Sometimes you make the decisions that you're pretty confident are right, but they aren't. DeVante Parker against the Jets, Aaron Rodgers against the Bucs, Minnesota against Atlanta. Easy. Players don't need to get hurt (or even, in the case of Parker, have their team lose or struggle) to disappoint. Week 6 was like that around the league.
Broncos at Patriots: This was a pretty entertaining game, albeit ugly. Much to my happiness it knocked a lot of people out of my Survivor Pool; I'd already used the Patriots or I might have picked them too. Broncos defense made plays all day, their offense couldn't get the ball in the end zone so Brandon McManus kicked 6 field goals. And that was enough, as the Patriots offense struggled all game against a really capable Broncos defense, even minus Von Miller and some other key starters. Drew Lock had a lousy game, that's the big negative for Denver -- looks like they'll be looking for a quarterback again next offseason. (Still time for him to prove the doubters wrong.) Is there time for N'Keal Harry? I don't know, but a big zero from him and the New England offense.
Texans at Titans: Every year I ask when the NFL is going to simply guarantee both teams a possession in overtime. How does this not have enough support for a change? When Deshaun Watson lost the coin toss he was visibly upset, probably because he knew both defenses were gassed and whoever won the coin toss would march the field and score a touchdown. And so they did. Whatever, I'm not a Texans fan, I just dislike the current overtime rules. Big game for Tennessee's offense, with A.J. Brown and Derrick Henry rewarding those who believed. And of course Ryan Tannehill. Oh yeah: Romeo Crennel's decision to go for 2 after scoring a touchdown to go up 7 with a couple minutes left was bad. He and some players called it being aggressive. No; it was bad. You kick the extra point to go up 8 and force your opponent to both drive the field and also score on back to back plays just to get a tie, period.
Browns at Steelers: Remember a few years back with that great quarterback draft of Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield? Yeah that was great. Mayfield was playing hurt and facing a great defense, so you can't give him too much grief, but only Josh Allen has looked like a mostly sure thing to this point. Touchdowns for Claypool, Conner and Washington. A real dud for JuJu, guess the Browns defended him well if nothing else. Browns got clobbered, but hey, just one game.
Ravens at Eagles: Ravens blowout for a while, then they kind of fell asleep and Eagles climbed back into it, with some late catches by Travis Fulgham (I believed), another big run by Miles Sanders (left with injury, we'll see), some good plays by Carson Wentz. But too little too late. I dropped Boston Scott in my dynasty league this week, which probably is a bad sign for Sanders. Zach Ertz also left with an injury; they're playing Thursday, so maybe Richard Rodgers is a desperation add for those in need of a tight end this week. Mark Ingram also left with an injury; I trust no one is starting him these days. Would help those of us with Dobbins if he misses time.
Football Team at Giants: About as ugly as you'd expect and not much good for anyone. I'm going to harp on the very end, where Washington scored a touchdown to pull within a point and went for 2. I'm okay with that decision, and even the play, where Kyle Allen rolled out and looked like by giving his all he could have Gardner Minshewed or Cam Newtoned it into the end zone. Instead he pulled up and lofted an ugly pass that got batted down. Why he didn't try to get in on his own is a question I suspect will bug Washington fans (anyone?) and Allen himself all week. Nothing good out of Daniel Jones except for the running, he did lots of that.
Falcons at Vikings: On fantasy benches everywhere, Matt Ryan and Julio Jones blew up. Credit the dead-cat bounce of firing their coach, credit a Vikings defense that had not, as many theorized, turned the corner with last week's good game, credit Kirk Cousins throwing three first-half interceptions...or just credit that Ryan remains a pretty good quarterback and Jones was a lot healthier than the Falcons let on while limiting or holding him out of practice. Whatever, some of you no doubt got burned, some of my teams too. Sucks when it happens, benching them seemed like a good idea at the time. Alexander Mattison did not help anyone either. Nice game for Hayden Hurst, probably benched by many teams. Falcons play Detroit next week and we'll probably be optimistic about them keeping things going for another game.
Lions at Jaguars: A surprisingly sound defensive effort by the Lions, who came out of their bye a whole lot better than the Packers did. Big game for D'Andre Swift, good for Adrian Peterson, not quite as good from the passing game as you'd have liked. Jaguars managed some late production including a value-saving touchdown catch from James Robinson, but not a good game for them. They're pretty bad (especially on defense) and hard to always be playing from behind and thrive in that situation.
Bengals at Colts: Score one for Philip Rivers, responding to all the criticism. Granted, he was facing a pretty lousy defense, but bringing his team back from down 21-0 is impressive nonetheless. Disappointing outing for Jonathan Taylor against a bad Bengals run defense, but he only had 12 carries with the Colts falling way behind. And they let Trey Burton score a 1-yard touchdown run, nice. Big game for Marcus Johnson who I almost picked up in dynasty last week. A season of almosts (I almost picked up Myles Gaskin before Week 1, etc.). Nice game for Tee Higgins, also A.J. Green. Joe Mixon left with a foot injury.
Bears at Panthers: Winning ugly, that's the Bears right now. Not a lot of offense from either team, which wasn't a complete surprise but you'd have liked to get a little bit more. Nice defensive effort from the Panthers, that's one of the bigger surprises of the season. Three touchdowns and six field goals in this game, whoo boy exciting stuff.
Jets at Dolphins: The definition of nothing to see here. Tua Tagovailoa got to come in late and complete a couple of passes, that was cool. As for the game, Jets are terrible and I haven't checked yet but it seems possible Adam Gase has been fired before you read this. Ryan Fitzpatrick did whatever he wanted, which sadly was throwing touchdowns to backup tight ends that no one started. Moving on.
Packers at Bucs: I will recall a debate here last Friday morning (after the Bucs lost up in Chicago) as to whether the Bucs were good or over-hyped. They probably are over-hyped, but they're also pretty good. Green Bay maybe came out of its bye feeling a little good about itself, or they simply hadn't seen a defense this good, or an offense this talented. Whatever the case, they got really outclassed in this game. What seemed to be one of the week's best games ended up giving us Jordan Love versus Blaine Gabbert for the closing minutes. Big game for Ronald Jones, I seemed to be facing him in every league this week.
Rams at 49ers: This was a damn frustrating game to watch from a fantasy perspective. Nice for Kittle and nice for Samuel (probably on benches in a lot of leagues). Frustrating for those with Cooper Kupp, since there was a missed connection on a long touchdown where he was open, and then a perfect throw off his hands in the end zone on a shorter one. Frustrating for anyone who started a Rams running back. Darrell Henderson looked really good (I thought), but had a touchdown called back on a hold and then took a big hit on what should have been a touchdown (guy whiffed a block in front of him) and was shaken up; drive ended with a Goff end-zone pick. Cam Akers didn't touch the ball. Raheem Mostert running really well but he didn't get to score either and left with an ankle injury. Just a tough one if you were rooting for certain guys to score. Anyhoo, 49ers got buried a little early; still alive at 3-3.
Monday, Monday times two: Another Monday, another two games. A lot of star power in these ones and a lot of fantasy matchups in the balance. I'm thinking Arizona is the better all-around team and we'll see a Cardinals 27, Cowboys 23 kind of game. Both Buffalo and Kansas City coming off tough losses, the Bills on a shorter week. I think it will be Kansas City 30, Buffalo 24, but I don't have a good feel for these teams -- I've thought both defenses would be a little better than they've showed. Maybe tonight (but probably not).