New England struggled offensively and was not able to sustain any drives of consequence. Jacoby Brissett only completed 12 passes for 98 yards, and Drake Maye came in for mop-up duty in the fourth quarter. Pop Douglas had 7 receptions for 69 yards, but neither Hunter Henry nor Rhamondre Stevenson did anything of note.
Aaron Rodgers played his first game at home since the horrible injury that occurred last season. He was in complete control, throwing for 281 yards and two touchdowns. Breece Hall had 54 yards, a rushing touchdown, and 4 receptions for 29 yards. Braelon Allen looked terrific splitting time with Hall, getting 11 carries for 55 yards, and he also had three receptions. It still feels like Rodgers has not gelled yet with Garrett Wilson, but seeing him go to Tyler Conklin for five receptions for 93 yards was very encouraging. Conklin was one of my sneaky plays at the beginning of the season because Rodgers always finds a way to feature his tight end.
The Giants’ defense led the way, sacking Deshaun Watson eight times. Malik Nabers Roto had eight receptions for 78 yards and two touchdowns and was fantastic. Devin Singletary led the way as the Giants ran for 112 yards as a team. It’s encouraging for the Giants to play this well on the road, albeit against the team that had no offensive line.
At one point, I tweeted out that I thought the Browns should look toward Jameis Winston as their QB starter, and I still feel that way. When a team’s offensive line is as bad as the Browns is, Deshaun Watson is holding the ball way too long and he’s taking a lot of unnecessary sacks. The only Brown who played well was Amari Cooper, who had 7 receptions for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Cooper at home is always a cheat code.
This game was very close until the middle of the third quarter when Justin Herbert left the game with an injury. Herbert was very questionable all week, and after he took a rough sack, he was not able to continue play. The Steelers held the Chargers to 3.1 yards per carry. The only big play the Chargers had was a Quentin Johnston touchdown, which came on broken pass coverage. Without a better passing attack, they may have more weeks like this in the future.
Justin Fields led the Steelers with 245 passing yards and one touchdown, but it was really the Steelers’ defense that helped win the game. They sacked the Chargers five times and got in Herbert’s face all game long. Calvin Austin made a great play and had a very long touchdown reception of 55 yards. It’ll be interesting to see if he gets more opportunities moving forward, as he could be a sneaky pickup in the slot.
It feels like if they played this game 100 times, the Vikings would win it 99 times out of 100. The Vikings defense was smoldering, holding CJ Stroud to 215 passing yards and two interceptions. Without Joe Mixon, the Texans were only able to muster 38 rushing yards on 14 carries, and they were playing in garbage time pretty much the entire second half. Only Stefan Diggs showed up, as he had 10 receptions.
The Vikings were in control from the opening minute of the game. Sam Darnold had 181 yards and four passing touchdowns, and although he left the game for play, he did come back, and hopefully, he avoided injury (he’s going in for an MRI on Monday). Aaron Jones had 102 rushing yards as well as 5 receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown. But it was Justin Jefferson who made the biggest difference with six receptions for 81 yards and a touchdown. Jefferson beating Stingley gave the Vikings a lot of confidence that they could make plays against the Texans.
A lot of DFS players lost a ton of money as this game went way under the Vegas point total. Saquon Barkley was tremendous, rushing for 147 yards and two touchdowns, and Dallas Goedert had 10 receptions for 170 yards. DeVonta Smith took a horrible cheap shot toward the end of the game, and there’s a very serious chance that he might miss next week due to a concussion. If he is out, Jahan Dotson would be the WR1, so expect even more rushing yards from Hurts and Barkley.
Derek Carr was only able to complete 14 passes for 142 yards, and his best receiver was Chris Olave, who had 86 yards and a touchdown. He could not complete any passes to Rashid Shaheed, who was open on multiple occasions, but it seemed like Carr underthrew him every time he was open. When they’re not making those big splashy plays downfield to Shaheed, it bottles this team up, and they don’t have enough other options. They really missed Taysom Hill, too. It’s clear that Shaheed is the key to the Saints offense.
On multiple occasions, I mentioned that I liked Bo Nix as a sneaky start. The reason why is that the Buccaneers are much tougher against the run than the pass. Sean Payton called a fantastic game and deserves a lot of praise. Not only did Nix have 216 yards passing, he also ran for 47 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Badie led the Broncos in rushing with 70 yards. Javonte Williams only had 12, but that was expected in a tough matchup. As far as the receivers, the best one was Courtland Sutton, who had 7 receptions for 68 yards. The real MVP was the Broncos defense, who had 7 sacks against Baker Mayfield.
The Buccaneers just could not get anything going all game long. Mike Evans was held to two receptions for 17 yards, and Rachaad White only had 6 carries for 17 yards. Bucky Irving looked way more explosive than White, and it would not shock me to see him get more opportunities in the coming weeks. Cade Otton had 7 receptions. This is of note because the Broncos DVOA against opposing tight ends is something we certainly can take advantage of in the coming weeks. Chris Godwin continued his good play with six receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Malik Willis had 202 passing yards and a touchdown in a revenge game. Moreover, he ran six times for 73 yards and a rushing touchdown. He was the difference maker, as was the Packers defense, who had eight sacks. Jaylen Reed only had 50 yards receiving, and Christian Watson had 67 yards receiving, but that should hopefully change next week when Jordan Love returns against the Vikings.
The Titans are very frustrating because there are glimmers that show that Will Levis might be a pretty good quarterback. He ended up with 260 passing yards and two touchdowns, although a lot of that was in garbage time. It was good to see DeAndre Hopkins play so well. He had 6 receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown, and he looked like his old self. The bad news was that Calvin Ridley only had one reception for 9 yards, and Tony Pollard only had 14 yards rushing. The Packers run defense had been so bad all season long that it was a complete disappointment to see Pollard perform so poorly. He was one of the bigger misses of the week.
Caleb Williams had 363 passing yards and two touchdowns, but a lot of that was in garbage time. D’Andre Swift was only able to muster 20 yards rushing and the Bears averaged 2.3 yards per carry against the Colts team that had been a sieve previously against the run. Rome Odunze did have 112 yards receiving and a touchdown, and Cole Kmet had 10 receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown, so it was good to see them heavily involved. It will be interesting to see how those targets get divided when Keenan Allen returns soon from injury.
Anthony Richardson was horrible. He threw for 167 yards and two interceptions. The Colts bright spot was Jonathan Taylor, who had 110 yards rushing and two touchdowns. The receivers would honestly be better off with Joe Flacco. On the bright side, the Colts defense had four sacks and two interceptions, which was the real difference in their ability to beat Chicago.
I’m sure many people were surprised that the Panthers beat the Raiders on the road, but I wasn’t. I mentioned on the First Look and on Friday Night Lights that I thought Andy Dalton would play well. Not only did Dalton throw for 319 yards and three passing touchdowns, but he also made it easier for the running game to get going, and Chuba Hubbard had 114 rushing yards. Diontae Johnson had eight receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown to lead the receivers. One thing of note was that Adam Thielen did get injured in the game. If he’s not back, Xavier Legette becomes a potential start, especially in DFS.
I think it’s time to bury Zamir White. White only had 34 yards rushing, and if he’s not scoring touchdowns, he’s worthless in the passing game. The Raiders defense was very underwhelming, and Gardner Minshew was under siege most of the game. On a brighter note, Tre Tucker had a big game, as did Jacobi Myers. Both players had 7 receptions, and it was good to see them in the box scores, considering they had done nothing for the first two games.
I find it mind-boggling that the Dolphins went into the season with Skylar Thompson as their backup quarterback. They knew that Tua had a checkered injury history and that he had one concussion from being out for the rest of his career. Thompson has no arm, and when the Seahawks dared him to throw the ball downfield, he wouldn’t even do it. There is one potential glimmer here: The Dolphins signed Tyler Huntley from the Ravens practice squad last week. If they can get Huntley up to speed, he has performed well in Baltimore, so he might be able to help this team get back on track. If he’s not involved this team is an absolute mess.
The Ravens finally won their first game, beating Dallas in what turned out to be a very close game after Baltimore was up by three touchdowns. It was Derrick Henry, who had 151 yards and two touchdowns, who made a big difference. The Cowboys let up 274 rushing yards, which was an abomination, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better for Dallas. Truth be told, John Harbaugh was wrong in taking his foot off the gas pedal. Baltimore could have scored 40+ points and almost lost the game at the end.
If you look at the Cowboys stat line, it will look respectable, but the truth is that the entire second half was played in garbage time. Dak Prescott had 379 passing yards and two touchdowns, but the Ravens covered CeeDee Lamb very well, and he ended up with four receptions for 67 yards. Jake Ferguson came back to the lineup and had six receptions for 95 yards, which was good to see, but the Cowboys were only able to average 32 rushing yards. Don’t be shocked to see Dalvin Cook brought up this week from the practice squad.
On my SiriusXM fantasy sports show this past weekend, I discussed that I thought David Montgomery was a great leverage play because the Lions love to run the ball in games after a loss. Montgomery ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 83 yards. Jared Goff only threw for 199 yards, but he did have two touchdowns, including one to St. Brown. Sam LaPorta left the game with an injury, so that is something that we’ll have to watch this week.
There are going to be weeks when Kyler Murray is sensational, and they will be weeks when Kyler Murray is a disaster. When Murray is under pressure, he gets skittish and makes a lot of mistakes, just like he did against the Lions. He overthrew a lot of his targets. He rushed a lot of passes. It was not pretty to watch. James Conner struggled with only 17 rushing yards, which we knew would happen, considering the Lions have one of the best-run defenses in the league. One thing to note is that Trey McBride took a vicious hit toward the end of the game, and there’s a very good chance he may be out next week.
Another shocking here: The 49ers led by 13 points in the fourth quarter and lost the game to the Rams on the road. Brock Purdy had 292 passing yards and three touchdowns, including all three touchdown passes to Jauan Jennings, who had 11 receptions for 175 yards. I think the biggest shock in this game was that Jordan Mason only had 77 yards rushing, and Brandon Aiyuk only had five receptions for 48 yards. If you played either of them in DFS, you likely lost, as Jennings was the slate breaker.
We must give credit to the Rams, who never gave up even though they were behind. Kyren Williams had 24 carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns, as well as two receptions for 27 yards and another touchdown. Tutu Atwell made some big plays down the field, and the Rams defense played well when they had to. It was good to see the Rams continue to stay competitive, and I do like the upside of Jordan Whittington moving forward.
Carson Steele did a great job rushing for 72 yards, showing that he can be a primary ball carrier for the Chiefs. The best player was Rashee Rice, who had 12 receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown, showing that he is Mahomes’s number-one target. Travis Kelce only went 4 for 30 and looks like an awful pick. I know defenses try their best to slow him down, but Rice is the first option on offense.
Atlanta had its opportunities to win, but when Bijan Robinson only averages 1.9 yards per carry, there’s going to be no way that the Falcons are going to pull off the upset. I was surprised that Kyle Pitts wasn’t more involved, only catching 2 passes for 59 yards, considering Kansas City has been the worst team in the league against opposing tight ends. (That was definitely a pass interference in the end zone at the end of the game!) Drake London did well in the second half and finished the game with six catches for 67 yards and a touchdown, but it seemed like Kirk Cousins’s favorite target was Darnell Mooney, who had eight catches for 66 yards. Cousins doesn’t seem like he is in a groove yet, and although he’s not going to lose his job anytime soon, I am worried about him.
