Yesterday was rainy here in New York -- not as bad as the monsoon-like conditions in Cincinnati, but bad enough that I could happily sit on the couch for about 10 hours straight and watch football. And so I did.
New Orleans at Chicago: In questions to my Saturday preview column, a lot of people asked about Alshon Jeffery, and I think I told most of them to go ahead and start him. The exception I think was a guy who was also starting Marshall. In any case, I hope you did start him, because at least that would mean you weren't facing him. Huge game, and there should be more to come. Guy is for real. ... There's basically no stopping Jimmy Graham. I had a little remorse in one league when I selected him at 2.11 rather than David Wilson. Uh, no remorse anymore. ... Two touchdowns for Pierre Thomas. Thomas is kind of the NFC version of Fred Jackson. Underrated, written off, would be great if a full-timer. Plus you can rarely actually start him, so most of his big days come on people's benches. Good player though. ... If the Saints don't lose at New England this week, I'm not sure when they will. Their next five include three home games, and road trips to Atlanta and the Jets. Then they're at Seattle, which will be interesting if they're undefeated and Seattle continues to be undefeated at home.
New England at Cincinnati: Weather definitely a factor here, it was really, really wet. But credit is due to the Bengals D, as well. Well, except for a couple of late penalties and blowing a late coverage that probably should have cost them the game. ... Not at all surprising that LeGarrette Blount didn't do much, then lost a costly fumble. Just not that great a player and a poor fit for New England's offense, although at least he was over 4 yards per carry. ... Danny Amendola looked healthy and nearly came up with a late touchdown. He caught the ball all alone at the 1-yard line and was touched down, apparently, before making it into the end zone. Blount, unsurprisingly, was dropped a yard behind the line of scrimmage. They then weren't close on a tackle-eligible pass play, Julian Edelman couldn't hang onto a contested pass (he dropped 2 others on the day by my count), and they settled for a field goal. Ugly. ... Not much doing from the Bengals offense either. Saw a bad pick by Dalton near end zone. Crowd boos. Do they really want to see Josh Johnson in there? ... Fourth-down touchdown from Law Firm against his former team. We like players against their former teams, even though I made the mistake of starting Giovani Bernard for the first time all year. Oh well.
Detroit at Green Bay: Something was missing from the Lions offense, but I'm not quite sure what it was. Oh yeah, Calvin Johnson. And Nate Burleson. And there's just not much else there. Kris Durham caught a late TD, but in general didn't look like he knew what he was doing out there. Ryan Broyles did nothing, again. The tight ends were busy, not that you can really start them. It all starts with Megatron not being there. ... Green Bay's offense looked good and could have been a lot better. James Jones lost a second touchdown when he was ruled to have stepped out, there were some drops (including a touchdown by a backup Green Bay tight end). Eddie Lacy is for real. Eventually the touchdowns will come.
Seattle at Indianapolis: Do you think Coby Fleener will ever be known as simply "Coby Fleener"? Because right now in all the games I see he's referred to as "Coby Fleener, Andrew Luck's teammate from Stanford." Speaking of Luck, he had a really nice game. Couple of beautiful touchdown bombs to T.Y. Hilton. You'd like to think we can now start him with confidence, but he's still going to be hit or miss until the team decides to play him over Darrius Heyward-Bey. ... Nothing much to say about Trent Richardson. I started him, and regret it. Either he's just not that good or he's not getting enough chances. The longer his lesser production continues, the harder it becomes to dispute the former possibility.
Baltimore at Miami: Ray Rice didn't have a great game running the ball, but he was very productive with 2 TDs and nearly a third on a short reception near the goal line. If Baltimore commits to the run and sticks with it, Rice will be fine. And why wouldn't they? They have one receiver. ... If Lamar Miller were part of the passing game, he'd be a nice fantasy option. Unfortunately, he isn't. ... Mike Wallace finished with nice numbers. Dropped a ball near the end zone, but still. Good game for him.
Philadelphia at N.Y. Giants: Another week, another rough loss for the Giants. This one was helped considerably by refs missing a call on an Eli pick, but whatever. ... Michael Vick was having a huge day running the ball until, of course, he pulled a hamstring. Adding insult to injury I benched Tony Romo and his 52 points in a league of mine for him. Ouch. ... Short touchdown run for David Wilson, out of a passing formation. Dual back flips after he scored. Dude, think about your hamstrings. Or forget that; he leaves with a neck injury. Not serious apparently. But serious enough that he didn't have the huge day he would otherwise have had, and definitely a factor in the Giants losing. ... Nice game for Rueben Randle, but I don't know how you can really start him. Good bounce-back game for Hakeem Nicks, too. ... Kudos to Nick Foles off the bench. Probably worth a pickup this week (Hey, just like we talked about in Ask the Experts last Thursday!).
Jacksonville at St. Louis: Long TD early for Justin Blackmon. I wasn't starting him, so now I will, and he'll do nothing the rest of the month. No, Blackmon is for real, and if Gabbert can help him out, there's value there. Because, you know, Gus Bradley claims Gabbert, when healthy, is the starting quarterback. Even though he can't play. As it happened, he suffered a hamstring injury, or something, and was replaced by Chad Henne. And the Jaguars made things interesting. Hopefully Gabbert will not get better soon. ... Zac Stacy should be the new starter in St. Louis. Looked pretty good out there. Better than the team's other backs, anyway. Daryl Richardson is just another disappointing running back named Richardson. Not my fault! Carries were split, but only because Stacy got hurt (rib injury, says it isn't serious, we'll see). ... Austin Pettis scored twice. Good luck starting him or any Rams receiver. I've pretty much had it with Jared Cook, too.
Kansas City at Tennessee: If you thought a defense would score the first touchdown in this game, you were correct. Special teams, anyway, with the Titans botching a punt return. ... Jamaal Charles fumbled after a scary-looking tackle...knee got bent backwards. Fortunately OK. ... Titans down near goal line, go for it, but with Jackie Battle. I'm sure he's much better from the goal line than having Chris Johnson in there would be. Later, long TD reception for Chris Johnson. Sometimes we get these things right. Not sure the Titans are helping their cause by every taking Johnson off the field for Battle. ... Fitzpatrick TD run. Thought that wouldn't happen as much with Locker out. ... Nice game for Kendall Wright.
Carolina at Arizona: Haven't watched much of this game, because like most of America, I suspect, I got sucked in by Denver at Dallas. I can honestly say that's one of the few Sunday afternoon games I haven't turned the channel from for three hours straight for several years. Where was I? Oh yeah, Arizona won, but their offense (from what I saw) was ugly. As was Carolina's. Sounds like the Ron Rivera era won't go much longer. Perhaps the same is true for Rashard Mendenhall, so make sure Andre Ellington is on a roster.
Denver at Dallas: I grew up in the 80s, and I still remember the high-scoring, back-and-forth slugfests that were my formative NFL watching years. Green Bay-Washington playing a 48-47 game on Monday Night Football. A 50-48 Bears-Packers (or was that the Chargers?) thriller. Good times. And this game was so good I can almost get over losing a game because I benched Tony Romo (I actually did think about starting him over Vick, too). Almost. Awesome game to watch with a whole lot of great players on both sides of the ball. Worst I can say is that DeMaryius Thomas got left out of the fun. It happens. Best I can say is that if you have key players in the Denver or Dallas passing game, you're going to score some points this year. Long as you don't bench them.
Houston at San Francisco: Looks like San Francisco's defense is back in form. Yes, Matt Schaub was pretty awful; no defending him. To my eyes Andre Johnson looked awfully flat-footed on the balls thrown his way that were intercepted, too. I don't think Houston is a playoff team, regardless of whether Schaub starts playing better. ... As for San Francisco, I can't put the passing game issues all on Colin Kaepernick. It will be interesting to see this offense if it can get Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree back. ... Frank Gore sure looks good.
San Diego at Oakland: Like most of you, I'm relying on highlights and box scores for this game, since I need to get to bed early enough to get some sleep before my kids wake me up at 6 a.m., saying they can't sleep. (Now I can't either! Thanks.) Bottom line is that San Diego is like a lot of other NFL teams right now, better on offense than on defense, and you can win or lose against anyone that way. ... Disappointing, but I guess it shouldn't have been surprising, that Rashad Jennings didn't do much, and then injured his hamstring. With Marcel Reece surprisingly healthy, Jennings wasn't going to have the job to himself, and without the passing game value, he's just a marginal backup type. At least my last-minute pickup of Rod Streater to replace Marlon Brown worked out OK.
Monday, Monday: The Falcons don't play defense, the Jets don't play offense. I'm giving the Falcons the edge at home, but I wouldn't expect big numbers out of them. Look for a deadly dull 24-13 type of win for the Falcons, and hope you don't need a lot of fantasy production out of anyone, because you probably won't get it.
