It's the time when the finality of the season, and fantasy season, set in. It's all pretty sudden -- you're feeling good, and then suddenly JaMarr Chase has a quarter, or Davante Adams has a half, and there's nothing you can do. Or maybe they did it for you, and you're celebrating today. I stress about these things like everyone else; try to make the choices I can live with, hope they go well. Can't play defense in fantasy. Hope your Sunday went better than the other guy's.
Cowboys at Football Team: Lot of trash-talk before this one, including by Mike McCarthy, who usually has very little to do with Dallas winning anyway. So Dallas dominated for most of this one, on defense (huge game for Micah Parsons), but they also kept settling for field goals, enabling Washington to hang around. And then Dak Prescott threw a bad Pick Six to make it a game again. They ran out the clock, but another week when their offense didn't do as much as you'd like, unless you started Greg Zuerlein. Lesser game for Antonio Gibson and even worse for Terry McLaurin, who skied to maybe haul in a deep ball, crashed hard to the turf, and was ruled out with a concussion. Scary play, rough game for pretty much everything connected to Washington's offense. Spectacular touchdown grab by Cam Sims, who no one started.
Jaguars at Titans: Thinking out loud, did anything go on with Jacksonville this week that might have contributed to the Jaguars being shut out on Sunday? What a disaster the Urban Meyer era is so far. Pretty awful game for Trevor Lawrence (4 interceptions); 1 and maybe another weren't his fault, but 2 definitely were. Brutal game for James Robinson, who didn't get many chances before the game was out of hand, and didn't get many chances after, either. Probably the assistant coaches' fault. Decent game for D'Onta Foreman. Nobody else on the Titans had to do much, and nobody did.
Seahawks at Texans: So Rashaad Penny had a huge game, leading us to wonder if this now means that that Penny is going to be great down the stretch, or it's strictly a stopped clock is right twice a day and facing the Texans sort of situation. In any case, big game for Penny, congrats to those who started him, goodbye to the Alex Collins era, at least until Penny gets hurt. Pretty decent game for Russell Wilson as well, and his main man Tyler Lockett. Starting to think DK Metcalf is hoping Wilson leaves in the offseason. Another quiet game, including a couple of plays where he was open near the goal line and Wilson missed him. Short touchdown for Gerald Everett. Jason Myers missed two extra points, unclear how he's still employed after the year he's having. For Houston, another 300-yard passing game from Davis Mills, and good numbers for Brandin Cooks. Knew it was possible, still didn't see it coming. Running back committee basically just Rex Burkhead and Royce Freeman, helping them finish with serviceable numbers if you had to start them. I still wouldn't ever start them, and presumably David Johnson back next week.
Raiders at Kansas City: Raiders going gently into that good offseason, pretty much blown out from the start in this one. With Kansas City able to do whatever it wanted, the sad truth was that a lot of medium and lesser lights benefited -- Josh Gordon, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Darrel Williams, Derrick Gore -- and not Kelce, Tyreek and the guys who are really due for big games. Serviceable for Patrick Mahomes, but not what you were hoping for. Raiders are pretty much mailing it in right now, although at least Hunter Renfrow had a monster game, about all that's working for them these days.
Saints at Jets: Big game for Taysom Hill and Alvin Kamara, the only Saints you can start with confidence. Gonna need to start thinking about benching Dak for Taysom in the league I have both in. Playing the Jets doesn't hurt. Lousy game for the Jets offense, and the best receiver was Braxton Berrios, rather than Jamison Crowder, because, of course. Ty Johnson the usable running back, because he catches passes.
Falcons at Panthers: I'm not exactly sure what the story is with P.J. Walker coming in for a few series to throw bad interceptions. OK just one, but still. Not the biggest Cam Newton fan, but Matt Rhule (or maybe the new offensive coordinator?) isn't exactly covering himself with glory these days. Decent games (fantasy-wise) for Newton, Chuba Hubbard, DJ Moore, and Robby Anderson (TD from Walker), as most players and teams do against the Falcons. Atlanta's offense decided to show up this week, so decent numbers from Patterson, Pitts, Gage and even Mike Davis.
Ravens at Browns: For a while, it looked like the Browns would blow the Ravens out. Then Lamar Jackson left with an ankle injury on a low hit, and it looked like they'd either get blown out more, or maybe have an absurd, unlikely rally. The latter happened, but Cleveland hung on, no thanks to most of their own offense. Started Austin Hooper so was thrilled by his little 1-yard touchdown catch (on first and goal from the 1), but a real kick in the teeth to those with Chubb. Hooper got 2 other end-zone targets in this game, he'd be pretty good if the Browns didn't normally have three of them. Hope you started Hooper. Huge game for Mark Andrews, very good one for Rashod Bateman (ruled down inside the 1, unlucky not to score), Marquise Brown wide open for a long touchdown but Tyler Huntley missed him. Baker Mayfield...got the win. Threw a bad interception. Doesn't do a lot of great stuff. He's playing hurt, I get it. Perhaps he shouldn't be. Evaluated for a concussion at one point, but returned.
Giants at Chargers: No Keenan Allen, no problem for Justin Herbert and company. Herbert was very sharp, Austin Ekeler was solid, Mike Williams and Jalen Guyton and Josh Palmer all went for 60-plus yards, with Williams failing to score. But a great all-around game for the playoff hopeful, and a predictably awful one for every Giant but Saquon Barkley. And I guess Devontae Booker. Moving on.
Lions at Broncos: Big games for both Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon, kind of a dream situation for Denver -- not having to pass it very much. Won't happen every week, and those with Williams sure wish Gordon had been a little less involved. But hard to complain about 2 TDs. I had a feeling Detroit, having secured that precious win last week, and missing their top 2 running backs and tight end, might struggle, and indeed, it was a rare non-competitive game. I'm not totally sure why Jermar Jefferson wasn't involved, and Craig Reynolds was. Dan Campbell said Jefferson missed some practice due to illness, but so did most of the team, and Jefferson practiced fully on Friday. Risk of starting unknowns when nothing has been promised to them. Good game for Amon-Ra St. Brown, at least. Presumably many heard about Denver remembering Demaryius Thomas by starting out with just 10 players on offense. A nice gesture, a sad situation.
49ers at Bengals: For a while, this one was depressingly low-scoring (frustratingly so, for those who started players in it). JaMarr Chase, most notably, was sitting on 1-2 catches until very late in the game. Then a pretty incredible Joe Burrow scramble and throw and a pretty incredible Chase grab in the back of the end zone made a 20-6 game a one-score contest; game on. Chase proceeded to burn San Francisco's banged-up secondary for another touchdown on a perfect throw, and suddenly a quiet game was a great one for both players. Jimmy Garoppolo, who I've ripped a time or three, made some big throws himself, George Kittle made a couple of remarkable catches (including skying for a throw to set up what should have been the game-winning field goal) in a monster performance, Aiyuk and Deebo were solid. Running games disappointed; both of them. Thrilling to watch, though.
Bills at Buccaneers: Bucs dominated most of this one, but the Bill started making some plays and crawling their way back, and got a couple of defensive stops. Including a late one, and it kind of looked like they were going to go down the field, score, and win. But it stalled, just as their two late drives against New England did last week, and Buffalo had to settle for a field goal, losing in overtime. A fine line between winning and losing, and the Bills are on the wrong side of it right now by not finishing those late drives with touchdowns.
Bears at Packers: For almost a half, it looked like the Bears were going to be a major problem for the Packers, and those who started Jones, and Adams and other Green Bay skill guys. And those of us facing them were feeling pretty good. But then Rodgers hit Adams on a long touchdown with a minute left until halftime, and they didn't get stopped too much after that. Justin Fields did some good things, Jakeem Grant did a couple of great things (during his punt return score, the first of the NFL season, I was actually saying Why did he field that... right up until he brought it all the way back) and soon the Packers had scored 45 points. Maybe this is Green Bay's year after all.
Monday, Monday: A lot of matchups -- playoffs, getting into the playoffs, getting knocked out of the playoffs -- are in the balance tonight. I assume; I know several of mine are. Stafford, Kupp, Conner, kickers. I remember the earlier meeting, expecting a great one, and being stunned by the way the Arizona defense was able to handle the Rams offense. Not really sure how this one will go. I just know I really need good things from Kupp, again, and am expecting at least some good from Murray, Conner, Michel and probably another wideout or two. Cardinals 27, Rams 24.
