Tonight’s game was straight out of the archives. It was smash mouth football, through and through, and nary a fantasy fan had too much to cheer about. There was one touchdown scored and it was by Delanie Walker. If you know who that is, you either play in a really deep league or are a true fan of football and either way…NERDS! If you came for an offensive outburst, I apologize. However, you could’ve solved all your problems by doing what I did: go down to your local bar with multiple televisions. On one, you could watch a 13-6 defensive battle and on the other you could watch the Oregon Ducks dismantle the Arizona State Sun Devils 43-7 by the half. Tonight proved a few things, some of them I’ll brake down as we go but the lede of this article can be spelled with the letter ‘D’ and a guy who should be wearing a shirt but isn’t heaving a white picket thingy over his head over and over, thus jiggling that which you didn’t want to see without said missing shirt. Tonight solidified why both the Seahawks and 49ers defense were in my top 5 defenses coming into the season. You have to scratch and claw for every yard and there are no plays you can relax on. You either show up or you get buried at the line of scrimmage. Takes me back to the days of Trent Dilfer the Ravens defense winning a Super Bowl for Baltimore. I’m sure this game was boring for some but let’s not forget the all important words of Nikka Costa when she sang, ‘my soul wants to go one way, but my heart and mind are playing a tug of war with me, baby’. Without defenses like this, we might as well stop pretending that we’re any better than arena football, people. This was a great game and still had some good fantasy implications to it even though the numbers won’t show it. And before I move on, I just need to state you need to pick up the album Everybody Got Their Something by Nikka and this is coming from a fan of bands like Mastodon. Album rocks, people. And with that, on with more fantasy football goodness.
Frank Gore – Have you ever watched a boa constrictor slowly kill its prey? Frank looked Gore-geous out there as the game wound down and it was clear which side of the tug of war was going to win. It started off with some powerful runs that didn’t go for much in the beginning of the game but as it carried on, it was clear that Gore wore them down. San Fran has realized quite well how to utilize Gore by getting Kendall Hunter touches to balance out his workload this season and it’s clearly paying dividends. My initial concern with him coming into the season was staying healthy and SF has managed to find a way to not make it a concern for me. So here’s me not being concerned and trusting Frank to Gore his opponents from here on out. In 12 team leagues, you’ve got a low end RB1/high end RB2 right there. Congrats! Now don’t mind me, I’m going to go cry into my Peyton Hillis pillow cover.
Marshawn Lynch – Second verse, same as the first. Both RBs were impressive tonight. Gore’s end line could’ve easily been Lynch’s if Seattle had gone into the 4th with a lead. No touchdown, no problem. He still provided way more to his fantasy owners than they most likely expected given the matchup. And trust me when I say, there were plenty of Beast Mode moments. If someone out there is worried about Lynch’s future schedule, scam yourself a little Lynch for your playoff push.
Russell Wilson – The numbers don’t tell the story here tonight. There were multiple dropped passes that make his night look much worse than it really was. However, two QB leagues take notice: this is a buying opportunity. Considering the matchup and the bad plays by his receivers on the night, Wilson proved enough to me. Now that I’ve mentioned him here tonight, I can’t mention him next week for Wednesday’s buy column. It’s an in-house rule…that I made up…that I only adhere to myself. Yeah, I don’t know why either. Whatever, in the end he looked poised and handled himself well under pressure for most of the night. Dynasty leagues take note.
Golden Tate/Robert Turbin – Tate was looking a lot like a player I was going to be interested in deeper leagues if he panned out tonight. He’s clearly developing a good chemistry with Wilson given him being targeted on two important plays. Unfortch, he dropped both and had 0 catches on 3 targets. Tough defense? Yes. But did Ben Obomanu out-catch you on the night? Affirmative. I’d still keep my eye on Tate for some late season magic but for right now I see a good 2014 target and not much else. I’m lumping them because Turbin, too, had a large drop as what turned into a Hauschka 52 yard field goal could’ve been a 15 yard one…or a Seahawk touchdown, depending on how full/empty that half of glass is to you. He dropped a near perfect rainbow pass down the sidelines on the 5 from Wilson in the 1st quarter. Again, featuring these two as lowlights on a night that was really a highlight for Russell. A little more on Turbin, he looked good…minus the missed pass. Lynch & Turbin look like they’re forming a little thunder and lightening. Something to keep in mind looking forward in PPR leagues as he was put out wide a few times when he was on the field.
San Fransisco Offense – Does not look anywhere near what it looked like the first three weeks of the season. I don’t know if it’s all Alex Smith but they blamed him in SF for years, why not start it again? I keed. It doesn’t look like a team that is working together well right now when it comes to the passing game. Not that I saw them as a juggernaut but how does Vernon Davis drop a goose egg in both receptions and targets on the night? If he’s being taken away, why didn’t Michael Crabtree have a bigger night? And if a tree falls in a forest and kills a mime, does anyone care? The 49ers have a bye in week 9 and they look like they need it to regroup.