Call 'em Killer B's.
Sunday sure was favorable to players whose last names begin with B, from Beckham to Brees to Brady to Britt. By golly! Let's get to 'em ...
As we do each Sunday here, we recap the week's winners and losers from a fantasy perspective, complete with applicable game and historical data. Check back after the conclusion of the 1 and 4 p.m. ET (and, when applicable, Sunday Night Football) games for our picks of the week's best and worst.
Winners
Odell Beckham Jr., WR, New York Giants: His two receiving touchdowns, both of which came in the final 18 minutes of the game, fueled a 32-point fantasy day which helped him set a new career high, topping the 31 he scored in Week 8 of 2015 (the "Drew Brees-Eli Manning Slugfest"). It was the rare case of fantasy and real-game stars merging, as Beckham's second score gave the Giants a 27-23 victory. It also boosted Beckham's career total to 485 fantasy points through 33 games, which is the most ever by any wide receiver through that many career contests.
LeSean McCoy, RB, Buffalo Bills: McCoy tied for the week's lead (through Sunday) with 32 fantasy points, one shy of his previous personal best of 33, set in 2013 Week 14. It's the fourth time that McCoy has scored as many as 30 fantasy points in a game. That his career high isn't greater is testament to his consistency throughout his career. To that point, this was the 72nd time in McCoy's 108 career contests that he managed double-digit fantasy points, which is five more than any other running back has had since he entered the league in 2009; Matt Forte is second with 69. Only 13 times in McCoy's career has he been held beneath five fantasy points, and eight of those were during his rookie season in 2009, when he finished with the fewest touches in his first seven seasons (195).
Jay Ajayi, RB, Miami Dolphins: The third player to capture a share of the week's fantasy scoring lead (through Sunday), Ajayi's 32 fantasy points were easily the least expected of the three. His start percentage -- 5 percent of ESPN leagues -- reflected that, as Arian Foster was active following a three-game absence for a hamstring injury and was the Dolphins' presumed starter (Ajayi actually drew the official "start"). Ajayi's point total didn't just shatter his previous career high, set only a week ago (10), it was actually more than he had his entire rookie year (he had 31 in nine games in 2015) and it was 23 shy of his entire career total entering the week -- he had 55 in his previous 13 games. A starter in back-to-back weeks, perhaps Ajayi has captured a larger share of the workload going forward, in which case, his 42.6 percent ownership percentage might soon be on the rise.
Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints: Fourth among the players who scored a league-leading 32 fantasy points in Week 6 (through Sunday), Brees is no stranger to this scoring threshold. It's the second time this season and 19th in his career that he has scored 30 or more fantasy points, which ranks second since 1950 and is only one shy of the overall leader, LaDainian Tomlinson (20).
Kenny Britt, WR, Los Angeles Rams: Feasting upon an extremely favorable matchup, Britt was one of Sunday's unexpected stars, providing 25 fantasy points to his owners bold enough to start him in 4.1 percent of ESPN leagues. That matched Britt's second-best single-game total, set in 2011 Week 1, though his career high was a whopping 40, set in 2010 Week 7. Britt had never previously scored more than 18 fantasy points as a member of the Rams, and his career has shown quite a bit of inconsistency, so don't set your expectations too high.
Case Keenum, QB, Rams: Here's a case of a fantasy point total speaking more to the matchup itself than the individual, and unlike Beckham, Keenum's real-game performance was a lot more disappointing than his fantasy day, considering he threw the game-clinching interception. That turnover unfortunately dropped Keenum's final tally from 30 to 28 fantasy points, matching his previous career best set in 2013 Week 9. Entering the game, he had just 88 fantasy points in 10 games with the Rams, his career best for them a mere 17 (2015 Week 15 and 2016 Week 4), so it's no surprise that he was only owned in 1.7 percent and started in 0.5 percent of ESPN leagues for this one. More telling was that the opposing Detroit Lions extended their league-leading fantasy point total allowed to quarterbacks to 141, or an average of 23.5 per game. Next up for the Lions: a date with Kirk Cousins.
Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots: For only the fourth time in his career, Brady has begun a season with consecutive games of at least 25 fantasy points, as he scored 27 on Sunday to follow up his 29 in Week 5. He also accomplished the feat in 2007, 2011 and 2015 -- seasons which, by the way, concluded with him scoring the most (2007, 378), second-most (2011, 352) and third-most (2015, 335) fantasy points in any individual season in his career.
Rob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots: As Brady goes, Gronk goes? After two disappointing games to begin his season and a third during which fellow Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett was by far the bigger star, Gronkowski scored 22 fantasy points to pace the position (through Sunday). It's the first time he has managed at least 20 fantasy points in a game since 2015 Week 1, which was 18 games ago. In 84 career games, Gronkowski now has 14 that were worth at least 20 fantasy points.
Marcus Mariota, QB, Tennessee Titans: For the second consecutive week, Mariota exceeded the 25-point fantasy threshold, marking the first time in his career that he has done that in consecutive games. His 27 on Sunday also gave him 298 through 18 career games, which is eighth-best all-time through that many contests.
Coby Fleener, TE, New Orleans Saints: Though he fell short of the position lead, Fleener's 19 fantasy points were his second-best single-game effort (24, 2014 Week 13), and he has now enjoyed two of his four most productive individual fantasy games in the Saints' past three contests; he also scored 16 -- his fourth-best total -- in Week 3.
Lamar Miller, RB, Houston Texans: After going five games and 115 total touches without a touchdown -- since 1960, only six other players have had that many touches without scoring through five team games -- Miller finally found the end zone on Sunday night, once rushing and once receiving. The result was 28 fantasy points, his second-best single-game effort in his career; only his 35 in 2015 Week 7, against the Texans, was better.
Vernon Davis, TE, Washington Redskins: Remember this name? It seems that many do, as Davis was added in 11.2 percent of ESPN leagues within the past week and started in 10.1 percent of leagues overall. With Jordan Reed (concussion) sidelined, Davis scored his first touchdown since 2014 Week 1. He played 33 games between touchdowns and in those totaled just 57 fantasy points.
Spencer Ware, RB, Kansas City Chiefs: Jamaal who? Though Jamaal Charles was active for the second consecutive game, Ware earned the "start" on Sunday, and promptly delivered one of the week's best fantasy performances by a running back: 22 points, fifth-best at the position (through Sunday). Fantasy owners on the whole were far more confident about Charles being the leading man, unfortunately, as they started him in 69.6 percent of ESPN leagues, but started Ware in only 20.0 percent.
Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys: Here we are again, discussing Elliott's historic feats. Per Elias, he's the first rookie in history to rush for at least 130 yards in four consecutive games, and for the sixth consecutive game to begin his career, he scored double-digit fantasy points, making him only the seventh running back to do that since 1950. Elliott's 15 fantasy points also gave him 103 through his first six career games, which ranks ninth among running backs through that many games since 1950.
Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons: Considering the matchup -- the opposing Seattle Seahawks entered Sunday having afforded opposing quarterbacks the fewest fantasy points in the league (35) -- Ryan's 21-point performance was actually somewhat remarkable. He's only the fifth quarterback to score that many against the Seahawks since the beginning of 2013, providing quite the reward to his owners who were bold enough to start him in 26.5 percent of ESPN leagues.
Losers
Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers: Though a garbage-time touchdown did rescue his fantasy point total from total disaster, Roethlisberger's nine-point performance was still extremely disappointing, especially considering he was the most-started quarterback in ESPN leagues in Week 6 (93.9 percent). He was fortunate to return from a left-knee injury after missing only six snaps but was never able to get rolling in this one.
Antonio Brown and Sammie Coates, WRs, Steelers: It's difficult for a wide receiver to succeed when his quarterback does not, and these two Steelers, who were easily the most-started on the team, combined for just three fantasy points on 12 targets (Brown three, Coates zero). Brown was the most-started wide receiver in ESPN leagues in Week 6, active in 99.92 percent of leagues, while Coates was the second-most-added wide receiver, his ownership percentage increasing by 34.4 percent (from 40.1 to 74.5).
Delanie Walker, TE, Tennessee Titans: Only Greg Olsen and Gronkowski were started in a greater percentage of ESPN leagues than Walker (89.6 percent), who delivered his fantasy owners a mere two fantasy points. Especially frustrating was the fact that three other members of the Titans' passing game outscored Walker: Kendall Wright (19 fantasy points), Rishard Matthews (13) and Anthony Fasano (seven).
Allen Robinson, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars: While only a limited number of owners believed in Blake Bortles against the Chicago Bears' defense, a large percentage of them trusted Bortles' top target, Robinson, who was started in 93.4 percent of ESPN leagues. Unfortunately, Robinson scored only four fantasy points on six targets, his worst individual score since 2015 Week 1 (two).
Carlos Hyde, RB, San Francisco 49ers: What an awful game for both Hyde and his 49ers, who melted down in epic fashion during the second half of Sunday's game at the Buffalo Bills, resulting in him getting only five carries after halftime and none in the fourth quarter. Hyde was started in 88.3 percent of ESPN leagues, which is a season-high for him, but he scored a mere five fantasy points.
Jordy Nelson, WR, Green Bay Packers: One of the most-started wide receivers in ESPN fantasy leagues -- he was active in 98.6 percent - Nelson managed just four fantasy points, and nine in those that use PPR scoring. Those both represent his fewest in five games since his return from ACL surgery, and in fact his fewest in any game since 2014 Week 8 (2 standard and 5 PPR fantasy points).
Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman, RBs, Falcons: Combined, the Falcons' top two running backs scored just six fantasy points, which is fewer than either individually has had in a game this season except for Freeman's four points in Week 1 and Coleman's one point in Week 4. Despite the tough matchup, Freeman's owners started him in 81.3 percent of ESPN leagues, while Coleman's owners had him active in 42.3 percent.