| SUNDAY SALUTES | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarterbacks | Pass-Rush | TD |
| Kyler Murray | 283-106 | 4 |
| Josh Allen | 415-14 | 4 |
| Drew Lock | 313-47 | 3 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 372-2 | 4 |
| Russell Wilson | 390-5 | 3 |
| Running Backs | Rush Receive |
TD |
| Dalvin Cook | 22-206 2-46 |
2 |
| Christian McCaffrey | 18-69 10-82 |
2 |
| Duke Johnson | 16-41 4-32 |
1 |
| James Robinson | 25-99 | 1 |
| Jerick McKinnon | 12-52 3-16 |
1 |
| Wide Receivers | Yards | TD |
| Curtis Samuel | 9-105 | 1 |
| Jerry Jeudy | 7-125 | 1 |
| Keenan Allen | 9-103 | 1 |
| Terry McLaurin | 7-115 | 1 |
| DK Metcalf | 7-108 | 1 |
| Tight Ends | Yards | TD |
| Travis Kelce | 10-159 | 0 |
| Jimmy Graham | 6-55 | 1 |
| Evan Engram | 5-48 | 1 |
| Irv Smith | 2-10 | 2 |
| T.J. Hockenson | 5-39 | 1 |
| Placekickers | XP | FG |
| Tyler Bass | 5 | 3 |
| Greg Zuerlein | 1 | 4 |
| Graham Gano | 2 | 3 |
| Younghoe Koo | 4 | 2 |
| Jason Sanders | 4 | 2 |
| Defense | Sck-TO | TD |
| Ravens | 0-2 | 1 |
| Bills | 5-4 | 0 |
| Titans | 3-2 | 1 |
| Saints | 2-5 | 0 |
| Dolphins | 1-3 | 1 |
Bumps, Bruises and Bowouts
QB Kyle Allen -Ankle facture
QB Matt Stafford – Concussion
RB David Johnson – Concussion
RB David Montgomery – Concussion
RB Christian McCaffrey – Ribs
RB Justin Jackson – Knee
TE Noah Fant – Ankle
TE Jack Doyle – Head
TE A Owuegbunam – Knee
WR Laviska Shenault – Ankle
WR Preston Williams – Foot
Chasing Ambulances
QB Kyle Allen – That ankle injury looked like a season-ender. Washington turned to Alex Smith who passed for 325 yards and one score in about three quarters of playing time. But he also threw three interceptions that killed their chances. In leagues with two starting quarterbacks, Smith is worth grabbing if only for future games against the Lions, Bengals and Cowboys. But this could also end up giving Dwayne Haskins another chance at some point.
RB Justin Jackson – Injured his knee to start the game and then Kalen Ballage became the hot hand with 15 rushes for 69 yards and one score plus two catches for 15 yards. Joshua Kelley ran for 29 yards on nine carries and added five receptions for 31 yards. If Jackson’s knee injury proves serious, Ballage comes flying off the waiver wire with the Dolphins and Jets up next. The Chargers have been vague about the return of Austin Ekeler from his hamstring injury, but once he does, he resets the entire backfield anyway.
RB David Montgomery – Appeared to injure his shoulder but it was later reported as a concussion that kept him out of the game. Ryan Nall came in to replace him but never had a carry. Nall did catch four passes for 35 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Nall hasn’t had a carry this year and only Cordarrelle Patterson has run the ball other than Montgomery. This is one of the worst fantasy backfields with Montgomery, so his replacement isn’t any more likely to upgrade a barely relevant backfield. Unless they call up someone, Nall is the most likely replacement.
RB David Johnson – Left with a concussion and Duke Johnson took over with 16 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown, plus four receptions for 32 yards. The Texans play in Cleveland this week which isn’t ideal for rushing, but Duke Johnson is a solid receiver as well. He’s worth grabbing at least for the David Johnson owner.
Free Agents, Flops and Other Notables
WR Jerry Jeudy – Not only notched his second NFL touchdown, but Jeudy posted his first 100-yard game when he caught seven passes for 125 yards and a score in the loss to the Falcons. He fielded a team-high 14 targets. The other rookie, KJ Hamler, caught six passes for 75 yards which is his season-best.
WR Olamide Zaccheaus – The Falcons were without Calvin Ridley for the first time this season and Zaccheaus filled in admirably with four catches for 103 yards and a 51-yard touchdown in the first quarter of the win over the Broncos.
TE Hayden Hurst – Ended with a season-best seven catches for 62 yards against the Broncos and that makes it four straight games with over 50 yards.
RB Devin Singletary – In recent weeks, he’s seen Zack Moss score three times and out touch him. Against the Seahawks, in a game that they led throughout, Singletary only ran once for one yard while Moss carried nine times for 18 yards and a score. This Bills have split the workload all year, but over the last few weeks, Moss is taking a bigger role.
QB Jake Luton – The Jaguars seventh-round pick got the start this week and threw for 304 yards and a score with one interception in the loss to the Texans. Luton also ran in a 13-yard touchdown. He connected with DJ Chark for 148 yards on seven catches that included a 73-yard score at the start of the game. His next two opponents are the Packers and Steelers but he’ll face the Browns and Vikings after that if he is still starting.
RB Christian McCaffrey – He missed six weeks but returned with the same level of production – 69 yards and a score as a rusher and ten catches for 82 yards and another touchdown as a receiver. Teddy Bridgewater passed for 310 yards and two scores against the Chiefs with McCaffrey back.
WR Curtis Samuel – He led the Panthers with 105 yards and a score on nine catches. He posted 54 total yards and two touchdowns last week against the Falcons. Robby Anderson has remained the possession receiver but the last two weeks with Samuel showing up, DJ Moore has been held to only two catches in each.
QB Tua Tagovailoa – The Dolphins rookie is 2-0 as a starter and while he did little in Week 8, he passed for 248 yards and two scores in Arizona with no turnovers and 35 yards on seven rushes. His best receivers were the two starting wideouts Devante Parker (6-64) and Preston Williams (4-60, TD). He’s still a risk to use in a fantasy start, but that’s changing with another performance as good as Week 9. His next four opponents are the Chargers, Broncos, Jets and Bengals.
Dolphins backfield – With Myles Gaskin on injured reserve with a knee injury, the backfield started Jordan Howard (10-19, TD) with the same lackluster average rush. Patrick Laird only saw one carry and one reception but the undrafted Salvon Ahmed was the most effective with seven rushes for 38 yards. None of that is particularly relevant for fantasy points, but the Fins play at home against the Chargers this week. Until Gaskins returns, the backfield looks to be a committee approach with minimal individual production.
QB Garrett Gilbert – The Cowboys fourth-starting quarterback of the season exceeded all expectations with 243 yards and one score with one interception against the Steelers. He added 28 yards on three rushes as well. But that matchup had all the marks of a trap game that the Steelers tried to mail in and were still successful by scoring a few times in the fourth quarter for the win. Andy Dalton is out on the COVID-19 list and may be back for Week 10 anyway.
WR Antonio Brown – The Buccaneers’ new wideout picked a bad week to start a new job. They were dominated throughout their matchup with the Saints and Tom Brady only passed for 209 yards and no scores for the first time since joining the team. Brown caught three-of-five targets for 31 yards. Mike Evans (4-64) and Chris Godwin (3-41) also received six passes. Hard to draw any conclusions from the single game, but all three wideouts had roughly the same number of passes thrown to them.
NFL Running backs – The weather wasn’t bad anywhere and yet only one running back managed to run for more than 100 yards in Week 9 (Dalvin Cook). Only he and James Robinson gained over 70 yards as a runner.
WR Richie James – The former seventh-round draft pick and third-year receiver was given the start after rampant injuries to the other wideouts. He responded with a career-high nine catches for 165 yards even though he was listed as questionable to play with an ankle injury. Richie has been hampered by injuries this year but HC Kyle Shanahan speaks highly of him. Both Kendrick Bourne and Brandon Aiyuk were taken off the COVID-19 list and should start at the Saints this week, but posting those sort of stats in his only playing time this year. James only totals 24 catches for 479 yards and three scores in his career but shined with the chance to play last Thursday.
TE Travis Kelce – It isn’t enough that he led the position with ten catches for 159 yards against the Panthers, it’s that no other tight end gained over 60 yards. In this year where tight ends stats are dramatically down and still falling, Kelce is the only one making a consistent difference. In leagues without reception points, he has almost double the fantasy points of any other tight end.
Huddle player of the week
Dalvin Cook – I have written this column every Sunday night during the NFL season since 1997. That’s a total of 383 Tunnel Visions and 383 players of the week. And in all that time, I do not ever recall the same player being here two weeks in a row. The best fantasy player in two straight weeks? Maybe Patrick Mahomes two years ago, probably no one.
Cook, once again, poured it on with 22 rushes for 202 yards and two touchdowns with two receptions for 46 yards on the Lions. That’s 39.2 fantasy points in a PPR league. He turned in 48.6 last week. Maybe he misses a game or two every year, but when he is active, he’s a fantasy treat.
Salute!
Drama 101 – Somebody has to laugh, somebody has to cry
| Comedy | Yards | TDs | Tragedy | Yards | TDs | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Drew Lock | 313-47 | 3 | QB | Lamar Jackson | 170-58 | 1 |
| RB | Duke Johnson | 16-41 4-32 |
1 | RB | Justin Jackson | 0 | 0 |
| RB | J.D. McKissic | 3-17 9-65 |
0 | RB | James Conner | 9-22 2-(-2) |
0 |
| WR | Curtis Samuel | 9-105 | 1 | WR | Adam Thielen | 2-38 | 0 |
| WR | O. Zacceaus | 4-103 | 1 | WR | DeAndre Hopkins | 3-30 | 0 |
| WR | David Moore | 4-71 | 1 | WR | Tyler Lockett | 4-40 | 0 |
| TE | Irv Smith | 2-10 | 2 | TE | Mark Andrews | 3-22 | 0 |
| PK | Tyler Bass | 5 XP 3 FG | PK | Robbie Gould | 2 XP 1 FG | ||
| Huddle Fantasy Points = 178 | Huddle Fantasy Points = 46 | ||||||
Now get back to work…