• Amon-Ra St. Brown helps the Detroit Lions to victory: St. Brown suffered an ankle injury last week, which made it seem unlikely that St. Brown would play in this game. Instead, he caught six passes for 92 yards to help Detroit’s playoff chances.
• The Dallas Cowboys lose CeeDee Lamb: The former All-Pro wide receiver was having his best game of the season until a concussion cost him nearly half of the game.
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2025.

Amon-Ra St. Brown starts despite injury: St. Brown ended up not missing a game due to his ankle injury.

St. Brown played four snaps on Thanksgiving before he suffered an ankle injury, causing him to miss the rest of the game. While the injury wasn’t deemed season-ending, he still appeared likely to miss one or two games. He didn’t practice all week but was able to go through pre-game warmups without issues and was ultimately active. The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport mentioned in 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 play and ended up playing every other offensive play for the rest of the first half.

Detroit didn’t have 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 have been 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 St. Brown’s place, was the fourth wide receiver and took a few snaps from TeSlaa during the game.

Anyone hesitant to put St. Brown back in fantasy lineups this week should have no hesitation next week, considering how much St. Brown played in this game, and the extended time off Detroit has before their next game.

The Lions make 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 due to a neck injury, and Detroit opted to put him on injured reserve before this game, which will keep him out for the rest of the fantasy season.

Since Wright’s injury, Ross Dwelley had been the Lions’ primary 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 has traditionally been 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.

While Firkser was the starting tight end this week, his time as the starter might 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 didn’t practice the rest of the week, but he could be the Lions’ starter when he returns. He’s been with the team since 2021 and notably had three touchdowns in a game in 2022.

It’s unlikely that any Lions tight end has any value for fantasy managers over the next three weeks, but on the off-chance one does, it would most likely be Zylstra.

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

Lamb has put together a very successful season, catching at least four passes for 65 yards in every game, outside of Week 3, where he only played seven snaps due to injury. He had four 110-plus-yard games before this week, including on Thanksgiving. He had reached 121 yards in this game by the Cowboys’ second offensive play of the second half. He suffered the concussion two plays later on an end-zone target while trying to make a catch. There were only a few minutes between Lamb going to the medical tent and getting ruled out.

George Pickens has been 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 usual, and Kavontae Turpin a little less. The Lions play man coverage at a higher rate 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 consistently on the field. Dallas was playing behind, so the team stuck with 11 personnel. 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 clear the concussion protocol than most players after one week. This was Lamb’s second recorded concussion, and the first came 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’s best to leave players like Flournoy and Turpin on the waiver wire, given the matchup.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Cowboys halfback Jaydon Blue was a healthy inactive, his fifth straight absence.
• Dallas wide receiver George Pickens was limited in practice on 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 spot of Jalen Tolbert, who was a healthy inactive. Dallas has swapped between the two in each of their last four games.
• Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson played over 80% of Dallas’ offensive snaps for the second time this season. His snap rate tends to increase when Dallas is playing from behind.
• Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey made field goals of 29, 42, 55, 57 and 63 yards, giving fantasy managers who drafted him a significant advantage this week, particularly 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 over the first 10 weeks.
• Jahmyr Gibbs scored three touchdowns in this game. It was his third game with three touchdowns in the last 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 potentially a precaution in case St. Brown couldn’t play very much. The former Baltimore Ravens quarterback/wide receiver signed with Detroit before it played Baltimore but had stuck around the practice squad since that point. He played his first NFL snap since 2023 and received his first NFL carry.
• The Lions claimed tight end Hayden Rucci off waivers from the Miami Dolphins earlier in the week, but he was a healthy inactive.

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.