You just knew Eddie’s kick wasn’t going to go in too right? It didn’t matter that it was only a 41-yard kick. You see, the Bears are kind of like the Buccaneers when it comes to the kicking game. The kicking game is cursed. Once Pineiro hit the upright in the first half, any kick that was going to be important didn’t stand a chance. It was in Eddie’s head, it was in the crowd’s head, and it was in my head at home.
I was watching the game with a good buddy who is a Bears fan and it was completely quiet for most of the drive. The only thing that was said the whole drive was by him. He just kept repeating, “Why aren’t they going for a touchdown? They need to go for a touchdown, you can’t leave it up to the kicker.” He was right. We all were right. Here is what else I saw during the early slate of games on Sunday.
- Gardner Minshew is making it difficult for the Jaguars to give Foles the job back when he is healthy. Minshew was cooling off from his hot start and then came out and lit up the New York Jets for 279 yards and 3 touchdowns. Earlier this week, Foles was designated to return off of the IR this season, so it’s definitely something that we’re going to need to keep an eye on.
- After another slow day, it’s time to buy low on Le’Veon Bell with the Jet’s upcoming schedule. There’s a good chance that the owner is frustrated enough to hear you out.
- Ryan Griffin? Yup. 4 catches, 66 yards and both of Sam Darnold’s touchdowns. Sam Darnold was seeing ghosts of mediocre former Texans tight ends.
- Chris Carson had another fantastic day running the football for the Seahawks, but Rashaad Penny made his return and carried the ball 8 times for 55 yards. Penny is still a handcuff at best. Probably a top 5 handcuff when healthy.
- Hooper and Julio were the biggest beneficiaries of Mohamed Sanu not being a Falcon anymore. Hooper caught Schaub’s lone touchdown, but Julio caught 10 passes for 152 yards. By the way, Matt Schaub threw for 460 yards!!!! WHAT!!! Ridley did see 7 targets, so that is a promising thing to see going forward.
- Devonta Freeman may not be getting a lot of yards on the ground, but he is a sneaky value in ppr. On Sunday, he caught 8 passes for 63 yards.
- Tyler Lockett caught all 6 of his targets to hit 100 yards on the bucket, but D.K. Metcalf is the biggest beneficiary from Dissly’s injury catching 2 of his 3 passes for touchdowns.
- Andy Dalton had 329 passing yards and a touchdown against the Rams. He’s honestly throwing for a ton of yards this year. Erickson, Boyd, Tate, and Eifert all caught at least 5 passes for 65 yards, but Mixon caught the lone touchdown pass for the Bengals.
- Sound the alarms!!!! Todd Gurley scored a touchdown!
- Cooper Kupp had a career day catching 7 of his 10 targets for 220 yards and a touchdown. It was good for 55 fantasy points in the Scott Fish Bowl, but probably not in your league.
- Mike Evans did that thing where he gets an insurmountable amount of targets, catches, yards and touchdowns. 11 for 198 and 2 touchdowns. Mike Evans is the best 50/50 ball catcher in the league but his career is being wasted by a terrible franchise with a terrible quarterback.
- Chris Godwin was quiet catching 4 balls for 43 yards, but his quarterback is terrible and he plays for an awful franchise.
- Jonnu Smith is an interesting name going forward. Jonnu was a big dynasty name that people liked and now that Delanie Walker is nursing an injury, he was able to take advantage catching 6 balls for 78 yards and a touchdown.
- Corey Davis was back to his Corey Davis ways. He caught 2 passes for 9 yards. You almost had us fooled Corey!
- Marlon Mack was the only Colt really worth mentioning. He scored a touchdown and had 90 all-purpose yards.
- Royce Freeman was once again the beneficiary of a redzone touchdown run. Tough break for Phillip Lindsay owners.
- From a target perspective, Noah Fant was the biggest beneficiary of the Emmanuel Sanders trade. Fant was targeted 8 times and caught 5 of them for 26 yards. Sutton caught 3 of his 6 targets for 72 yards.
- Daesean Hamilton was only targeted once. Yikes.
- The New Orleans Saints’ defense is just too much to handle. Edmonds gained 8 yards on the ground, Kyler Murray couldn’t find the end zone and Larry Fitzgerald was a non-factor. Christian Kirk did catch 8 balls for 79 yards and had a 19 yard carry. No endzone to be found for the Cardinals though.
- Drew Brees and Michael Thomas had great days. They are like peanut butter and jelly. Or gumbo and whatever goes well with gumbo. Thomas caught all 11 of his targets for 112 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback…. QUARTERBACK Taysom Hill caught 3 passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. Is he WR eligible yet?
- Latavius Murray…. Alvin Kamara…. It doesn’t matter. Latavius Murray once again took advantage of Kamara being inactive. Murray caught 9 passes for 55 yards and he also had 102 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
- David Montgomery had his breakout game. Finally a 4th round fantasy draft pick earned his keep. Well, for one week. Montgomery carried the ball 27 times for 135 yards and a touchdown. His 55 yard carry certainly helped his YPC, but it’s the fantasy points that matter at the end of the day. I hope you started Montgomery.
- Anthony Miller caught all 3 of his targets as the Bears attempt to get their passing game on track. Allen Robinson also caught 5 of his 7 targets for 62 yards. Taylor Gabriel even got in on the fun catching 4 balls for 53 yards. Nobody was able to find the end zone.
- Mitch Trubisky doesn’t have any fantasy value if he can’t find the endzone at home against the Chargers. I get that it was a windy day, but the weather is not going to get any better in Chicago as we move into November next week.
- Austin Ekeler was quiet but sort of saved his day by catching what turned out to be a game winning touchdown.
- Keenan Allen was supposed to see limited snaps but ended up catching 7 of 10 targets for 53 yards.
- Hunter Henry slowed down catching 4 balls for 47 yards. But that isn’t a complete loss against a tough Bears defense while playing on the road.
