This was one of the crazier leadup weeks we've seen, with 3 different games either postponed or seemingly in jeopardy of being pushed to a future week. Then most of them kicked off, and we got another week of high-scoring shootouts. Offenses are ahead of defenses, even with big-name players dropping like flies.
Ravens at Football Team: Baltimore took care of business here, with some nice running and passing from Lamar Jackson, fortunate touchdown for Mark Ingram when Hollywood Brown was ruled just short, and some good numbers from the only Washington players you should have been starting, Terry McLaurin and Antonio Gibson. Hasn't taken long for Gibson to reward those who had faith in him in the preseason. Another big game from Mark Andrews, most teams just can't cover the guy.
Chargers at Bucs: Impressive stuff we're seeing out of Justin Herbert. Considered the rawest of the first-round quarterbacks, it's clear these things need to be downplayed. He's learning on the fly and doing a pretty impressive job of it. Couple of big-time throws for touchdowns in this one and he'll run a little, too. Chargers started out strong with some nice plays and a Pick Six on defense. But momentum shifted on a costly fumble that turned 24-7 into 24-14, and it was mostly Bucs after that. Injuries for Austin Ekeler (hamstring, knee), expected to miss multiple weeks. O.J. Howard (Achilles) out for the year, after another touchdown grab. Keyshawn Vaughn sighting with both Fournette and McCoy hurt, and Scotty Miller stepped up with Godwin out. Worth adding.
Seahawks at Dolphins: Seahawks and Russell Wilson playing at a very high level on offense. Sadly, it didn't extend to Tyler Lockett this week. It happens. Nice week for David Moore, probably won't be a weekly occurrence. Good numbers for most of the key guys though -- Carson, DeVante Parker, Wilson.
Vikings at Texans: Dalvin Cook is the MVP on this team. He got things going early, then Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson did their party to keep Minnesota on top. Was easier to complain about the Texans tough schedule when they weren't outclassed most of this game by a mediocre Vikings team. Jordan Akins was having a decent game until being concussed. Will Fuller had a strong performance, and caught a late touchdown that might have tied the game (with a two-point conversion) until it was reversed on a replay review. Right call I think, but a nice effort by Fuller and a very near miss. That close to being another big game for Watson. But 0-4 is 0-4 and I assume Bill O'Brien's seat is getting hot.
Saints at Lions: Lions came out hot (Saints probably didn't sleep so well last night) but an end-zone pick swung momentum and Drew Brees had a kind of throwback performance, throwing darts to his receiver and watching Alvin Kamara do his usual types of things. Drafting Michael Thomas over Kamara (or Dalvin Cook) at No. 4 overall not feeling so good these days. Late touchdown for Adrian Peterson but not a good day and it's tough going near this committee even with D'Andre Swift also scoring (last week he barely played).
Browns at Cowboys: I recall saying it was a good week to use Odell Beckham. Going forward, it seems to be a good case to use almost anyone against the Cowboys defense (we'll see if the Giants put the lie to that this week). Huge all-around game for Beckham, neat touchdown pass by Jarvis Landry (helluva throw and I did not know that He is not right-handed). Credit to Kevin Stefanski, although in fairness what exactly doesn't work against the Dallas defense right now? Nick Chubb left with a knee injury, that's the negative. Nice game for Kareem Hunt in his absence. I had Dak Prescott going against me in two leagues to the tune of 49 points, so you know, same as the Cowboys gave up. Most fantasy teams are happy. Actually no not most, half.
Jaguars at Bengals: Joe Mixon joins the 2020 season in a big way. Chest injury not a big deal, obvs. First win for Joe Burrow, seems like there might be a lot more. And more good games for Tyler Boyd, while A.J. Green seems to have left his in 2017. Big game for DJ Chark, credible numbers from James Robinson. Not much more to say beyond somebody somewhere was surely starting Prescott, Mixon and Beckham and is yukking it up today.
Colts at Bears, Giants at Rams: Lumping these games together because of the tiny amount of fantasy value in them collectively, with a couple of really good defenses putting the clamps on offenses which might not be that good. Not to write off Nick Foles and the Bears, but this was a real dud of a performance, with the Colts defense starting to play like we figured it for in the preseason. Late garbage score from Foles to Allen Robinson, but not much else. Giants-Rams was a real yawner where it seemed the Rams were determined not to make mistakes, also the Giants defense at times looks like it knows what it's doing. But not always. Brawl at the end between Golden Tate and Jalen Ramsey over some off-field stuff you can google if you're curious. Presumably there will be fines at a minimum. Not much good to see here. Very disappointing outing from Darrell Henderson (nearly scored early for what it's worth, I know, not much), giving up lots of work to Malcolm Brown.
Cardinals at Panthers: Bit of a shock really. Cardinals looked pretty good the first two weeks, not so much the last two. They're not there yet, while the Panthers have Teddy Bridgewater playing very well and their young inexperienced defense hasn't been quite as godawful as expected (there are a lot of bad defenses around these days and Carolina's does not stand out, certainly not like say Dallas). Not a great game for DeAndre Hopkins but he salvaged a serviceable PPR game. Whole offense out of sync. Ian Thomas caught a touchdown, it shouldn't be the start of anything.
Bills at Raiders: Another really strong day from Josh Allen. If I'd done all my drafts in June and July I'd have Allen everywhere. Instead I cooled on him (realistically I don't think anyone could have anticipated all these huge passing numbers) and didn't select him much in August. His tendency to run in these goal-line scores is mildly irritating for those of us with any Bills running back. Raiders fell way behind, battled back, but it was an uphill battle all day and their defense isn't good enough to play games like that. Big numbers for Darren Waller, not much to see from the not great healthy wideouts.
Eagles at 49ers: Crazy how quick a game turns -- Eagles scored early, it was all San Francisco for most of the game, and then if you blinked and looked away from the screen you turned back and found the 49ers trailing by 11 points. They still were just a dropped 2-point conversion (which would have enabled them to kick a tying field goal) and then really near-miss Hail Mary away from tying or winning the thing. Huge game for George Kittle, good one for Jerick McKinnon (on my bench) and the end of the Nick Mullens era, benched for throwing a Pick Six that called to mind Neil O'Donnell in the Super Bowl. Considering the Eagles were starting receivers you probably haven't even heard of, remarkable win for Philly.
Monday, Monday times two: Figures we'd have an extra Monday night game when there was already a pretty compelling Monday night game. Green Bay should move the ball at will against the Falcons, while I'm thinking New England tries to play small ball against Kansas City, operating without Cam Newton. Maybe they can control the clock on the ground with their 8 different running backs or something. I'm going with Kansas City 27, New England 17 and Green Bay 34, Atlanta 27.