So what do we chalk up yesterday to, when several heavy favorites lost (at home no less) and a lot of good offenses underperformed. Scores around my fantasy leagues were down, and my Survivor teams did not. Daylight savings? Overconfident home teams? The raft of injuries/COVID absences/personal time off? Whatever you want to chalk it up to, just kind of a bad day of football watching.
Falcons at Saints: Didn't feel great about the Saints in this one, what with them starting their second- or third-string quarterback, but figured at home, and with their defense, they'd be good enough. But no. Their offense did basically nothing for three quarters, fell behind 24-6, came all the way back to take a lead...with too much time left, enabling Matt Ryan and story of the season Cordarrelle Patterson to get Atlanta into field goal range. Saints lose. I don't know if they should have used Taysom Hill more, but I hope we've all learned for the final time that Sean Payton's words about Hill mean absolutely nothing. You don't leave him on the bench for Trevor Siemian (who yes had a nice fourth quarter, but still) if you believe in him. Garbage time points for the Saints offense were nice. Tajae Sharpe caught one pass, a distant third in production behind Gage and Zacchaeus. So that's that.
Broncos at Cowboys: I suppose the Bills losing in Jacksonville was the biggest upset of the week, but this was a close second. Dallas getting shut out into the fourth quarter at home by the team that just traded away Von Miller is a little hard to fathom. Dak Prescott must have been pretty healthy since he was still out there throwing passes in the fourth quarter of a game they were losing 30-0. Be grateful for the garbage points you got, I am. This one wiped out half of my and many I presume Survivor Pools, including my son's entry (his other choice was Buffalo, so whatever). Javonte Williams got stuffed a couple of times at the goal line in this one, the difference between a game everyone could be happy about and a mere 11 points. He did have several nice, tackle-breaking runs where he carried defenders downfield, but we're in the results business here. A burn the film game for Dallas.
Patriots at Panthers: Oh look, it's the Patriots shutting down Sam Darnold. Seen this one before. Their offense didn't do as much as you'd like, but there were nice games by the running backs and some of the right players scored. Christian McCaffrey showed why you start him even coming off injury in a poor matchup, with 14-15 points anyway. Not much else to see, the Panthers will be quarterback-shopping again in the offseason.
Vikings at Ravens: This was a hard game to predict, so not totally surprising it was higher scoring and went into overtime. You got points from most of the players you should have been starting, and Lamar Jackson and the Ravens pulled it out on a field goal. Mildly disappointing games for both tight ends, but the wide receivers either had good numbers or scored, Devonta Freeman turned back the clock with a good game, and Lamar Jackson put up his usual huge numbers. Jackson seems to be the different between about 4-5 wins or losses for Baltimore this year. Nice to have on your side.
Browns at Bengals: Huge game for Nick Chubb, and I hope no one started D'Ernest. Good back, but he's stuck behind Chubb and doesn't have Kareem Hunt's passing game role. Bengals made some critical errors in this one, most notably a bad Joe Burrow throw at the goal line that went the other way for a 99-yard touchdown. Would the game have been different? Probably not but it didn't help. Starting Donovan Peoples-Jones, if you did, worked out. Caught just 2 passes but went for 86 yards and a TD. Jarvis Landry was quiet. I don't think it will be that way all the time. Nice game for Joe Mixon, serviceable for Chase, Higgins, though Chase could/should have caught a TD.
Bills at Jaguars: So this was the upset of the week, and I'm at a loss for how Josh Allen, Buffalo, could be so overmatched by Josh Allen, Jaguars, to the tune of a sack, an interception, and a fumble recovery. Just nuts, and the stuff that memes are made of based on yesterday's Internet. No touchdowns in this one, which is not ideal in any way for fantasy purposes. Hard to take the Bills seriously after they score 6 points at Jacksonville. Another burn the film game, I guess, but the Bills don't have the kind of lead to play with over New England that Dallas does.
Texans at Dolphins: Gotta feel good about a game that delivers what you expect: ugly, unpleasant to watch, not great numbers for pretty much anyone. Dolphins feature Myles Gaskin, who illustrates why they don't feature him as a runner, carrying 20 times for 34 yards. Texans continue with their ridiculous 4-back committee. Good game for Jaylen Wadde, mildly disappointing for Mike Gesicki (who made a couple of spectacular catches but not enough ordinary ones). Should have picked the Dolphins in the Survivor Pool, never thought I'd say that.
Raiders at Giants: The Raiders didn't win, but I like the way the post-Gruden era has been getting value out of both Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake most weeks. Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow were also very good in this one. Just 16 points and a loss to the Giants, but a decent week for Raiders most were starting. For the Giants, well, Kadarius Toney and the New York passing game went bust, what with Daniel Jones throwing for just 110 yards and the Giants played from ahead for most games. Disappointing, figured it'd be more Giants in catch-up, but Raiders focus might have been off this week.
Chargers at Eagles: Eagles have struggled against tight ends this year, and all three Chargers TEs scored. Unfortunately Jared Cook's was just a 2-point conversion, and he was the only one anyone started. For the Eagles, a week after featuring Boston Scott, they gave Jordan Howard more work and even left Kenneth Gainwell get a goal-line carry for a score. Because Nick Sirianni hates your fantasy team. Devonta Smith, Keenan Allen and the quarterbacks paid off, that was about it.
Packers at Kansas City: Low-scoring game, like no other Kansas City game usually is. Jordan Love didn't look comfortable and didn't do much, but hey, first NFL start, and he was close to having a chance lead a game-winning drive at the end. But just 7 points against a poor defense and even the touchdown was kind of cheap (blown tackle). Another lousy outing for Kansas City's offense, credit to the Packers defense I suppose, and maybe where they went a little conservative considering what Green Bay was missing, but let's also concede that there are problems here -- Patrick Mahomes isn't performing at a Mahomes-like level these days. AJ Dilllon a healthy share of the offense again.
Cardinals at 49ers: Chase Edmonds hurt early, helping James Conner basically deliver both of their stats for a monster game. I'll take the L on Conner, who I had little good to say about in the preseason, though I have been recommending him lately -- how can you not? The guy scores every week, even when not having a game like this one. Good job running the offense for Colt McCoy, nice game for Christian Kirk (with Hopkins and Green out, no surprise). For San Francisco, surprisingly good game for Brandon Aiyuk, solid for George Kittle, fairly quiet for everyone else. Hope you didn't start Jeff Wilson (no touches; not sure if he got on the field).
Titans at Rams: Why not end the day with yet another upset in which the home team gets shockingly punked? This one pretty much began and ended with Matthew Stafford committing back-to-back bonehead throws that turned a 7-3 game into a 21-3 debacle that was never close after that. The first was a desperation toss to avoid a safety -- terrible, but it happens. The next was arguably worse, since he had time to set himself, think about what he was doing, and then throw the ugly Pick Six. Big game for Cooper Kupp (sans touchdown, so I guess Standard scoring, not so much), and a touchdown from Adrian Peterson (but nothing else). Yet another rushing score from Ryan Tannehill, on this silly keeper that teams seem unable to foresee even though he does it week after week. In general not the kind of offensive numbers you'd like to see from pretty much anyone in this game, which tends to happen when one gifts the other a couple of early big defensive plays. The Titans: beating the league's best teams, losing to the Jets.
Monday, Monday: Bears at Steelers. I think we can assume that one team won't shockingly blow out the other, since both have good defenses and limited offenses. Some credible offensive players on both sides, especially at running back, although the will he or won't he play and how much if he does with David Montgomery creates a lot of uncertainty. In general I'll take the Steelers and Najee Harris over whatever it is the Bears decide to do. Pittsburgh 24, Chicago 19.