Sometimes you can really only feel so bad about a fantasy football loss. I mean, Christian McCaffrey had the best PPR day of the year yesterday, so if you were facing him, what could you do? Evan Engram injured a hamstring in pregame warmups and didn't play; not reported until it was too late to get him out of lineups. Can't control who you face or who gets hurt before you can do anything about it. Make good decisions and hope luck is with you; all you can actually do on Sunday mornings.
Raiders at Ravens: If you started Lamar Jackson, I don't think you can complain. Granted he's now 2-0 over two terrible defenses and probably Joe Flacco wins those too, but Ravens probably have no reason to go back. Another 100-yard outing for Gus Edwards. Touchdown would have been nice, but that's the occasional negative of having a running quarterback in the lineup. Sweet touchdown catch by Jared Cook, the only Raider you really should have started.
Jaguars at Bills: Nice game for Leonard Fournette, prior to getting ejected for his role in a punch-throwing melee, a sequence which, oh, sort of cost them the game. I'd say the Jaguars losing to the Bills is pretty much rock-bottom, right? Rock-bottom for my dynasty team this year is picking up Bills wideout Robert Foster before his bye, carrying him through the bye, and then cutting him last week before he caught a 75-yard touchdown. Sadly, 2 rushing touchdowns for Buffalo, neither by LeSean McCoy. Josh Allen rushed for 99 yards in this one.
Seahawks at Panthers: Exciting game to watch, unless you happened to be facing Christian McCaffrey in a playoff game. Good night. But a lot of offensive highlights for both teams, both of whom should be in the playoffs -- and might be, it's really only the Bears-Vikings loser who's likely to keep them out. Nice game for Chris Carson, Russell Wilson, couple of touchdowns to Lockett and Moore; can't complain if you started these guys. Good game for DJ Moore too, and if you had to start Samuel, touchdown. Aside from facing McCaffrey, who was great, no complaints.
Browns at Bengals: Are we witnessing the start of a career-long Nick Chubb versus Joe Mixon battle? Both guys were great for their teams (fantasy teams too) in this one. Baker Mayfield lit up a defense that's surpassed the Bucs as the league's worst. Saw a report that Hue Jackson could be Marvin Lewis' heir apparent? I hope it's a joke. Lewis certainly should be on the way out, finally, but I think it's fair to say they couldn't make a worse choice than Jackson. Browns seem to be managing fine without him. Bengals didn't have A.J. Green and lost Andy Dalton. You wonder a little if either guy will play again soon, or if the season won't be officially over before they're able to return. It basically is right now. Tyler Boyd was fine with Jeff Driskel in the game.
Patriots at Jets: Somewhat of a workmanlike effort by New England. Nice game for Sony Michel, who looked like he might be done early on after being bent almost like a pretzel on a tackle, but returned later to finish off a big game and score. Decent game for Rob Gronkowski, too, although he looks more like an ordinary guy these days. Jets don't have much to get excited about right now. Nifty touchdown for Julian Edelman, not quite as much from James White as I might have liked.
Giants at Eagles: It's been a rough year for those of us who drafted Evan Engram. First he got hurt and missed a few games, that was a shame. But then he returned and without looking it up I think he's had one good game, catching a handful of passes and a touchdown on a single meaningless, last-minute drive. And then this one, where he injured a hamstring during pregame warmups and sat out. Most of us (me, anyway) didn't hear a word of this until after it was too late to switch him out of the lineup. Fill-in Rhett Ellison had a fine game, with the Eagles far more concerned with sending everyone to Beckham. Big game for Barkley, natch, and nice game for Ertz and Josh Adams, the new featured back in Philly. Adams even had an additional 52-yard touchdown erased by a penalty. Eagles win.
49ers at Bucs: Bucs are going to have some interesting offseason decisions to make. Like, can they really move on from Jameis Winston? The guy obviously has some talent, and a lot of teams have been looking for a quarterback for a lot of team. Better be sure you have a good Plan B. 49ers have really fallen apart, though at least the Matt Breida endorsement worked out. But passing game didn't do much. Peyton Barber another functional game for those of us who had to start him. Scoring helps. Mike Evans and Adam Humphries the clear top 2 wideouts these days.
Cardinals at Chargers: So yes, on Saturday I advised against starting Melvin Gordon. Benched him myself, too, starting Ekeler (worked out). Gordon ended up scoring twice, though maybe the Chargers wish they'd benched him after he was knocked out with a knee injury. Hopefully not a major one (early reports MCL, multi-week injury), since the Chargers sure look great when they've got things clicking like they did yesterday. Perfect game for Philip Rivers (who still only out-pointed Lamar Jackson by one in the league where I had that choice). Cards ran into a buzzsaw today. With Gordon out, hopefully you have Ekeler.
Dolphins at Colts: So Kenyan Drake blows up with 2 TDs on everyone's bench. Marlon Mack running great, but doesn't score and then leaves with a concussion. Andrew Luck throws 3 more TDs, including 2 to Eric Ebron (shutout last week, as I cynically predicted when I used him in the Blackout competition). Dolphins way more competitive than I expected -- in fairness, how was I to know they'd decide to actually use their most dynamic offensive player after ignoring him the past month -- but Colts get the win. Grab Jordan Wilkins, who should start if Mack needs to miss a game.
Steelers at Broncos: So if you read Fantasy Index, really good chance that JuJu Smith-Schuster was on your team having this monster game. His 97-yard touchdown catch, from the throw by Roethlisberger while being flattened in the end-zone to him stiff-arming a tackler near the end, was one of the cooler plays all year (again, especially if he was on your team). But the Broncos have been playing good, solid football almost all year long, and considering their remaining schedule, they're in the hunt for a playoff spot. Nice games for Emmanuel Sanders (basically thanks to a 15-second, 2-play sequence) and Phillip Lindsay. Fun game to watch.
Packers at Vikings: Boy things looked great when Aaron Rodgers marched the Packers down the field for an early touchdown to Davante Adams. And then the Vikings answered with a Cousins-to-Dalvin Cook score, and it looked like we'd get the high-scoring shootout that some of us needed. Nope; the Minnesota players you should have started did fine against a soft Green Bay defense, and the Packers players (aside from Jones) struggled against a tough Vikings defense. Looks like it's time to move on from Mike McCarthy, but there are some flaws in Aaron Rodgers' game, too (most notably, holding the ball too long in an effort to make plays -- sometimes it's not there).
Monday, Monday: Some important players going in this one, but I suspect a lot of matchups long decided. Deshaun Watson has some potential, Lamar Miller has been reasonably productive lately, DeAndre Hopkins of course. Titans will have Marcus Mariota, but hard to get excited about their offense. Both defenses have some ability to play well and probably an unexciting, lower-scoring game. How about Texans 23, Titans 16.