Week 8 Observations

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Published on November 2, 2020

I don't know if it was as bad as last week, or whether my standards have gone down since my once pristine teams took so many hits. In my highest stakes NFFC Primetime, in which I lost Dak Prescott, and my backup was Gardner Minshew, I agonized between Baker Mayfield in a game with 25-mph sustained wins and Sam Darnold who I picked up at the last second. I wisely went with Mayfield who scored nine points while Darnold had only 8.75.

Somehow that team won its matchup and is still contending, but the shine has worn off considerably from the Jonathan Taylor-Nick Chubb-Prescott-Deebo Samuel-Mark Andrews-Darrell Henderson core from a few weeks ago. Alvin Kamara and DK Metcalf are my only reliable players, though Jalen Reagor looks like a player, and Antonio Brown comes back this week. It's a war of attrition for everyone these days, an, no matter how good things look, there's no standing still in fantasy football.

The Cowboys-Eagles game was a tough watch, and that was the 40-minute edited version in which I had Reagor, the Eagles defense and the Eagles minus 7.5. I also had Carson Wentz, who turned it over four times, and couldn't step into a single throw and CeeDee Lamb (5-4-27, 1-19-0) who appeared to be off the field more than usual.
Ezekiel Elliott (19-63-0, 2-1-10) looks like himself, only without much blocking, few red-zone or goal-line looks and less use as a receiver.
It wasn't entirely his fault, but Ben DiNucci looked bad. It would take a heroic effort to make this offense work against a solid defense, and he wasn't up to the task.
Michael Gallup (12-7-61) got the work, but didn't do much with it, while Amari Cooper (5-1-5) did nothing. No one is safe here, and I suspect it'll only get slightly better when Andy Dalton returns.
Boston Scott (15-70-0, 2-2-9) is shifty and makes nice cuts, but he's not nearly as explosive as Miles Sanders, and he doesn't break a lot of tackles.
Travis Fulgham (7-6-78-1) is still the team's No. 1 WR, though Reagor (6-3-16-1, two-point conversion, one carry for six yards) got involved right away. Dallas Goedert saw only one target in his return.
Mike McCarthy has gotten wise to analytics this year, but who on earth did he try a trick play for a 10-yard loss when the Cowboys, up two, were bludgeoning the Eagles with the running game midway through the third quarter?
Thank God for the late fumble-return TD. As I said I had the Eagles minus 7.5 and also their defense, and I needed that cover like Gollum needed the ring.
I was staring down the barrel of 2-8 ATS when two of the afternoon games miraculously turned around, and I might have gotten a push on the third, had the refs not called a preposterous unnecessary roughness penalty for a hit on Russell Wilson who faked a slide to get extra yards, then in fact slid right into the defender's oncoming hit. I'm still enraged at how both the announcers (and that chimpanzee Scott Hanson) justified the call, saying something to the effect of, "Jimmy Ward needs to know better."
I picked up and started Jimmy Garoppolo in two leagues, and while his lingering ankle injury possibly explains his poor play, maybe he should have sat this one out in that case. It was like trough Eli Manning, and Manning should have been out of the league by 2015.
George Kittle (foot) got hurt again. X-rays were negative, but that he had to go for X-rays right away isn't a great sign, especially with the 49ers scheduled to play Thursday night against the Packers.
Metcalf (15-12-161-2) is such a monster, and his day could have been even bigger had he and Russell Wilson connected on his final deep throw to the end zone. Think peak Terrell Owens with more speed, or Julio Jones with an extra 10 pounds of muscle.
Forget about handicapping the 49ers running backs. JaMycal Hasty got most of the work, but was ineffective and nearly lost a fumble. Jerick McKinnon's passing game involvement gives him a modicum of floor, that is, unless they've decided to give him some unannounced rest.
Nick Foles looked like trough Joe Flacco for much of the game, but the Saints defense isn't what it used to be, or maybe it is again what is used to be for the better part of a decade. Hats off to BDN for mounting the spread-covering comeback, though.
David Montgomery broke off a 38-yard run, but otherwise lacked the burst to turn a small hole into a large gain. No one fights harder for a quarter yard when you need three at the goal-line though.
Allen Robinson (7-6-87-1), Anthony Miller (11-8-73) and Darnell Mooney (6-5-69-1) are a narrow passing game tree, but it's planted in a desert and infested with a fungus.
Props to Javon Wims for his senseless ejection.
Kamara's floor is 2019 Christian McCaffrey-esque, but he hasn't been able to get into the end zone of late. I'm not concerned. It's hard to square watching the speed at which he plays and his 4.56 40 at the NFL Combine.
What an epic cover by the Broncos. Phillip Lindsay is so much faster than Melvin Gordon, but I appreciated the courtesy of six dump-off receptions to Gordon that went nowhere for my fantasy team.
Mike Williams is so massive he doesn't need to be open, and Justin Herbert has the arm, and the courage, to get him the ball down the field.
I made the Ravens -3.5 my best bet, and I was feeling pretty good at halftime up 17-7, with the Steelers only points coming on a pick six. But Lamar Jackson turned the ball over four times, and the Steelers prevented him from doing too much damage with his legs -- his one great TD run was called back due to a hold. In the end, the Ravens averaged 5.8 yards per play while the Steelers mustered only four, not counting the 110 to 30 disparity in penalty yards.
The loss of Pro Bowl left tackle Ronnie Stanley for the season is big, though, especially with Jackson's regression. The Ravens now strike me as a long shot to unseat the Chiefs, and the Steelers and Titans are probably better too, though Ben Roethlisberger also looked shaky against a good defense.
Tua Tagovailoa's debut was uneventful -- he attempted only 22 passes for 93 yards and wasn't asked to do much. The one trait I noticed was an uncannily quick release on his throws which should be an advantage, though to what extent I can't yet tell.
Jared Goff attempted 61 passes, so don't get excited about his 355 passing yards (5.8 YPA.) Accordingly, Cooper Kupp got a whopping 21 targets, but for only 110 yards.
Darrell Henderson (8-4-70, 2-1-11) was running well early, but left the game with a thigh injury, giving Cam Akers (9-35-0, 1-1-19) a shot.
Patrick Mahomes got 416 yards and five passing TDs without breaking a sweat. Mecole Hardman (9-7-96-1) seems to be a bigger part of the passing attack the last two weeks and could be a difference maker (or a zero) going forward. But we're starting to see the upside.
Travis Kelce (12-8-109) and Tyreek Hill (6-4-98-2) both had big games, but we've still yet to see a Week 1, 2019 Sammy Watkins style monster game from anyone on the team yet.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire split the work evenly with Le'Veon Bell, and neither did much. I know people were expecting a revenge game by Bell, but considering the Jets paid him a ton of money for not much and let him go to the Super Bowl favorite, I'm not sure how much beef he could possibly have with them.
There's really nothing left to say about the Jets.
I foolishly took the Packers minus 6.5, and I knew immediately it was a mistake. I'm just glad they lost outright. If you're not going to cover for me, you don't deserve the win.
I'm starting to regret drafting Michael Thomas over Dalvin Cook (30-163-3, 3-2-63-1.) Cook was the entire offense, but it was enough.
Davante Adams (12-7-53-3) is a monster fantasy option. But the Packers need someone who can actually stretch the field.
I was hoping Jonathan Taylor (11-22-0, 3-2-9) would turn out to be Adrian Peterson, but now I'd take Leonard Fournette because Trent Richardson, only without the useful cosmetic rookie-year production, is emerging as the comp. Jordan Wilkins (20-89-1, 1-1-24) and Nyheim Hines (5-8-0, 5-3-54-2) did all the scoring, and Trey Burton got another rushing touchdown late as a kick in the ass on the way out the door. I don't see how this isn't a three-way timeshare going forward, assuming Taylor isn't minimized further.
Kenny Golladay left the game with a hip injury without the courtesy of a single catch. The Lions ran the ball only 13 times, while passing 42.
The Raiders beat up on the Browns in a wind-marred matchup with very little passing. Josh Jacobs (31-128-0) was the only fantasy player of note.
I really needed that Jarvis Landry TD that was overturned, though. He actually had a second near-catch in the end zone that was knocked out of his hands too.
If Tua turns out to be good, it should be quite a QB class with Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert already looking like stars.
Giovani Bernard (15-62-1, 4-3-16-1) had a big fantasy game, even while ceding 10 carries to Samaje Perine who also got a short rushing TD.
I sat A.J. Green (5-2-19) for CeeDee Lamb and Darius Slayton. Green can't make a play, and Burrow will increasingly turn to Tee Higgins (9-6-78), Tyler Boyd (7-6-67-1) and Auden Tate (7-7-65) in his stead.
The Titans had a great match-up on paper, but looked sluggish after last week's war against Pittsburgh.
D'Onta Foreman is like Derrick Henry-lite.
I had the Patriots plus 3.5, so Cam Newton's game-sealing fumble was actually good for me, as it avoided the possibility of overtime, but I was still disappointed to see it. This Bills team isn't doing any damage in the playoffs, and the Newton Pats, if they ever got things to click, would be far more interesting as a storyline.
Damien Harris (16-102-1) is the early-down back of choice, it seems, though Sony Michel could be back next week.
It's been ugly for Josh Allen since his monster start, though weather was a factor Sunday.
Devin Singletary (14-86-0, 1-1-6) and Zach Moss (14-81-2) are splitting work evenly, but Moss got both touchdowns.
Troy Aikman, whose announcing has vastly improved over the last half decade, in my opinion, actually advocated for the Bears to go for it on 4th-and-2 from their own 20-yard line, down three with three minutes left in the third quarter. I didn't necessarily disagree, but it's amazing how far we've come where a one-time apologist for the surrender punt has now been radicalized.