A whole lot of low scores around my fantasy leagues this week. Lots of disappointing players, from Indianapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Green Bay and Dallas, some predictable and some not. Hope you got through it with more wins than losses. On to the recaps.
Seattle at Atlanta: Boom. Not that we were looking for a dagger in the Falcons season, but there you go. The Seahawks steamrolled them from the word go, running and passing all over them. Marshawn Lynch looked great, as always. Flea-flicker touchdown reception for Jermaine Kearse, another end-zone target on another series. Pretty awesome one-handed touchdown catch for Golden Tate. Great throw, remarkable catch. ... Roddy White looked fine. Didn't seem in any discomfort. Too little, too late for Atlanta, but I guess he can be used the rest of the way (when faced with worse defenses than Seattle). Nothing else to see here for the Falcons. Tony Gonzalez got hurt, not sure yet how serious. At least it would be an excuse not to have to consider him.
Cincinnati at Baltimore: No doubt you saw the Bengals complete an unbelievable Hail Mary to force overtime, with A.J. Green showing up in the right place at the right time to catch a ball tipped multiple times. Gio Bernard had another impressive touchdown run. Looked fully healthy and I should have started him (although LeVeon Bell put up similar fantasy numbers, so there's that). That being said, it was a rough day for Andy Dalton and you'd like to see him play better to believe the Bengals are for real. Might not happen against the Browns next week. ... Pretty brutal game all around for the Ravens offense. No running game, interceptions dropped, disappointing for the receivers, though Torrey Smith saved his day with a nice touchdown grab. They're in Chicago next week, which should help, but tough to feel much confidence if you're counting on anyone here.
Detroit at Chicago: Haven't read any post-game stuff yet, but I'll be very interested to see how Chicago defends the ending of this one. They got two tries at a two-point conversion to tie the game, and on one they took Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery off the field (shocker, Josh McCown had no one to throw to when the play broke down), and on the second they tried running Matt Forte. Odd. Jay Cutler left with an "ankle" injury, even though he seemed to be struggling with a less than 100 percent groin injury. Huge game for Marshall; Jeffery had a touchdown reversed by replay. ... Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson are getting good at pulling out these close games. Starting to think the Lions are going to cause some problems for other teams in the playoffs. And win the NFC North.
Philadelphia at Green Bay: I remember in the latter stages of Favre's Packers career, they were trying to get by with basically useless, low-salary backup quarterbacks who you knew had absolutely no chance of winning a game if Favre got knocked out. Now, Scott Tolzien did an OK job today (after Seneca Wallace was also knocked out), but it never really seemed like Green Bay could win the game with either guy. The Packers have a great young running back and some talented receivers, but I don't think they'll win a game until Rodgers gets back. ... Sick DeSean Jackson touchdown that bounced off two defenders, and then a pair of touchdowns for Riley Cooper. Safe to say that if back in August anyone said Cooper would catch 5 TDs all season (let alone a two-week span) you'd have said they needed to have their head examined. Nick Foles is out there scrambling around, making throws on the run. I'm actually starting to believe the Eagles can win the NFC East. Anyone can.
St. Louis at Indianapolis: Took a while, but there's your Tavon Austin breakout game, with a pretty spectacular punt return and a pair of long touchdown receptions. Safe to say I did not see that coming from a Kellen Clemens led team. Call the Rams your suicide pool busters this year, with shocking wins and losses on multiple occasions. Kind of the definition of an underachieving team -- if they're good enough to win easily in Houston and Indy, they probably shouldn't have lost all the games they lost. Pick up Austin this week? Sure, why not, I'm just not sure we'll see a great game out of him again for another month or so. ... Nifty, meaningless touchdown reception for Donald Brown, unless you were facing him in two leagues like I was. Nearly a rushing score for Luck, hit just short of the goal line. Yanked shortly after that, under the realization that getting your franchise QB pounded near the goal line late in a 38-8 game makes no sense. Realization or a phone call down to the sidelines from the owner's box, one of the two.
Oakland at N.Y. Giants: Was discussing with a friend the Giants' chances of getting back into the NFC East race (such as it is) as the game kicked off. We looked away for a minute, looked back, and they were already down 7-0. Fumble on opening kickoff, setting up a short TD. What seemed like just moments later, the Giants blocked a punt for a touchdown, then the Raiders got a pick 6. Giants nearly added a pick 6 later, but instead set up a short Andre Brown touchdown. Brown carried the ball 30 times, with his workload probably influenced by a Peyton Hillis fumble, but still. So much for limited snaps coming off injury! Coachspeak doesn't mean very much. ... Terrelle Pryor has another injury, sounds like he might miss some time. I don't think he's injury prone, he's just a running quarterback playing behind a terrible line who gets hit on every play. Nice game for Rashad Jennings, anyway. ... Not sure what to make of the Giants passing game. Eli is playing poorly, no two ways around it. Missed an open Victor Cruz near the goal line. Threw an awful pick 6. Hakeem Nicks sort of dropped a touchdown (although a defender might have got a hand in there). I think they'll beat Green Bay and get to 4-6 next week, but it won't be with a lot of firepower.
Buffalo at Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh actually looked pretty good on both offense and defense this game. LeVeon Bell finished with decent fantasy numbers, not great yards per carry, but he's doing what you want out of a fantasy back -- handling the ball a lot and scoring occasionally. Antonio Brown didn't score, as usual, but he's PPR gold and nearly brought a punt return back; he also did get an end zone chance that was broken up. So did Heath Miller, and Emmanuel Sanders was overthrown. In general, a nice game for Ben Roethlisberger, and I kind of believe him when he says the pregame report that he wanted to be traded was "B.S." ... Buffalo has its quarterback back, but its offense looked poor here, and a running back committee is obviously frustrating when overall numbers are down. Jets next week, then a bye.
Jacksonville at Tennessee: Kudos to the Jaguars, who seemed headed for a possible winless season but not only managed a win but one on the road. And this is why it's risky to gloat too much if you get one right (Chris Johnson last week), because inevitably comes a game like this (Chris Johnson this week). Actually wasn't surprised to see Maurice Jones-Drew do well, but for Tennessee's offense to struggle so much, that was pretty unexpected. Not believing the Jaguars sorted out all their defensive issues during the bye or anything. ... Jake Locker hurt, again. Kind of can't trust him in fantasy. Either he underachieves or gets hurt. I wanted to believe in him in the past, but gave up a little while back. Nice game for Kendall Wright, anyway.
Carolina at San Francisco: Ugh. Hey, great defensive battle. The only touchdown in this game was scored by DeAngelo Williams -- you could have got good money against that happening. Two really good defenses, and a bad week to start pretty much anyone associated with either team. Vernon Davis knocked out with a concussion. Colin Kaepernick knocked out of fantasy lineups for the forseeable future.
Houston at Arizona: If you're keeping track at home, Andre Ellington got 13 touches, with a quarter of those in the final minutes, not the 20 that was talked about last week. Coachspeak. Yes, I'm kind of annoyed he hurt my lineup in a couple of leagues, I know I'm not the only one. (Late fumble by Rashard Mendenhall, that should help Ellington going forward.) On a side note, I felt a little crazy starting him over Larry Fitzgerald in a flex spot, but that turned out to be the right move. Arizona is a legit playoff contender, but their passing offense isn't helping anyone. ... More nice numbers out of Case Keenum, and 2 TDs out of Andre Johnson. Texans are going nowhere, but there remains some value here. Ben Tate will have some nice games going forward, too.
Denver at San Diego: Big news here was that Peyton Manning got hurt late on a low hit. Actually didn't look that bad to me, and postgame talk sounded like he was fine, so I'm assuming he's OK (and dearly hoping, since I've got Moreno and both Thomases in multiple leagues). More of the same from Denver's offense. And their defense had some moments, which will be key the rest of the way, or helpful in NFL terms anyway, maybe not in fantasy terms. Demaryius Thomas is great, whatever was happening earlier in the year with Wes Welker, Demaryius is the guy. Oh yeah, no need to worry about Julius' ankle, obviously. For the Chargers, well, we've known things would get tougher in the second half of the season. It just didn't necessarily figure to start for their offense this week.
Dallas at New Orleans: The home-away split on the Cowboys is quite interesting; they're just a lot better on offense at home than on the road. The same is true of the Saints, of course, but they at least produce something in their road games; Dallas comes up with very little. I think they had the right idea to work to the run against the Saints, which is where New Orleans is softest, but if you can't play defense -- and the Cowboys were very shorthanded last night -- you can only work the run for so long. Disappointing if you started any Cowboys, but if Tony Romo's low placement in our rankings surprised you, well, there you go. ... I guess Mark Ingram isn't awful. Things won't always be so easy for him, but with a lead and the right defense (and enough chances) he can produce. Favorable matchups with Atlanta and St. Louis coming up.
Monday, Monday: Dolphins-Bucs, hmm, what with the Monday night crew have to talk about tonight? I'm sure they'll come up with some angle. I think the Bucs might win this game, but maybe I'm giving them too much credit. Seeing the Jaguars win a game might ramp up the pressure on them to get that first W themselves, plus I don't think Miami's defense is that good. I'll go Bucs 24, Dolphins 20.