Fantasy Football: The Things I Learned – Week 9, 2017

By Chet Gresham – @ChetGresham
Follow @walterfootball for updates.

Below, check out my fantasy-centered recaps of key players from this week’s contests. For instance, did a player come back to earth after an aberrant breakout, or were they simply affected by something like game flow?

Titans 23, Ravens 20
Alex Collins is the lead back, as seen by his early workload compared to Buck Allen, but when the Ravens were trailing in the second half, it was all Allen, who ended up catching 7-of-8 targets for 44 yards and a touchdown, plus adding seven carries for 21 yards, while Collins rushed 13 times for 43 yards and caught his one target for three yards. Collins will need late leads to stay useful in fantasy, which may not happen with Joe Flacco leading the way.

Joe Flacco completed 34-of-52 passes for 261 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s still struggling, but in this matchup, he was able to piece together a little something with 52 pass attempts.

Jeremy Maclin has had some decent touchdown luck to keep him from falling off the face of the planet, but this week, he was the true No. 1 receiver, as he caught 8-of-9 targets for 98 yards. Even though he didn’t get into the end zone, this game was a big step up and gives us a bit more hope that he can stay consistent moving forward.

Marcus Mariota completed 19-of-28 passes for 218 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and showed enough to get his receivers in fantasy territory, but continues to play just below fantasy worthiness. Until he starts running again, he will be hard to recommend.

Rishard Matthews remained the Titans’ No. 1 receiver in this game even though Corey Davis returned. Matthews caught 4-of-7 targets for 70 yards and a touchdown, while Davis caught 2-of-5 targets for 71 yards. I do expect Davis to take over as the No. 1 receiver, but it’s not going to be a huge difference in work, as Matthews has just played too well to be “demoted” to a spot where he’s not able to help this team like he has.

Saints 30, Buccaneers 10
Jameis Winston played the first half of this game, but was ineffective, as he completed 7-of-13 passes for 67 yards. He lasted until halftime, but they took him out of the game due to his “never-had-time-to-heal” shoulder injury. A beard-free Ryan Fitzpatrick took over for Winston in the second half and wasn’t any better. The Bucs probably need to sit Winston to get him healthy, which would put Fitzpatrick up against one of his many old teams, the Jets.

Mike Evans was shut down this week for 13 yards on one reception from six targets. Bad quarterback play and super rookie Marshon Lattimore’s tight coverage kept Evans in check.

Doug Martin had just eight carries for seven yards this week and didn’t touch the ball after early in the third quarter, when there was of course still time to make a run, despite trailing. Maybe we’ll know more later, but it’s not a good sign for his fantasy output moving forward.

Alvin Kamara was the star of this game, as he rushed 10 times for 68 yards and a touchdown, and caught 6-of-7 targets for 84 yards and another touchdown. He did lose a fumble early, but he blew right by that snafu to have his best game as a professional. Keep rolling him out in your lineups with great zeal!

Kamara’s big game might be construed as a leap over Mark Ingram after he fumbled twice last week, but when you dig into the numbers, Ingram was on the field as much or more than usual this week and had 17 touches to Kamara’s 16. Ingram rushed 16 times for 77 yards, but only saw the one target, which he caught for just two yards. These games are going to happen sometimes, and as long as he’s still getting 60 percent of the snaps, he’s going to stay a strong play in this offense.

Rams 51, Giants 17
Eli Manning continues his assault on mediocrity, but a blowout by the Rams at least gave the Giants’ two best receivers enough work to be useful, as Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard had 10 and nine targets respectively, and both totaled 70 yards, while Engram found the end zone once again. With the Giants’ defense getting run over at will lately, we should continue to see enough targets for these two to keep them consistent in fantasy.

As for the Rams, this team can score, that is for sure. Jared Goff ended up with his best game as a pro, completing 14-of-22 passes for 311 yards and four touchdowns. He ended up resting for the whole fourth quarter, which is always the icing on the beatdown cake. Goff has been good this season, but he hasn’t put up big fantasy numbers. This is a step in the right direction for fantasy consistency, but he will likely remain a strong matchup play rather than a weekly must start.

Sammy Watkins broke out of his slump with a 67-yard touchdown, but he had just two targets and the one catch. Receptions get spread around in this offense, and Watkins likely will have some big games still, but figuring out when they’ll hit is going to be a challenge.

Eagles 51, Broncos 23
Brock Osweiler completed 19-of-38 passes for 208 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was not good, which is in no way a surprise to anyone who saw him flail his way around the field for the Texans last season. There’s a good chance we see Paxton Lynch play horribly next week against the Patriots.

Carson Wentz had no trouble taking it to the Broncos’ tough pass defense, as he completed 15-of-27 passes for 199 yards and four touchdowns, despite sitting out the fourth quarter. Denver hadn’t allowed four touchdown passes in a game since Week 5 of the 2013 season, when Tony Romo threw five against them. Wentz was even without his touchdown-maker Zach Ertz, but of course tossed one to his replacement Trey Burton. Wentz is on pace to be the league’s MVP, and now he leads all quarterbacks in fantasy points, which is much more important.

This Philadelphia backfield is over-packed, but even with Corey Clement scoring two touchdowns, this is Jay Ajayi’s job. This week, Clement only ran the ball eight times as he gets up to speed with the playbook, but he finished with 77 yards and a touchdown, which was of the 46-yard variety. Clement has taken over the scat-back position though and looks like he is one of the few trusted pass blockers of the group, so he will likely continue to get some work, but Ajayi will be the lead back. You can drop Wendell Smallwood.

Alshon Jeffery has come alive over the last couple games. This week, he caught 6-of-11 targets for 84 yards and two touchdowns despite being covered by Aqib Talib. It’s great to see Wentz give Jeffery that kind of confidence and bodes well for his finish to the season.

Panthers 20, Falcons 17
Matt Ryan completed 24-of-38 passes for 313 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and had a third touchdown fall into a wide-open Julio Jones’ hands and bounce off into oblivion. It was just a fluke, but one that wreaked havoc for the Falcons, who lost a close one. Ryan did have one of his better fantasy games despite the drop, but the Falcons are still lagging behind when they have the talent to be much better.

Cam Newton only completed 13-of-24 passes for 137 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions, but did go off on the ground, rushing nine times for 86 yards and a touchdown. Those thirteen receptions went to three players, Devin Funchess, Christian McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel, and those will be the three players on this team you can look to in fantasy to finish off the season for the Panthers.

McCaffrey had his best game of his short career, as he rushed 15 times for 66 yards and a touchdown, plus caught 5-of-6 targets for 28 yards, with the one miss being an errant throw by Newton, for what could have been another touchdown. Jonathan Stewart, on the other hand, had the worst game of his career, rushing 11 times for 21 yards and losing two fumbles. Stewart isn’t going completely away, even after this atrocity of a game, but McCaffrey will continue to lead the way.

Jaguars 23, Bengals 7
Andy Dalton completed 10-of-18 passes for 136 yards and led his team to the fewest plays the Bengals have ever run in a game with 37. The Bengals aren’t good, but the Jaguars’ defense is the real deal.

A.J. Green went nuts on Jalen Ramsey and was ejected, along with Ramsey for some reason, but Green could face a suspension. Tyler Kroft took over as Dalton’s main target and did end up catching two passes for 79 yards, which was over half of all the Bengals’ receiving yards.

The Jaguars benched their star running back, Leonard Fournette, for breaking team rules and went on to dominate the Bengals and still put up 149 total rushing yards, with Chris Ivory leading the way with 20 attempts for 70 yards and three receptions for 34 more yards.

Blake Bortles completed 24-of-38 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown. He has only thrown multiple touchdowns in a game once this season, but he’s settled in as a competent game manager for the most part. Even in games like this one, where he throws a lot, his upside remains low, and with Fournette back next week, Bortles will likely pass less.

Marqise Lee was Bortles’ top receiver this week, as he saw 12 targets and no other player saw more than six. Lee caught eight of those for 75 yards and a touchdown, his first touchdown of the season. He’ll remain an okay WR3/4, but his upside will remain low.

Colts 20, Texans 14
Tom Savage completed 19-of-44 passes for 219 yards and one touchdown. A 43 percent completion rate against one of the worst pass defenses in the league is not a good sign. If Savage doesn’t get replaced by T.J. Yates or the ball boy, expect him to continue his awful play.

The one good thing Savage did for fantasy footballers was to target DeAndre Hopkins relentlessly. Hopkins caught 6-of-16 targets for 86 yards and a touchdown. No other Texan topped 44 receiving yards, which means we can only hope he keeps targeting Hopkins like he is, because it’s the only way any Houston player will be consistent in fantasy.

Jacoby Brissett completed 20-of-30 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns, and gave up a fumble-six, with the bulk of his passing yards and both touchdowns going to T.Y. Hilton. This was the Hilton Show to be sure, as he caught 5-of-9 targets for 175 yards and two touchdowns after barely being on the radar over the three previous games.

Jack Doyle remained a PPR stud, as he caught 8-of-9 targets for 63 yards. It’s of course not a huge game, but in PPR it does the job, especially at a weak and inconsistent position. Doyle now has 33 receptions in his last four games.

Redskins 17, Seahawks 14
Russell Wilson completed 24-of-45 passes for 297 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, while adding 77 yards on the ground. It wasn’t a good day for Wilson and the Seattle offense, as he was harried by the Washington defense due, once again, to poor offensive line play. Luckily for his fantasy backers, the fantasy points accumulated for a strong fantasy day anyway.

Doug Baldwin caught 7-of-12 targets for 108 yards and a touchdown, and looked good doing so. This is just to say, he’s one of the best receivers in the league, and I don’t think enough people recognize that.

Kirk Cousins completed 21-of-31 passes for 247 yards and six sacks. He did well to get the win in this game, but with his awful offensive line, there wasn’t much chance for a big fantasy game against this defense.

Vernon Davis led the way on offense with Jordan Reed and Jamison Crowder out, catching 6-of-9 targets for 72 yards. While Rob Kelley scored two short touchdowns, he tallied just 18 yards rushing on 14 carries.

Josh Doctson made some nice plays this week, catching 3-of-5 targets for 59 yards. He’s slowly getting better and will have some value moving forward.

Cardinals 20, 49ers 10
C.J. Beathard completed 24-of-51 passes for 294 yards and an interception, while rushing for a touchdown. It wasn’t an awful game for him, as he was under pressure often and ended up being sacked five times. Jimmy Garoppolo waits in the wings though.

Carlos Hyde continues to stay relevant due to his receiving ability. This week, he rushed 12 times for 41 yards, but caught 9-of-11 targets for 84 yards. After him, no 49ers player had more than three receptions.

Drew Stanton completed 15-of-30 passes for 201 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. At times, he looked great and at others, rotten, but he did make things happen and helped his team move the ball. We can’t forget that he was facing the 49ers, but it’s better than stinking up the joint.

Adrian Peterson was the guts of this win, as he rushed an amazing 37 times for 159 yards and caught 2-of-4 passes for eight yards. Again, this was the 49ers’ awful run defense he was facing, but the volume alone should continue to keep him a worthwhile fantasy player.

Cowboys 28, Chiefs 17
Alex Smith completed 25-of-34 passes for 263 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, his first of the season. That puts him as the 10th-best fantasy quarterback of the week, and last season that wouldn’t have been somewhat of a letdown. That shows you how well Smith has played this season.

Kareem Hunt hasn’t topped 100 yards rushing in the last four weeks, whereas in the first five weeks, he had four games over 100 yards rushing. He only got nine carries this week though, which isn’t going to get the job done. Hopefully the Chiefs can get things back on track with the bye week.

Dak Prescott was amazing in this game, as he completed 21-of-33 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns, plus rushed three times for 27 yards and another touchdown. This was a good game to see before Elliott’s likely suspension, as Prescott was able to do a lot of positive things despite the run game not clicking on all cylinders.

Both Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams had good games, with Williams having his best yardage game of his career, but both players were injured. Both injuries don’t seem like they will be long term, but it’s something to monitor, because if Elliott is gone, this passing game gets a boost.

Raiders 27, Dolphins 24
Kenyan Drake asserted himself as Miami’s lead back, but was still outscored by Damian Williams, due to the latter’s passing-game work. Drake rushed nine times for a nice 69 yards and caught 6-of-6 targets for 35 yards, while Williams rushed seven times for 14 yards and caught 6-of-6 targets for 47 yards and a touchdown.

Jay Cutler completed 34-of-42 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns, and didn’t turn the ball over for the first time since Week 1. This was by far his best game, but it did include some garbage-time production against a bad pass defense. I won’t chase this game from Cutler, but it’s good to see some spark of life from him, which pushes the fantasy numbers of everyone else up.

Derek Carr had a strong game, completing 21-of-29 passes for 300 yards and a touchdown. The one touchdown unfortunately doesn’t get it done in fantasy, but that is the way the ball bounces, and this time around the ball bounced in Marshawn Lynch’s favor, as he scored two rushing touchdowns, doubling his season output.

Lynch once again saw limited work, rushing 12 times for 57 yards and two touchdowns, and catching both his targets for six yards. It doesn’t look like they’ll be upping his workload anytime soon, so he will remain a touchdown-dependent back.

Jared Cook broke out this week, catching 8-of-9 targets for 126 yards, giving him his second 100-yard game in three weeks. Only Travis Kelce has more than one 100-yard game for a tight end this season. After the bye, Cook will face New England, Denver and the Giants. That’s a good stretch for a tight end.

For more thoughts, check out Walt’s updated NFL Power Rankings, which will be posted Tuesday morning.

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Fantasy Football: The Things I Learned – Week 9, 2017

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