The entire Jets offense was giddy when Sam Darnold strolled into the locker-room Sunday toting his vintage Coca-Cola bottle. After four weeks of quarantine with the kissing disease, Darnold was ready to play games with his favorite group of guys. First, the young QB locked eyes with Robby Anderson (5 catches for 125 yards and his 1st touchdown) for a juicy 92 yard score. Next he played touch and squeeze with Ryan Griffin (3 catches for 28 yards and his 1st touchdown). Even the notoriously conservative Le’Veon Bell (14 carries for 50 yards and his 2nd touchdown) snuck into the circle and gave the bottle a twirl. Sammy Big D went 23/32 for 338 yards and 2 touchdowns in his triumphant return as the Jets upset the Cowboys. Anyway, here’s what else I saw during yesterday’s late games in fantasy football:
Calvin Ridley – 4 catches for 48 yards and his 4th touchdown. Believe it or not, Ridley has outproduced Julio Jones (8 catches for 108 yards) over the past 3 weeks. Don’t expect that to continue.
Devonta Freeman – 19 carries for 88 yards, 3 catches for 30 yards and his 2nd and 3rd touchdowns. I suggested selling Freeman on the heels of a nice game against the Texans last week and I’ll double down this week—I don’t have a gambling problem, you have a gambling problem! Remember, don’t give Devonta away for free, man.
Austin Hooper – 8 catches for 117 yards and his 3rd touchdown. Hooper’s creeping closer to the elite tight end group. The famed Pigskinonator had the Falcon big man pegged as it’s #2 TE this week projecting him for 6.6 catches for 62.5 yards and 0.71 touchdowns. C’mon, how’s he gonna catch 0.71 touchdowns, robot? Someone needs to smack that machine with a wrench!Â
Chase Edmonds – 5 carries for 34 yards, 2 catches for 33 yards and his 2nd touchdown. I speculated last week that Edmonds might start to chase some work away from David Johnson (12 carries for 34 yards, 6 catches for 68 yards and his 4th and 5th touchdowns) who battled thru some back issues this week. Edmonds is worth owing in most leagues at this point—he has RB1 upside if Johnson ever goes limp.Â
Kyler Murray – 27/37 for 340 yards, 11 carries for 32 yards and 3 passing touchdowns—he now has 7 on the season. Only 32 rushing yards? That sounds more like Joe Mixon than Kyler Murray!
Maxx Williams – 3 catches for 34 yards and his 1st touchdown. This is a true story: I was watching the Atlanta vs. Arizona broadcast and one of the announcers said, “Maxx Williams isn’t mentioned with the elite tight ends, but he should be.” Then my head exploded.
Tevin Coleman – 18 carries for 45 yards, 2 catches for 16 yards and his 2nd touchdown. Coleman now has 34 carries since his return last week compared to Matt Breida’s (13 carries for 36 yards, 4 catches for 27 yards) 24 carries.
Robert Woods – 2 carries for 16 yards, no catches and his 1st touchdown as Jared Goff (13/24 for 78 yards and no touchdowns) and the Rams offense did their best Miami Dolphins impersonation.
Malcolm Brown –  11 carries for 40 yards filling in for the injured Todd Gurley (thigh). So you’re telling me I shouldn’t have started Malcolm Brown, eh? And I also shouldn’t have drafted Darrell Henderson (6 carries for 39 yards and 1 catch for 9 yards)? At least I still have Darwin Thompson, right?
Ezekiel Elliott – 28 carries for 105 yards, 5 catches for 47 yards and his 5th touchdown. Zeke is game script proof, now we just need to find him a shirt that fits.
Amari Cooper – 1 catch for 3 yards as he left in the first quarter with a quad injury which had bothered him earlier in the week. In deeper leagues, take a look at Devin Smith (healthy scratch) if Cooper is ruled out for next week.
Brett Maher – 3 field goals including a 50 yarder and a 62 yard bomb. Maher was the true star of the Cowboys offense this week. I only bring him up so I can mention that kickers should be banned from fantasy football; defenses too.
Phillip Lindsay – 15 carries for 70 yards, 2 catches for 5 yards and his 4th touchdown. The Tasmanian Devil continues to separate himself from Royce Freeman (11 carries for 34 yard, 5 catches for 42 yards). Two Broncos, but there can be only one Stallion.
Emmanuel Sanders – 1 catch for 0 yards as he left early with a knee injury. Sounds like it isn’t a serious injury but if he misses time, DaeSean Hamilton (2 catches for 25 yards) is the deeper league add. Don’t get too excited, Joe Flacco (18/28 for 177 yards and no touchdowns) is unable to throw it over the mountain in Denver—unlike Uncle Rico Minshew.
Ryan Tannehill – 13/15 for 144 yards and no touchdowns—1 interception—as he came in for the benched Marcus Mariota (7/18 for 63 yards and no touchdowns—2 interceptions). Well . . . at least he was . . . less terrible?
Derrick Henry – 15 carries for 28 yards. I gave him the powerful Donkey Jinx last week when I said he was looking like a first round fantasy running back.Â
Devlin Hodges – 15/20 for 132 yards and his 1st career touchdown. The Steelers coaching staff very carefully instructed the duck calling champion not to throw ducks.
James Conner – 16 carries for 41 yards, 7 catches for 78 yards and his 4th and 5th touchdowns. But it was 4th round rookie Benny Snell Jr. (17 carries for 75 yards, 1 catch for 15 yards) who led the Steelers in rushing; it’s the #SnellYeah movement. The kid looked great and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him step into an expanded role in the coming weeks with Jaylen Samuels (knee) on the shelf.Â
JuJu Smith-Schuster – 1 catch for 7 yards. I’m not naming any names but, on our waiver show this past week, my co-host with the fake name of “B_Don” speculated the duck calling champ might actually help JuJu’s fantasy value. Don’t hold your breath, unless Antonio Brown’s in the area.
Hunter Henry – 8 catches for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s no Maxx Williams.
Mike Williams – 8 catches for 72 yards. Last week I suggested there might be a buy-low window still cracked for Williams. He’s been held without a touchdown on the season but the 23 targets he’s seen over the past two weeks tell me it’s only a matter of time. Take a peek thru the porthole and see what’s up.
Find Donkey Teeth on Twitter. Subscribe to his podcast: The Razzball Fantasy Football Podcast on Itunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts
