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Taylorism Demonstrates Efficiency in Work: Sunday Football Recap

October 18, 2021 | Fantasy Football Strategy | 15 Comments

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I just got off a Zoom call with Donkey Teeth as he was celebrating his Jonathan Taylor predictions by ziplining through the Himalayas. The first thing I asked him was: is it really safe to string up lines 20,000 feet high across treacherous political borders? The Zoom call cut out at that point, and DT must have started using a filter because his voice sounded really funny after that. DT’s such a clown. Then I asked him how he felt about the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor racking up 145 yards and 2 TDs on 14 carries. DT responded: “We really appreciate his prodigious output on such minimal attempts. We’re going to inspect his process and then implement it down the line such that Miles Sanders starts becoming relevant again. Please shop Razzball.com for your favorite merchandise and tell them Llama Mouth sent you.” Then the Zoom ended. So much for a free service! ENYWHEY.

Let’s check out the big performances from the Sunday slate in week 6 of fantasy football. 

Jonathan Taylor: 14 rushes, 145 yards, 2 TDs, 1 rec for 13 yards on 2 targets. JT crushed last week in the receiving game with a massive 70+ yard TD that I can only recreate in Retro Bowl (fun mobile game if you haven’t checked it out). This week, JT remained constant with his touches in the mid-teens while cranking out an 83 yard rush for his piece-de-awesomesauce moment. DT+JT=<3. 

Mike Gesicki: 8 catches, 115 yards against the Jags while playing in London. Tua’s back and healed and he sure looks like a greenhorn but when Miles Gaskin runs 5 times for 9 yards, somebody’s gotta march down the field. Jaylen Waddle made a great showing as well with 10 catches for 70 yards and 2 TDs. We’re at the point that those Dolphins stacks that we loved in the pre-season might start paying off. I plagiarized that last sentence from my thesis on DOGE Coin, bee-tee-dubya, just swapping out the D-words. Didja notice? 

Joe Mixon: 18 rushes for 94 yards and 5 catches for 59 yards and a TD. The Bengals went on to win their 4th game in the Zac Taylor Renaissance Tour of 2021, and let’s check in on the teams they beat: Vikes, Steelers, Jags, and Lions. Whatever. Production is production and us fantasy pundits are still going to wonder why the Bengals are running Joe Mixon straight into the ground. Foot injury? Play him 50% of the snaps one week, full speed the next week. Hopefully Mixon’s productivity is held together by some nice ACE bandages. Ja’Marr Chase did his usual thing with 4 catches for 93 yards. 

D’Andre Swift: The Lions are off to an 0-6 start despite threatening to kneecap the league, and top RB DAS has been suffering because of it. 13 carries, 24 yards and a TD while getting 5 receptions on 7 targets for 43 yards. Swift kind of has that young Austin Ekeler feel to him, where the majority of his production comes from the receiving role. Except, Ekeler had Rivers and Herbert, and DAS has…Jared Goff. Goff has been surprisingly…OK this year from a fantasy perspective. He’s on pace for over 4,000 yards and 21+ TDs, which is perfectly Derek Carr-like. And to be honest, it’s perfectly Jared Goff-like. Welcome to your bye week streamback! 

Khalil Herbert: 19 rushes, 97 yards, 1 TD, 2 catches for 15 yards. David Montgomery is on IR and Damien Williams is on the Covid list, and all Herbert has done is put up 160 yards in 2 games. That’s pretty good for a rookie 6th round draft pick, right? Yet another reason to keep masking: getting Covid at an inopportune time allows your backup to come in and take your job. Good thing I’ve got Malcolm Gladwell on speed dial, because we’re looking at an outlier with Khalil Herbert. 6th round rookies are generally fantasy useless in their first year — especially running backs — but the Bears are absolutely feeding Herbert and he’s thriving right now. If he’s still available on your wire, he’s a mustache. Wait, sorry. Must stash. 

Austin Ekeler: 7 yards rushing and 48 yards receiving. Told you he looks a lot like D’Andre Swift. Or did I get that backwards? Teams have off-days. This was one of them. 

Le’Veon Bell: Scored a TD today while getting 8 carries for 18 yards. Devonta Freeman ended up with the coveted “I topped Lamar Jackson’s rushing yards” award, but the bad news is that Latavius Murray left the game with an injury. Ty’Son Williams was inactive today. So…Bell and Freeman starting up next week? ENYWHEY. It was the 2015 Pro Bowl out there with Bell, Murray, and Freeman each scoring a TD today while LJax took a breather and threw for only 167 yards. That’s the LJax I know and love [sigh]. 

Kareem Hunt: Non-contact lower leg injury and left the game with a “calf injury” at the time of writing. Hunt was carted off the field and teammates were huddled around him. Baker Mayfield also got hurt (see below). 

James Conner: I wondered in the pre-season if Conner could work his way into the RB1 role in ARI, and he’s definitely taken the rushing RB1 role with the Cardinals while Chase Edmonds has taken the scatback role. Although Conner isn’t churning yards quite yet — although he did gain 71 yards on 16 carries on Sunday — he’s gathered 5 TDs so far and topped 16 touches in 2 out of his last 4 games. Math majors want me to write 50% there, but I don’t give in to social engineering. Conner could be a nice RB2 going through the rest of the year, and given that his draft value was usually as a bench player (or FLEX at best) and is likely still on the wire in shallower leagues, he could be a pick up to keep your team afloat if you were relying on a Kareem Hunt/Damien Williams combo platter.

Baker Mayfield: Reportedly has a torn labrum after a JJ Watt sack. This will bring Case Keenum into town for a while, which was somewhat foretold last year. Browns’ head coach Kevin Stefanski was the Vikings’ offensive head coach when Keenum went 11-3 with the Minnesota Vikings, including throwing the famous “Minneapolis Miracle” hail mary to Stefon Diggs. When Stefanski came to Cleveland, he brought Keenum along; Baker Mayfield had just emerged from the awful Hue Jackson years, and some pundits speculated that Keenum was Stefanski’s preferred QB. Keenum is only 33 and has enough arm left in the tank to be a fantasy-relevant streamer. 

Adam Thielen / Justin Jefferson / K.J. Osborn: The Vikings are likely going to do their “DFS Winner” cosplay every other game this year because their defense can’t really stop anybody. This week, they gave Sam Darnold a bit over 2 minutes to go 98 yards and score a TD and a 2-point conversation, and wouldn’t you know, the Panthers did it. Kirk Cousins ended up with 373 yards and 3 TDs while Dalvin Cook crunched another 140 yards on the ground. Massive offensive numbers to barely edge a win over Sam Darnold and his backup running back. For fantasy purposes, the Vikings appear similar to the Cowboys (Zeke, Cooper/Lamb/Gallup/Schultz), so grab K.J. Osborn if he’s still in your league and enjoy the garbage time. 

How did everybody do in week 6? Drop your comments below and have an awesome week!

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