I had a feeling about the Rams last night. I thought that after a disappointing performance against Tampa, they’d take it to a divisional opponent. After all, Seattle hasn’t been nearly as dominant at home as they used to be. Seattle has a bad secondary, so I figured Goff would be able to throw all over them. It took a while, but he eventually did. The problem was the Rams defense is probably pretty bad. We’ve seen it over the past 5 days how much of a problem that the secondary is. Aaron Donald can’t do everything.
Many of you know that I like to dabble in gambling (legally now!) and instead of taking the 1.5 that Seattle was giving the Rams, I took the Rams to win outright and grab a few extra bucks in the process. As we now know, that was a horrible mistake and likely one that I won’t make again in the near future. I still can’t believe that Greg Zuerlein missed the game winning kick in the first place. He’s usually money in the bank. But instead I am heartbroken, and the only way to make myself feel better is to analyze statistics for you to keep in mind for your fantasy teams. Let’s go!
Performance Checks
– Jared Goff came into this game as QB16 on the season, and despite all of the passing yards, he didn’t do a whole lot to move up the board. This passing attack is starting to come back together but red zone execution is proving difficult at this point. I still expect good things from Jared Goff this season.
– Sustainability of good fantasy performances is proving to be difficult for Robert Woods. The volume of targets that Woods has been receiving is encouraging, but Cooper Kupp is clearly the number one target and Gerald Everett has been emerging recently. This was Everett’s second big game in a row. Everett led the team in receiving yards and despite a very bad drop in the 4th quarter, Gerald Everett should be near the top of your waiver list if you are in need of a tight end. He is 6% owned in yahoo leagues and 3% owned in ESPN leagues.
– Like I previously mentioned, Cooper Kupp is clearly Jared Goff’s favorite target. Kupp saw 17 targets in this game and caught 9 of them for 117 yards. Kupp is that rare buy-high player. The Rams would rather air the ball out than give Gurley 30 touches.
– Speaking of Gurley, he did see an uptick in touches this week. Gurley was targeted 6 times in the passing game and was handed 15 carries as well. Despite what has happened over the past 5 days, the Rams are going to jump out to leads this year and that plays right into Gurley’s hands. Gurley could see an increase in touches soon, especially with his redzone execution. I’m not trying to buy Todd Gurley, but if he’s on your roster, Thursday night was a step in the right direction.
– Russell Wilson now has 10 touchdown passes in the past 3 meetings against the Rams. Even though I don’t draft quarterbacks as early as Russell Wilson goes, his owners have to be happy with his solid QB1 performance so far this year.
– DK Metcalf is going to be a fixture in this offense for years to come, but despite the touchdown on Thursday, he still only saw 3 targets. This performance follows a week where he only caught 1 ball for 6 yards.
– Tyler Lockett had a beautiful toe-tapping touchdown catch last night. Robert Woods did the exact opposite leaving a leg up in the air on a catch in the end zone. The upside for Lockett is showing this season, but some more involvement in the offense is desired. Lockett and Dissly saw a combined 8 targets last night.
-Chris Carson might actually be gaining control of the RB1 job in Seattle. He hasn’t fumbled in 2 games! I don’t think he will get 27 of the 33 carries consistently. I believe that Seattle is working Penny back slowly. But, if Carson continues to play like he did last night, he should retain the majority of the carries.