Scoring is up around the league. There are a lot of possible reasons: influx of young talent, especially at the quarterback position; rules changes that favor offenses; the absence of a preseason resulting in offenses being ahead of defenses. The result is we get lots of big fantasy games, and a lot of games not decided until the final replay review. Yay?
I guess it's a good thing, unless you're a fan of defensive football. It's fun to see youngsters like Justin Herbert, Drew Lock and Jake Luton leading furious last-minute drives. But on the downside, defensive football was a nice thing too. We don't get a lot of that these days.
Giants at Football Team: What is it about Washington quarterbacks and gruesome leg injuries. Not trying to be funny or anything, it's odd. Kyle Allen suffered one and with a dislocated ankle and fracture, he's headed for IR. Alex Smith came in and finished with good numbers, although the long touchdown to Terry McLaurin was a short throw and a couple of missed tackles, and the game-ending pick (one of 3) was a pretty awful throw. But Smith is their guy for now, and I guess the offense did well enough with him in there. Giants got some good numbers from Evan Engram and serviceable PPR numbers from Sterling Shepard, and their defense has some talent. But for blowing a couple of games they'd still be in the NFC East mix, kind of. J.D. McKissic was Washington's noteworthy producer (in PPR) with 9 catches.
Bears at Titans: Has there been a good Bears game this year? Maybe the comeback against the Falcons. They're tough to watch, and I'm regretting signing off on David Montgomery last week. Titans defense wasn't soft enough for the Bears offense to have a good game. Corey Davis shutout, a disappointment but we knew the matchup was tough. A.J. Brown went over 100 yards anyway, with one pretty sick beast mode type catch and run. Both Jimmy Graham and Jonnu Smith scored, Nick Foles piled up some garbage-time numbers, that was the fantasy value here. Disappointing Derrick Henry outing.
Lions at Vikings: How early should Dalvin Cook have been drafted everywhere? At least in the top 4 (based on performance, higher), apparently. He's kind of a one-man show for the Vikings right now. Irv Smith caught 2 TDs, his only 2 catches, while Ameer Abdullah turned his lone offensive touch (maybe his only offensive play) into a touchdown reception, the unexpected Revenge Game storyline. Matthew Stafford sidelined due to injury for a portion of the game, threw 2 picks when he was playing. Hockenson and Marvin Jones both scored, rewarding those who started them. Without checking the standings I believe the Packers probably have an insurmountable lead in the NFC North.
Panthers at Kansas City: This was an entertaining game and very nearly a Kansas City loss. Carolina and Teddy Bridgewater have vastly exceeded expectations, mine anyway. But too much Mahomes, Hill and Kelce, with Edwards-Helaire and Demarcus Robinson also having their moments. Another quiet outing from LeVeon Bell, will need to check snapcounts but seems to be the clear backup. Christian McCaffrey was awesome in defeat, breaking tackles, fighting for extra yards, catching all 10 passes thrown his way -- showing why he was the top pick in drafts. If you traded for him in the last few weeks, congrats. Won't be surprised if he's the top running back (player?) the rest of the way. Curtis Samuel continues to impress, taking production away from the other, far earlier drafted wideouts.
Texans at Jaguars: Nice debut for Jake Luton. Destitute man's Justin Herbert, perhaps? Long early touchdown to Chark, ugly-looking run (but with a sweet spin move) for a touchdown late. Bad defense, but I think Luton's job is safe for the next few weeks. Plus he too has a mustache! Good games for Deshaun Watson, again, and James Robinson, Will Fuller and Brandin Cooks too. David Johnson left early with a concussion.
Ravens at Colts: About as expected, a defensive struggle. I think the Colts might have a better defense, it's at least comparable, but they have pretty much the Bizarro Lamar Jackson at quarterback right now. Committee backfields for both teams and not a lot of production in tough matchups. Kind of like watching paint dry to watch this one, even on tape. Only short rushing scores saved those players value, not much doing from the passing games. Touchdown for Jonathan Taylor...but also a lost fumble that went for a defensive score. The committee will continue.
Seahawks at Bills: The Bills team that had been playing the first month of the season showed up with a vengeance for this one. Josh Allen was on fire in the first half, and though you figured a Seattle comeback would occur, they could never get a defensive stop. AFC East did a nice job against the NFC West this day.
Broncos at Falcons: It was all Falcons early, and those of us with Calvin Ridley (everyone right?) sadly missed out with Matt Ryan hooking up with a couple of lesser receivers for scores. But a decent game for Hayden Hurst, and a nice one ultimately for the Broncos passing game, as expected (neither running game did much, although Todd Gurley scored yet again). Kind of a breakout game for Jerry Jeudy, and the Broncos made things interesting at the end before ultimately falling short.
Raiders at Chargers: Benched Matt Ryan for Justin Herbert. Looked bad before this one kicked off, fine ultimately. Herbert is the real deal and I'll keep starting him in that league. Chargers passing game put up big numbers, Justin Jackson got hurt early so Kalen Ballage (with his third or fourth team this year) came out of nowhere to lead the backfield, they sure don't like Joshua Kelley these days. Another heartbreaking ending for the Chargers, who almost did what the Broncos did to them a week ago -- game-winning touchdown on the final play -- but it was barely broken up (with the extra pain of initially being ruled a touchdown). Raiders offense a little disappointing, with one of the scores being by a guy everyone benched or cut after his zero a week ago (Nelson Agholor).
Steelers at Cowboys: Let this be a lesson to everyone, there are no sure things in the NFL. Steelers would absolutely have lost this one but for 1) an early knee injury suffered by Ben Roethlisberger not being bad enough to keep him out, or 2) a ticky-tack roughing the passer penalty that kept their final, game-winning drive alive. And they did their own part by passing up a short field goat that would have put them up 8 for a bad 4th down play while the running game was doing absolutely nothing against a terrible run defense all day. Ended up being a nice game for the Steelers passing game, pretty much everyone, and Garrett Gilbert did almost enough to get a win for Dallas. Those of us in Survivor Pools that picked Pittsburgh can thank our lucky stars after this one.
Dolphins at Cardinals: Time to take the Dolphins seriously. The defense, certainly, despite the high score, did an impressive job of frustrating Kyler Murray (and Chase Edmonds) for portions of this one. It was basically Murray running it that was a huge part of Arizona's offense managing to keep drives going, plus the Christian Kirk breakout season continuing. Disappointing game for DeAndre Hopkins; not hurt, just not open apparently (only 3 targets). Good game for Tua; just kind of looks weird seeing a lefty quarterback. But the Dolphins are legitimately in the playoff hunt these days. And they have a really capable backup quarterback.
Saints at Bucs: This was a blink if you missed it game -- tune in late and it was already over. How's that Antonio Brown addition working out? Rob Gronkowski looked old and slow, Tom Brady looked old and angry, the Bucs kept ending drives with turnovers and missed connections, and Drew Brees kept fluttering passes that nonetheless made it into the hands of wide-open receivers. Pretty sure I wrote the Saints off earlier this year, but now they've got the head-to-head sweep of the Bucs and are winning games both close and not so close.
Monday, Monday: Drifting through my various leagues late last night, it's telling just how many of the scores are Final before the Monday night game is played. If you can avoid having Jets or Patriots in your lineups, you do. And if you have a team where you're counting on Lamical Perine, Damien Harris or even Jamison Crowder, you don't feel that good about it even if you don't need a ton of points. Whole lot of people picked the Patriots in my Survivor Pool, which granted says a lot about the Jets, but also makes you wonder if these people have seen the Patriots play lately. They could absolutely lose this game. They probably won't, and I won't pick it, but I'm expecting a lower-scoring eyesore, let's call it Patriots 20, Jets 13.