Eagles vs Packers
This was a perfect example of why we will be frustrated by the Eagles backfield all year. Howard went crazy and scored 3 TDs, one of which was through the air. Sanders still looks like the more electric back but the Eagles are happy to give Howard touches especially around the goal line. This week Howard was on 53% of snaps and got 15 carries and 4 targets. Howard’s carries have gone up each week and part of me wonders if it’s a trust thing with Sanders being a rookie and already fumbling. In the passing game Wentz didn’t have to do much in terms of yds but was able to throw 3 TDs. Jeffery returned to his top dog spot and edged out Ertz for the most targets this week. With Jackson coming back next week I expect this to get even murkier especially for Ertz as he is still without a TD this year. The Eagles Def is split in two. The run Def is great and is shutting down everyone in terms of yds. But in the passing game you can absolutely eviscerate them.
Proving my last sentence correct ARod threw for 422 yds and 2 TDs. Adams is obviously the clear one as he ended his day with 10 receptions for 180 yds. He had several TD targets that just didn’t go his way this week. He did exit the game with a turf toe injury so we’ll need to keep an eye on that. As for the rest of the receivers Graham and Jones were the next highest target leaders. Makes sense Jones is on there because Williams went out with what I would say is a concussion and the Packers were down the whole second half. As usual we are going to have a ping pong game between MVS and Allison on who gets the TD. This week it was Allison but MVS is still leading in targets by a wide margin. With Adams likely to miss at least one game look for Allison to be relevant next week against the Cowboys. For the second straight week Jones was highly ineffective on the ground but saved the day with 2 goal line TDs. I’ll give credit to the Eagles on this one as they are limiting everyone right now. If Williams is out next week Jones will get all the work.
WW: (Eagles) Time to fade Agholor as Jackson will be back. Don’t but into the Goedert hype as Ertz is the one. Howard and Sanders are in a full RBBC, so grab a piece if you can but don’t expect them to be good every week. (Packers) Allison is probably available and should be usable while Adams is out.
Redskins vs Giants:
The Redskins may be in contention for the worst team in the league along with Miami. They immediately bailed on Keenum and went to the first round pick Haskins who performed worse in my opinion. The one shining spot (McLaurin) for the team was out with an injury. AP was massively ineffective this week. Chris Thompson netted you something if it was a full PPR league. There were rumors if they lost to the Giants that Gruden would be fired. Maybe it’s time to make that true. The play calling was lacking any creativity and you can tell they just don’t care on the field. At least Miami is trying.
Daniel Jones must be the answer because the Giants are playing as a totally different team. Jones is still rough around the edges with the two INTs and the fumble but he’s accurate and electric. Shepard and Engram are fantasy relevant each week as long as it’s not elite defenses. Gallman played really well and had TDs on the ground and through the air. It’s going to be a tougher match up next week against the Vikings but I expect at the very least Engram to continue to be the target leader. Hopefully with Tate coming back it’ll force the Def to play honest.
WW: (Redskins) There’s nobody here that’s worth adding. Drop everyone but AP, Thompson and McLaurin. (Giants) Jones may be relevant against the right match up. If Gallman is out there you better grab him.
Chiefs vs Lions:
The Chiefs got lucky this week and the cracks are starting to show. They are clearly a one dimensional team and this will come to haunt them later in the year. Mahomes as usual is electric but was getting constantly pressured by the Lions and didn’t throw a TD this week. Watkins, Kelce and Robinson are still the target leaders and I wouldn't expect that to change until Hill gets back. On the ground game it’s an RBBC with McCoy at the front and Darell Williams in second. I would imagine even with Damien Williams coming back soon that McCoy will continue to see the bulk of the work. The main concern with the Chiefs are the offensive line which was getting hammered with only a 3 or 4 man pressure each snap. The Def is obviously shoddy at best and will get crucified against even better offenses.
The Lions were so close to winning this one but a couple of key fumbles lost them the game. Stafford played exceptional even with the hip injury and actually didn’t throw an INT this week. Although he did fumble down in the red zone which was entirely his fault for not sliding. In the receiving game Golladay rounded out into his true form and showed why he’s one of the best in the league. He almost had 3 TDs but one was called back. Jones and Johnson are 2 and 3 in targets and it will continue like that all year. Johnson had an amazing game and again a costly fumble could have made a difference for the Lions here. He’s finally getting the amount of rushing attempts we would hope for with 26 this week and 20 last week. If DET can improve that O-Line things will be looking up for this team.
WW: (Chiefs) Depends on the injury report of Hill and Williams but if you can still get Darrell Willliams, Dernard Robinson or Hardmen you can still get points for a couple of weeks. (Lions) All players worth it have been rosterd.
Titans vs Falcons:
Looks like the old pistol football worked this week against an inferior Falcons Def. The Titans went up quickly against the Falcons on some quick strike passing to Brown and Davis. Brown is looking like the better WR to me but Davis continues to see more targets and snaps. This offense is likely going to bounce back and forth like this depending on who they are playing. Since they were able to go up big in the first half, Henry got the required amount of touches he needs to do any sort of damage. With exactly 100 yds your probably content but not happy with the points you got. A surprise was how few targets Walker got. I have to imagine this is from Davis and Brown eating into his work load.
The Falcons are in trouble, big trouble. The Def and O-Line continue to struggle and it’s going to cost them this season. Ryan is getting hit frequently and Freeman and Smith can’t get anything done on the ground. The Def can’t stop a bottom 3rd offense like the Titans so Ryan will have to throw all day to even try and keep them in the game. The passing attack is elite with Hooper stepping up in his 3rd year and Sanu and Ridley helping take the pressure off Jones. Jones didn’t have a good day as he was being covered by Malcom Butler leaving Hooper and Sanu to tear them apart. Even Freeman was able to make himself fantasy relevant with 8 catches for 72 yds. If this continues I can only see Ryan, Jones, Freeman and Hooper as being the consistent fantasy options. Ridley, Sanu and Smith will bounce around too much to rely on.
WW: (Titans) Don’t be fooled by this performance. Henry is still the only one worth owning. (Falcons) As mentioned above it’s going to be frustrating.
Browns vs Ravens:
For a team called the Browns they do sure wear and rep a lot of Orange. Anyway this was the Nick Chubb show today. 165 yds, 3 TDs, 3 catches for 18 yds. I’m willing to bet he’s the #1 RB this week in fantasy. I want to break down his runs some to show his true talent. First, a 14 yd run where he makes 4 Ravens miss tackles. The second TD was for 2 yds bulldozing the Ravens. The third was 88 yd TD where no one touched him. He clocked a speed of 21.85 MPH which tied Tyreek Hill for the fastest run of the year. That’s right a 227 lb RB can run as fast as Tyreek Hill. Let’s say you take away the 88yd TD he still went 19 carries for 77 yds which is still good for 4 yds per carry. Needless to say he’s one of the best RBs in the game and the Browns know it. There was also a passing game and Baker surprisingly only threw 1 INT and 1 TD. Landry and OBJ are the target leaders and it looks like I was wrong on the TE, it’s Seals-Jones who has emerged.
The Ravens must be reeling after two losses in a row. Especially where they were completely dominated on the ground. Which is supposed to be their specialty. The big thing here is reiterating the point that the Ravens Def is not what it used to be and the first two weeks they played inferior opponents. The O-Line leaves something to be desired and allowed Jackson to be sacked 4 times and flushing him out to make errant throws for INTs. Besides that Jackson was still fantasy relevant with 3 passing TDs and 66 yds on the ground. Andrews is the #1 target on the team and his foot appears to be fine. Behind him it’s Brown but he just wasn’t able to reel in those targets today.
WW: (Browns) Ricky Seals-Jones is the TE. I still don’t trust Mayfield as my starting QB. (Ravens) Don’t buy into the Snead or Boykin hype.
Raiders vs Colts:
The Raiders traveled to Indy and got lucky with sloppy play by the Colts. Carr got off to a quick start as well as the newly acquired Davis with a couple of end around runs. Don’t be fooled by the work he got as Jacobs is still the lead back with 17 carries. He did only manage 79 yds but made up some fantasy points with 2 receptions for 29 yds. Waller and Williams are still the top targets with Waller creeping up towards 30% of the market share. They are going to have a very tough time against Da Bears next week so don’t expect to see any huge point totals. Carr is still not a QB I would start in most matches as he’s not really putting up the YDs or TDs to make himself relevant.
Sloppy football is what happened this week. Tons of penalties, dropped passes and a costly turnover lost them the game. Brissett had great game with 3TDs and the game winning pick six. He also put another 19 YDs on the ground which always helps. With all the injuries this week Brissett had to spread the ball around with Doyle and Ebron getting tons of targets. Campbell had the next highest but had several drops which made him irrelevant in terms of fantasy. Hopefully TY will be back soon as the talent isn’t stepping up to the plate currently. Mack is the lead running back and went out with an ankle injury in the 2nd quarter. He said he could have come back out but the Colts wisely help him out to be safe. This left the work up to Hines and Wilkins which neither really stood out to me. Maybe Hines because he caught 6 catches for 39 YDs. There is definitely value to be found next week against the Chiefs.
WW: (Raiders) Nobody worth mentioning that isn’t already rosterd. (Colts) Paris Campbell, and Nyheim Hines could have great games this next week.
Patriots vs Bills:
The Pats got lucky Josh Allen knocked himself out because they were very close to losing. The Bills Def slowed them down in all areas of the game. There’s not much to talk about here as there was only 1 touchdown. Bolden poached the goal line TD from the main RBs thus Belichek ruined everyone’s hopes of Michel or even Burkhead being relevant this week. In the rushing game Michel got the bulk of the work but was inefficient. In the passing game the main targets this week where White(10), Dorsett(9) with Edleman and Gordon getting 7 targets each. I would imagine this will continue and look to see the fantasy assets bounce back in the coming week against inferior opponents.
The Bills looked pretty good against the Pats. The main problem with Josh Allen finally surfaced which he is inaccurate and plays like a wild man. He threw 3 INTs and knocked himself out of the game right at the start of the 4th quarter when he decided to headbutt a Patriot. Up until that point the Bills actually had a chance to win the game. Matt Barkley came in and was somehow even more inaccurate than Allen. Frank Gore had a solid day getting over 100yds but was fantasy irrelevant thanks to Allen poaching those goal line TDs. In the passing game Beasley will still be a PPR darling and John Brown is second in line for targets. With Allen out at least 1 week look to see Gore and Singletary used frequently against the Titans.
WW: (Patriots) For some reason Dorsett is only 30% owned in leagues. Go get him. Check and see if Burkhead is out there too. (Bills) Beasley might be available as well as Gore.
Panthers vs Texans:
The Panthers pull out the tough victory against the Texans. Allen played well but has a fumbling problem. He seems content on sitting in the pocket and he sits there for too long. Other than that against a solid Def he was able to throw for 232 YDs but no TDs. CMC was the main target again as Allen had to check down frequently. Interestingly enough for the second week Samuel is the second highest target leader. I'm curious to see if he will have even more difficulty throwing against the Jags next week. Cam dropped a video talking about he needs to take time off from football but was rather vague and said 1-6 weeks. If Allen continues to play like this Cam better hope he comes back and balls out because he will lose his job. On the ground CMC did well and got the rushing TD to go along with his 10 receptions for 86 YDs. I said he would be the #1 RB by the end of the year.
The Texans are in trouble. The O-Line is like swiss cheese and Watson has no time to set his feet and throw. He only had 160 passing YDs and 1 rushing TD. Not a good performance for someone of his caliber. This issue is spreading to other facets of the game as well. Since Watson can’t set his feet Nuk and company will continue to see low passing volume and defenses can drop extra help to cover Nuk. He is still the target leader but for the 3rd straight week he has disappointed fantasy owners and I’m not sure it’s going to get any better. The lack of O-Line has also started affecting the ground game as Hyde and Johnson can’t get anything going either. I would expect against the hapless Falcons that they will turn this around.
WW: (Panthers) No one worth mentioning. (Texans) With Stills getting hurt look and see if Coutee is available. PPR leagues only.
Chargers vs Dolphins:
The Chargers were able to right the ship against the struggling Dolphins. Rivers looked like his usual self with 310 YDs and 2 TDs. Not your week winning type of work but certainly stable. Ekeler had a showing out in what could be his last week as an RB1. He had both a rushing and receiving TD and put up serviceable YDs in each category with 5 catches to boot. Until Gordon gets fully up to speed in a week or two look for Ekeler to slowly decline from a top 5 RB to an RB2 to a flex play. In the passing game there wasn’t a whole lot to discuss as Allen is still the top target he just didn’t get the TD to match. It seems in the absence of Mike Williams, Dontrelle Inman is the next man up. 5 catches for 76 YDs is serviceable in PPR leagues.
The Dolphins look competitive and for the 3rd straight week and they are in the game at halftime. I’ll reiterate that it’s just the first half because in the second half the talent gap shows and they get blown out. Rosen is playing well and certainly looks more stable than Fitzpatrick. They were even able to exploit a blown coverage and score a passing TD to Parker. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up that there is anything fantasy relevant here. Williams is still the target leader and is the safety valve for Rosen. In the rushing game Drake has rightfully taken over as the lead back since Ballage can’t catch and is inefficient on the ground. Again there is nothing here to see in terms of fantasy because that O-Line is bad.
WW: (Chargers) If Mike Williams continues to be out Inman could be a good PPR add. Start fading Ekeler in your mind. (Dolphins) Still a no here.
Bucs vs Rams:
I honestly wouldn’t have expected this type of game to happen. The Bucs put up 49 offensive points and dominated all aspects of the game. Winston played well with a 68% completion rate, 4 TDs and only 1 INT. Godwin had an amazing day carving up the seams of the Rams defense for a #1 WR performance. Even Mike Evans had a solid day getting the big TD reception. Ronald Jones appears to have started taking on more of the carries and snaps for the Bucs and got the impressive TD. I’m curious to see if Adam’s theory of Winston collapsing after big games like this one comes true. They do have the Saints this coming week which will be a tough match up.
Oh does it feel so good to be right. Last week I said the Rams issues are actually the offensive line and Goff. Goff threw 3 INTs but also managed to throw 517 YDs which makes sense when you know the Rams were behind the entire game. Woods and Kupp had terrific games and finished as WR #3 and #5 respectively. The other problem was the Rams O-Line couldn’t stop the onslaught the Bucs brought and that lead to almost no rushing Yds and a couple of sacks and even a few false starts. Despite all this Gurley got two critical redzone rushes that went for TDs and got passing work. The passing work was the key component missing from Gurley's better years. This week he had 11 targets and caught 7 of them for 54 YDs which gave him a nice Top 10 RB finish. If the Rams don’t fix their O-Line woes you will see this type of game over and over again. Up next they have Seattle so I would expect another shootout which is great for fantasy.
WW: (Bucs) Ronald Jones is starting to separate from the pack. (Rams) Nobody that isn’t already rosterd.
Seahawks vs Cardinals:
The Seahawks had a solid but not overpowering performance this week against the Cardinals. They were able to go to the ground game early and Carson picked right back up and was able to put 104 YDs and the ground and catch all 4 of his targets for 51 YDs. But Prosise did vulture a garbage time TD. Carson was in the whole series and just happened to get taken out after a nice run so I wouldn't read too much into it. With the ground game humming this meant Wilson didn’t have to do too much in order to win this game. He’s found a new favorite target in Will Dissly or “Will Drizzle” as we call him at the studio. Lockett continued to serve well catching all 4 of his targets for 51 YDs. There’s not much to say here as it was it slower game. The O-Line still needs to be worked on as Wilson got pressured frequently and sacked 3 times.
Despite what the scoreboard said the Cardinals were hanging around most of the game. Up till halftime they would have only been down 20-9 if Gonzalez hadn’t missed two kicks. Once again the O-Line is making things difficult for Murray as he constantly gets pressured and has to scramble to make anything work. He was sacked 4 times and thankfully this week only threw the 1 INT. He probably saved his fantasy day from being a stinker with the rushing TD. David Johnson did some damage this week and most of it was through the air. 8 of 11 for 99 YDs is pretty good and tacked on another 40 YDs on the ground. Larry and Kirk were still the next target leaders but just had a rough game overall. Kirk did get hurt around the 3rd quarter. As of 10/2 it turns out to be an ankle sprain and likely will only miss a game.
WW: (Seahawks): If Dissly is available go and get him. (Cardinals) With Kirk out I’d expect Keyshon Johnson to step up. EDIT: Cardinals annoucned Andy Isabella will play Kirk’s role this next game.
Vikings vs Bears:
The Vikings finally found an opponent who could stop the run. The Bears forced Cousins to throw and he did not have a good day. He was sacked 6 times, fumbled at least twice and couldn’t get anything going in the air except to Diggs and check downs to Cook. It was so bad that after the game Thielen called Cousins out. I don’t blame him. Cousins looks like the most overpaid QB in history and has a record of 5-27 against teams over .500. Meaning he stinks. Cook managed to save his day with a goal line TD and all that passing work. I would have to imagine against the Giants this week that they will turn this around.
Da Bears! Trubisky went out in the first drive of the game and interestingly enough the Bears offense looked better. They scored on that same drive with a pass to Cohen. The Vikings have a stout defense and limited the Bears to only FGs after that. Daniels looked good and was connecting with Robinson frequently. With Trubisky already ruled out for next week against the Raiders I would imagine a similar game plan will be executed but to greater effect. Once they went up they handed the ball off to Montgomery 21 times and everyone else had limited work. I would expect Cohen and Robinson to be targeted early and then for them to run the game out.
WW: (Vikings) I hope you dropped Cousins a long time ago. (Bears) Cohen if he’s available.
Jaguars vs Broncos:
When thinking about this you probably wouldn’t have guessed this would have been such a good game. Uncle Rico continues to do what he does best and not give the game away. For those who don’t know that’s Minshew or as we call him at the studio, “Porn Stache”. Putting up decent numbers and a couple of TDs a week, this kid is turning out to be pretty good. It also helps when you can rush the ball for almost 300 YDs. Fournette finally proves Evan wrong and rushed for 225 YDs at a 7.8 yd/c, CRAZY! Even Armstead put up another 43 YDs. Chark and Westbrook continue to be the target leaders but didn’t get the TDs this week. Chark had one but it was called back due to a penalty. Next they have the Panthers and Saints which will be a couple of tough tests.
The Broncos are very unlucky and one of the more talented winless teams. Flacco put up great numbers against the Jags who were without Ramsey. He threw for 303 YDs and 3TDs which was a top 5 QB performance this week. Sanders is now narrowly beating out Sutton as the target leader. Sutton is really stepping up this year and was able to pull in 2 TDs this week. Lindsay is still the feature back but was held in check due to the Jags Def. Hopefully this loss doesn’t completely throw them off because there were reports they were all screaming at each other in the locker room after the game. They don’t have one easy opponent till the end of the year when the face the Raiders again. Maybe this week against the Titans but as we know the Titans can be half decent.
WW: (Jags) Surprisingly Chark and Westbrooke are only ~65% owned.Ttake a peek and see if they are available. (Broncos) Nobody that’s not already rosterd.
Cowboys vs Saints:
“Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity”! Finally the Cowboys explosive offense comes crashing down. It really just had to do with how good the Saints Def played. Prescott was limited to 223 YDs, 0 TDs, and 1 INT. Cooper and Zeke were the main targets this week. Cobb was up there as well and dropped a TD. I believe that in games like this Gallup will be missed. From the sounds of it he’s looking like he might be back in a game or two. Zeke was also limited on the ground but managed to get a goal line TD to save his day. There’s not a whole lot to talk about since this game was mostly FGs. Next week they play the Packers and I expect them to bounce back with a vengeance.
The Saints also sputtered this week against a solid Def but more due to their own penalties than anything. Bridgewater was okay but only really made Thomas fantasy relevant by hyper targeting him. Kamara had a pretty slow day as well and ended up on the “Shit the Bed” list. The Saints really lack a third offensive weapon outside of Kamara and Thomas. Brees is really one of the few QBs who can make less talented players relevant. Next week they play the Bucs and this should help make fantasy players less concerned overall.
WW: (Cowboys) Check and see if Gallup is out there. (Saints) No one.
Bengals vs Steelers:
I’m struggling to find something positive to talk about. The O-Line and Defense are terrible and the only reason they even got the 3 Pts was from an early Steelers turnover. Mixon can be an amazing back if he had the O-Line to give him some space to work with. Boyd is a good receiver and can definitely see a step up when Green comes back in a couple more weeks. Ross went out and as of 10/2 is heading to IR. Which means the next man up is Auden Tate. They do have the Cardinals this week but I don’t see another easy opponent till the Raiders on 11/17.
The Steelers were finally able to right the ship against the hapless Bengals. They used some interesting formations and some fairly effective wildcat options with Samuels. Rudolph had a pretty good game going 24 of 28 for 229 YDs and 2 TDs. Connor was decently effective on the ground but made up for it with a killer receiving game. Going 8 for 83 and a TD. Dionte Johnson had another solid game especially with the TD. Smith-Schuster all but disappeared in this game but we had a suspicion that would happen when he started getting better coverage. Next week they have the Ravens who are coming off back-to-back losses. I would like to see how they perform against another good team before I make another opinion.
WW: (Bengals) Tate in deep leagues. (Steelers) Dionte Johnson is only 12% owned so definitely take a look at him in deeper leagues. I want to see another week before I would consider Samuels.