After this Nathan Peterman performance, we are going to have a really fun special edition of the Razzblitz podcast this week with Viz and Reid joining us. Be sure to check it out, we will have it out by Wednesday at the latest. We had some really fun football on Sunday that included two overtime finishes. Let’s go ahead and kick it off with one of those now.
Washington Redskins Vs. New Orleans Saints
It’s very rare to have an offense that has two running backs that you can almost count on to put up RB1 worthy games every week. Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram are in such a groove right now and they are completely ravaging defenses. As we found out Sunday, you can never count out the Saints, even with a double-digit deficit in the 4th quarter. Colby Fleener led the team in receiving, but I wouldn’t even consider picking him up if he’s available on your waiver wire.
Samaje Perine will have to be a three-down back for the Skins now that Chris Thompson is missing the rest of the season. He got off to a good start on Sunday with 117 rushing yards and a touchdown. Kirk Cousins had a great game going for over 300 yards and three scores. I’m not sure who Jeremy Sprinkle is, but he has the least football name in the NFL. Well, he scored a touchdown while Doctson wasn’t able to connect with Cousins on his end zone target. Doctson did finish second on the team in targets and led the team in receiving yards. It was pretty frustrating that he didn’t catch a ball in the second half after starting off so strong.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Vs. Miami Dolphins
Jay Cutler was pulled at halftime for “concussion protocol”. One could argue that the three first half interceptions were a contributing factor. Does Cutler look more aloof when he takes a big hit than he normally looks? Matt Moore came in and led the Dolphins all the way back to a tie in the 4th quarter. Jarvis Landry continued his excellent season with 95 yards and a touchdown. Kenny Stills was the true star of this receiving corps, scoring a touchdown in a huge second half. Damien Williams had a big run, but didn’t do much else.
Doug Martin simply is not the answer at running back for the Buccaneers. Despite carrying the ball 19 times, he was only able to muster up 38 yards. Mike Evans had 92 yards on 5 catches but he should have had a much bigger day than he did. Evans had some bad drops, to say the least. It was good to see O.J. Howard involved. The answer is still no, I don’t think he is a waiver wire option.
Detroit Lions Vs. Chicago Bears
Matthew Stafford has 6 straight games with at least 15 fantasy points. Golden Tate definitely wasn’t a contributing factor this time, but Marvin Jones did find the end zone. Kenny Golladay caught a couple of balls on Sunday as well, but unfortunately, he hasn’t lived up to my sky-high preseason expectations for him. I think the emergence of T.J. Jones and a nagging hamstring injury at the beginning of the season put those dreams to rest. While Trubisky isn’t fantasy relevant this season, this kid has some fire in his soul. Trubisky led a nice drive at the end of the 4th quarter that should have tied the game, but as we know, kickers are awful. Also, have you picked up Adam Shaheen yet? You should.
Baltimore Ravens Vs. Green Bay Packers
The Ravens defense came to play and handed Green Bay it’s first shut out at home since 2011. That didn’t stop Davante Adams from going over 100 yards though. Jamaal Williams wasn’t the answer that the running game needed and if you picked him up over Perine because of my recommendation, my apologies. Alex Collins and Mike Wallace both found the end zone in a game-managing offensive effort.
Jacksonville Jaguars Vs. Cleveland Browns
We didn’t know what to expect from Leonard Fournette today, but he performed a hell of a lot better than Isaiah Crowell. Fournette ran for over 100 yards despite being vocal about hating playing in cold weather. After a couple of promising performances, Crowell put up a stinker, rushing for 18 yards on 11 totes. Corey Coleman led the Browns with 11 targets and turned it into 6 catches for 80 yards. Dede Westbrook fell just short of his 200-yard prediction. Just 165 more yards and he would have been the Conor McGregor of the NFL when it comes to calling his shots.
Kansas City Chiefs Vs. New York Giants
I’m not a big believer in weather being detrimental to fantasy football scores, but wind is a whole different animal. Neither of these offenses could get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. Alex Smith might have killed your fantasy team, if you started him. I wasn’t too worried about Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt, or Orleans Darkwa and none of them ended up hurting fantasy teams too bad. Darkwa scored the only touchdown in this game.
Arizona Cardinals Vs. Houston Texans
Larry Fitzgerald is such a gift from the football Gods. His consistency is unmatched from anyone near his age at the position. Does anyone close to his age start at receiver anymore outside of him? Not that I can think of. Bruce Arians likes Blaine Gabbert a lot, and he wasn’t necessarily wrong on Sunday as Gabbert threw three touchdowns. I have no interest in Ricky Seals-Jones on the waiver wire, that receiving group is too crowded to put him in your line up in even the deepest of leagues. It’s going to be the Lamar Miller show going forward in Houston as D’Onta Foreman will miss the rest of the season. Fortunately, Foreman has carved himself out a future in the league with his performance this season. DeAndre Hopkins had 76 yards and a touchdown in a quiet day for him.
Los Angeles Rams Vs. Minnesota Vikings
In a split workload with Jerrick McKinnon, Latavious Murray has been the running back scoring touchdowns in Minnesota. He scored two on Sunday. Case Keenum is solidifying his role as the starting quarterback for the Vikings for the rest of the season. Adam Thielen made a great football play on a short passing play in the second half. Thielen has great instincts and attacked the ball, creating separation from the secondary leading to a big run after the catch. Robert Woods caught 8 balls for 81 yards and it sounds like his shoulder injury isn’t that serious, but he is almost certainly questionable for next week’s game against the Saints. Gurley was bottled up for the most part, but he was able to find the end zone on the opening drive.
Buffalo Bills Vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Nathan Peterman is absolutely horrible. Tyrod Taylor will most likely be starting the rest of the season and is definitely roster-worthy if someone in your league dropped him. Lesean McCoy and Melvin Gordon both had big games in what has been a rollercoaster season for both backs. Keenan Allen had an excellent game as well following up a couple of quiet weeks. Kelvin Benjamin will have an MRI on his right knee on Monday, so hope for the best.
Cincinnati Bengals Vs. Denver Broncos
Demaryous Thomas caught his second touchdown of the season and C.J. Anderson scored a touchdown but later coughed up a fumble, erasing any remaining hope that I had left for him being useful this season. Devontae Booker had one more carry than Anderson and added 5 catches for 54 yards. Joe Mixon, once again, averaged under 3 yards per carry in another disappointing outing. A.J. Green and Tyler Kroft were able to find the end zone but not much yardage.
New England Patriots Vs. Oakland Raiders
Tom Brady threw all over the Raiders and Brandin Cooks was the main beneficiary. Rob Gronkowski and Rex Burkhead were quiet but Dion Lewis was able to find the end zone on his way to 88 all-purpose yards. Amari Cooper collected a garbage-time touchdown, but other than that, not much happened on the Raider’s side of the ball.
