after just a month.
While we're handing out props, we have to give a huge congrats to Alex Smith, who threw for 287 yards, five touchdown passes and a perfect QB rating on the day. In case you're wondering, this isn't the first time the Raiders defense has pulled this nonsense before. Remember Nick Foles' seven-touchdown outburst a few weeks ago in Oakland? He also registered a perfect QB rating, posting those gaudy numbers in just three quarters. If the Raiders spend every single pick in the upcoming draft on pass rushers and secondary, could you blame them? Oakland visits San Diego in Week 16 before closing out the regular season at home against Denver in Week 17, who could still be jockeying with the Chiefs for control of the AFC West. Good times during important times are ahead for Chargers and Broncos owners.
John Juhasz is a fantasy editor at NFL.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JohnJuhasz
