The early games were all pretty great yesterday. Lots of games that went to the wire, with last second incompletions, completions and field goals. A bounty of entertainment for fantasy teams and gamblers. Not so much with the late games, but some drama there too.
Browns at Titans: "Might be a higher-scoring game," I said on Saturday. Yeah. Baker Mayfield went all Patrick Mahomes in the first half, then Ryan Tannehill brought the Titans nearly all the way back. Monster game for contract-year wideout Corey Davis. Disappointing one for Derrick Henry, happens when you fall behind 31-7. Good game for every Cleveland pass catcher, disappointing only for Kareem Hunt -- plenty of touches, no touchdowns. Frustrating game in the sense that a couple of the guys you'd expect to be good in a 41-35 game weren't. Browns are going to the playoffs, and no one is ripping Mayfield these days.
Raiders at Jets: I've seen some talk that the Jets tried to lose this one late by blitzing on basically a Hail Mary. No, that's just the mindset of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who simply doesn't deserve to keep getting jobs. He ain't smart. Jets pulled out some crazy drives and made stop after stop, but couldn't get the one final one after giving the ball back to the Raiders in the final seconds. A comical loss (sad comical) in a season of sad comical losses for New York. I suppose the high ranking of Devontae Booker (16 carries, 50 yards, 1 catch) is on a lot of people's minds today. Didn't work out. Better as a backup, and the Jets aren't terrible against the run, and more importantly (I think) the Raiders didn't win big, so they weren't running the ball in the second half, they were passing it. And Derek Carr ran in a short touchdown, too. Sorry. Couple touchdowns for Jamison Crowder, who we can say for sure is a lot better with Sam Darnold than Breshad Perriman. Ty Johnson (who I cut in dynasty a week after picking him up) finally got some run, going for 104 yards and a score. Maybe the Jets should have given him more work sooner. Huge game for Darren Waller.
Jaguars at Vikings: Like the above game, two elements at work here: Trevor Lawrence Sweepstakes, and popular Survivor Pool picks. Unlike the above, where the Jets simply gave the game away and anyone who picked the Raiders was really, really lucky, in this one the Vikings kept trying to give the game away (fumble at the goal line, missed extra points and field goal at the end of regulation, allowing a Mike Glennon touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute). There's always some talk about teams intentionally losing. I don't think the players or soon-to-be-fired Jaguars and Jets coaches care where the team is drafting next April. Monster game for Justin Jefferson. I remember liking him a lot when first reviewing guys last February and March, ultimately cooling on him. What a draft class. So many guys that are going to be really good at the position for the next 5-7 years. At least. Dalvin Cook inches away from a couple of touchdowns in this game, mildly frustrating. Nice game for James Robinson, again.
Bengals at Dolphins: A low-scoring dud, natch. If you started Tyler Boyd, be glad he caught a 72-yard touchdown early. He and Xavien Howard got ejected for a pretty weak fight, but that started a series of skirmishes in which the Bengals flattened a punt returner before the ball got there and DeVante Parker also got ejected. Hopefully everyone available for Week 14, we'll see. Good game for Myles Gaskin, Drew Sample caught a bunch of junk short passes, both Bengals quarterbacks were predictably awful, and the running backs had no chance. The Tua Tagovailoa offense is not particularly high-flying either, but a nice game for Mike Gesicki.
Colts at Texans: Gotta be tough being a Texans fan these days. Tough being a player, as shown on J.J. Watt's face after each heartbreaking loss. Houston has had a bunch of them this year, here was another one. Down 6, potentially going in for the winning score, lost a fumble and that's the game. Big game for Deshaun Watson (albeit no passing scores) and his wideouts, with 100-yard games for Keke Coutee and Chad Hansen (fifth-rounder Isaiah Coulter inactive). Another nice game for one-legged Old Man Rivers, I think he's earning his keep these days. Touchdowns for both Nyheim Hines and Jonathan Taylor, plus a really good game (as expected) for Taylor.
Lions at Bears: Bears had this one in control until a late-game meltdown. First they got burned for a longer touchdown by Marvin Jones. Then Mitchell Trubisky lost a fumble, setting the Lions up for the winning score. Quick turnaround from a win to a loss. Nobody wants to see the Bears in the playoffs anyway, most likely. Nice game for David Montgomery, which I don't want to be overshadowed. That's back-to-back good weeks for him. Couple of touchdowns for Adrian Peterson and a really solid receiving game for T.J. Hockenson -- Bears defense kind of took most of this game off.
Saints at Falcons: Big game for Taysom Hill. I ripped him as a quarterback on Saturday but he was pretty good in this one (while also rushing for 83 yards; that's why he's ranked so high). Helped by the Falcons neglecting to cover a couple of receivers here and there, but those plays count too. Alvin Kamara also had a good game. Falcons had the lone touchdown to Russell Gage, Hayden Hurst was a dud, Calvin Ridley went over 100 yards but had a couple of near misses in the red zone, including a near score. Atlanta made a game of it, but the Saints are a playoff team again. Nice outing for Michael Thomas, PPR anyway.
Giants at Seahawks: From the start I thought the Giants might spring the upset here. When you can play good defense, you always have a chance; we've seen this with New York in plenty of other games against good teams. And Seattle seemed ripe to get knocked off. Good game for Wayne Gallman and New York's D, not so great for Seattle's offense. This was a tough one for Survivor Pool folks. Sometimes I think Pete Carroll's sunny optimism extends to the team and maybe that happened here. Seattle gets the other New York/New Jersey team next week and it will likely go a lot better.
Rams at Cardinals: After looking very sound the first half of the season, the Cardinals have fallen off the map of late. Their defense isn't stopping anyone, and their offense has struggled some too. Christian Kirk, most notably, has disappeared, and teams are containing Kyler Murray as a runner. The Rams, meanwhile, seem to look great against everyone but the 49ers. Good defense and a strong offense in most games. Don't let Darrell Henderson's good fantasy game fool you, Cam Akers was the primary back. Nice catches and yards for the wide receivers. Teams going in different directions right now, and things won't get easier for the Cardinals next week (at the Giants).
Patriots at Chargers: Writing about this one last week, I though the Patriots defense might give the Chargers some trouble. But a shutout? They've had no pass rush to speak of all season and have done nothing close to what happened yesterday. Kind of need to just chalk it up to a bad day at the office for Los Angeles and move on. That being said, it will probably be the end of the Anthony Lynn era, or at least the loss that's remembered when his ticket gets punched. Nice game for the Patriots offense, too.
Eagles at Packers: Carson Wentz benched for Jalen Hurts in this one. Really, why not? It's over for the Eagles, a 3rd-place (at best) team in the NFC East, and you wonder a little if it'll be over for the guys atop the organization, just 3 years after they won it all. Life moves pretty fast. I don't know what the Eagles will do going forward; they face the Saints this week and it's a tough situation to throw Hurts into; either way it's likely going to be a painful (see what I did there) outing for Philadelphia. Green Bay rolls on and may be looking at a Super Bowl trip.
Broncos at Kansas City: Tyreek Hill lost a touchdown in this game on a circus catch that even he didn't realize should be reviewed, with the ball bouncing around crazily before ending up in his arm without touching the ground. That's what most seem to want to talk about today, I'm hung up on how competent the Denver defense can look at times, compared to how lousy in other games. Awesome touchdown grab by Tim Patrick, one of two, wish I'd given him more credit in dynasty before this. Jerry Jeudy basically invisible. Good game for Melvin Gordon, shying away from ill Clyde Edwards-Helaire a wise choice. Travis Kelce is simply a man among boys out there, rag-dolling defenders on a regular basis on his way to a big game.
Monday, Monday times two: Kind of rough having these multiple Monday night games to mess with the regular production schedule. I think they'll both be good, at least, with the underdog Washington and San Francisco teams fully capable of hanging with the favorites (I think). Hard to pick against the unbeaten Steelers but I think it will be close. Pittsburgh 26, Washington 20 and San Francisco 24, Buffalo 23.
Tuesday afternoon: The unusual year for Baltimore and Dallas continues with a Tuesday game. With the Cowboys, they're facing a tough defense, and I went ahead and benched Ezekiel Elliott to save me the trouble of him disappointing me. With the Ravens, they're facing a lousy defense, and should have Lamar Jackson back, and I'm expecting them to run at will for much of this game, with J.K. Dobbins looking like a good choice. I'll call it Baltimore 24, Dallas 13.