I think most fantasy leagues are in playoffs at this point, which makes everything a lot tenser. And then the NFL comes out with a handful of crazy, stress-filled finishes, where you're on the edge of your seat whether you're rooting for a team or rooting for (or against) a player. Nutty day that got wilder as it went, with things happening that I've never or seldom seen before.
As a snapshot of yesterday, this Survivor Pool I'd been in (I stopped mentioning it when I got bounced a while back) was down to 18 people entering this week. Three people picked the Titans on Thursday. The other 15 people picked four different teams yesterday -- Patriots, Steelers, Texans and Broncos. They all lost.
Jets at Bills: Leave it to the Bills to lose when you think they'll win and the Jets to win when you expect them to lose. Isaiah Crowell left early with that foot injury, hopefully no one was starting him. Helped Elijah McGuire do better. LeSean McCoy also left early with a hamstring injury. Shocker. Josh Allen had a big game running it. I suppose there were Jets fans somewhere that wanted them to win this one. Not many though. Robby Anderson and Robert Foster had the best receiving days (Zay Jones started more often), with Anderson's TD particularly cool after some scrambling by Sam Darnold.
Panthers at Browns: It's been a pretty epic collapse by Carolina, week after week losing close games that they maybe could have/definitely should have won. Nick Chubb wasn't doing much for Cleveland early (Jarvis Landry had the biggest rushing plays) but he got his late, and so did Landry, the two best starts from this game for Cleveland. For Carolina, Christian McCaffrey scored both TDs and had another good all-around game. The receivers were good (including Greg Olsen fill-in Ian Thomas) as long as you weren't playing for touchdowns, and didn't start Devin Funchess, who's quickly gone from No. 1 to No. ...4? Dud days from the rest of Cleveland's passing game, notably Callaway and Njoku. Some sketchy play selection on Carolina's last, failed drive.
Falcons at Packers: At around halftime I was trying to figure out where Aaron Jones was. Had Green Bay rehired Mike McCarthy? But Jones turned it on late, fortunately for those of us counting on him. Nice games for the Joneses, including Julio. Good game in garbage time for Matt Ryan. Fairly even Tevin Coleman-Ito Smith committee, maybe a sign the team is thinking a little about next year (when Coleman probably won't be back). Davante Adams got his, as usual.
Colts at Texans: In researching this game last week I was struck by just what a favorable schedule both of these teams have had since they last played each other way back in Week 4. Back then the Texans won in overtime, and then haven't lost since. But schedule has helped (Colts too, to be fair), and it's hard to be certain exactly how good either team really is. Anyhoo, Andrew Luck, banged-up but OK T.Y. Hilton and Eric Ebron were all very good. Zach Pascal OK with Dontrelle Inman out. Lamar Miller also solid for you and Marlon Mack scored for you if you had to start him. Houston probably going to win the division, but maybe (maybe?) both teams in the playoffs.
Ravens at Kansas City: So, the ridiculous 4th and 9 throw by Patrick Mahomes across his body 40-some yards downfield to Tyreek Hill is one of the more impressive throws I've seen in recent years. Remarkable. Kansas City ties it up and wins in overtime, a game that had the Ravens hung on to win would have put them in very nice shape in the AFC. But the loss now leaves open the chance that some team like Miami somehow slips in. Tough loss for Baltimore, particularly because Lamar Jackson did some pretty nice things. As a passer, not just a runner. Couple of touchdowns for Damien Williams, who I had the wisdom to pick up in multiple leagues -- but not start. Spencer Ware also better than expected. Every play counted in a huge win. Consider how close we were to Chargers-Kansas City being tied on Thursday and playing for the AFC's No. 1 seed.
Patriots at Dolphins: So if you started Kenyan Drake, thinking at least he'd get a half of a committee, you were pretty much grinding your teeth throughout this game. Freaking Brandon Bolden (yes, ex-Patriot) scored 2 TDs, and Frank Gore got most of the carries. Drake was sitting at like 6 rushes for 24 yards at the end of the game. Julian Edelman had a big game, Rob Gronkowski had a big game...Kenny Stills had a big game. But New England was quite clearly and securely going to win until that final crazy multi-lateral play that almost never works. Except it did. Oh yeah, another James Develin touchdown, working against the narrative that the Patriots have great fondness for Sony Michel (they don't like his fantasy coaches, clearly).
Saints at Bucs: Bucs were controlling this game early. Saints were doing nothing at all the ground and looking like the Dallas funk was going to last another game against a much worse defense. Then Taysom Hill blocked a punt and the comeback was on. Mark Ingram (who had done nothing early) got in the end zone. Jameis Winston started missing his targets. After throwing 2 TDs to Cameron Brate, hope you started him. Alvin Kamara lost a touchdown by inches, leading to Brees throwing one to Zach Line. Hate when that happens. Saints end up pulling away, but it wasn't easy.
Giants at Washington: The Giants are actually not that bad a team. They play terribly on occasion, but they have some talent and this was a game where they put it all together. Despite being without some of their best players. Adrian Peterson a bust, hope you didn't start him; I know he showed up similarly to some guys who fared better. The offensive line...Mark Sanchez chucking up turnovers until being yanked...AP never had a chance. Serviceable game for Sterling Shepard, at least he scored. Another huge game for Saquon Barkley. Maybe the Alex Smith injury took a little something emotionally out of the team, just tossing that out there.
Bengals at Chargers: That Philip Rivers...2 TDs in every game all season. Except today, when it's the playoffs and my opponent has Mike Badgley. Chargers ended up with a workmanlike win where Austin Ekeler was the best running back and Keenan Allen at least somewhat made up for Rivers' modest output. The Bengals were mostly Joe Mixon, as expected. Chargers won't be able to be conservative at Kansas City on Thursday. Hopefully I'll still be in the playoffs to take advantage; we'll see.
Broncos at 49ers: Possible losing Emmanuel Sanders to a season-ending Achilles injury in practice last week had an impact on Denver's offense doing absolutely nothing for most of this game. Not sure it explains the defensive meltdown that included letting George Kittle go over 200 receiving yards, nearly setting a modern record for a tight end (perhaps San Francisco wasn't aware of it, because they could surely have got him the necessary yards). We see it every year: teams seemingly angling toward a playoff spot, going on the road against a downtrodden opponent, and turning in a dud. Least you got a touchdown from Phillip Lindsay; precious little else. Too soon for Courtland Sutton to be a No. 1, evidently, and he might also be hurt. Curious lack of involvement for Jeff Wilson as a receiver (Niners unexpectedly weren't trailing).
Lions at Cardinals: Sometimes this is what happens when a couple of bad teams with nothing to play for meet up. Put it this way, a low-scoring dud is more common than a wild shootout. Lions got Bruce Ellington hurt during this game, and were already down to LeGarrette Blount as their running back, and Matthew Stafford was limited in practice this week -- they don't bring much to the table right now. Zach Zenner ended up getting some second half work and showing some life. On the other side, Josh Rosen had Larry Fitzgerald and David Johnson (a lot of harmless catches, nice for PPR I guess) and little else. Ugly.
Steelers at Raiders: Spent most of the afternoon watching this game and the Dallas epic. This was a weird one in that the Raiders were competitive with a seemingly much better team. But Pittsburgh hasn't put together four great quarters in a while, and the sense of urgency you'd think they might have had after the last two losses wasn't fully there -- or maybe it's just that they didn't have James Conner, Ben Roethlisberger got hurt during the game, and heck if those Raiders aren't continuing to play harder than you'd expect. Jaylen Samuels had a usable PPR game, JuJu Smith-Schuster saved one of my teams by having a huge game (presumably while Antonio Brown's quiet game was killing others), including an amazing touchdown grab before the half and then a 1-yarder that looked more like a long handoff, seemingly winning the game in the final two minutes. But back came the Raiders, scoring the winning touchdown...until the Steelers completed another hook-and-lateral to JuJu to set up the tying field goal...which Chris Boswell fell down on. My poor Steelers fan neighbor. Rough month.
Eagles at Cowboys: Starting Zach Ertz, facing Ezekiel Elliott. Was kind of nice when there wasn't much scoring early on, and when Dak Prescott was killing drives with off-target throws. Then things got crazy and ridiculously long after halftime, with both sides chucking up and completing big plays. Prescott to Amari Cooper, Carson Wentz to Dallas Goedert, a touchdown and then another highlight-reel play where he got clocked before spinning off for a long touchdown -- erased by a suspect penalty. Not sure where Zach Ertz was in the game plan. Then the game had go into overtime, getting Elliott a few more cheap points, before Cooper caught the luckiest touchdown you'll ever see to win it without Philadelphia touching the ball. Dallas converted a 4th and 1 rather than kick a short field goal, which would have been controversial had Dallas lost. Nutty game, and the one the Eagles will remember when they miss the playoffs, I guess.
Rams at Bears: Score one for Dancing with what brung ya with the Bears Defense. And....the opposite for Jared Goff (I won't mention Gurley cause nobody will ever tell anyone to bench Gurley). It was really cold and that was evidently affecting quarterback grip and the like because both Jared Goff and Mitchell Trubisky looked really, really bad throwing it. Especially Goff, and it wasn't a proud moment for Sean McVay, either, who didn't seem to be helping his quarterback on a night when none of those downfield plays were going anywhere but to the other team. If you'd been carried by Goff or Gurley (or in one of my leagues, a guy carried by both of them who got bounced yesterday), there's probably nothing that can be said to make you feel better. So I won't try.
Monday, Monday: I expect Seattle to win this game, and probably more defense than offense. But yesterday proved to expect the unexpected, so take it with a grain of salt. Not much reason to feel good about anyone going this, but I kind of like Dalvin Cook, and won't bet against Russell Wilson finishing with good numbers. Sounds like Doug Baldwin will be playing on crutches if he plays at all. Call it Seattle 24, Minnesota 20.