Another week, another several games of unusual disappointments (both players and teams), with a round of major injuries mixed in. Some slumbering stars stepped up, others got hurt. On to the recap.
Vikings versus Saints in London: Unbelievable game, which ended with a tying 61-yard field goal hitting off the upright and the crossbar before bouncing out. Alvin Kamara out, surprising some who didn't get him out of their lineup in time, but Mark Ingram also missed a chunk of the game due to an undisclosed injury, enabling Latavius Murray to score. I am not second-guessing my decision to start Ingram, who would have been fine but for the missed time. Although we got the not totally unexpected, just unwelcome, Taysom Hill touchdown too. Dalvin Cook played throughout but got vultured on two trips near the end zone by Alexander Mattison and Justin Jefferson on an endaround, frustrating. Big games for Jefferson and Adam Thielen (liked Thielen more than usual with his strong history against New Orleans). Andy Dalton was bad for a lot of this game but not markedly worse than Jameis at the end of the day; Chris Olave had a fine game (Jarvis Landry not so much).
Browns at Falcons: Another big game for Nick Chubb, and also for David Njoku. But the passing game did very little, with Jacoby Brissett's limitations showing up near the goal line, and Cleveland scoring less than it should have. Atlanta, seemingly borrowing from Chicago's playbook and not passing it much at all, leaned on three different running backs, two of whom scored. But the players people started (London, Pitts) had woeful games. I'm not sure what to say about Pitts beyond, it's not happening. Four games in he has one good game, and if his quarterback completes only 7 passes, he's not gonna add to that. Tough to see. Not just a Pitts thing in this one (nobody on the team caught more than 2 passes), but that's small comfort.
Bills at Ravens: This was all Ravens early, with J.K. Dobbins scoring 2 TDs, but mostly Buffalo late (with the Bills defense and offense taking over). Still, Ravens in position to go up late by kicking a short field goal in a 20-20 tie, but went for it, threw an end-zone interception, and then lost on a field goal. Wind and rain didn't help (coaches interviewed during the game said it wasn't an issue, but maybe they were just saying that), but some of it was just defenses doing a good job -- not surprising for Buffalo, more so for Baltimore. Poor day for the passing games (early pick by Allen, 2 picks by Jackson), with both quarterbacks salvaging their days by rushing for 70-plus. Devin Singletary lost a fumble but still got basically all the work. Justice Hill had another decent game as the No. 2.
Commanders at Cowboys: Carson Wentz and the Washington offense struggled throughout, hope no one started them. Jahan Dotson, at least, had a pretty sweet touchdown grab on a perfect throw. Maybe Wentz's lone pretty throw. For Dallas, another good game for CeeDee Lamb, Cooper Rush, all he does is win, and Michael Gallup caught a touchdown (just 1 other catch, but he worked out for if you started him and should be good going forward). Not much from either running game; Elliott is probably washed but Pollard simply isn't getting enough reliable touches as long as Zeke is around to pay off each week. Brett Maher cleaning up in fantasy leagues.
Seahawks at Lions: I'm legitimately mystified at just how bad this Lions Defense is. There is nothing special about Seattle's offense but they had receivers open all day and Rashaad Penny leaving tread marks all over the field. Only possible takeaway I have is to start everyone you can against Detroit, every week. Sure, I'll give Geno Smith some credit too. But really, terrible defense. For the Lions, a huge game by T.J. Hockenson, predictable with Detroit's top 2 wideouts hurt. Also a big game by Jamaal Williams, also predictable, hope you started these guys. Tyler Lockett also stringing good games together these days. Fun game to watch if you don't like defense or had pretty much anyone relevant starting. Josh Reynolds the successful pickup and spot start of the week.
Chargers at Texans: Austin Ekeler joins the season with a huge game, and the same for Justin Herbert and Mike Williams. With those guys eating (and Gerald Everett too), the fringe options (Josh Palmer, DeAndre Carter) were left out. But this game was pretty much all Chargers, making it impressive that Dameon Pierce had a big game, paying off the last two weeks after a concerning start. Nice game and touchdown for Brandin Cooks.
Titans at Colts: The Colts. Not sure what to say, except they're underachieving. This week it was Jonathan Taylor getting stuffed a lot, including a key lost fumble, and maybe suffering a high-ankle sprain, and Michael Pittman catching just 3 short passes. Since those were the two guys started everywhere, there's no sugar-coating it. Matt Ryan also had a costly lost fumble when Tennessee was in the process of building a lead, so although his final numbers were good (350-plus and 2 TDs), not a great game for him if you watched it. Couple of touchdowns for Mo Alie-Cox, which wasn't totally surprising -- in the sense that it was a different tight end than last week's star Jelani Woods -- knowing how the Colts use their tight ends. I wouldn't have started Woods this week and wouldn't start Alie-Cox next. Big game for Derrick Henry, nice to see. Treylon Burks also carted off, haven't seen an update yet.
Bears at Giants: There are an unusual number of teams right now that simply aren't passing the ball. A couple of weeks into the season you could say, eh, no preseason, teams still working things out. But it's Week 4, and there was almost no passing in this game. I live in New York, the weather wasn't bad here. The Bears don't pass, we know this, but the Giants didn't either. The two teams combined to complete 20 passes. If you can find someone to trade a decent player for Darnell Mooney off his shockingly serviceable game, now's the time. Khalil Herbert disappointed, in part because the Bears don't pass the ball, so if the running back doesn't score, he'll struggle for double digits. Another big game for Saquon Barkley. Giants under 100 passing yards, so the receivers weren't good.
Jaguars at Eagles: Weather was a factor, and I was here warning people off the receivers Sunday morning. Hopefully it steered some people off Christian Kirk and DeVonta Smith, though A.J. Brown was fine anyway, as was Dallas Goedert (he also dropped a touchdown at the goal line). Miles Sanders was great, Jaguars running backs and Trevor Lawrence not (and I'm pretty sure nobody started Jamal Agnew, catching 2 TDs with Zay Jones inactive). Philadelphia defense is really good; I believe the Lions are the only offense to do much of anything against it.
Jets at Steelers: Mitchell Trubisky struggled early, and was benched for Kenny Pickett. Pickett threw 3 interceptions, but one was a game-ending Hail Mary and one was on the receiver (bounced off Chase Claypool's hands). More negatively from my standpoint he called his own number twice at the goal line, hurting Najee Harris, and didn't target Harris in the passing game -- ouch. George Pickens had the big receiving game, so Pickett to Pickens will be a thing. Meanwhile, Zach Wilson played pretty well in getting the win, using all his different targets (six different players caught multiple passes, only Corey Davis had more than 3). Breece Hall twice as many carries as Michael Carter, so it's happened.
Cardinals at Panthers: Well, Baker Mayfield completed 9 passes for 81 yards and a score to Christian McCaffrey, which is what those with McCaffrey have been waiting for. Otherwise he was 14 of 27 for 116 yards with 2 interceptions. Quarterback controversy coming up? Lousy game, there's talk that Matt Rhule has lost the locker room (he had a quote this week suggesting that DJ Moore and the other wide receivers need to do a better job of getting open), and Carolina's not looking good. Arizona, meanwhile, had one of its better games -- not huge numbers, but good enough. The right guys (Marquise, Ertz) scored.
Patriots at Packers: Naturally, the tap-in Survivor Pool game of the week -- Aaron Rodgers against Brian Hoyer -- went to the final minute of Overtime before being decided. Green Bay could have won it in regulation, but Romeo Doubs (who otherwise had a good game, as did Allen Lazard) dropped a touchdown. New England, with poor field position at the end of regulation, went conservative and played for overtime. Might have worked out, but they didn't move the ball then, either, and lost. Competitive game though, with Bailey Zappe coming off the bench to nearly outduel Rodgers. But not quite.
Broncos at Raiders: When we get stuff wrong, we hear about it. So I am going to spend a minute talking about Josh Jacobs. Not only were we way, way higher on him than everyone else in August, it didn't even seem like that bold a pick. Everyone in the fantasy community, such as it is, thought the Raiders would be using a committee with Bolden, Abdullah and Zamir, and even a 5th or 6th round pick on Jacobs was too early. It was legit weird. I have him on every team and every time I took him I thought maybe I was taking him earlier than I needed to, or everyone else was chuckling. I didn't really understand it then, and don't now. Why the hate? Just because the Raiders didn't pick up a running back's fifth-year option? Anyway, Jacobs was the big reason the Raiders won this game, that and a bad fumble-6 by Melvin Gordon, his fourth fumble in four games. But Javonte Williams left with a significant knee injury, we'll find out today just how bad. Good game for Russell Wilson in defeat, throwing touchdowns to Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy. Was the defense and that costly fumble that disappointed.
Kansas City at Buccaneers: At some point Cris Collinsworth pointed out that when Kansas City is on its game, they're impossible to stop. That's how this one played out, helped somewhat by Rachaad White fumbling away the opening kickoff. But the Bucs, whose defense had played so well to this point, had no answer for Travis Kelce or pretty much anything Patrick Mahomes wanted to do. Chris Godwin proved healthy, Mike Evans was his typical amazing self, Brady (probably mostly on benches) did what he could. But there's no overcoming a quarterback as hot as Mahomes was last night.
Monday, Monday: Rams-49ers is one we saw plenty of last year, here we go again. I'm interested to see if Jimmy Garoppolo looks like he's going to win some games for this team or not, and if the Rams offensive line can protect Matthew Stafford. Plenty of star power on the field. I'm not a big believer in Garoppolo, so I'm going Rams 24, 49ers 17.