Monday Night Football debuted for the 2021 season with a battle between Lamar Jackson and the Las Vegas Raiders. Oh, I suppose there were some other Ravens in attendance too. How many Ravens are still healthy and playing? Is Terrell Suggs still playing? OK, let’s recap: the Ravens have been haunted by a lower-body abduction spirit throughout the preseason — they lost 3 RBs and a cornerback for the season to various leg injuries. Now with a stable of veteran RBs that had been starring in an off-Broadway production of The Replacements (the movie starring the man known as John Wick, not the ‘ Mats [double parentheses — The ‘Mats are Gods]) and a lead RB sourced from their practice squad, the Ravens are simply trying to make it through the day healthy. Aren’t we all right now? Also, if you watched the Peyton/Eli commentary of the game on ESPN2, I’m basically Eli Manning just getting overrun in conversation every chance I get. Imagine me as confused Eli as we go forward this season. Overtime edit: this game made sense in regulation, where it was a largely defensive effort. Then the 4th quarter came and it turned into a Blumhouse Production of football nightmares and unlikely heroes. The Raiders had to make it one inch to win (that’s what she said!) and instead ended up turning the ball over in the end zone. Then LJax fumbled the ball. Then the Raiders accidentally iced their own kicker and ended up passing the game-winning touchdown to Zay Jones, a player who I have a history with and who Peyton Manning couldn’t even name.
Here’s what I saw on Monday Night Football for your fantasy football teams:
Ty’Son Williams: If you don’t know about Ty’Son Williams, then you haven’t been reading Razzball or any other site this year. That’s cool, I still love you. Let’s montage you up to speed: the Ravens went into 2021 thinking J.K. Dobbins would be their workhorse, but he found himself the victim of a knee ligament demon. Next man up! Gus Edwards, the man who averaged 700 yards per year as a backup — he was finally going to get his chance to be the lead back in the most prolific rushing offense in the NFL! [offscreeen death] Oh wait, there’s the third string RB Justice Hill — who fantasy players loved last year — and much like the hero of Troy, his Achilles tendon ruptured. So, the Ravens brought in a stable of veteran RBs — Le’Veon Bell, Latavius Murray, and Devonta Freeman — but they sat all but Murray in favor of former practice squad member Ty’Son Williams. How can you not be romantic about football? Williams started the night’s scoring with a 30 yard TD run on 4th and 1, helping cement his status as the leading RB in the backfield that will be crushing the rushing stats all year. Williams will have a few weeks to showcase his skills before the veterans are ready to take their shot, so why not bet on the underdog? If you can grab Williams for free on the waiver wire or under 20% of your FAAB, snag him. If he crashes back to earth — which, to be fair, is the most likely outcome for a practice squad RB — then it’s just the norm happening and you can say, “been there, done that” just like the rest of us who once tried an edible (editor’s note: EWB has never tried an edible).
1st down? Eh, why stop there?
Ty'Son Williams to the house on 4th and 1!
(via @Ravens) pic.twitter.com/ZkQSQo701Z
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 14, 2021
Josh Jacobs: Had a toe issue aggravated as the game went on. Imagine building up your body to the point that 350-pound linemen crush you on the regular and you’re unbothered, but your toe gets smooshed and you’re done. Can players wear steel-toed cleats? He still snuck in for a couple scores but Kenyan Drake got a bit more unplanned play due to Jacobs’ injury.
Josh Jacobs puts the @Raiders on the board! #RaiderNation
📺: #BALvsLV on ESPN/ABC
📱: https://t.co/NS3IxESidh pic.twitter.com/YTaIpvN6ZE— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2021
Kenyan Drake: Dr. Livingstone, I presume? Kenyan collected 5 balls for 59 yards in the air, which most receivers would love get (on pace for 1,000 yards receiving). I was complaining to Skorish in Razzball chat that his Showdown DFS lineup wasn’t correlated between his choice of Derek Carr and Kenyan Drake as the only Raiders in his lineup. Perhaps what we’re seeing here is that Drake is transitioning to a scatback role where he’ll get a fair amount of run as a Nyheim Hines/Tarik Cohen/James White-style receiver. Keep an eye on that role.
Lamar Jackson: One of the reasons that I was extremely low on Lamar Jackson in the pre-season was the fact that his fantasy production is so run-dependent. Elite rushing QBs are not necessarily correlated on a year-by-year basis. Quick! Name a QB that had more rushing yards than Patrick Mahomes from 2018-2020. Did you say Mitchell Trubisky? Because you’d be right. How about top 10 yards/game rushing in the same time period — did you have Marcus Mariota in that group? Did you have Ryan Fitzpatrick sitting right next to Patrick Mahomes in rushing yards/game? Too bad Fitzmagic is going to miss half the season (points to tear tattoo). Like, Lamar Jackson is clearly in a league of his own, but his rush game isn’t terribly predictable, and he’s averaging 60 rush yards per game….to go with barely 200 yards per game passing. For Lamar to be an elite fantasy QB option, he must rush and have big pass games. So as Lamar Jackson heads into the 4th quarter against a lackluster Raiders DEF, he’s got 147 passing yards and 46 rushing yards, which is just not as thrilling — FOR FANTASY FOOTBALL — as we generally hope. Of course, rushing L-Jax fumbled the ball in the 4th quarter, which changed the momentum of the game. The Raiders let LJax run this game and gave him plenty of room for a 30+ yard rush in the 4th quarter while stopping any deep pass, which put Lamar at 80 yards rushing in regulation. Then he fumbled again in overtime after the Raiders decided to prevent him from rushing. Whatever. Enjoy the rush, but don’t be surprised if LJax leaves you with 230 all-purpose yards in 50% of your matchups.
How do you defend this? @lj_era8 @primetime_jet
📺: #BALvsLV on ESPN/ABC
📱: https://t.co/NS3IxESidh pic.twitter.com/1nDfT46S6c— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2021
Zay Jones: Hey, I started my Razzball career with the recognition that I over-valued red zone targets and drafted Zay Jones — then with the Buffalo Bills — in the 6th round of the 2019 RazzBowl. I can’t let ZAY go without recognizing that he’s still in the league and pulling down [checks notes] 1 reception. Overtime edit: This dude pulls down the winning TD and Peyton Manning doesn’t even know who it is lol. ZAY, I knew you had red zone authority!
Sammy Watkins: DFS players knew to put LJax in the captain spot, but who was going to be his top receiver? Odds on favorites went to Marquise Brown, and he grabbed 6 for 69 (nice) and a TD. But after Hollywood Brown, it was Mark Andrews to be WR2, right? Nah, Sammy Watkins stepped in and grabbed 3 catches for 86 yards in regulation. We could see Watkins/Andrews swap that second target role throughout the year.
OK friends, that was a weird game. Defense dominated the first part, and then the second part was all variance. We knew Zay Jones was going to win the game, right? Drop your reactions down in the comments and let me know how your week 1 matchups went.
