I hope everyone’s hands and feet are as swollen as mine after two straight days of binging on sodium laced food. Wait, did I really just type that? I am now old? No, it’s the children who are old. Please forgive my stuffing delirium. I promise the stats will be better.
- The Jakobi Meyers (no relation to BDon) hype train got derailed last week with Damiere Byrd going off and N’keal Harry back. Meyers only caught 3 balls on 3 targets. The encouraging thing is that he still played 99% of snaps. There’s possible value on Meyers this week given that Byrd’s high involvement may be a one-off.
- I think Mike Williams is back. He looked explosive while garnering 122 air yards and producing 4-72-1. There’s always going to be a good amount of boom and bust to Big Mike’s game. With Justin Hebert coming into his own there may be more booms in the coming weeks.
- As we’ve seen most of the year, Russell Gage has been the guy to pick up the slack for Atlanta when one of the WRs ahead of him are hurting. Julio Jones hasn’t been the ironman he usually is, maybe since it’s a lost season, maybe since he’s 31. Julio only played 18 snaps last week and Gage absorber 12 targets in his absence. Gage is versatile, but he’s especially valuable to Matt Ryan as a safe option underneath.
- Mike Davis was a slight disappointment in a smash spot against the Lions last week even though he did convert a rushing score. The driving force there seems to be the lack of target with PJ Walker being more aggressive down field in place of Teddy Bridgewater. The potential good news is that Checkdown Teddy is expected back this week to face a Vikings defense that isn’t having a great year in coverage.
- Jerry Jeudy is averaging 112 air yards per game and has topped 130 air yards the last few games. He hasn’t always come away with big production to show for it. The Broncos host the Saints, whose pass defense has been better is that’s possibly a mirage having come against the Falcons, 49ers, and a Bucs team no-show. There always the potential for the NOLA defense to get drug into a slugfest.
- Don’t be tempted by Matt Breida no matter how deep the league. He only handled 7 of 65 snaps despite Salvon Ahmed getting nicked up. Myles Gaskin is also eligible to return.
- Man does Joe Flacco have a type. He loves him some big-bodied WRs. Denzel Mims has posted back to back 8 target games with only modest production. The Jets host the Raiders this week. Las Vegas has been actually pushing opposing offenses with their own efficiency. There’s a pretty good chance Flacco is chucking elite YOLO balls Mims way for a good portion of the game. Let’s see if the rookie can show some explosion.
