Well, that was… something. Not a really exciting day, right? We waited months and months for three players to go over 100 yards receiving today and only two rushers to go over 100 yards as well. We had a game in Green Bay where there should have been 800 points scored but neither team could get to 20.
Welcome to my weekly recap of the action we saw on Sunday. So, I physically can’t watch every play of all 12 or 13 games that go on during the afternoon, but I do watch about 6.5 hours of Redzone every Sunday, so you could say that me and Andrew Siciliano are kind of a thing. I’ll let you know how I interpret things that I see watching live and what I see in the box score. I’m not going to bore you with paragraphs upon paragraphs on each game but, I assure you that you will know the trends that you need to know to make decisions for your lineup the next coming week. Let’s start with the most exciting game from a fantasy stand point…
Arizona Cardinals @ Detroit Lions
My tallest and most talented son, Kenny Golladay had quite the coming out party in week one, leading me to run up and down my hallway yelling twice. I’m sure my wife loved it and found it very attractive. Golladay was 2nd on the team in targets with 7, so it’s obvious Stafford is looking in his direction. Golden Tate continues to be a PPR-monster and went for over 100 yards. Just as our own Rudy Gamble predicted with his amazing tools, Matthew Stafford had a huge day and paid dividends for those with the cojones to start him. Stafford is a top 10 quarterback this year, he has the weapons on the offense to do it, trust us.
Let’s not freak out about David Johnson’s performance. Detroit has an underrated front seven, including swarm tacklers such as Tahir Whitehead and Jarrad Davis. In an uncharacteristically slow game, Johnson still managed over 90 all-purpose yards. Whether you subscribe to the 370 rule or not, even if Johnson doesn’t have the season that he had in 2016, it’s going to be damn close. Carson Palmer is a different story, he looked awful. He looked slower than slow and threw really bad and confusing interceptions. John Brown did jack shit on 9 targets and JJ Nelson, (who I think is the 2nd best receiver after the way he closed out last year) turned his 6 targets into 5 catches for 43 yards.
Philadelphia Eagles @ Washington Redskins
Rob Kelley isn’t very good, there’s a shocker for you. The running back to own here is Chris Thompson, not Samaje Perrine. Thompson made a nice YAC play on a short pass from Cousins and turned it into a touchdown. By the way, that was Cousin’s only touchdown of the day, ugh. Pryor had a horrible drop on a wide-open end zone play. It would have been called back because of a penalty anyways, but people don’t forget, Terrelle! Other than that, Pryor had a productive day turning his 11 targets into 6 catches for 66 yards.
Carson Wentz had a nice day, he made some really good throws. I’d feel pretty comfortable starting him going forward in deep leagues or if your QB1 has a bad matchup. I want to see more than one big game from Nelson Agholor before I actually care. I’d pick him up off of the waiver wire, but I’m not in any rush to start him until I see these games more often. Today was a quiet day for Alshon Jeffery, but he saw 7 targets, so don’t worry. Legarrette Blount is clearly the lead back in Philly, and oops, he accidentally found the end zone again.
Atlanta Falcons @ Chicago Bears
Matt Ryan looked good, which is reassuring now that he no longer has his magical offensive coordinator. Freeman found the end zone which saved an otherwise bland day in the Falcon’s running game. Mohammed Sanu saw a lot of targets, but I still don’t want anything to do with him. I wanted to see how Hooper was used and he’s a sell high for me after Sunday. He only saw two targets and he made the most of them. He found himself wide open and capitalized twice.
I don’t think Tarik Cohen isn’t going to take Jordan Howard’s job, so relax. He did have a good coming out party, including a nice 46-yard run. Chicago obviously doesn’t want to run Jordan Howard into the ground so they have to be more than thrilled to have an effective back that he can split some carries with. Kevin White might be done for the year, so I want nothing to do with that passing game.
New York Jets @ Buffalo Bills
Worst. Game. Ever. I hope these tickets were free. Lesean McCoy looked good, though! Jordan Matthews and Zay Jones combined for seven targets, leaving Charles Clay as the only worthwhile receiver of the day. Good call, Zach! Powell and Forte both stunk but Powell will eventually pull away and get the lion’s share of carries.
Baltimore Ravens @ Cincinnati Bengals
BUY LOW ON JOE MIXON! Mixon lead the team in carries and don’t let the yardage total fool you, he’s still going to be good. Baltimore has a great defense. A.J. Green still had a pretty nice day, but Dalton looked lost in the sauce. We saw on the first possession what the Raven’s offense wanted to be. They were creative in lining up Woodhead in different ways to have him heavily involved. ……AAAAND it’s gone. Woodhead will be back, but they may pump the brakes on his usage to keep him healthy. Terrance West and Buck Allen combined for 40 carries and were both effective. Terrance West should remain the lead back but both are useful while Woodhead is absent.
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cleveland Browns
Antonio Brown remains not human. Water remains wet. Martavis Bryant saw 6 targets and while it was a slow game for him, I’m still starting him and buying low where I can. I’m very surprised that the running game wasn’t more effective for both teams. Isaiah Crowell saw 17 carries and going forward he is going to bust big runs on a regular basis. Keep him in your starting line-up. I’m surprised Kenny Britt didn’t see more action today. While he’s not a drop candidate for me, if Corey Coleman keeps Deshone Kizer’s favor that’s not a great thing for Britt.
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Houston Texans
Unfortunately, Allen Robinson is done for the year with a torn ACL. Marquis Lee and Allen Hurns are both sure to see an uptick in targets. I haven’t been a big Fournette guy all preseason and today didn’t change my mind at all. He struggled to punch the ball in from the 1-yard line at one point, and he averaged under 4 yards per carry on 26 carries. But with Robinson hurt, what else does this offense have?
DeAndre Hopkins had a good day and that was great to see considering who he was lining up against all day. I was pleasantly surprised. Bouye also had a couple of PI calls against Hopkins which just goes to show that he was really struggling with him. The entrance of DeShaun Watson into this offense makes me like it a lot more going forward despite the ugly result on Sunday.
Carolina Panthers @ San Francisco 49ers
Ron Rivera wasn’t lying, he is building this offense around Christian McCaffery. McCaffery had 18 touches and led the team in receiving targets and had a decent PPR day, despite not finding the end zone. Jonathan Stewart is still a part of the offense as expected. Cam Newton looked bad and that’s not a good thing going forward for Greg Olsen and Kelvin Benjamin. Pierre Garcon saw 10 targets and looked like he’s going to live up to the hype. Although the counting stats weren’t exactly there, Carlos Hyde looked good running the ball and he looked fine in the passing offense as well.
Indianapolis Colts @ Los Angeles Rams
Todd Gurley found the end zone, but 40 yards on 19 carries is quite concerning considering the defense that he lined up against. I’m happy to have zero shares of him. Sammy Watkins caught all five of his targets which is good, but Cooper Kupp stole the show with the touchdown. They are both decent options going forward if Jared Goff is even 75% of what he was today, going forward. Marlon Mack is becoming a big part of the Colt’s offense a little sooner than we thought. Although the production wasn’t great considering he wrongly not given a receiving touchdown on a first quarter play, I’m excited going forward. T.Y. Hilton on the other hand, yikes, I can’t wait to see Andrew Luck back.
Seattle Seahawks @ Green Bay Packers
Welcome back, Randall Cobb! Rodgers decided it was his real life buddy’s time to shine against a tough Seahawks defense. Jordy Nelson still has the best fantasy day though because he found the endzone. I’m not worried about Davante Adams going forward, he was matched up against Richard Sherman and still found a way to keep himself in the game. Ty Montgomery can’t possibly keep this starting job for the season? CAN HE?! Please no.
Chris Carson is the best back on the Seahawks. When Thomas Rawls is healthy, Eddie Lacy won’t be useful and I suspect that he’ll be cut before October gets here. Despite not moving the ball in Lambeau, both Doug Baldwin and Paul Richardson looked productive.
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