It’s week three of the NFL season and you know what that means: annoying pumpkin latte commercials, my crazy neighbor putting up Christmas lights and your entire fantasy football team’s hurt. Trust me, I feel your pain. I had to start the dog from Air Bud in several leagues this week; and he was my top scoring player in all of those leagues except one. That’s only because I was forced to start Vikings rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson on my Scott Fish Bowl team and he exploded for 7 catches for 175 yards and his 1st career touchdown. Jefferson single handedly put my whole stupid injured team on his back (don’t worry, they were wearing masks) and carried us to a week 3 victory. The Vikes’ youngster is owned in only 30% of Yahoo leagues and while there’s bound to be ups and downs, like with any rookie, Jefferson could turn out to be last year’s A.J. Brown. If you need receiving help, add him now and see if he can make a habit of these big performances. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy football:
LAR at BUF
Devin Singletary – 13 carries for 71 yards, 4 catches for 50 yards. Sometimes all it takes for a running back to take over a backfield is a committee member, like Zack Moss (toe), getting banged up. C’mon Moss, just have the doctor lop that toe off and get back out there!
Stefon Diggs – 4 catches for 49 yards and his 2nd touchdown in a tough matchup against Jaylen Ramsey. He also had two touchdowns called back in the first quarter which I didn’t Digg.
Josh Allen – 24/33 for 311 yards, 4 carries for 8 yards, 4 passing touchdowns—he now has 10 passing TDs—and his 2nd rushing touchdown. People laughed at me for ranking Allen ahead of Dak in my top 10 quarterback rankings. What’s that? They were actually laughing at my face? Sad donkey.
Cooper Kupp – 9 catches for 107 yards and his 1st touchdown. I told you to drink from the buy low Kupp last week. He’s a WR1 moving forward.
Robert Woods – 5 catches for 74 yards and his 2nd touchdown. This Rams offense is looking closer to 2018 Rams than 2019 Rams, which is a good sign for all fantasy assets.
Darrell Henderson – 20 carries for 114 yards, 1 catch for 6 yards and his 2nd touchdown. With rookie Cam Akers (ribs) out of commission, Malcom Brown only saw 7 carries for 19 yards. Hendy was my top ranked waiver add last week on the Razzball Fantasy Football Podcast. There’s a chance he takes the lead in the Rams’ backfield and never looks back. Remember, this is a guy the Rams traded up to take in the 3rd round of the 2019 draft.
LV at NE
Cam Newton – 17/28 for 162 yards, 9 carries for 27 yards, his 2nd passing touchdown and 1 interception. Superman was grounded this week, but still led the Patriots to victory without his x-ray vision.
Rex Burkhead – 6 carries for 49 yards, 7 catches for 49 yards and his 1st, 2nd and 3rd touchdowns. There’s a new super hero in town! But remember, James White was once again absent after that tragic car crash his parents were in last week. I still want no part of the Patriots’ Russian Roulette backfield, and that includes Sony Michel (9 carries for 117 yards, 2 catches for 23).
Julian Edelman – 2 catches for 23 yards, 1 carry for -1 yards. Uhhhhhhh. So maybe last week was your chance to sell high? This isn’t how you want to follow up a career high receiving yard performance. ~Captain Obvious
Darren Waller – 2 catches for 9 yards. Disappointing follow up to his monster Monday night performance. But Waller still looks great shirtless and was dealing with a knee injury this week. Now might be your last chance to buy him at a discount.
Josh Jacobs – 16 carries for 71 yards, 3 catches for 12 yards. Jacobs didn’t jinglehammer anyone this week, but this is probably near his floor. He’s still a must-start RB1 in all matchups.
Hunter Renfrow – 6 catches for 84 yards and his 1st touchdown. Renfrow? More like Ren-prematurely balding!
CIN at PHI
Joe Burrow – 31/44 for 312 yards and his 4th and 5th touchdowns. Joe Donkey was sacked 8 times in this one. Yikes. The Bengals protect their investments about as well as a drunk college kid waving his wallet around on Bourbon Street.
Joe Mixon – 17 carries for 49 yards, 2 catches for 16 yards. I had Mixon ranked lower than almost any other analyst you’ll find this preseason. But after 3 disappointing weeks I’m willing to flip the script and try to buy-low if his frustrated owner prices him as a low-end RB2 or cheaper. Remember, Mixon started very poorly last year before coming on strong in the 2nd half.
Tyler Boyd – 10 catches for 125 yards. Boy oh Boyd, the tide may have started to turn in this game as Boyd saw 13 targets compared to A.J. Green‘s (5 catches for 36 yards) 6 targets. Green had out targeted Boyd 22 to 13 thru the first two weeks. I’m valuing Boyd as a low-end WR2 and Green as a WR3 for the time being.
Tee Higgins – 5 catches for 40 yards and his 1st and 2nd career touchdowns. Week 3 was the debut episode of Rookies Gone Wild. I can’t wait to see Jonathan Taylor topless!
Miles Sanders – 18 carries for 95 yards, 4 catches for 12 yards. If the Eagles offense ever starts clicking then Sanders is going to be a fantasy monster. But I’m not holding my breath on this Eagles offense clicking anytime soon.
Zach Ertz – 7 catches for 70 yards. Dallas Goedert (1 catch for 7 yards) left this game with an ankle injury and it sounds like he’s going to miss some time. Ertz vaults back into elite TE1 territory as long as Goedert is sidelined.
Greg Ward – 8 catches for 72 yards and his 1st touchdown. Also saw 11 targets in this game. The Eagles receiving core is in shambles with Jalen Reagor (thumb) and Alshon Jeffery (foot) on the IR and DeSean Jackson (2 catches for 11 yards) busy persecuting Jews. This makes Ward worth an add in deep leagues and he could quickly gain relevance in shallower formats.
WAS at CLE
Antonio Gibson – 9 carries for 49 yards, 3 catches for 11 yards and his 2nd touchdown. I expect the Football Team to give Gibson more and more work each week. Gibson could end up being one of the Football Team’s all-time greats. So many Football Team legends!
Terry McLaurin – 4 catches for 83 yards. The scariest Washington receiver today was Dontrelle Inman (3 catches for 38 yards and his 1st and 2nd touchdowns), but I wouldn’t be running to look for the Football Team’s 31 year old pass catcher on your waivers. McLaurin and Gibson are the only Football Teamer’s worth owning in most leagues.
Nick Chubb – 19 for 108 yards, 1 catch for 2 yards, and his 3rd and 4th touchdowns. Remember when people were freaking out about the limp Chubb after week one? That buy window sure slammed shut with authority.
Kareem Hunt – 16 carries for 46 yards, 2 catches for 18 yards and his 3rd touchdown. Imagine how good Chubb and Hunt would be if Baker didn’t make them cover every seat in FirstEnergy Stadium when it rains.
Odell Beckham Jr. – 4 catches for 59 yards. We still have a chance to buy the Cleveland Steamer at a discount. I expect WR1 production rest of season and most others seem to consider him a WR2.
HOU at PIT
James Conner – 18 carries for 109 yards, 4 catches for 40 yards and his 2nd touchdown. Tomlin trusts Conner and that’s all that really matters. He’s a high end RB2 as long as he’s healthy. My Benny Snell (7 carries for 11 yards) dreams have been put on hold, much like my dreams of winning The Great American Baking Show.
Juju Smith-Schuster – 4 catches for 43 yards and his 3rd touchdown. JuJu benefited from Diontae Johnson (no catches, 1 carry for 9 yards) leaving early with a concussion. If Johnson can’t insert himself into next week’s game, then Smith-Schuster becomes a premium play.
Deshaun Watson – 19/27 for 264 yards, 1 carry for 5 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception—he now has 4 passing touchdowns on the season. I saw several people ask about benching Watson for streaming options this week against the tough Steelers defense. He’s still one of those guys you start every week, regardless of opponent. Don’t overthink it.
Will Fuller – 4 catches for 54 yards and his 1st touchdown. Any week without a hamstring injury is a good week. Randall Cobb (4 catches for 95 yards and his 1st touchdown) got in on the action too and once Fuller and Brandin Cooks (3 catches for 23 yards) are hurt there could be consistent production from Cobb.
David Johnson – 13 carries for 23 yards, 2 catches for 23 yards and his 2nd touchdown. Bailed out his owners with the touchdown. Don’t start running backs against the Steelers defense unless you’re desperate. I’m usually desperate, but that’s not unique to my fantasy football life.
SF at NYG
Jordan Reed – 2 catches for 23. You won’t believe this, but Reed left with an ankle injury. I thought my fantasy football teams were banged up and then I saw the 49ers roster! Hopefully George Kittle (knee) is back next week.
Jerick McKinnon – 14 carries for 38 yards, 3 catches for 39 yards and his 3rd touchdown. Raheem Mostert (knee) might be back in week 4, but The Jet will continue to see a split of the work regardless.
Jeff Wilson Jr. – 12 carries for 15 yards, 3 catches for 54 yards and his 1st and 2nd touchdowns. Pigskinonator sniffed Wilson out like juicy truffle, ranking him as RB28 this week and predicting 11.8 carries. Pretty sharp, that Pigskinonator. Sign up for a free 7-day trial now and get yourself some of that bacon!
Devonta Freeman – 5 carries for 10 yards. The Giants are so bad I’m not sure we even care who their starting running back is at this point. But if you do care, it should be Freeman moving forward. I hope nobody wasted any FAAB on Dion Lewis (1 carry for 0 yards, 1 catch for 10 yards) or Wayne Gallman (4 carries for 7 yards, 2 catches for 7 yards).
Evan Engram – 3 catches for 22 yards. I shouted to buy Engram last week. I’ll say it again this week but with less confidence and much less enthusiasm. But the Giants should be playing from behind a lot so I expect better output from Engram in the coming weeks.
TEN at MIN
Dalvin Cook – 22 carries for 181 yards, 2 catches for 18 yards and his 4th touchdown. The quality of Dalvin’s cooking has never been in question, but can he stay healthy for a full season with this type of workload? My guess is no.
Adam Thielen – 3 catches for 29 yards and his 3rd touchdown. Remember, sell Thielen before his 2nd half fade.
Derrick Henry – 26 carries for 119 yards and his 1st and 2nd touchdowns. The Predator’s going to end up with like 500 carries this year and 600 broken tackles.
Jonnu Smith – 5 catches for 61 yards. Also saw 8 targets in this game which is the volume you like to see from a TE1.
Corey Davis – 5 catches for 69 yards. Nice. Unfortunately it sounds like A.J. Brown (knee) isn’t healing as quickly as hoped and I’ve seen speculation that he might go on that wacky three week IR thingy. Make sure Davis is owned in your league, he continues to have large upside as the WR1 in Tennessee.
CHI at ATL
Mitchell Trubisky – 13/22 for 128 yards, 1 carry for 45 yards, 1 passing touchdown and 1 interception before being benched for Nick Foles (16/29 for 188 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interceptions). Da Bears were obviously itching to bench Da Mitch at the first sign of trouble and there was plenty of trouble against the Falcons.
David Montgomery – 14 carries for 45 yards. He didn’t give us the Full Monty this week, but expect a big workload moving forward as the Bears fear Tarik Cohen (2 carries for 21 yards, 3 catches for 20 yards) has torn his ACL.
Allen Robinson – 10 catches for 123 yards and his 1st touchdown. Caught his 37 yard TD pass from Foles which is hopefully a sign of things to come. Foles also dished one to Anthony Miller (2 catches for 41 yards and his 2nd touchdown) in their huge 4th quarter comeback.
Jimmy Graham – 6 catches for 60 yards and his 3rd and 4th touchdowns. Hey, 2013 called and they want their tight end back!
Todd Gurley – 14 carries for 80 yards, 1 catch for 2 yards and his 2nd touchdown. Two weeks in a row the Falcons have blown huge leads but the fantasy stats haven’t suffered. Brian Hill (9 carries for 58 yards and his 1st touchdown) has now asserted himself as the number two back in Atlanta and he’s worth owning in deeper leagues for his upside should Gurley’s knees give out again.
Calvin Ridley – 5 catches for 110 yards, 1 carry for 7 yards. With Julio Jones (hamstring) out it was Ridley’s turn to boycott touchdowns.
Hayden Hurst – 1 catch for 1 yard and his 2nd touchdown. Hurst caught the one yard TD pass in the first quarter and then pulled a disappearing act like David Blain. Maybe he rode a bunch of balloons up into the clouds too. Seriously, since when does holding onto a bunch of balloons qualify as “magic?”
CAR at LAC
Mike Davis – 13 carries for 46 yards, 8 catches for 45 yards and his 1st touchdown. Who needs Christian McCaffrey!
Justin Herbert – 35/49 for 330 yards, 3 carries for 15 yards, his 2nd passing touchdown and an interception. 82 passing attempts in his first two starts is practically Joe Burrow territory. Herbert didn’t look quite as good in week 2 with the Panthers defense having a full week to prepare. I’m not sure he’s done enough to steal the job from Tyrod Taylor (chest).
Austin Ekeler – 12 carries for 59 yards, 11 catches for 84 yards and his 1st touchdown. I said to buy Ekeler last week, it was only a matter of time before the Chargers started utilizing his beautiful big hands in the pass game. Joshua Kelley (8 carries for 43 yards, 2 catches for 9 yards) will continue to take his share of the touches but we saw all last season that Ekeler can feast for fantasy even with another stud runner in the backfield.
Keenan Allen – 13 catches for 132 yards and his 1st touchdown. Allen is circulating a locker room petition to keep Herbert as the starter. He’s also in search of someone to braid his beard hair.
NYJ at IND
T.Y. Hilton – 3 catches for 52 yards. Philip Rivers (17/21 for 217 yards and his 3rd touchdown) targeted Hilton only 3 times in this one. The Colts were playing from ahead the entire game so let’s give T.Y. one more game before jumping out the window.
Jonathan Taylor – 13 carries for 59 yards, 1 catch for 3 yards and his 2nd touchdown. This could’ve been a much bigger game for JT if the Jets kept it more competitive. The rookie’s a locked in RB1 from here on out.
Braxton Berrios – 4 catches for 64 yards and his 2nd and 3rd touchdowns. This Jets team is less fantasy relevant than the Razzball writers Speedo calendar which you can order here. Just kidding, that’s the link to sign up for our awesome fantasy football tool;, have I mentioned there’s a free 7-day trial? Anyway, at least there’s some deep league and dynasty intrigue with Berrios but more likely he disappears if the Jets’ other receivers ever get healthy.
TB at DEN
Chris Godwin – 5 catches for 64 yards and his 1st touchdown. The Godwiener’s back from his concussion and Tom Brady (25/38 for 297 yards and 3 touchdowns) wasted no time finding him. UPDATE: William Hung notified me in the comments that Godwin hurt his hammy and will likely miss time. She doesn’t bang!
Rob Gronkowski – 6 catches for 48 yards. Yeah, Gronk’s there to block. Riiiiiight.
So everyone is buying this Gronk “blocking tight end” business?
Mark me down as skeptical. Doesn’t seem like a serious answer… https://t.co/qwKJAjXCzd
— DonkeyTeeth (@DonkeyTeeth87) September 26, 2020
Mike Evans – 2 catches for 2 yards and his 3rd and 4th touchdowns. Evans now has 3 one yard touchdown catches in three weeks. He went beast mode with Godwin out last week but my preseason target volume concerns might be coming to fruition with Gronk now settling in. UPDATE: Obviously if Godwin is out Evans is back to elite WR1 territory.
Ronald Jones – 13 carries for 53 yards, 2 catches for 20 yards. Arians is still sticking with RoJo as his #1 and Leonard Fournette (7 carries for 15 yards, 2 catches for 7 yards) didn’t give him much reason to change course. These Bucco backs aren’t fun fantasy options right now.
Melvin Gordon – 8 carries for 26 yards, 4 catches for 12 yards. So who’s excited for the Jets/Broncos Thursday night game this week? I’d rather slam my junk in a car door than watch that one.
Noah Fant – 5 catches for 46 yards. Fant saw a team high 10 targets in this one. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t finish as a TE1 based on shear volume alone with Sutton out for the year.
Tim Patrick – 4 catches for 43 yards and his 1st touchdown. Everyone’s excited about rookies Jerry Jeudy (5 catches for 55 yards) and K.J. Hamler (3 catches for 30 yards), but Patrick may end up being the biggest wide receiver beneficiary of the Sutton injury. Make sure he’s owned if you’re in a deep league.
DET at ARI
Kyler Murray – 23/35 for 270 yards, 5 carries for 29 yards, 2 passing touchdowns, his 4th rushing touchdown, and 3 interceptions—he now has 4 passing touchdowns on the season. Take note, this is what a bad game looks like for Kyler Murray in 2020. He’ll easily put up fantasy QB1 numbers even in his down games.
DeAndre Hopkins – 10 catches for 137 yards. What a steal in the 2nd round of fantasy drafts. Kyler has eye’s for Nuk, giving him 37 targets in the first three weeks. This is going to be a fun connection for years to come.
Kenyan Drake – 18 carries for 73 yards, 1 catch for 6 yards. Ekeler was my favorite buy-low running back coming into this week, The Kenyan is my favorite buy-low running back leaving this week. He won’t exactly come cheap but his owner might be a little disappointed by this start and I still see Drake as an RB1. Use our Free Trade Analyzer to come up with a deal.
Andy Isabella – 4 catches for 47 yards and his 1st and 2nd touchdowns. Isabella may end up giving us what we hoped for from Christian Kirk (groin) this year. Speaking of Kirk and his injured groin, my foot has a message for it.
D’Andre Swift – 0 carries, 1 catch for 19 yards. Remember what I said about this being the Patriots backfield 2.0?
Adrian Peterson – 22 carries for 75 yards, 1 catch for 10 yards. If A.D. consistently sees 20+ carries (unlikely) then there’s legitimate RB2 value in the old man. Watch him get 5 carries next week.
Kerryon Johnson – 3 carries for 16 yards, 1 catch for 4 yards. But he looked great on those 4 touches! It’s too bad the Lions pulled this game out, the call to fire Patricia was about to gain some steam.
Kenny Golladay – 6 catches for 57 yards and his 1st touchdown. It’s great to Kenny G’s sweet jazz back on the field. I had some hesitation starting him this week at less than 100% but he’s an obvious must-start moving forward.
SEA at DAL
Russell Wilson – 27/40 for 315 yards, 6 carries for 22 yards and 5 passing touchdowns—he now has 14 passing touchdowns thru three games and is on pace for 75 touchdowns on the year. Russ cooked another delicious 12 course meal this week. Should we just give him the MVP now?
Tyler Lockett – 9 catches for 100 yards and his 2nd, 3rd and 4th touchdowns. Russ’s head sous chef was all over the kitchen this week. Pigskinonator knew it was coming too, projecting Lockett as it’s #3 wide receiver for week 3. That’s one hot bot!
D.K. Metcalf – 4 catches for 110 yards and his 3rd touchdown. Donkey Kong would’ve had another touchdown, but fumbled at the goal line while hot doggin’ it. D.K. should know, Russ doesn’t cook with hot dogs!
Chris Carson – 14 carries for 64 yards, 3 catches for 12 yards before leaving with a knee injury on a dirty, dirty tackle. Carson walked off under his own power, but stay tuned for updates. If he misses time then Carlos Hyde (4 carries for 12 yards, 1 catch for 11 yards) becomes an important contributor in Russ’s kitchen.
Dak Prescott -37/57 for 472 yards, 6 carries for 26 yards, 3 passing touchdowns and 2 interceptions—he now has 5 passing touchdowns on the season. When I agreed to write the fantasy recap of every NFL game this season I didn’t know there was going to be 20 touchdowns to cover in each game! As for Dak, the Cowboys defense is going to give him the opportunity to score big fantasy points every week.
Ezekiel Elliott – 14 carries for 34 yards, 6 catches for 24 yards and his 4th touchdown. Zeke’s always in the conversation for #1 overall RB but I’m not sure this weak Cowboy’s defense is going to create the best game scripts for the run game.
Cedrick Wilson – 5 catches for 107 yards and his 1st and 2nd touchdown. Yet another mouth to feed in Dallas, and we know Zeke doesn’t like sharing his food. Wilson reportedly had a great camp and would be very interesting if one of the other receivers were to get hurt, but for now it’s safe to leave him on the wire.
Michael Gallup – 6 catches for 138 yards and his 1st touchdown. Our guy J.B. gave you his Michael Gallup fantasy back in August where he said, “Do not underestimate the Cowboys’ and Mike McCarthy’s ability to support the weapons in this offense. Michael Gallup can certainly surpass the 1,000 yard mark once again this season, and I just smashed the “draft” button to lock him up as my WR2 and Donkey smells bad.” Hey, what gives J.B.!
GB at NO
Drew Brees – 29/36 for 288 yards and 3 passing touchdowns—he now has 6 passing touchdowns on the season. Easy, Breesy, beautiful, not quite washed up yet girl.
Alvin Kamara – 6 carries for 58 yards, 13 catches for 139 yards and his 5th and 6th touchdowns as AK-41 went off on the Packers defense. Kamara’s the #1 overall RB in my book as long as CMC is on the shelf.
Emmanuel Sanders – 4 catches for 56 yards and his 2nd touchdown. Not bad in a tough matchup against Jaire Alexander.
Aaron Rodgers – 21/32 for 283 yards, 2 carries for 12 yards and 3 passing touchdowns—he now has 9 passing touchdowns and no interceptions on the year. LaFleur has Discount Double Check looking like prime A-A-Ron. He’s a must-start QB1 until further notice.
Allen Lazard – 6 catches for 146 yards and his 2nd touchdown. Who needs Davante Adams (hamstring) when you have the Lizard King!
Aaron Jones – 16 carries for 69 yards, 2 catches for 17 yards and his 5th touchdown. The Packers offense is a well oiled packing machine right now and Jones is looking like a steal at this late 2nd round draft price.
