Let’s all collectively go outside and scream at the top of our lungs. There was so much bad play-calling, stupid penalties, bad play-calling, bad fantasy beats, bad play-calling, and brutal injuries that happened last night. I was given hope when Aaron Rodgers drove the Packers down the field in the two-minute drill and hit a wide open Geronimo Allison in the end zone. Then the Packers get the ball first after half time and run the ball on the first two plays with all of the momentum on their side and end up punting. The Eagles score again and when the Packers get the ball back, THEY RUN ON FIRST DOWN AGAIN.Â
Our writer Pat called it perfectly when he mentioned to some of the other writers that he thought that the Packers were a better team, but he was nervous about a brand new coach coming up with a solid game plan on a 4-day turnaround. In the 4th quarter, the Packers had the ball on first and goal at the 1 yard line and Rodgers threw 4 straight incompletions. That would have actually been a good time to run the ball considering how well Aaron Jones has ran the ball in goal line situations so far this season. For what it’s worth, this was easily the best Thursday night game we’ve had so far this year. Everything from play on the field to atmosphere was what we’ve come to expect when we sit down to watch an NFL football game. Now let’s go over some fantasy impact from week 4 TNF.Â
Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard
Frustration for Miles Sanders owners is setting in. Jordan Howard is clearly the red zone back and also led the team in touches. Rudy tweeted yesterday that fantasy analysts should spend less time saying what coaches should do with their personnel and spend more time analyzing what they actually do with their personnel. If we take this to heart, like we probably should, Jordan Howard has a clear step up on Miles Sanders at the moment. Jordan Howard scored all 3 backfield touchdowns for the Eagles including a 20 yard screen pass for a touchdown. Miles Sanders had a 30 yard run and averaged 4.2 YPC on his other touches, which is great, except it only translated to 7.2 fantasy points. Sanders has been explosive in special teams and getting better every week as a ball carrier, but if he’s not catching passes out of the backfield like he did in week 2, he’s not going to score his owners very many fantasy points.
Things have been going very well for Jordan Howard the last couple of weeks. He’s looked good and is embracing being the lead back. You can feel comfortable starting him while he is the hot hand in Philly.
Carson Wentz
The pressure was taken off of Wentz by the running backs and it led to a good fantasy day despite only throwing for 160 yards. He completed 16 passes to 5 different receivers with 3 of those passes being touchdowns.
Alshon JefferyÂ
Alshon Jeffery’s return has murdered any remaining Nelson Agholor value. Jeffrey led the team in targets (9) and scored a touchdown while compiling 38 yards on 3 catches.
Aaron Rodgers
Rodgers had a great fantasy day that should have been better if it weren’t for a Jimmy Graham drop in the end zone. When Rodgers and Adams start connecting, good things happen in this offense.
Davante Adams
Adams had a huge first half and then Philly decided to try and cover him in the second half. I’ll be damned, it worked! After 8 catches and 158 yards in the first half, Philly held Adams to 2 catches for 22 yards in the second half. We’ll have to keep an eye on Adams’ status going into next week, it looked like his foot was bothering him in the 4th quarter. Good thing they have a long gap in between games.Â
Aaron Jones
Underperforming running backs on good offenses can still provide a ton of value. Jones was put in position to score a touchdown and he succeeded while otherwise looking pretty dull on his carries. Aaron added some value in the passing game catching 6 passes for 36 yards. The injury to Jamaal Williams did not look great so that should open the door for Aaron Jones to control this backfield in the coming weeks or at least until we hear more.
Jimmy Graham
Jimmy Graham scored again and was used a lot in the second half while Adams was on the sideline. Graham caught 6 passes for 61 yards and a touchdown on 9 targets (2nd on the team behind Adams). There is no reason to rush out and pick up Graham. He was in a + matchup and took advantage of Rodgers’ favorite target not being in the game. Graham could very easily be back to putting up donuts next week, you just can’t predict his breakouts.
MVS and Geronimo Allison
They each caught 3 balls and Geronimo was the only one of the two to score a touchdown. MVS did outpace Allison in targets 7-3.Â
