After an eventful UFC card on Saturday night, the NFL decided to host some backyard brawling of their own. You really can’t blame the players for trying to stir up some excitement, ratings are down 20% in the NFL over the past two seasons. A.J. Green choked and slammed Jalen Ramsey and tried his best to ground and pound him. Later on, Jameis Winston got into a verbal spat with Marshon Lattimore and Mike Evans came out of nowhere and blindsided Lattimore. Is fighting immature? Maybe. Does the pettiness add a level of excitement? Hell yeah! Let’s get to the games.
Atlanta Falcons Vs. Carolina Panthers
When Cam Newton has played the role of game manager the past two weeks, its leading to very important divisional victories. If you started Newton, his 86 rushing yards and touchdown was your only saving grace. Curtis Samuel saw five targets, adding fuel to the conversation that he will be the biggest beneficiary of the Kelvin Benjamin trade. After two Stewart fumbles, Christian McCaffery took over the back field and scored an easy touchdown run.
Julio Jones had a nice day outside of dropping a wide-open touchdown catch. By wide-open, I mean WIDE-OPEN. Freeman out touched Tevin Coleman by a decent margin this week, but wasn’t able to score as many fantasy points as Coleman. Sanu didn’t have the most productive fantasy day, but he was able to find the end zone.
Denver Broncos Vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Future MVP, Carson Wentz put up four touchdowns on the former best defense in the league. The offense in Denver just isn’t good enough to keep the Denver D off of the field. I didn’t think that Jay Ajayi would get any more than 10 touches on Sunday, which he didn’t. But, the lack of touches didn’t stop him from having a good fantasy day. He may truly be a force for the rest of the season. Alshon Jeffery saw 11 targets and converted two scores. As I previously stated, Denver’s offense is flat out awful. Although, it was good to see Demaryous Thomas score his first touchdown in 13 games.
Cincinnati Bengals Vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Leonard Fournette missed a team picture, and apparently that was enough to suspend him for a game. Chris Ivory took over the backfield and was able to gain over 100 all-purpose yards. I hope that I reached as many of you as I could about not starting T.J. Yeldon. Marquis Lee had a nice day and to my surprise, Blake Bortles isn’t terrible all of the time. Tyler Kroft made the most of his two targets and turned them into 79 yards in A.J. Green’s absence. Joe Mixon struggled to gain yards against a team who hasn’t performed very well against the run this season. Mixon did execute a nice touchdown run in the first half to salvage the day.
Baltimore Ravens Vs. Tennessee Titans
Alex Collins did get the lion’s share of the carries for Baltimore, but Javorious Allen had a much better fantasy day. Are you guys still having fun chasing the Baltimore backfield production? Just wait until they throw Danny Woodhead into the mix in a couple of weeks! Alex Collins should still be the one to own because Woodhead will be the passing down back upon his return. Jeremy Maclin saw 9 targets and caught 8 of them for 98 yards. Derrick Henry found the end zone for the Titans. Sunday was definitely the day where a lot of back up running backs outscored the starters. Corey Davis was quiet in his return, but Rishard Matthews was able to find the end zone against the stout Ravens passing defense.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Vs. New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees had a pretty nice day, but Alvin Kamara was the star of this show. Kamara led the Saints in receiving while also picking up a touch down on the ground. I recommended starting Ted Ginn Jr., and I think it worked out for the best. He found the end zone and continues to be to this offense what I thought Willie Snead would be coming into the season. I think that Tampa has reached the point in the season where they should cut their losses and give Jameis Winston the rest of the season off. If Koetter hands the reigns to Fitzpatrick the rest of the season, Tampa will be able to avoid the current situation that Indianapolis is in with Andrew Luck. If you aren’t going to make the playoffs, don’t risk Jameis’ shoulder issue lingering into next season.
Indianapolis Colts Vs. Houston Texans
Tom Savage looked awful for the first 45 minutes of this game as he replaces Deshaun Watson for the rest of the season. Luckily, he has a guy named DeAndre Hopkins as a wide receiver. Hopkins can make catches that very few receivers in the game can make. Hopkins had a good day catching 6 balls for 86 yards and a touchdown. Hopkins saw a whopping 16 targets on Sunday. Will Fuller, as expected, was very quiet. Fuller’s value has diminished quite a bit now that the deep ball won’t be very prevalent going forward for the Texans. Marlon Mack ran the ball 9 times but was only able to gain 29 yards. T.Y. Hilton had a wonderful day at the office. He has these big games sometimes that make it very difficult to take him out of your line up.
Los Angeles Rams Vs. New York Giants
Have you seen Eli Manning’s remaining schedule? It’s very easy. In his final challenge before his easy stretch over the next five or so weeks, he was able to find the end zone twice. Evan Engram and Sterling Shephard led the way for New York’s receiving with 70 yards while Orleans Darkwa led the way for the Giants in the rushing department. Robert Woods was fantastic today and he was a big part of Jared Goff’s big day. Todd Gurley also found the end zone twice in a blowout.
Arizona Cardinals Vs. San Francisco 49ers
Adrian Peterson carried the ball 37 times for 159 yards on Sunday, but he was unable to find the end zone. That is pretty interesting considering that the Cardinals play again on Thursday. Larry Fitzgerald led Cardinals receivers with 5 catches for 70 yards. A 50% completion percentage and two touchdowns is probably Drew Stanton’s ceiling. Carlos Hyde had a big day catching the ball. Hyde brought in 9 catches for 84 yards probably due to Pierre Garcon’s absence.
Kansas City Chiefs Vs. Dallas Cowboys
Alex Smith is human! He finally threw his first interception of the season. Smith managed to have a good day when it was all said and done. He can thank Tyreek Hill for a mind-blowing run after catch to find the end zone as time expired in the first half. Dallas’ defense was able to keep Kareem Hunt quiet for the afternoon. Speaking of which, Kareem Hunt has been pretty quiet the past few weeks (chin-scratch emoji). Ezekiel Elliott found the end zone once again but Terrance Williams was the story on Dallas’ offense on Sunday. Williams had 9 catches for 141 yards thanks in part to Dez Bryant missing a couple of series late in the game after he was shaken up from a big hit.
Washington Redskins Vs. Seattle Seahawks
#BanKickers. Blair Walsh missed three field goals in the first half and is probably the reason that Seattle was never able to gain control of this game. Eddie Lacy left the game with a groin injury and Thomas Rawls took control of the backfield and looked pretty good. He had some decent runs and had a 22 yard catch. Doug Baldwin had a great game going for over 100 yards and a touchdown.
Rob Kelley, the most useless running back who gets an NFL paycheck found the end zone twice on Sunday. Kelley managed just 18 yards on 14 carries. You read that correctly. Vernon Davis is a TE1 while Jordan Reed is sidelined and maybe even after he comes back. Kirk Cousins has really built a connection with him and he was targeted 4 more times than any other pass catcher. It was nice to see Doctson truly involved in the game plan. Doctson made a great changing catch in the final moments of a must win game for Washington.
