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Andy Richardson

A Day of Football

Injuries causing pain, again

Interesting day. Anytime you draw any conclusions one week (OK to play guys coming off injury, like Puka), you get smacked in the face the next (best to avoid guys dealing with injury, like Puka, and Jordan Love). And as always, in-game injuries were the unkindest cut.

Cowboys at Falcons: Dak Prescott left this one with a hamstring injury (they were also checking out his hand), so Cooper Rush came in and put up...not dissimilar numbers. Most Cowboys (Dowdle, Lamb, Ferguson) pretty good in their usual playing catchup game script. Lamb also picked up a shoulder injury that will need to be checked out. Good games for Cousins, Bijan, all the main receivers (except Kyle Pitts, of course, following up a huge game by catching 1 pass). But Dallas a defense to target. Drake London left after an early touchdown due to injury.

Broncos at Ravens: I thought the spread was too high on this one. I was wrong. Ravens offense looking pretty unstoppable at home, and worked over the Denver defense pretty good. Bo Nix got you decent points at least (pretty impressive TD catch from Courtland Sutton, who also had a big game receiving it). Game was fairly close for a little while, but Denver couldn't get any stops and they couldn't quite finish a couple of drives.

Dolphins at Bills: Thrilling game with a lot more out of the Dolphins offense than I expected. That Tua Tagovailoa guy, he makes a difference. And the De'Von Achane believers are at the top of the rollercoaster again. Bills also made a lot of plays, especially Josh Allen after struggling early. I don't know how much Amari Cooper played, but he didn't catch a pass on however many plays it was. Betting the over on receptions for Achane and Jonnu Smith working out well lately.

Saints at Panthers: Another entertaining game, albeit a lower level of quality. And with an ugly side, with Chris Olave leaving early after suffering his second concussion in a month on a big hit over the middle. Big games for Alvin Kamara and Chuba Hubbard, unsurprisingly, as the focal points of each offense. Xavier Legette scored again, while Bryce Young got his first win of the season. Young actually looked...not bad (interception not his fault). Not much else to say but Olave is definitely going to miss some time. Jalen Coker was not a factor.

Raiders at Bengals: Nobody unhappy with Joe Burrow/Mike Gesicki stack today, wish I'd done a lineup with it somewhere, but it did work out nicely as a parlay. Big game for the Bengals offense, there are a lot of big games against the Raiders defense these days. Huge outing as a featured back for Chase Brown. For the Raiders, Jakobi Meyers was predictably very good and Brock Bowers saved his day with a garbage-time TD, thrown by mopping up Desmond Ridder (who may as well get some starts down the stretch).

Chargers at Browns: Well, the Jameis Winston love took a little hit in this one. Pretty good Chargers defense that frustrated him for a lot of the game. Cedric Tillman still put up good numbers, so there's that, but that was about it for the Cleveland offense. Chargers did pretty much whatever they wanted, with Quentin Johnston stepping up and even Joshua Palmer joining the season with a long touchdown. Good game for Herbert, Dobbins and company. Schedule has been friendly, but they've made a lot of teams look bad.

Commanders at Giants: Giants were plucky, but not good enough. Daniel Jones is giving it his all out there, making some good throws and with a pretty cool touchdown run and good fantasy day. You can see enough good with him that the contract the Giants gave him is understandable. But not consistent enough. Good stats lines for most key starters -- McLaurin, Ekeler, Nabers. Wan'Dale had a touchdown taken away on an offensive penalty (not that that helps anyone). Commanders pretty good right now, surprisingly. I apparently will never start or bench Zach Ertz in the right weeks.

Patriots at Titans: About as expected; sloppy, lower-scoring. Unbelievable touchdown pass by Drake Maye, somehow eluding four different pass rushers multiple times and finally getting rid of it just before getting buried, on the final play of regulation. I thought they should have gone for 2, but nobody asked me. Titans win in OT on a field goal and an interception. Some bright spots for Patriots fans, that final drive TD had me thinking of a young Brett Favre. But it didn't go their way. Tony Pollard (28 carries for 128 yards plus 3 catches) looked dang spry for a guy who didn't practice all week due to a foot injury, although I suspect Julius Chestnut would have had a really nice game against New England's barely there run defense if he'd had the opportunity.

Bears at Cardinals: Cardinals playing some solid football these days. Chicago,...well they've mostly struggled on offense, with the exceptions defenses with even less going for them than Arizona (and the Cards seem to be getting better in that regard). Not a lot of big numbers here, but better for Arizona (on the ground, Bears a little weaker there than against the pass). Caleb Wiliams struggled and picked up an injury late, that will need to be checked out. But not a good outing. It was hailing during this game, that was different.

Jaguars at Eagles: Eagles dominated most of this one, but a Saquon Barkley fumble (he otherwise had an outstanding game) helped the Jaguars get back into it, as did some questionable coaching moves by Nick Sirianni. He seldom wants to settle for field goals, then when he does, they're really long and iffy. Looked like the Jags were going to win, until Trevor Lawrence overthrew his running back in the end zone -- on first down, no less -- and the Eagles picked it off, saving Sirianni a lot of criticism this week. A.J. Brown left with a leg injury of some kind (DeVonta Smith made arguably the touchdown reception of the year).

Lions at Packers: So weather was a factor here, I didn't worry too much about it even when I found out it was raining Sunday morning; should have. It also sure seemed like the Packers maybe shouldn't have put Jordan Love out on the field to start an NFL game while he was limping around with a groin injury. Lions D and ground game led the way, at least there was a little offense (and a convincing Detroit win). Jayden Reed and Josh Jacobs put up some numbers anyway, but not a great game for the Packers. Bye week should help.

Rams at Seahawks: Kind of a weird game, with Seattle dominating early, but regularly shooting themselves in the foot and not putting up much of a lead. Oh, and those of us who left Puka Nacua on the bench last week, and started him here, got burned again when Nacua was ejected for throwing a punch. (He was blocked after an interception and didn't take kindly to it.) Geno Smith made a few mistakes (including a 100-plus yard Pick Six), but still led Seattle to a tie (monster game for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, in no rush for DK Metcalf to return), at which point the coaching maybe erred in not kicking an overtime field goal but instead going for it (and failing). Matthew Stafford made a couple of incredible/fortunate throws, Rams win.

Colts at Vikings: There are two Vikings defenses. One just bleeds huge passing numbers to opponents, the other makes quarterbacks and offenses look bad. Definitely better at home, and they made the Colts and Joe Flacco look really mortal last night -- no offensive touchdowns. Next week they'll probably get lit up by Trevor Lawrence. Colts should/are beginning their slide out of relevance, at which point starting 39-year-old Flacco will look pretty silly and it will be Anthony Richardson again, though that's still a month away. Good game for Sam Darnold after a rough start that included an end-zone pick and a lost fumble for a touchdown.

Monday, Monday: So rain could be a factor in this game, though at this point you're starting who you're starting. Tampa Bay offense has been good almost every week, but so has Kansas City's defense. I'm expecting Mahomes and company to take care of business, but I suppose it'd be nice if those old Dolphins can finally crack some champagne after the last unbeaten season ends, those guys are getting old. I'm thinking Kansas City 26, Tampa Bay 20.

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