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?
Panthers 37, Bucs 26
Kyle Allen completed 20-of-32 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns as he managed the Panthers to yet another win. There is plenty of speculation that Allen could remain the starter even when Cam Newton gets healthy, but Allen really hasn’t done all that much other than give the ball to Christian McCaffrey. It might be the right choice, but I think Newton gets a chance to start again.
Christian McCaffrey had 22 carries for 31 yards and a touchdown, plus caught 4-of-5 targets for 26 yards and another touchdown. I think we can call the Bucs’ run defense legit, but we also must marvel at McCaffrey’s ability to get into the end zone and make things happen every game. He’s the best back in the league right now without much doubt.
Curtis Samuel also scored two touchdowns, one through the air and one on the ground, as he put up 78 yards on five touches. He had been bottled up of late, so this was a great bounceback game.
Jameis Winston became just the fourth player to throw for 400 yards and five interceptions in a game. Winston had yet another meltdown game, but even with FIVE interceptions, he had 17 fantasy points. Thankfully, he doesn’t have anyone behind him who is worth throwing out there in his place.
Chris Godwin caught 10-of-12 targets for 151 yards, while Mike Evans caught 9-of-17 targets for 96 yards. Forcing it to Evans didn’t work though, as two of Winston’s interceptions came when targeting Evans. Both wide receivers going to put up numbers, but Godwin is a beast right now and nearly unstoppable.
Peyton Barber saw more snaps and carries than Ronald Jones, but Jones scored a short touchdown. In a pass-heavy game, neither was going to have much value, and at this point they need a touchdown to be worth starting, which is hard to predict. But Jones is the better runner by any measure.
Seahawks 32, Browns 28
Russell Wilson completed 23-of-33 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns while rushing eight times for 32 yards and a touchdown. The Seahawks’ defensive woes are really helping Wilson see more work, and that’s great for football fans.
Will Dissly went down with a non-contact injury that appears to be a torn Achilles, ending his season. That’s another tough blow for Dissly, who lost last year to a torn right patellar tendon.
Chris Carson continues to dominate after a fumbling scare earlier in the season. This week, he rushed 24 times for 124 yards and a touchdown plus caught four passes for 35 more yards. He’s truly a stud.
Tyler Lockett only saw five targets, but caught all five for 75 yards and had a touchdown overturned after review, which Chris Carson then punched in. Fantasy is a game of inches, but there will be games like this my mama said.
Baker Mayfield completed 22-of-37 passes for 249 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, plus rushed four times for 35 yards and a touchdown in yet another uneven performance. Not all the interceptions were on him, but they also weren’t perfectly placed passes either. Mayfield remains a work in progress.
Nick Chubb, on the other hand, is not a work in progress, as he’s the real deal and keeps showing he can put up numbers in any game environment. This week, he rushed 20 times for 122 yards and two touchdowns and caught five passes for 17 yards.
Redskins 17, Dolphins 16
Case Keenum returned to the field after two missed games due to sucking/foot injury to complete 13-of-25 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. He can be an okay quarterback in the right situations, but unless he’s playing the Dolphins again, the situations might not be right.
Terry McLaurin is like a bright diamond glinting in a mountain of mud or, as I like to call the mud, Washington. He continues his assault on the league despite playing for a bad football team as he caught 4-of-7 targets for 100 yards and two touchdowns. You just keep starting him and reap the benefits.
Adrian Peterson had his dream matchup this week, as Washington took a lead and let Peterson run 23 times for 118 yards, adding two receptions for 18 more yards. But he didn’t get in the end zone and he won’t get many matchups like the Dolphins to take advantage of moving forward.
Josh Rosen stunk up the place, throwing for two interceptions and just 85 yards on 25 pass attempts before being replaced by Ryan Fitzpatrick, who then did what Ryan Fitzpatricks does and brought the Dolphins back in the finals seconds to tie or, I mean, go for two and lose the game. The Dolphins got exactly what they wanted with this game; a comeback to show they actually want to win and a missed 2-point conversion to keep them in the lead for Tua Tagovailoa.
Miami’s backfield got a little hairier this week, as Mark Walton rushed six times for 32 yards and caught 5-of-6 targets for 43 yards while Kenyan Drake rushed 10 times for 40 yards and caught 6-of-9 targets for 30 yards and Kalen Ballage got the goal-line carries! Run far away from this mess in fantasy.
Ravens 23, Bengals 17
Lamar Jackson completed 21-of-33 passes for 236 yards and rushed 19 times for 152 yards and a touchdown. It was the first time a quarterback has reached 200 yards passing and 150 yards rushing in a regular season game. Colin Kaepernick holds the record with 263 yards passing and 181 yards rushing against the Packers in the 2012 playoffs. The Bengals had no shot at stopping Jackson with their slow linebackers, so he took what they kept giving him.
Mark Ingram rushed 23 times for 52 yards and a touchdown, plus caught two passes for 22 yards, but with Jackson running wild, Ingram didn’t get as many chances to touch the ball as his fantasy backers would like.
Marquise Brown missed this game, and instead of another receiver stepping up, Jackson upped his rushing, while Mark Andrews led the way through the air catching 6-of-8 passes for 99 yards.
The Bengals have no chance with a depleted and poor offensive line, which showed again this week. Even Tyler Boyd was held to three receptions for 10 yards, while Joe Mixon rushed eight times for 10 yards! There really is no hope for this offense with an offensive line like this.
Vikings 38, Eagles 20
Hey, look what happens when you use all your offensive players instead of just one Minnesota! The ground-and-pound game wasn’t going to work against Philadelphia, so the Vikings aired it out to their two stud receivers, and it worked, as Kirk Cousins completed 22-of-29 passes for 333 yards and four touchdowns.
Three of Cousins’ touchdowns went to disgruntled employee No. 1, Stefon Diggs. Diggs caught 7-of-11 targets for 167 yards and the aforementioned touchdowns. I think that will placate him for a bit.
Carson Wentz completed 26-of-40 passes for 306 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, but he couldn’t keep up with the hailstorm of touchdowns coming from the Vikings. He really needs DeSean Jackson back to help open up the field.
Miles Sanders continues to catch deep passes, so right now he’s Jackson’s replacement in some ways. Sanders caught three passes for 81 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown. Right now, the run game is all Jordan Howard while Sanders is developing well as a receiver. But in a game where the Eagles trailed early, I would have liked to have seen more than three targets.
Saints 13, Jaguars 6
Teddy Bridgewater completed 24-of-36 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown, as he returned to his game-managing ways to win yet again in place of Drew Brees. Unless Bridgewater is in a highly positive matchup, he remains off the fantasy radar for most leagues.
Bridgewater continues to target Michael Thomas heavily, giving him 12 targets of which he caught eight for 89 yards. Bridgewater did miss Thomas on a would-be touchdown, but for the most partm Thomas has remained a strong fantasy play with Bridgewater in there.
Alvin Kamara appeared to play hurt this week, as he was sent to the medical tent and wasn’t his usual self, rushing 11 times for 31 yards and catching 7-of-8 targets for 35 yards.
Gardner Minshew completed 14-of-29 passes for 163 yards and an interception. The ‘stache crashed, but he gets the Bengals next week to pump his stats and brand back up.
Nobody did too much offensively for the Jaguars, but Leonard Fournette continued to piece together good overall numbers with another big workload. He rushed 20 times for 72 yards and caught all six of his targets for 46 yards. In PPR leagues, that’s not shabby at all, and that’s what we can expect from him nowadays, even in tough matchups like this one. He is going to eat the Bengals’ lunch next week.
Texans 31, Chiefs 24
Deshaun Watson completed 30-of-42 passes for 280 yards, one touchdown and two picks, while rushing 10 times for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Those rushing touchdowns give him five on the season, matching his total from last year, and it pushed him from an awful fantasy day to a great one. That versatility is what makes him a top-three fantasy play each week.
DeAndre Hopkins is officially in a slump. The Texans tried to get him going with short passes, but he just ended up not getting many yards, as he caught 9-of-12 targets for 55 yards. He also dropped a touchdown pass that he usually catches. He’s too good to not break out of this slump, but it is a slump.
Will Fuller also dropped some would-be touchdowns, three to be exact. They weren’t gimmies, but they were catchable. On the day, he caught 5-of-9 targets for 44 yards and could have had so much more.
Patrick Mahomes completed 19-of-35 passes for 273 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in a good, but not up to the Mahomesian standard, day. His ankle is still bothering him and likely hurting some of his passes, especially when he’s on the move.
Tyreek Hill returned to catch 5-of-10 targets for 80 yards and two touchdowns. He’s back and should continue to put up good numbers.
Damien Williams took a backseat this week, as he ran the ball once for six yards and caught his one target for 14 yards and a touchdown, while LeSean McCoy ran eight times for 44 yards and caught two targets for zero yards. Williams remained the snap leader somehow and got into the end zone, but two touches isn’t quite what you are looking for from your fantasy back.
49ers 20, Rams 7
Jimmy Garoppolo completed 24-of-33 passes for 243 yards and an interception and rushed for a touchdown. It was an uneven game, but the 49ers’ defense played so well that he didn’t need to do much and didn’t.
Tevin Coleman has quickly taken back the No. 1 running back job with an average of 18 touches through his first two games back. Matt Breida is still heavily involved with an average of 15.5 touches in those two games, but Coleman is the no-doubt goal-line back and it helped him to a touchdown against the Rams despite the rushing game not getting many yards against a stout Rams defense.
Jared Goff was awful as he completed just 13-of-24 passes for 78 yards and lost a fumble. Goff can’t take pressure and his offensive line has crumbled. His weapons should keep him as a streamer in great matchups like next week in Atlanta, but that’s as good as it gets for him for fantasy this year.
Darrell Henderson rushed six times for 39 yards and looked like the best offensive player on the field for L.A. despite losing a fumble. That’s how bad the Rams were.
Cardinals 34, Falcons 33
Kyler Murray completed 27-of-37 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns, plus rushed 11 times for 32 yards. The Falcons were a perfect team for Murray to get the passing game going, as they have no pass rush and an awful secondary, but it’s still a good sign putting up 340 yards and three touchdowns against any team.
David Johnson rushed 12 times for 34 yards and a touchdown while catching six-of-eight targets for 68 yards and another touchdown. He played through back pain but looked great, especially as a receiver. Chase Edmonds caught a short touchdown, but he was out-touched by Johnson 18-7.
Matt Ryan had an excellent day, as he completed 30-of-36 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Despite Atlanta’s record, Ryan has played well and is on pace to break Peyton Manning’s yardage record at the moment.
Devonta Freeman rushed 19 times for 88 yards and caught all three of his targets for 30 yards and two touchdowns. This was a strong game for Freeman, as he severely outplayed Ito Smith with 22 touches to just three for Smith. We can’t expect Freeman to catch two touchdowns on three targets ever again, but his backers will take it.
Broncos 16, Titans 0
Joe Flacco did nothing of consequence to help his team win, and he sure didn’t give fantasy players any reason to look his way for help. He will have better games against easier defenses, but he’s a schlub.
Courtland Sutton continues to run as Denver’s No. 1 receiver, as he caught 4-of-8 passes for 76 yards. Emmanuel Sanders aggravated his knee injury, so Sutton could be in line for a big target load.
Phillip Lindsay continues to split time with Royce Freeman, but also continues to play better and get goal-line work. This week, he ran the ball 15 times for 70 yards and a touchdown, plus caught 2-of-3 targets for five yards. Freeman caught all five of his targets for 42 yards and ran the ball 11 times for 34 yards. Freeman has some flex appeal in PPR leagues, but Lindsay remains the upside play.
Marcus Mariota completed 7-of-18 passes for 63 yards and two interceptions before being pulled for Ryan Tannehill, who completed 13-of-16 passes for 144 yards and one interception. Mariota took three sacks, and Tannehill took four. Tannehill at least moved his team down the field a little, so there is a decent chance he gets the start next week against the Chargers.
Jets 24, Cowboys 22
Sam Darnold completed 23-of-32 passes for 338 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, looking like a real live NFL quarterback compared to Luke Falk. He got Robby Anderson and Jamison Crowder going and even brought Demaryius Thomas back to life. He gets a tough matchup with the Patriots next week, but at least there is some life in this offense now.
Robby Anderson caught 5-of-9 targets for 125 yards and one touchdown – of the 92-yard variety. Justice delayed is justice denied, but I’ll take some delayed justice for grabbing Anderson is a few leagues this year.
Dak Prescott completed 28-of-40 passes for 277 yards and rushed for a touchdown. His offensive line was hurting, and he lost Amari Cooper to a quad injury before half. If Cooper misses time, Michael Gallup gets a huge boost, but Prescott will have trouble reaching his potential in fantasy.
Ezekiel Elliott rushed 28 times for 105 yards and one touchdown while catching 5-of-6 passes for 47 yards. With Amari Cooper out, Elliott probably saw a bit more work than he would have, and it is good to see the receiving work, which is what boosted him up so well last season.
Steelers 24, Chargers 10
Devlin Hodges completed 15-of-20 passes for 132 yards, one touchdown and an interception, as he was asked to get the ball to James Conner and get out of the way. Hodges was fine, but Mason Rudolph will likely return after the bye.
James Conner rushed 16 times for 41 yards and a touchdown and caught all seven of his targets for 78 yards and another touchdown. Conner was great in this game, as he broke multiple tackles and gained first downs when it looked like he’d been stopped. All those broken tackles did catch up with Conner, who had to leave with a quad injury, and rookie Benny Snell took over from him. Snell looked good in relief, rushing 17 times for 75 yards and catching one pass for 14 yards, but Pittsburgh’s bye is next week, and odds are than Conner will return for Week 8 against the Dolphins.
JuJu Smith-Schuster had a couple opportunities to put up numbers, but Hodges couldn’t hit him and with a James Conner-centric game plan and Casey Hayward in coverage, he didn’t have a chance. Mason Rudolph looked to be on track to throwing more when he got knocked out, so maybe those two can get going after the bye.
Philip Rivers completed 26-of-44 passes for 320 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions as the Steelers harassed him all game. He did start connecting with Hunter Henry, but it was too late by then.
Hunter Henry was the offensive star for the Chargers, as he caught 8-of-9 targets for 100 yards and two touchdowns despite reports that he would be limited in his return. He looked great, and if he can stay healthy, he should be a valuable addition to your fake team moving forward.
The Steelers bottled up both Austin Ekeler and Melvin Gordon in this game, as Gordon had 11 touches for 48 yards and Ekeler had eight touches for 27 yards. Despite the poor numbers, this is the split we’ll likely see moving forward.
