Some good games yesterday, with some surprising outcomes. Seven road teams won, and a couple more made things interesting. And then there was a pretty good baseball game! I think a decent amount of Saturday's advice (Lacy yay! Bell nay!) worked out all right too -- I do remember these things. OK, let's get to it.
Packers at Ravens:Both Randall Cobb and James Jones got hurt in this game, helping Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley finish with good numbers. Long touchdown for Nelson, and he failed to come up/dropped another one. Those guys both benefit if Jones/Cobb miss time. Jarrett Boykin was on the field; saw a couple drops. ... Strong game for Eddie Lacy. Wait 'til he faces a poor run defense. ... Torrey Smith disappointed. Saw him make a really nice sideline catch but didn't get both feet in, so I guess he actually didn't. Gonna write it off as a fluke, myself. Little giddyup out there for Dallas Clark. Maybe that was a fluke too.
Bengals at Bills: I kind of give up on the Bills running backs. They used all three of them yesterday. Saw FJax get stuffed twice near the goal line. C.J. Spiller seems to be playing hurt. Hard to get excited about any of them with just 10 carries. ... Awesome Giovani Bernard TD, taking a dumpoff and weaving through tacklers into the end zone. Touches still limited, but a big play waiting to happen, all game. Made the mistake of benching him for Trent Richardson. Or was it a mistake? We'll find out tonight.
Lions at Browns: In my dynasty league tight ends get 1.5 points per reception, and it's a best-ball lineup so you don't even have to pick your starters. So the fact that I didn't pick up Joseph Fauria this week (I thought about it) and my opponent did was a mild annoyance. Fauria looked for real to me, though he was only involved around the goal line (not that that's a negative, exactly). ... Lions offense and Matthew Stafford are pretty impressive. They have put up points on some pretty credible defenses so far. It's a real three-horse race in the NFC North. As for the Browns, well, Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron are really good, and I still like their defense.
Rams at Texans: Kind of a shocker here. I don't know what's wrong with the Texans, but clearly it's not only on the offensive side of the ball. Problem isn't Arian Foster, either -- remember everyone fretting about him in the preseason? He's great, it's the rest of the team with issues. ... Two other Rams tight ends caught touchdowns; not Jared Cook. Chris Givens dropped a potential long touchdown bomb. Those were supposed to be the best receivers. Cook is planted on my bench. Givens can't be used. ... Matt Schaub knocked out of the game and the fans are happy about it. Naturally, backup T.J. Yates throws a pick 6 that goes about 100 yards. Pretty classic. Looks like I picked the wrong week to cut the Rams Defense.
Raiders at Kansas City: Kind of dull watching Kansas City play. There's Jamaal Charles and no other reason to watch the offense. Nice defense, favorable schedule, Charles is great. That pretty much sums up their 6-0 record. ... TD catch and run by Denarius Moore. Faster than you think, accelerating away from defenders. Had that strong rookie season, so it's good to see him doing well with Terrelle Pryor now. Speaking of Pryor, he's definitely better than I thought coming into the season. But he's not ready to break down or beat a good defense. Kansas City was just too much for him. ... I cut Rashad Jennings before the game, you can too.
Panthers at Vikings: And that's why Leslie Frazier didn't rush to name Matt Cassel the starter, and why the Vikings are giving Josh Freeman $3 million. Bad performance, and deadly to most of the team's other fantasy performers. Kyle Rudolph had his best game all year, and it was a little flukey -- the touchdown was long after the game had been decided, and required several semi-interested Panthers defenders missing tackles. Good for Rudolph, maybe he can be used in some upcoming games. ... Games like that are why people drafted Cam Newton. That is one awful Minnesota defense, which lost one of its best players, safety Harrison Smith, during the game. They're the team that won't be a factor in the NFC North.
Steelers at Jets: Classic Jets to win in Atlanta and come home with a dud against Pittsburgh. (Kind of shows how bad the Falcons really are.) New York just doesn't really offer much that's threatening on offense. ... Don't worry about LeVeon Bell. New York's run defense is the real deal. ... Antonio Brown dropped a touchdown, but in PPR formats had a great game anyway.
Eagles at Bucs: Doug Martin is on a sinking ship, and there's pretty much little chance of him turning things around. There will be occasional good games against soft defenses, but not enough. Vincent Jackson is good enough that he can put up strong numbers as the main receiving threat even with a bad quarterback (see Justin Blackmon), but the rest of this thing is a train wreck, and I'll go with Greg Schiano as the first coach to be fired. ... Quarterback controversy in Philadelphia? I expect Foles to get another start this week. Good thing they didn't trade him away.
Jaguars at Broncos: I think a good betting rule to follow is that if you're getting 28 points in an NFL game, you should take it. There was never really a point when you thought the Jaguars would actually win, but it's not surprising they hung around. ... Strange to say that Justin Blackmon, who I hope everyone else started, too, could have had an even bigger game. A couple of near-TDs were slightly off-target, but you have to expect that with Chad Henne. He was also tackled just short of the end zone after a couple of catches. Dominant game. Should be fine for as long as Henne's in the lineup, maybe great long-term if they get someone better in there. ... Saw Knowshon Moreno play really well throughout, saw Montee Ball drop a couple of passes. Moreno is an every-week starter. Ball doesn't look like he should be on the field at all. It's early (career-wise), but disappointing.
Titans at Seahawks: This one will probably be the last straw for Chris Johnson owners, although given the matchup it wasn't a surprising dud. Yeah, the guy has had a tough, nay, brutal schedule. But that used to not matter much. Next week the pain will continue against the 49ers. ... A workmanlike win for Seattle. Makes it difficult to use many of their players in fantasy leagues, unfortunately.
Saints at Patriots: Wow, did the Saints blow this game. It's not often you can both fail on fourth down deep in your own territory and airmail a horrible interception in the final 3 minutes the way Tom Brady did and still find yourselves in position to win. Awful game management by the Saints. ... Nice game for Stevan Ridley, too bad none of us started him. Still, nice for the future. ... Jimmy Graham did miss some time with an ankle injury, but he was also out there and blanketed by Aqib Talib quite a bit. Impressive. As a Graham owner, I'm annoyed, but can't really complain too much. Great game to watch, by the way; looked like each team had won the thing more than once.
Cardinals at 49ers: Like many if not most, I benched Larry Fitzgerald in this game. So naturally, gimpy, 50-50 Fitzgerald looks just fine catching a short pass and going the distance for a 75-yard touchdown. Nice little touchdown for Andre Ellington, good young player there. Split touches with Rashard Mendenhall, but he's the one to start right now, especially in PPR formats. ... Bad week to bench Vernon Davis. The lone negative in having some last-round flier like Julius Thomas on your team: when your stars play like stars, they're often on your bench.
Washington at Cowboys: Sometimes divisional matchups are shootouts, but it's hard to be surprised anymore when they turn out to be lower-scoring affairs. It was the week when guys who carried you the last month (Jimmy Graham, and Cowboys Witten and Bryant) disappointed. Hope you got enough out of this one to get your win. ... Watching Washington, I kind of think the RGIII debate/controversy/whatever has been a big distraction to the rest of the team. Not much focus, lots of key breakdowns at inopportune moments.
Monday, Monday: As noted above, I'm starting Trent and hoping. I also have Luck and Rivers, and am going with Luck. So, go Colts offense! This should be a pretty good, fairly high-scoring game, but we say that a lot and are wrong. Enough key defenders are out for both teams, though, that this should have plenty of points. And if Richardson doesn't do anything, he's benched for Giovani or Andre Ellington going forward. Come on, T-Rich.