Week 8 Recap

Well fellas, we're now over halfway through the regular season.

As is often the case in this league, there is a lot of parity this year.  Every team has at least a couple losses, and every team has at least a couple of wins.  What that means, is that every single team is very much still in it.

Reminder that at the end of the regular season, the top 4 teams make the playoffs.  There are also cash rewards for the winner of the regular season, as well as the regular season points leader.

Matt is on a 3-game win streak after facing off with Dan's team this week in a high-scoring matchup.

Jonathan Taylor erupted for 153 yards on the ground and found the endzone 3 times.  The man is a menace, and now has 14 touchdowns on the season.

Matt moves up to 5-3 and is now sitting in 2nd place in the standings.  He will hope his winning ways continue when he faces off with Tom in Week 9.

Well... Dan lost Cam.  He's gone.

Skattebo's light burned just a bit too bright.

We all kind of knew this moment was coming eventually, but we all assumed it would be a concussion or a celebratory backflip gone wrong.  After the injury, Jaxson Dart was shown on the field completely inconsolable, at times cursing at God himself.

(Warning: The video below may be disturbing to some viewers)

Not sure how, but Dan will have to try to compose himself, regroup, and move onward quickly, as he gets a matchup with Kyle in Week 9.

Kyle's RB duo of Saquon & Breece Hall both put up massive season-best performances in Week 8, en route to securing the victory over Kent.

Both of them are on Bye this week though, so he'll have to rely on some other guys to step up when he goes up vs Dan in Week 9.

Kyle now has back-to-back important wins and sits at 3-5.

At a point in time, Kent had rookie breakout superstars Omarion Hampton & Quinshon Judkins in his lineup.  Hampton is still on IR, and Judkins left Sunday's game due to a shoulder injury.  That's rough.  Hopefully both are back sooner rather than later.

At least he got some WRs back, with CeeDee Lamb & Rashee Rice reinforcing his lineup for the past couple weeks.

Typically super-reliable Jake Ferguson ended up with 1 target and a goose-egg this week.  I'd chalk that up to a poor offensive day from Dallas and nothing more.

Kent moves to 3-5 and faces off with Brice in Week 9.

In another battle of brothers, Brice claimed the W vs Ramsey's team this week.  He is sittin' comfortably at 6-2 and leading the standings.

He also had the courage to start Kyle Pitts this week (I'm pretty sure Brice has a jersey of Kyle Pitts somewhere in his closet).  With 19 targets over the last couple weeks, maybe not a bad move to keep him plugged into his lineup, although he's only managed to find the endzone once this season.

An uncharacteristic day from CMC saw him with only 8 carries for 25 yards on the ground.  He did contribute a bit in the receiving game, but it was his first game this year where he didn't see at least 100 total yards.  I am...not the least bit worried about him.

Recent RB pickup Kimani Vidal also stepped up for 117 yards on 23 carries.  So he may be a weekly play, at least as long as Hampton is still sidelined.

Puka & Lamar Jackson are also expected to be back in Week 9, which I'm sure is a welcome relief.  He gets a matchup vs Kent this week.

Ramsey had his two best offensive players on Bye this week, and was also dealing with his weekly QB coin flip, rolling with Baker Mayfield, who didn't need to do much on offense for the Bucs..and he made sure he didn't - only throwing 24 times for 152 yards.

Justin Fields has been very unreliable also, but (luckily?) they're both on Bye this week, so he'll have to pick up someone else to slot in.

For the record, JJ is one of the best wideouts in the league, but a frustrating offense has resulted in him only having 1 TD through 8 weeks.  He'll always be peppered with targets, but the quality of those targets is the concern.  

At least Ramsey will get JSN & Ashton Jeanty back for Week 9 when he faces Jordan.

Speakin' of Jordan, the guy is now on a 4-game winning streak.  Turning 0-4 into 4-4, ya love to see it.  I imagine he's in about the same mood as his starting QB, Herbert.  Just winning at life I guess.

Tucker Kraft also had a career day with 143 yards and two scores to secure the win vs Zach's team this week.  Jordan will hope the streak continues when he goes up against Ramsey in Week 9.

Zach's lone bright spots were Jalen Hurts & Javonte Williams, but it's a bit understandable as we're into a stretch of some rough Bye weeks and most teams aren't at full strength.  Emeka Egbuka has had 3 relatively quiet weeks since dealing with a hamstring issue.  Hopefully he's back to his early-season self after their Bye this week.

With the return of Aaron Jones on the Vikings, Jordan Mason seemed to slide back to a secondary role, although some of it could have been due to game-script.

Zach sits at 2-6 and will hope to stop the bleeding when he squares off with me in Week 9.

Tom had James Cook put up a career performance with over 200 yards on the ground and two scores.  TE Dallas Goedert has been an endzone magnet, and also contributed a couple TDs.

Mahomes has been consistently great all season long, and leads all QBs in scoring.

Tom moves up to 5-3 after back-to-back wins, and will hope for the hat trick when he goes up against Matt this week.

That's all I've got for now.  Enjoy your Halloween & good luck with your Week 9 matchups.

- Eric

Week 7 Recap

Week 7 in the books.

I'd say it marked the Second Coming of Joe Flacco, but it's more like the seventh.  He's been quite the journeyman over the years

Certainly been a breath of fresh air for the Bengals, and of course many of the fantasy players we have come to rely on.  Speaking of...

Matt & Kent faced off in a shootout, with Matt's team coming out on top and putting together the highest score of the week.

Ja'Marr Chase was the beneficiary of...am I reading this right?... 23 TARGETS from Joe Flacco this week, on his way to putting up 161 and a score.

Jonathan Taylor is laying waste to everyone in front of him week-in, week-out.  He found the endzone 3 times, and now has 7 TDs over his past 3 games.

With those two guys on your roster, you generally don't need much else..but A.J. Brown decided to show up this week as well, contributing 121 yards with 2 scores.

Matt is leading the league in scoring through 7 weeks, and faces off vs Dan in Week 8.

Kent's team did all you could really ask for, putting up one of the highest totals this week.  I have been saying that Kent's team could be a little scary once he got some players back on the field, and Week 7 saw the return of CeeDee Lamb & Rashee Rice, who both picked up right up as expected.

Rookie RB Quinshon Judkins was handed 25 carries and found himself in the endzone 3 times in a true breakout performance, D'Andre Swift now has back-to-back impressive showings, and TE Jake Ferguson has 6 scores in his last 4 games.

I'm just thankful I don't have to play Kent again until Week 15..

Kent will get a brother vs brother matchup with Kyle in Week 8.

Speaking of Kyle, he got an important W vs Ramsey this week, and I'm sure it was a welcome change from most of his past weeks, as this was a relatively low-scoring matchup for both sides for once.

Daniel Jones & the Colts kept their offense rolling, and he got some scoring help from the Patriots D.. apart from that, none of his skill players got a TD his week...so may consider it fortunate to escape with a win.

Saquon, Breece Hall, and JC-M (Bill) have had a couple back-to-back lackluster performances, so there's a bit of uncertainty in the running-back room.

That being said, a crucial win, and he'll hope to secure another in Week 8 vs Kent.

Aside from a great performance from JSN (as is the weekly tradition), and a season-best score from Tee Higgins, the rest of Ramsey's lineup failed to show up.  In the case of George Kittle, 2 targets and zero catches in his long-awaited return.  Hate to see that.

Ashton Jeanty and the Raiders looked horrible on offense, and he only managed 6 carries for 21 rushing yards on the day.

And yeah, Justin Fields has 91 passing yards... in his last two games.  Combined.  So that's fun.

Ramsey is sitting ok at 3-4, and will try to get back to even when he faces Brice this week.

And since I mentioned Brice.. the man is still sitting in first place, although he did take the L vs Jordan this week, who has now won 3 straight, going from 0-4 to 3-4.  Love to see the resilience.

For Jordan's team, Justin Herbert had his biggest game of the year and dropped nearly 30 points.  Josh Jacobs has scored 2 TDs in each of his last 3 games, and Tucker Kraft capitalized on double-digit targets for Green Bay.

The Chuba/Rico situation is still a bit muddy, as the Panthers seem to be sticking with the plan of rotating both backs.  That being said, Dowdle is the one who has looked much more explosive with the ball in his hands, so one has to think the volume will tend to shift his way.

Jordan will hope to see this win streak continue when he goes up against Zach in Week 8.

As I mentioned, despite the loss, Brice is still sitting atop the leaderboard at 5-2.

CMC has been extremely good up to this point, and put an exclamation point onto this week, getting his first 100+ yard rushing total on the ground, as well as his first multi-TD game.

Brice's team suffered yet another injury, as Mike Evans (returning to action from a hamstring injury) left Monday Night's game with a broken collarbone, which may sideline him for most of the remaining season.  

Brice will hope to get Puka back after the Rams' Bye week, but his WR room is a little shallow at the moment.

Brice gets a brother v brother matchup w/ Ramsey this week.

Tom's team was firing on all cylinders this week.  

Mahomes is almost quietly dominating scoring at the QB position, and is easily the QB1 through 7 weeks.

Davante Adams found the endzone 3 times in Week 7, doubling his season total to 6.

Bijan was finally held to under 100 total yards for the first time this season, but still put up a very respectable stat-line with 6 receptions and a TD on the day.

Tom moves up to 4-3 and will face off against me in Week 8.

Zach drops to 2-5 with the loss, despite productive efforts from Jalen Hurts, Amon-Ra St. Brown, & Javonte Williams.

Brian Thomas Jr. did exit his game with an apparent shoulder injury.  The Jaguars have been struggling the last couple games, but they do get a Bye in week 8, so maybe good timing to figure some things out and get a few players healthy.

Speaking of health, breakout WR Egbuka somewhat surprisingly played in the Monday Night game, after he had been nursing a hamstring injury.  So I imagine he'll try to return to his early-season form.

Zach gets a matchup vs Jordan this week.

After Bo Nix dropped nearly 40 points for Dan on Sunday, I was not optimistic about how the week was going to go for me.  Unfortunately for Dan, Jahmyr Gibbs must have taken notice, as he decided to have a 35+ point game of his own on Monday Night, going for 218 yards and 2 scores.

Ended up being a close matchup, and Dan may have been able to pull of a win if Nico Collins hadn't left the game due to a concussion.  His status will be one to monitor.  On a short(er) week, Nico may not be good to go for Sunday's game.

Dan sits at 4-3 and squares off with Matt in Week 8.

Also, somehow I am not surprised that Cam Skattebo tweets in all caps...

That's it for me.  Crazy that we're nearly halfway through the regular season schedule already.

Best of luck in your Week 8 matchups.

- Eric

Week 6 Recap

Checking the NFL injury report this week...

I went to a friend's house for a Halloween party on Saturday night.  I didn't intend on my costume to be fantasy football themed, but turns out it sorta was... (and yes, that's actually me under there)

I'd list off all the injured players, but I think there might be a per-page character limit, so I'd better not.  I'll point out the notable injuries in my recap.  Speaking of...

Brice wins a close one vs Zach this week.  CMC continued his dominance.  Although he's averaging less than 60 rushing yards per week, his receiving totals have more than made up for it.  And Rachaad White now has back-to-back productive weeks acting as the starter.

Things got a little ugly though, as wideout Puka Nacua suffered an ankle sprain.  Thankfully, it doesn't seem too serious, but his Week 7 status is up in the air, especially considering the Rams have a Bye in Week 8.  They may play it safe and rest him until Week 9.

Also, DJ Moore was apparently rushed to the hospital after the Bears Monday Night game... no news as to what that's all about, at least at this time.

Brice continues to separate himself from the pack, as he moves up to 5-1 and gets a Week 7 matchup with Jordan.

Zach falls to 2-4 and also saw an injury to emerging superstar Emeka Egbuka, when he left this week's game with a hamstring issue.  Have to imagine he will miss some time, but no concrete news as of now.

Apart from Jalen Hurts, Zach's squad didn't see much production this week.  Javonte Williams was kept in check all day, partially due to game-script, and Amon-Ra St. Brown somehow managed only 45 yards on 9 receptions.

Zach goes up against Tom's team in Week 7.

Alllllright, the story of the week for Dan's team was, of course, Cam Skattebo.  Remember that one guy in college who’d always yell “WOOOOOO” all over campus at 2 a.m.?  That’s Cam in a nutshell.

Skattebo put up 110 yards and 3 scores this week, then shotgunned 7 beers in the locker room afterwards.  Unfortunately that last stat isn't part of our league's scoring system (yet), otherwise I imagine he would have been a fairly high draft pick.

George Pickens also had a huge game for Dan, putting up 168 and a score..while Trey McBride pulled in a season-high 8 receptions and found the endzone as well.

Dan moves on up to 4-2 and squares off with me in Week 7.

Tom saw Stafford fall back to earth this week, which was disappointing considering he had a plus-matchup vs Baltimore.  Guessing the Rams losing their best WR may have had something to do with that.

I think Dan sent this in our group chat, and it applies to several players on Tom's bench this week..

As far as the positives, Bijan went nuclear, tallying 238 total yards and a TD, and Ladd McConkey got his first 100-yard performance.

Tom now sits at 3-3, and gets a matchup with Zach this week.

Teams must be very motivated to play Kyle... his opponent's teams are averaging over 135 points through the first 6 weeks.  So the schedule has not been kind, to say the least.  This matchup was no exception, with Jordan's team putting up over 157..

Drake London & Josh Jacobs both had huge games, but the real story here is Rico Dowdle..  After his 234 yard performance last week, Dowdle casually topped that, contributing 239 yards this Sunday.

To put it in perspective, Dowdle has more yards in his last 2 games (473) than Saquon Barkley has all season (462).

I have no clue what the Panthers are going to do regarding their RB room when Chuba gets back, but it would be pretty foolish to not give more playing time to the guy who has been putting up these types of performances, which also resulted in two wins.

Jordan needed his win also, and he's hoping to ride that momentum into Week 7 when he faces Brice.

Kyle just had one of those weeks, where you're waiting for all the touchdown alerts, and they never come.  The lone bright spot this week was DK Metcalf, although you could argue that any week without seeing your players get injured is considered a personal victory.  So he did luck out there.

Kyle drops to 1-5.  If history has shown me anything, he is definitely not out of it yet.  There is still plenty of time to string together wins and get back into the hunt.  Kyle will look to do just that when he faces Ramsey this week.

Speaking of Ramsey, he came up on the losing end of his matchup with Matt in Week 6.

I feel like I bring up Jaxon Smith-Njigba's name every week.  I know that, because i have to lookup his name to try and spell it correctly every time.  I also know that because he's having one of the strongest WR seasons in the NFL so far.  In fact, he's just behind Puka in overall scoring, which is saying something.  He's surpassed 130 yards in his last couple games, and remains an elite receiving option.

Unfortunately Justin Fields managed to throw for...wait, am I reading this right?  45 yards in the Jets' week 6 loss to the Broncos.  Wow, ok then.  Didn't know there were such things as "boom or bust" QBs, but it's starting to be a bit of Russian Roulette with Fields each week.

Ramsey did see his tight-end Njoku leave Sunday's game with a knee injury, so add him to the list of players banged up this week.  Ramsey gets a matchup with Kyle in Week 7.

Matt has gotta be happy the Bengals traded for Joe Flacco.  Flacco immediately seemed to have a connection with Ja'Marr Chase, as Chase pulled in double-digit receptions in Sunday's game.  Maybe, JUST maybe Flacco will be the medicine they needed.

Drake Maye and Jonathan Taylor also put up notable performances.  Taylor is the #1 scoring RB on the season through 6 weeks.

Matt is back to 3-3 and faces off against Kent in Week 7.

Kent got some Monday Night magic out of Jayden Daniels & D'Andre Swift to come back and get the win vs me this week.

A pretty important win really, as it gets Kent back to .500 on the season even after rookie breakout Omarion Hampton went to the IR last week.  With CeeDee Lamb & Rashee Rice waiting in the wings and due to return at any point, he could have a fairly formidable lineup down the stretch.

That's all I've got guys.  Best of luck in your Week 7 matchups.

- Eric

Week 5 Recap

 

Fantasy giveth, and fantasy taketh away...

Starting off with a quick player stat overview..

Top 5 players in positional scoring through 5 weeks:

WR

1. Puka Nacua (Brice)
2. Amon-Ra St. Brown (Zach)
3. Emeka Egbuka (Zach)
4. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Ramsey)
5. Garrett Wilson (Eric)

RB

1. Jonathan Taylor (Matt)
2. Christian McCaffrey (Brice)
3. Javonte Williams (Zach)
4. James Cook (Tom)
5. Jahmyr Gibbs (Eric)

TE

1. Jake Ferguson (Kent)
2. Dalton Kincaid (Dan)
3. Tyler Warren (Eric)
4. Hunter Henry (FA)
5. Trey McBride (Dan)

QB

1. Josh Allen (Kyle)
2. Patrick Mahomes (Tom)
3. Baker Mayfield (Ramsey)
4. Dak Prescott (Eric)
5. Jalen Hurts (Zach)

After starting the season 2-0, Ramsey had lost the last couple matchups, but he sure bounced back in a big way, handing it to my team this week.

Putting up 141 points, his entire lineup produced.  Although the Jets have yet to win a game, Fields has proven that he can still be quite the fantasy asset.  Jaxon Smith-Njigba is averaging nearly 110 yards per game, and Justin Jefferson now has back-to-back games with double-digit targets (which the Vikings SHOULD be giving him every single week).

Ramsey will try to keep the train rollin' when he faces Matt in Week 6.

Brice put up the highest score of the week, en route to getting the win over Kyle's squad.  And he didn't even need Lamar Jackson to do it, although the same can't be said for Baltimore..

C.J. Stroud had 4 TDs as the Texans decimated the Ravens, and Rachaad White proved to be a viable replacement start with Bucky Irving out, getting 2 scores on Sunday, to go with 70+ combined yards.  CMC hasn't found much running-room lately, but it doesn't really matter when he's averaging 80 receiving yards to go along with it.

While Brice picked up his 3rd Cardinals RB (so far), the backup to the backup, Emari Demercado...it's probably a good thing he didn't start him, as watching him drop the ball on the 1-yard line prior to an easy TD can't be good for one's health... 

Part of me finds it hard to believe that this sort of thing continues to happen regularly...but then again, somehow I am not all that surprised.  That would have put the Cardinals up 27-6 in the 4th quarter, by the way.  And yeah, they went on to lose the game. 

Thankfully Brice is not the Cardinals, as he knows how to win weeks.  Brice is sittin' at 4-1 and currently in 1st place in the standings.  He faces Zach in Week 6.

Kyle got solid games out of all 3 of his starting RBs, but the rest of his team was dropping like flies.  Darius Slayton is now dealing with a hamstring, Brock Bowers is week-to-week with his knee, his kicker is out the remainder of the season with a torn ACL/MCL, Saquon is nursing his knee, and add Ricky Pearsall to the laundry-list of 49ers players that are currently hurt.

In positive news, RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt (aka "Bill"), finally had a breakout game with 150 combined yards and 2 scores, so he's making a strong case for leading the Commanders' backfield going forward.

It'll be Kyle vs Jordan in Week 6.

For Zach's team, Emeka Egbuka continues to impress, catching all 7 of his targets for 163 yards and a score in Sunday's game.  Taken as a 10th round pick, he is one of the steals of the year so far.

Speaking of steals... he ALSO got Javonte Williams in the 13th round, who has been unexpectedly phenomenal through 5 weeks.

Having Xavier Worthy back on the field may also help rest-of-season, although he hasn't found the endzone yet since his return.

Zach moves to 2-3 and will see if he can get back to .500 when he squares off with Brice.

Dan had to deal with some fairly pedestrian performances this week, although at least Nico Collins and George Pickens managed to find the endzone.  Unfortunately the rest of his team did not have the same luck, and it's always a bit of an insult when your Defense drops into the negative numbers.

Dan benefits from roster depth, so we'll see if he makes the right managerial moves when he faces off against Tom this week.

Don't see too many matchups start with a player trade, but it happened this week, with Chuba Hubbard now on Matt's team & Rico Dowdle in Jordan's lineup.  This could be seen as an act of desperation, with Jordan in Bye week hell and badly needing a starting RB to try to get his first win of the year.

As it turned out, Dowdle went on to run for over 200 yards and post the highest RB score of the week...which played a large part in securing the win for Jordan.  Yet to be determined what will happen when Chuba comes back, but Dowdle has clearly shown he can handle the rock quite effectively when needed.

Jordan moves to 1-4, and we'll see what other shenanigans he'll be up to when he faces Kyle this week.

Although Matt's team came up a bit short, Jonathan Taylor found the endzone 3 times and Ja'Marr Chase proved he can still produce even when the Bengals are tanking.

A.J. Brown has been inconsistent, to say the least.. but he's at least getting targeted.  Some more favorable pass-defenses coming up may help get him back on track.

Matt drops to 2-3 and gets a matchup with Ramsey in Week 6.

Kent may have been reeling after 3 straight losses, but he got an important win this week over Tom.

Jaylen Waddle saw his first real productive yardage game, and Jake Ferguson has emerged as the #1 TE on the year, notching 2 scores in Sunday's game.  Derrick Henry put up yet another frustrating game, although he did find the endzone to avoid a total disaster of a stat-line.

I have been hyping up his emerging rookie RB duo of Judkins & Hampton... but just as he was starting to reap the benefits, the fantasy gods ripped the rug out from under him (or possibly Dan put another curse on his team).  Omarion Hampton is being placed on IR after injuring his ankle during Sunday's game.  Not sure on the severity as of now, but either way, not great news.

Onto more positive news.. CeeDee Lamb SHOULD be back in action soon.  Tough to win games when you lose your first-round pick, but all things considered, not in too bad of a spot sitting at 2-3 heading into Week 6.

Tom drops to 3-2, but he did have to deal with Bijan on Bye, as well as James Cook putting up a dud of a performance.

He took the prudent "wait-and-see" approach with Darren Waller after picking him up this week, but back-to-back productive games means he may have two viable TE options going forward.

Tom gets a pivotal matchup vs Dan this week.

That's it for me.  Good luck on the waiver wire & your Week 6 matchups!

- Eric