It was a bad week for losing players early in their games to injury. Decisions not working out hurts, but not even getting to find out if the decisions were good or not is extra painful. Lots of guys limping off the field (sadly, they remain in your fantasy lineups).
Bears versus Jaguars across the pond: Faith in Caleb Williams based on the tasty matchup paid off; Jaguars really don't defend the pass well. Unlucky game for DJ Moore though, should have had a long touchdown early (Williams underthrew him to give the Jaguars their first interception of the season), and then left with an injury (while Keenan Allen proceeded to catch 2 TDs). Big games for Cole Kmet and (coming off injury) Evan Engram. For the Jaguars wideouts, how many touchdowns did they drop? Gabe Davis caught 2 on benches but dropped one, Brian Thomas had an even worse drop, and Christian Kirk maybe dropped one, defender might have tipped it slightly, plus he got blown up on the play. Travis Etienne also left with injury, not that Jacksonville could run it much anyway after falling way behind.
Commanders at Ravens: This seemed likely to be one of the best games, but didn't look like it initially (just 3-3 after a quarter). But things opened up, with Baltimore's offense ultimately putting up big rushing and passing numbers -- even Mark Andrews caught a touchdown. Big game for Lamar Jackson, Zay Flowers and Derrick Henry; good offenses will put up big numbers on Washington. Commanders came back to make things interesting, with Terry McLaurin having a couple of impressive touchdown grabs (great throws too). All things considered, not a bad game for Jayden Daniels; matchup wasn't too big for him or anything. Washington missed Brian Robinson but at least some receiving numbers for Austin Ekeler. Pretty good game. Even Zach Ertz showed up; near TD. Just one more note on Henry: wish I had him on more teams. For some reason I liked him more earlier in the summer than in drafts, when I was busy selecting Nacua rather than Henry in about that spot.
Cardinals at Packers: This was the Packers team we thought we were getting, with Jordan Love clicking with all his receivers and the defense making plays. A 2-TD game for Romeo Doubs, the old squeaky wheel gone to the extreme. But Jayden Reed and Christian Watson also caught touchdowns. Marvin Harrison (started by many) and Dontayvion Wicks (steered away from by as many as I could) were the guys who left early with injuries in this one, concussion for Harrison; can't be counted on for next week. Big game for Trey McBride, Tucker Kraft left out of the fun for Green Bay.
Texans at Patriots: Pretty much as expected. Well, a monster game from Joe Mixon coming off injury was unexpected. But New England's offense and defense aren't good and teams are going to be ripping them up a lot. Even Dameon Pierce with a good-looking touchdown run. Drake Maye, about as expected as far as miscues/sacks, better than expected (3 TDs) as a passer, granted with a lot of garbage time. But he's here and he'll be starting going forward, seemingly giving DeMario Davis a little more value. Good week in general for rookie quarterbacks. Antonio Gibson a big disappointment, doing absolutely nothing as a runner; gaining some minimal value as a receiver at least. But a pretty big letdown.
Bucs at Saints: Do any of the teams in either South division play defense? A wild shootout, thank heavens it was Patrick Mahomes' bye or I'd probably have started him over Baker Mayfield again and regretted it. Mike Evans caught 2 passes early, left with an injury, not sure how much of the game he actually missed, but Chris Godwin was tearing it up in his absence, including a long touchdown that was just a short throw and a really shoddy tackle. Chris Olave (concussion) also left early, another rough outcome for all (mostly Olave, of course). Spencer Rattler played better than I expected; couple of picks, but he also had to force a throw or two with the way the Bucs kept piling up points. Bigger challenge Thursday, against the Broncos (and Sean Payton). Anyway, nice game for the Bucs offense; Bucky Irving didn't knock it out of the park but had one pretty awesome run and added a late TD to help those of us who started him. Breakout game for Sean Tucker, though please note that the vast majority of his rushing production came in the fourth quarter with the Bucs sitting on a big lead. (But both backs seem better than Rachaad White.)
Browns at Eagles: Another game, another guy started in many leagues (Dallas Goedert) leaving early with a hamstring injury. Jerome Ford also left early for the Browns. Eagles returning wideouts caught touchdowns, Browns offense once again finished with under 20 points, under 180 passing yards, under, under. Nobody can be used on this team right now (Cleveland's only touchdown came on a blocked field goal return).
Colts at Titans: Not a high scoring game, but not because either defense is much good. Both teams made some plays at times, but both were because of quarterback miscues. Watching this highlighted how different officiating crews can impact a game. I feel like I saw a ton of penalties throughout the Jaguars game and very few (including some interference calls that should have been made) in this one. One key takeaway, Trey Sermon isn't very good and Tyler Goodson is a better bet next week if Jonathan Taylor misses another game with his mild high ankle sprain. Good game for Tony Pollard, the best Titan to start. Calvin Ridley had no catches on I believe 8 targets; wow. Will Levis statline no better (16 of 27 for 99 yards). Mason Rudolph time?
Chargers at Broncos: Scary moment early when Jim Harbaugh had to be taken to the blue medical tent. Apparently fine, and the Chargers were all over Denver in a game not as close as the final score. J.K. Dobbins and Kimani Vidal (on an early wheel route out of the backfield) scored, Patrick Surtain left early with a concussion, the Broncos managed a couple of late TD passes to make things semi-interesting. Moving on.
Steelers at Raiders: Another late game that I guess was closer for a little longer, but this one was mostly Steelers (lot of home fans going home unhappy in the late games). Justin Fields and Najee Harris did a lot as runners, Brock Bowers was the lone notable player for the Raiders. Tre Tucker started, didn't catch either pass thrown his way, and was shutout. Haven't seen snap counts yet but no injury was reported so as far as I know they just decided not to use him. Kind of odd, and killed a lot of lineup spots unfortunately. You would think Alexander Mattison (14 carries, 33 yards) hurt his status, but the two other running backs the Raiders used lost fumbles, so...
Falcons at Panthers: Another NFC South game, so not a whole lot of defense in this one. Atlanta put up huge rushing numbers, so the passing game was a disappointment. At least Drake London did well for you, but mostly a Bijan-Allgeier show. Panthers managed some serviceable offensive production, with Hubbard and Diontae (the guys people were starting) doing well, and Xavier Legette catching a touchdown. Start players against Carolina, pretty good rule of thumb.
Lions at Cowboys: So, that was the Lions team we thought we were getting this season. Took a few weeks, but they're rolling now. Everything they did worked. For Dallas, could we get another in-season head coach firing? Dallas getting blown out at home multiple times already is a bad look for the guy running the offense. And their defense has also been bad in those games. A mild concern that the trick play touchdown was Sam LaPorta's lone catch; kind of a spread it around type of game. But when everything you do is working, that will happen sometimes. The less said about Dallas the better, at least Lamb and Aubrey worked out. Two best players on the team, apparently.
Bengals at Giants: A disappointingly lower-scoring game; Giants defense has generally played well since the opener, and Cincinnati better than expected. Huge play early when the Giants completed a 56-yard catch and run to Darius Slayton that was called back for an illegal man downfield. Maybe the game would have been more up-tempo, maybe not. Zack Moss lost a fumble, may have factored into Chase Brown playing more and being better in the second half. Tyrone Tracy with another good game.
Monday, Monday: This game will probably be lower-scoring, but it's hard to say for sure. Will New York's offense or defense get a bigger spark from Robert Saleh being fired? Will Buffalo's offense show up, since it hasn't really the past two weeks? And will James Cook be healthy and his usual self, or will Josh Allen be a one-man offense. I'm expecting it to more like the defensive struggle when these teams met at MetLife in Week 1 a year ago. Bills 23, Jets 20.