I try to keep up on things, but I do not recall seeing any discussion last week of Sunday being National Tight End Day. I might have made a few more TE-related bets, and seems like a whole lot of them would have hit. If there's a National Wide Receiver Day coming up, please let me know.
Ravens at Browns: Happens all the time. Heavily favored team goes on the road against a divisional foe and isn't quite good enough. Browns offense to the surprise of no one made way more big plays in the passing game with Jameis Winston in for Deshaun Watson. Hats off to those who picked up and started Cedric Tillman, who paid dividends right away. We ranked him favorably, but not even favorably enough. Eljiah Moore, David Njoku, even Jerry Jeudy had good numbers, against a Ravens pass defense that clearly has issues. Zay Flowers had his best game of the year, on my bench, sorry to all those I advised against him. Not much to say, he was supposedly hurt. Not yesterday. Touchdowns again for Henry, Andrews, but Browns were better.
Titans at Lions: Working on this preview, I said, the Lions could win by just running it. But they didn't do only that in a blowout win over Dallas, and glad I didn't listen to that concern. Unfortunately, not quite as many passing numbers as you might have liked with the defense and special teams also chipping in, but lots of touchdowns at least. Titans playing out the string early, perhaps more players will be traded this week. Nice game for Calvin Ridley though, as the clear No. 1 guy now.
Colts at Texans: These teams play some wild games. Both running backs very good, Touchdown for Tank Dell, and a long one for Josh Downs. Stefon Diggs was good but left with an injury late, seemed to be non-contact. C.J. Stroud made a few more plays than Anthony Richardson. Richardson, in fact, was just 10 of 32, with a bad interception in the final seconds of the first half that led to the Dell touchdown, ultimately a pretty key play in the outcome. Texans fumbled themselves near the goal line late, seemingly on the way in for a clinching score, and that was initially ruled a defensive touchdown (but changed). I don't know if the Colts are thinking about going to Joe Flacco, probably not, but hard to say the passing game wouldn't be better. Michael Pittman 1 catch on 6 targets.
Packers at Jaguars: Jordan Love, who I said nice things about all week, disappointed early and then left with a groin injury. So that's what I get. Packers still had enough to win, they're just a really good team. But touchdowns from Brian Thomas and Evan Engram (a spectacular leaping catch late) and good numbers from Trevor Lawrence. Sadly, since Tank Bigsby isn't a big part of the passing game, if he doesn't score he tends to disappoint in lineups. As opposed to Josh Jacobs, who had a huge game. We'll see on Love, but Malik Willis should be added. Though obviously the passing game in a great matchup suffered with him at quarterback. Christian Kirk was reportedly on the trade block, but now he's out for the year with a broken collarbone, as wide receiver injuries continue.
Cardinals at Dolphins: The return of Tua Tagovailoa was sure great for...Raheem Mostert (2 TDs) and DeVon Achane (147 total yards and a score). Tyreek Hill put up OK numbers, but you were hoping for a little more. Passing game off a little. Arizona has some pluckiness to it, pulling out a win with some clutch plays late and big games for Kyler Murray and Trey McBride, strong one also for Marvin Harrison, who's doubtless heard the griping from fantasy folks or whoever else overrated him based on what we've seen so far. Cards in the NFC West hunt, they won't/shouldn't be sellers.
Jets at Patriots: This was unexpected, but given the dysfunction and underperformance with the Jets this season, it's hard to say it was stunning. Drake Maye knocked out early, so Jacoby Brissett came in and did enough to get the win, with a couple of clutch throws late. While you wouldn't expect New England to score as much as they did, it was another game where you figured the Jets might/should have done more on offense themselves. Firing the coach after five weeks doesn't appear to have rallied the troops or anything. The Maye concussion didn't look too significant at the time so maybe he's fine for next week, we'll see. Rhamondre Stevenson scored 2 TDs, nice in lineups even at 20 carries for just 48 yards.
Falcons at Bucs: This game was actually headed for as wild a shootout as the Thursday night encounter, with the score 24-17 at the half. But it cooled down, with the teams combining for just 16 points after halftime. Big game for Cade Otton, as expected. Less expected was Baker Mayfield continuing to put up huge numbers even with no wideouts, with his running backs -- both of whom wound up being good starts -- combining for 12 catches and a touchdown. But none of the wide receivers panned out, hope no one invested too heavily. Got burned by Shepard in a flex spot with Irvin on my bench. Kyle Pitts with 2 TDs; big game for every key Falcon except the oft-started Drake London. What are you gonna do.
Eagles at Bengals: This was a good game for a half, with the beneficiary of the Tee Higgins injury this time not being Andrei Iosivas (no catches) but Mike Gesicki. But ultimately the entire Bengals offense disappeared after halftime, while the Eagles offense just kept rolling against a bad Bengals defense. It's official, Cincinnati (now 0-4 at home) is not going anywhere this year. Good games for A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, including a spectacular Hurts throw and Smith touchdown catch. Hurts himself with 3 rushing scores, Saquon Barkley a 100-yard game but no TDs, kind of rough. Chase Brown at least scored, presumably no one is starting Zack Moss these days.
Saints at Chargers: Saints have hit the skids, as tends to happen when you lose your quarterback and receiving corps and are on the road facing a good defense. Chargers passed a little more than their ideal, to the delight of those who started Justin Herbert and Ladd McConkey. J.K. Dobbins not great, but those who started him will take the touchdown.
Bills at Seahawks: As discussed in the Weekly, Sean McDermott has the Bills playing some really good defense this year. An eyesore against the Ravens, but a lot more good than bad all season. Bills dominated throughout, Seahawks missed Metcalf, Geno Smith had a pretty bad interception. Bad day at the office for the Seahawks, including Kenneth Walker surprisingly enough. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a good game at least. For the Bills, Amari Cooper a nonfactor, while basically everyone else went off. Don't know what to tell you, I guess it's a really difficult playbook, or maybe Seattle came in determined to take him away. If so, it worked. Good game for the other key Bills. Next week no one will start Cooper, and he'll probably score.
Bears at Commanders: I'm sure I'm not the only one who turned the channel after the Bears scored a touchdown with 20 seconds left to seemingly win the game. But I am probably one of the few who not only turned the channel but spent 15 minutes writing about the Bears win before seeing that they in fact lost on a Hail Mary. Wild one. Washington controlled things most of the way, but Chicago used a long touchdown from D'Andre Swift and a late pass interference call to overcome their own mistakes (like a goal line fumble by a lineman near the end that cost them a touchdown) to take a late lead that seemed like a win. Until it wasn't.
Panthers at Broncos: Not that anyone cares, but the Broncos wrecked a couple of parlays for me by not taking full advantage of a walk in the park matchup with a terrible team. Courtland Sutton was good and Bo Nix rewarded those who believed in his lofty ranking, but Javonte Williams disappointed and the Broncos for some reason used a lot of Lil'Jordan Humphrey, killing the appeal of Troy Franklin. Franklin of course didn't help matters by letting a 50-yard pass go through his hands. Nice game for Nix, typically brutal for the Panthers all the way around. Jalen Coker had some numbers in defeat, Adam Trautman with a 4-for-85 statline for Denver that I'm comfortable saying will not be repeated.
Kansas City at Raiders: Ho-hum, Raiders hung around and made things interesting for a while, and a nice game for Jakobi Meyers. But they're not very good, and Kansas City won and even got good numbers out of Mahomes and Kelce in pulling out the win. DeAndre Hopkins did not play off, Kansas City content to spread the ball around to good and bad players alike.
Cowboys at 49ers: There's been plenty of criticism of the running game and Dak Prescott, but the Dallas defense seems to be the weekly disappointment here, I seem to have underestimated the impact of Dan Quinn. Was a good game for a half and then interesting at the very end, but San Fran takes care of business with George Kittle (natch) having a big game. Jordan Mason leaves with a shoulder injury, so Isaac Guerendo steps up, looks like San Francisco has finally hit on a mid-round running back pick. Bye next week, and three different potential starters for the 49ers after that. Hope no one was counting on Rico Dowdle, inactive due to illness that cropped up Sunday morning. Seem to be a few more of these this year.
Giants at Steelers: Game will probably be lower-scoring, with both defenses playing well most of the season and both offenses somewhat limited as far as star power. George Pickens and Malik Nabers; those guys should be OK. But that's about it. Steelers 24, Giants 17.