Dallas may have won this game, but they lost two of their best defensive players (Lawrence and Parsons) to injuries that will likely keep them out for a few weeks. They are also in desperate need of a running attack. It’s incomprehensible that Jerry Jones didn’t find somebody to take the RB1 position for the team in the offseason. If not for CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson, the offense would be horrific.
It looked like the Giants offense moved the ball well, but the truth is that they blew so many opportunities in the red zone. If the team had a decent quarterback, they would have won the game convincingly. You can’t settle for five field goals when you need to convert at least two of them for touchdowns. If you can’t score touchdowns, you can’t win in the NFL. Malik Nabers got a concussion at the very end of the game, and the Giants are hopeful that he returns in Week 5, but I think it will go down to a Sunday decision.
This was a very hard game to watch as the Broncos could barely throw the ball, with Bo Nix getting 60 passing yards. The good news was that they ran the ball effectively and played tremendous defense. Yes, the game was rainy, but the Jets offensive line could not handle Denver’s defensive line, and Aaron Rodgers was under pressure all game long. Denver’s going to have a lot of growing pains, but winning a game like this on the road tells me that something good is happening here. The only receiver you want right now in Denver is Cortland Sutton; the rest are cutable.
I think the Jets need to be embarrassed losing a game like this at home against a team that they should beat every time. Their offensive line was manhandled by Denver’s defensive line, and Breece Hall was only able to get 4 yards on 10 carries, averaging .4 yards per carry. That’s an embarrassment! Aaron Rodgers was running for his life most of the game and couldn’t complete important passes when he needed to. Garrett Wilson looks like he is still out of sync with Rodgers, and this is going to be a huge problem because the Jets BYE week comes later in the season, and they have little time to correct the issues.
The Vikings started out with 28 points in the first half, and Sam Darnold looked like he couldn’t miss. He threw a beautiful touchdown pass to Jordan Addison and another beautiful touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson to take a big lead. I can’t blame the Vikings for giving up a lot of late-game points, but it seemed like they took their foot off the gas too early, which made this game a lot closer than it needed to be. The biggest surprise was that Aaron Jones didn’t score a touchdown, but he had a very good game nonetheless.
The Packers did not play very well in reality, but in fantasy, they did a terrific job. Jordan Love returned from his injury and had 389 passing yards and four touchdowns. The entire first half, though, he looked very rusty and had three interceptions. Christian Watson was injured in the first half, and Dontayvion Wicks came in, had 13 targets, and played very well. He’s definitely somebody who you will want to bid on this week. Jayden Reed was fantastic, as he always seems to be in sync with Love, getting 7 receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown.
I had said on the radio that I thought the best player for the Saints was going to be Taysom Hill, and that turned out to be true. Hill had two rushing touchdowns but sadly had to leave the game at halftime with an abdominal issue. Chris Olave ended up playing even though he was highly questionable and had eight receptions for 87 yards. The problem for the Saints is that they just don’t open up their offense enough. They make very conservative choices when they need to make more aggressive ones. Trade Derek Carr now before his value implodes any further.
Is it just me, or does Tyler Allgeier look better than Bijan Robinson? Allgeier ran for 7.5 yards per carry and was almost impossible for the Saints to tackle. Robinson had four receptions, but it seems like they like to use him out of the backfield as a receiver more than they do as a runner. Kyle Pitts went with the double bagel–0 receptions and 0 yards– which makes him not even a weekly start at this point.
The Eagles just never got rolling, and Jalen Hurts had 158 yards passing and only one touchdown. I guess it’s hard to blame him because his two best receivers weren’t playing. Saquon Barkley had 84 yards rushing and another 32 yards receiving, helping his stat line.
I knew that Tampa would come and play much better after being embarrassed against Denver in Week 3. Baker Mayfield had 347 passing yards and two touchdowns, and Mike Evans had 94 yards and a touchdown. Once again, Bucky Irving looked better than Rachaad White, which actually surprised me because, at one point last week, Irving was highly questionable with a hamstring issue. I think it’s only a matter of time before Irving becomes the starting running back.
The Bengals won a game that had to be considered a must-win. I was really impressed with Chase Brown, who looks so much more explosive than Zack Moss. Brown had 80 yards rushing and two touchdowns. It was good to see Tee Higgins fill the stat sheet, catching 6 passes for 60 yards. The Bengals work best when Higgins complements Chase, and teams can’t double Chase.
The Panthers played well enough as Andy Dalton threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns. Chuba Hubbard had 104 yards rushing and a touchdown, and Diontae Johnson had 7 receptions for 83 yards and a touchdown. I was very impressed with Xavier Legette, who had 6 receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown. I think he’s going to emerge as a real threat in this offense and someone who Andy Dalton will enjoy throwing to. He will be the WR2 until Thielen returns and perhaps carve out a role even when Thielen is back.
I felt that the Jaguars were going to play this game well, and they did. The biggest problem was that Trevor Lawrence couldn’t connect when he needed to, only completing 18 of 33 passes for 169 yards. What kept Jacksonville in the game was the fact that they ran for 6.6 yards per carry. Tank Bigsby had 90 yards on 7 carries and led the team. Brian Thomas had 6 receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown, and Christian Kirk had 7 receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown, but they desperately miss Evan Engram, who is expected to return next week.
This game matched up perfectly for Houston. CJ Stroud threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went to Nico Collins, who had 12 receptions for 151 yards and a touchdown. Jacksonville plays man coverage, which feeds right into what Collins loves, and he was absolutely unstoppable. The Texans miss Joe Mixon terribly, as their offense is too one-dimensional without him.
This game showed off both the good and bad parts of Justin Fields. He made a lot of poor decisions, but at the same time, he made a lot of big plays. Fields had 55 rushing yards and two rushing TDs to go along with 312 passing yards and a passing touchdown. He also missed quite a few big throws, and there will be some who want to see Russell Wilson. Najee Harris disappointed with 19 yards on 13 carries after being expected to have a huge game against the Colts weak run defense. The best player outside of Fields for Pittsburgh was George Pickens, who had 7 receptions for 113 yards and consistently beat the Colts secondary.
The Colts left this game with a ton of injuries. First of all, Anthony Richardson got injured during a play where it looked like he had hurt his hip or groin. He came off the field for a play, and then when he came back on the field, he ran the ball on the very next play and injured himself even worse. How does that make any sense? Why would he be running after just injuring himself? I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but I think the receivers are a million times better off with Joe Flacco at quarterback. Flacco came in and had 168 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Pittman goes from below average to way above average, and he finished the game with six receptions for 113 yards. Additionally, Josh Downs had eight catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. Jonathan Taylor did leave with a high ankle sprain, and he may miss some time. If he’s out, look for Trey Sermon to take over.
I feel bad for the Rams because they just can’t score touchdowns. Matthew Stafford is the king of lots of yards and not a lot of scores. If it weren’t for Kyren Williams, the Rams would have had no chance to win. Williams had 94 rushing yards and a touchdown, along with four receptions. Jordan Whittington had 6 receptions for 62 yards and led the team in targets with eight.
The Bears are 2-2, and trust me, it’s not because of Caleb Williams. He threw for 157 yards and a touchdown, and I think he was lucky to win. It’s hard to trust any of his receivers as well. I would be happy to trade any of them in the right deal. D’Andre Swift was sensational, with 93 rushing yards and a touchdown to go along with seven receptions for 72 yards. This was the game that the Bears needed to have out of Swift, who had been a huge disappointment thus far.
All credit in the world goes out to Washington’s defense who played tremendous football. Their front four pressured Kyler Murray all game long and held him to 142 passing yards. On offense Brian Robinson ran for 101 yards and a touchdown and Jayden Daniels had 233 passing yards and a touchdown to go along with 47 rushing yards and a touchdown. He’s going to win rookie of the year and it won’t even be close.
The Cardinals are overrated. Kyler Murray gets skittish when there’s too much pressure and it’s almost like he is unwilling to stay in the pocket and take the big hit. If it wasn’t for James Conner who had 104 rushing yards and a touchdown the Cardinals had pretty much no offense to speak of. Marvin Harrison did have 45 yards receiving and a touchdown but it was underwhelming considering the matchup.
I am so ready for Drake Maye to take over and be the starting quarterback for New England. Jacoby Brissett Is just nothing more than a backup and it’s hard to watch him sometimes. Rhamondre Stevenson had 43 rushing yards to go along with four receptions and was the lone bright spot for the team.
Brock Purdy threw for 288 yards and a touchdown and should have had an even bigger day. Jordan Mason ran for 123 yards and a touchdown, and he was even used as a receiver, catching 2 passes for 37 yards. George Kittle came back from injury and had 45 yards and a touchdown. Once again, this was not a great day for Brandon Aiyuk, whose fantasy managers have to be frustrated at this point. He’s getting looks, but they are not converting to big plays. I would not trade him yet, but something seems to be missing.
If it hadn’t been for a horrible holding call by the referees, the Browns probably would have won. Jerome Ford ran for 58 yards and had seven receptions, so it was good to see him more involved. It was also finally good to see Jerry Jeudy be involved, getting 6 receptions for 72 yards. Amari Cooper underwhelmed, as he tends to do on the road, only having 4 receptions for 35 yards. His game would have been completely different had he had the touchdown, but outside of that, the Raiders bottled him up nicely.
The Raiders are just not very good. Gardner Minshew threw for 130 yards and didn’t have a touchdown pass. Luckily, they ran the ball very well, with Alexander Madison getting 60 yards on five carries. Even Zamir White had 50 rushing yards. Brock Bowers only had two receptions for 19 yards, which was a little shocking; however, he didn’t match up well stylistically with the Browns coverage scheme. Tre Tucker did a pretty good job catching 5 out of his six targets and will have a role on the team even when Davante Adams returns.
This was a big loss for the Chiefs with Rashee Rice likely out for the year with a torn ACL. The injury happened as Patrick Mahomes rolled up on him during a fumble recovery. This is a monumental loss for the Chiefs and I’m not sure how they withstand this. The player who is very interesting to watch is Noah Gray. I think the Chiefs are going to run a two tight end set and, Gray has terrific hands. Kareem Hunt looked exceptional. He’s going to have a big role in this offense with Rice out.
The Chargers deserved better, as they played excellent football and deserved the win. Ladd McConkey led them with five receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown. He is a tremendous, young, talented receiver. The Chiefs held the Chargers to 2.3 yards per carry, and the Chargers didn’t adapt and change their game plan. If they’re not able to run the ball and they’re not willing to throw the ball, how are they going to win games?
The Bills’ Achilles heel is their run defense, where they can get gashed by power backs. The Ravens averaged 8 yards per carry and Derrick Henry had 199 yards rushing as the Ravens demolished the Bills. The only bright spot for Buffalo was the play of Khalil Shakir, who is clearly Josh Allen’s favorite target.
Baltimore got to .500 with this win, and the most impressive part was the fact that they kept playing hard for all four quarters. Last week, the Ravens almost blew the game against the Cowboys by taking their foot off the gas. In a shocking turn of events, Justice Hill led the team in receiving yards with 78 and a TD. Mark Andrews did not have a reception and only had one target. I won’t tell you to drop him, but he is no longer a must-play. Zay Flowers struggled with only 1 catch for 10 yards, but that was more of a product of a bad Bills run defense and a defensive coverage that limits big plays.
