What a tough pill to swallow. It seemed like nothing was going to go right for the Packers from the get-go when an early call got overturned on a punt to say that Kevin King had touched the ball (he didn’t) and gave possession back to the Lions deep, deep in Packers’ territory. It was a proverbial snowball effect thereafter as the Packers were on the losing end of various penalty calls and one of the worst place kicking performances of all-time. That’s not hyperbole either. Mason Crosby was one of the first kickers to miss 4 field goals and an extra point since 1980 when Rolf Benirschke of the Chargers did it. (Go figure a Chargers kicker was bad at making field goals at one point).
It wasn’t an entirely lost trip to Detroit, however. Some players saw their value go up and these repetitions were valuable to earning more trust with Aaron Rodgers moving forward as Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison work their ways back from injury. Let’s take a look at whose stock rose after the game and whose might have fallen:
Stock Up
Davante Adams, WR
Despite being the only receiver with solid experience playing with Rodgers and therefore warranting a lot of attention, Adams had himself a great fantasy day. He was targeted 12 times (which, frankly, felt like too little) and brought in nine catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. The ever agile Adams was displaying his knack for gathering yards after the catch despite being heavily shadowed by Lions defenders. Of course, you probably shouldn’t bench Adams in any format. With four touchdowns in five games, being Rodgers’ go-to is as close to fantasy gold for a wide receiver as you can get.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR
Despite an early mental hiccup where MVS failed to drag his feet on an out route, Valdes-Scantling displayed his field stretching ability quite well when called to more action. His 10 targets are a little inflated because of Green Bay’s large halftime deficit and their need to start airing it out more than I’m sure they’d like, but the reps are quite welcome. His seven catches for 68 yards and an easy red zone touchdown are enough to make any fantasy owner tilt towards starting him in the flex next week. But if Cobb and Allison get good news, MVS is nothing more than a flier for the bench.
Jimmy Graham, TE
Graham received the second most targets (11) and hopefully began to build a long-lasting trust with Rodgers. He let a touchdown slip right through his fingers, but his six catches for 76 yards are fairly promising given the league-wide attrition for fantasy-viable tight ends. It’s his second highest yardage output for the season, but the weeks that Graham finds the end zone, you’ll be grateful.
Stock Down
Mason Crosby, K
Oh my. Where to begin? Crosby was 1/5 and missed an extra point earning most fantasy owners negative points for the week. And the four missed field goals weren’t 50-yard bombs either. They were chip shots that made even the most intoxicated Packer fan at the local tavern convinced that he could make at least one more of those than Crosby. A tough look for the veteran. I’m not certain of his job status at this point, but that’s hard to come back from. His veteran status could save him, but one hopes that the mental toll doesn’t linger too long. He was kicking in a dome, too! Okay, I’m done. Moving on to the next player.
Ty Montgomery, RB/WR
Despite being featured heavily in the Packers turn to a pass-heavy offense during the second half of the game, Montgomery was largely ineffective. He tallied four carries for a measly 15 yards, and one catch on 3 targets for 23 yards. With the absence of Cobb, one would kind of expect Montgomery to pick up some of that short yardage slack, but he really just made you yell at your TV for Aaron Jones to get back in the game. Montgomery’s fantasy relevance is all, but gone. In fact, he’s still 40% owned in ESPN leagues which makes me ask: why?