Category: Game Analysis

Week 9 is in the books and the fantasy scoring was surprisingly low for all major players. Check your leagues – I’ll bet the team scores are among the lowest overall of the year. There was just one 100-yard rusher and it was Keaton Mitchell who is likely on your waiver wire (for now). None of the other 26 teams that have played this week had a running back that hit that mark.

Of the five 100-yard performances by a wide, two of them were Tank Dell and Noah Brown – both Texans likely on fantasy benches if not the waiver wire.

And of you think this week offered up some low fantasy points for your players, just wait for Week 10 when the Chiefs, Rams, Dolphins and Eagles are on their bye. That’s a lot of player swapping this week as fantasy teams make their starting lineup by either raiding their roster depth or wincing when they look at what is still on their waiver wire.

This was the week of the injured quarterback and a batch of MRI’s on Monday will determine who shows up next Sunday. We’re seeing a shift in the NFL with the 49ers looking like a team that peaked too early. The flu is hitting the NFL and that explains, assumedly, why the Chiefs lost to the Broncos after beating them 16 times in a row. And Patrick Mahomes did not throw a touchdown. And… and… she wasn’t there.

The AFC now has a 6-2 team at the top of every division so the playoffs are still wide open. The Eagles keep winning, but seem challenged at first before finally locking in the win. The NFC South doesn’t have a winning record, again. There’s still a lot of football left to play, but injuries keep changing rosters and there’s not a lot of teams that spawn confidence that they are as good as their record. There are several teams that are easily as bad as their record.

Not a great weekend. Mostly ugly, low-scoring, and filled with far too many injuries. Every season, there is a week – maybe two – where teams just all score much less than usual and in some cases result in an upset. There is usually at least one week where a large number of favored teams lose. Week 7 was filled with upsets, games that were “under”, and far too many disappointments.

There were only two quarterbacks that scored more than twice. There were six quarterbacks with 300 passing yards. Patrick Mahomes was no surprise. The others were Derek Carr, Jared Goff, Gardner Minshew, Geno Smith, and Desmond Ridder. Were any of them started in your leagues?

Only Kyren Williams and Raheem Mostert ran for more than 100 yards. Of the nine 100-yard receivers, only four also scored a touchdown. Only five tight ends scored, and only six managed more than 50 yards.

There were 14 games played so far.  Of 28 teams, only three scored more than 24 points. Half of the teams failed to score more than 17 points. The low scoring week usually happens between Week 7 and Week 13. Not great that we’ve already used up the low-scoring week.

Week 5 helped sort out the NFL better. The Eagles and 49ers remain undefeated and seemingly on a collision course deep into the playoffs, though they meet in Week 13 in Philly. There were more injuries that should be better defined by Wednesday at the latest – Justin Jefferson, James Conner, Anthony Richardson, Travis Kelce, and Daniel Jones as the most prominent.

You can be sure the NFL has changed when Bill Belichick loses two games in a row by a combined score of 72-3 and both were at home. And both were the biggest losses in his career. Only the Packers and Steelers are on bye for Week 6, but make advanced plans for Week 7 which has six teams on bye – Carolina, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, NY Jets, and Tennessee.

The day started out in London where it was 6:30 AM on the West Coast and untold people rubbed their sleepy eyes and said aloud, “so what channel is this on?”

There were six teams that scored more than 30 points, but also six more that failed to break ten points. We had several more monster performances from Christian McCaffrey, David Montgomery, A.J. Brown, Stefon Diggs, Josh Allen, and even Justin Fields (don’t worry, they still lost).

There continues to be several head-scratching performances – both good and bad. But only five quarterbacks threw for 300 yards and just barely since none had more than 335 yards.

We move into the byes in Week 5. Time to consider advance planning.

Just open the bomb-bay doors and pull that lever. There were several big-time beat downs where the opponent was never remotely in the game and seven games were won by at least 14 points. We had a 200-yard rusher and a 200-yard receiver. And the Dolphins went nuclear on the Broncos, still throwing points on the scoreboard while the first team wore baseball caps and laughed on the sideline.

It ends up that the Cowboys are not that good but the Bears really are that bad. Check out the games from a wild weekend.

Nice bounce back from a low-scoring and sloppy Week 1. Ten teams scored at least 30 points and twice both opponents topped the mark in the same game. There was enough difference in outcomes between Week 1 and 2 that we’ll  need Week 3 to give a better sense of which to expect. Ten quarterbacks threw for 300 yards and four running backs were over 120 rushing yards.

We saw more injuries that will shake up fantasy lineups but at least more fantasy points are rolling in and most games were closely fought matchups that went down to the wire.

A brief rundown of each Sunday game from a fantasy football perspective.

Overall, Week 1 used to be one of the highest scoring weeks of the year. For the last two seasons after changing preseason rules and games, it’s become one of the lowest with sloppy play and teams that are not all on the same page. It is also notable that Week 1 tends to be different than the rest in terms of which players excel or flop. It all counts, but never make your mind up about a team or player after just one game.