Not the best day. Some low-scoring affairs (two games 0-0 at halftime). Some key players leaving early with injuries. And some guys who stayed in but put up some of their poorer numbers. Ending with a one-sided Sunday night game. Let's get into it.
Bucs at Falcons: Tough loss for the Falcons, who seemingly had this game wrapped up until a late penalty that looked a little ticky-tack extended the Bucs final, game-winning drive. But some clutch throws by Baker Mayfield, a big game for Rachaad White, shockingly quiet for Mike Evans, with some near misses. Big story was a shockingly huge game for Drake London and by extension Desmond Ridder, or maybe the other way around more accurate. Where we ranked London (30ish), presumably many started him, but many didn't. Betting against Ridder throwing for 347 seems like it will pay off most weeks. One of these teams or New Orleans has to win the South, ugly.
Rams at Ravens: Not the best call here. Did not want anything to do with the Rams offense, which instead produced 31 points in an overtime loss. Did start (and recommend) Nacua and Kyren who were fine, albeit without scoring. Stafford and Kupp much better than expected. Ravens put up huge offensive numbers, Lamar and his main receivers, including Isaiah Likely, and pull it out on a punt return in overtime. So much for weather concerns.
Lions at Bears: Lions aren't looking so good these days. Jared Goff has been turning it over a lot, their defense has been struggling for a while, and in this one their offense pretty much struggled too. Just lousy numbers for a lot of the guys you pretty much had to start; LaPorta, St. Brown. Gibbs good, Montgomery OK. For the Bears, Justin Fields made some throws, DJ Moore had a huge game, lots of receivers having huge games against Detroit these days. Running back committee not useful. Can someone actually catch Detroit in the NFC North? Crazy but true.
Colts at Bengals: Bengals opened up a can of blowout in this one. First things first, Zack Moss didn't work out so great. PPR, 9.60. Got a couple of goal-line totes early, that was nice to see, but the Bengals were able to keep him out and Indy ended up scoring on a pass play. Receiving role saved him somewhat in PPR leagues but obviously we were expecting and hoping for more. Main takeaway is that Gardner Minshew isn't very good. Significantly outplayed by Jake Browning. Maybe the Bengals defense a little better than expected, but just a lot of disappointing drives by the Colts offense. Not sure how I'll feel about using Moss next week, clearly his early-season great games are in the distant past at this point.
Jaguars at Browns: Props to Trevor Lawrence for playing well enough that his suiting up and starting wasn't just a sham. Obviously not the smoothest game (3 picks and he wasn't moving well), but the defense was more of an issue than the offense. Another week of Jacksonville's pass defense looking really bad, continually leaving Njoku, Cooper and company open for big plays. Huge game for Evan Engram, your main beneficiary from Christian Kirk being gone perhaps. Good game for Travis Etienne. Browns are an interesting team (and looking oddly viable on offense with Joe Flacco at quarterback).
Panthers at Saints: Ho hum. Panthers are terrible, Saints are good enough to grind out a win with turnovers and stops and doing just enough on offense. Both teams are bad defending the run and accordingly both teams ran the ball well. Chris Olave paid off with a touchdown. Not much to see here. Serviceable game if you had to use Thielen, at least.
Texans at Jets: Do I need to apologize to Zach Wilson? Somebody does I guess. Nice game for him. Big story was Nico Collins leaving due to injury early on, and C.J. Stroud then leaving after slamming his head into the ground late. Stroud was already struggling prior to that, granted. Tough pass defense, and particularly so with Houston losing Tank Dell last week and then Collins. Huge receiving game for Breece Hall, good one for Garrett Wilson. I hope you started them, or someone comparable, even if I advised someone else on Saturday. Bad loss for Houston, AFC playoff picture still very uncertain.
Vikings at Raiders: We knew this game would be lower-scoring, with the way these two offenses and defenses have played of late. But this... this was bad. Yesterday morning a friend asked me to recommend either Goff or Dobbs. Goff recommendation seemed bad, until we'd seen about a half of Dobbs, who was ultimately benched. Most likely, he won't be starting next week. Dobbs of course hurt. as were the Vikings, by Justin Jefferson taking a big shot to the ribs on his second catch and leaving the game, reportedly hospitalized. Not gonna be selfish, Jefferson is the one who's a little more important here, hope he's OK. Anyway, Dobbs and O'Connell set quarterbacking back quite a bit, Bad day for Josh Jacobs and pretty much everyone else. What are you gonna do.
Seahawks at 49ers: 49ers got off to a fast start with a 72-yard Christian McCaffrey breakaway. Looked like he could have scored, cut it back, then watched Jordan Mason score from the 3 while he was catching his breath. Drew Lock hit a couple of big throws to DK Metcalf early, including a sweet touchdown, and it seemed we might have a game. Nope. Deebo Samuel and Brock Purdy took over, George Kittle had about a 13-point play, San Francisco pulled away. Not many surprises, just what looked like a playoff team in Seattle early on doesn't look too good right now.
Bills at Kansas City: Pretty good game, and like so many involving these teams, some controversy at the end. Josh Allen was hot early, James Cook had a nice game, then Kansas City came back. Rashee Rice good again, Travis Kelce with one of his better recent outings. The Clyde Edwards-Helaire-Jerick McKinnon split was about as anticipated, with the main difference between McKinnon got to run in on a short touchdown out of a pass formation near the goal line. I think the utilization will probably be similar until Pacheco is available; if you're starting CEH, just hope he can run one in before it's 3rd and 3. At the end, KC was just a foot from a sweet game-winning touchdown....Kadarius Toney's foot, lining up across the line of scrimmage. Mahomes and Andy Reid very unhappy with the officiating. I'll give him the end of the Green Bay game, but on this one, hey, maybe Toney can stay behind the football, especially when he's lined up that close to it. Plus Kansas City just needs to play better.
Broncos at Chargers: Justin Herbert knocked out of this game with a finger injury. Game wasn't going LA's way anyway, but that didn't help. Another week, another remarkable throw and touchdown catch for Courtland Sutton. Another Jerry Jeudy should have been TD where he didn't get his second foot down. Who had Sutton as the way better wide receiver on this team back in August. Few. Javonte Williams with his first rushing touchdown since 2021. Good game for Austin Ekeler, finally, but he was about the only Charger to do anything. People with criticisms of Justin Herbert might see what this team will look like without him, and it won't be good.
Eagles at Cowboys: This game is discussed in-depth elsewhere on the site. Nice game for Dallas fans and a couple of Eagles starters, not so much for Jalen Hurts. Couple of near-miss throws early, and momentum just stayed with Dallas. NFC is going to be very interesting down the stretch, with three really good teams jockeying for that top seed.
Monday, Monday times two: Two games tonight, I don't know why. Neither one looks great, but both are certainly meaningful for playoff positioning, if the favored teams can do their jobs. I'm rooting against Raheem Mostert in one league, and for the Packers defense in multiple leagues. Scores? I'll say Dolphins 27, Titans 17 and Packers 23, Giants 13. Hope you're on the right side of some close games.