What a day of football. Halftime Hail Mary completions (maybe the most bizarre one ever). Game-ending Hail Mary incompletions (but with a team that has hit on those plays in the past). Fights behind us, big-name player suspensions ahead of us. It was a crazy 10-plus hours, so let's get to it.
Falcons at Panthers: Two times in this game, Julio Jones got wide open behind the defense. One he was in the end zone, 20 yards behind any defender. First time, Matt Ryan missed him. Second time. Jones committed about the worst, most incredible drop you could imagine an NFL receiver committing. I thought I was watching Best of Times again. Falcons lost by 3 points, those plays might have played a factor. Looking at the box score, you might think those guys had a good game. Jonathan Stewart fumbled twice in this game and his 11 carries went for just 21 yards. Ugh. Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey had rushing scores, McCaffrey's actually looked like it might have been a forward pass from Newton -- very close. Good game for Devin Funchess, Russell Shepard didn't catch a pass. Ed Dickson didn't either, but was wide open for a big play and Newton missed him.
Colts at Texans: Kind of got reeled in by this game as the Colts led most of the way but Houston nearly won it at the end. A couple of really near-miss end-zone plays to DeAndre Hopkins, including one where he barely failed to get that second foot down. But a couple of ugly final goal-line plays including Savage getting sacked to end the game. Decent game for Hopkins anyway, since he's great. Couple of near-misses to Will Fuller (get used to it). Good game for Jacoby Brissett, who's starting somewhere next year...right? Big game for T.Y. Hilton; no in-between for him, either great or terrible. Eight more grabs for Jack Doyle. Tough week for the Texans.
Bengals at Jaguars: So A.J. Green was ejected from this one, and I don't know what the league rules are about punching somebody repeatedly, but I'm not going to be surprised if he gets suspended a game, too. Pretty bizarre; I saw Jalen Ramsey (also ejected) shove Green first, but there might have been some other stuff going on too. Didn't necessarily change the course of the game, Jaguars defense is really good. Chris Ivory a little better than T.J. Yeldon, Joe Mixon got in the end zone but managed just 31 yards against a poor run defense, Marqise Lee scored.
Bucs at Saints: Much bigger game for Alvin Kamara than Mark Ingram, including a short TD run for Kamara. Punishment for Ingram's 2 lost fumbles last week? I don't know. Anyway Kamara much better in this game. More catches and yards without touchdowns for Michael Thomas. Big story in this one was Jameis Winston getting dumped on his shoulder, leaving the game, then childishly poking Marshon Lattimore in the helmet from the sideline. Lattimore reacted, Mike Evans came over and clocked him. Not ejected, for some reason. Not that it mattered to outcome; Bucs are just awful right now. Definitely can't use Winston until he actually gets through a full game at some point.
Rams at Giants, Broncos at Eagles: Forgive me if I lump these two ugly blowouts together. Broncos defense had looked pretty awesome until Carson Wentz and the Eagles passed circles around them. And then the Eagles, albeit with Nick Foles, were still passing in the waning moments of a blowout. Not too cool. If you started an Eagles he probably scored in this game, a shame Ertz wasn't available. Even Jay Ajayi busted a long touchdown run. The Osweiler Era is probably over, again, not that he had much chance in this one. Early in Rams-Giants I was annoyed, since I have Gurley, since he had a couple of screen passes wiped out by penalties, and lost a couple of short touchdowns to passing scores (naturally to tight end Tyler Higbee, every single game a TE has scored against the Giants). But as the game wore on, Gurley got his. He's great, the Rams offense is for real, and the Giants, uh, housecleaning soon to come. Another touchdown for Evan Engram; he was well-covered, Manning threw it to him anyway, he just took it away from the defender. Pretty impressive. Orleans Darkwa did well, for a while.
Ravens at Titans: DeMarco Murray got hurt at some point in this one, as he usually does, but returned to play through it, as he usually does. But while he was out, Derrick Henry punched in a touchdown. Tough to figure out how to start those guys. Ravens ground game didn't do much, Joe Flacco and the passing game did a little more. Delanie Walker and Rishard Matthews, the most likely Titans receivers to use, were best. Not the best game to watch, really.
Cardinals at 49ers: Little bit of chippiness in this game, too, when C.J. Beathard got hit while sliding and multiple players were ejected (including Carlos Hyde, who was having a productive fantasy day. San Francisco looks like it might be headed for a winless season, but at least they've got a maybe franchise quarterback. Had to use Larry Fitzgerald in a league (the Ertz inactive) so was relieved to get the 12 points. Good enough game for Adrian Peterson, should be a couple of run-heavy offenses going forward. Drew Stanton did OK, I still kind of like Beathard.
Washington at Seahawks: I tuned in late on this one and was stunned by the 10-2 third-quarter score. Getting caught up, I saw Blair Walsh missed three field goals and Russell Wilson missed a bunch of throws. But he sure heated up late, throwing touchdowns to Luke Willson and a sweet one off a bad blown coverage to Doug Baldwin (knew it'd be his turn). But then it was Seattle blowing coverages, including a critical one on Josh Doctson, to let things slip away. Almost won it with a Hail Mary. Eddie Lacy naturally got hurt. Couple of good teams here. Amusing stat line for Rob Kelley: 14 carries, 18 yards, 2 TDs. Good game for Vernon Davis.
Kansas City at Cowboys: Not sure what's happened to Kansas City's offense. But for an unlikely end of the half touchdown to Tyreek Hill -- a checkdown where he ran through the entire defense as time expired -- the offense would have managed just 1 TD. Dallas, meanwhile, hummed along making Terrance Williams and Cole Beasley look relevant, while ignoring Jason Witten. Dez Bryant injured an ankle, we'll see how bad (Williams also might have been hurt late). Dallas wins, Kansas City has a bye, there will be another chapter in the Ezekiel Elliott saga this week, line up alternatives, again.
Raiders at Dolphins: A couple of plays on a second-quarter drive seemingly cleared up the Kenyan Drake vs. Damien Williams debate. Drake was dropped in the backfield by what looked an excuse-me arm tackle. Williams was hit by three guys near the end zone, bounced off them, and dove across the goal line for a touchdown. Dolphins then recovered an onside kick and were driving when Drake lost a fumble. But the team stuck with the committee anyway, Drake broke a long run, and both guys helped fantasy teams. Committee. ... Marshawn Lynch looked cooked for a half, then scored a couple of late touchdowns. Jay Cutler passed for 300 yards and 3 TDs, didn't see that coming.
Monday, Monday: So I'll be keeping tabs on the Joneses tonight. I've got Marvin Jones in every league, like most Fantasy Index teams. And I've got Aaron Jones in the league I drafted Ty Montgomery, then spent a ridiculous amount of my blind bidding budget to secure Jones. Should be a couple of the more productive players on the field tonight. I'm wondering if the bye week helped the Packers getting Brett Hundley look like a functional NFL quarterback. If Detroit's line can keep Matthew Stafford in one piece. If Jordy Nelson can salvage some value. If the Lions can win a game at Lambeau -- I think it's been a while? Not often, anyway. Lions 27, Packers 23.