Learn From yesterday, Live for today, hope for tomorrow. The NFL season builds upon itself each week and offers up its share of highs and lows. This is on a cumulative basis but DFS gives us a fresh start each week. The key is to take everything as a learning experience while not overreacting in either direction. We are here to make hoping for tomorrow a little more palatable.
Each week we will take a look at both positive and negative situations that transpired from the week prior and what it means going forward. Let’s keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg and throughout the week we will go into further detail about other players that deserve our attention for the coming slate of games. That is why you need to stick with us throughout the week.
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As a preview of what you can expect. Once upon a time, the Vikings were thought to be Super Bowl Contenders, but much has changed for them this season. Dalvin Cook continues to be a star for them though. Cook had 22 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown and caught to passes for eight yards. That doesn’t quite live up to his draft cost, but it is enough that you’re not too disappointed if you paid up for him. The rest of the Vikings though left much to be desired, with the exception of Irv Smith who had four receptions for 63 yards and a touchdown from the tight end spot. The Buccaneers kept rolling, getting the win, but were a disappointment from a DFS perspective. Tom Brady had just 196 yards and two touchdowns, Rob Gronkowski had one reception, which was a touchdown, and Chris Godwin had just 3 targets. Ronald Jones was easily their most useful DFS play with 80 yards rushing.
Moving forward to the Giants and the Cardinals. The Cardinals won this one easily. DeAndre Hopkins had a nice day receiving with nine receptions for 136 yards, Kyler Murray threw for 244 yards and ran for another 47 and Kenyan Drake had 80 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Giants added nothing of DFS value, with their only touchdown coming from Dion Lewis who had just 14 yards.
The Cheifs were in Miami, and we saw some signs that Patrick Mahomes might be human. He threw for 393 yards, and two touchdowns, but also three interceptions, which hurt his value a bit this week. Travis Kelce continues to be a mainstay, he had eight receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire had 21 touches, amassing 32 rushing yards, and 59 receiving for a better day than the initial stat check appeared. For the Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa was very usable, putting up 316 yards passing, with two touchdowns, and an interception, he also rushed for 24 yards and a touchdown as well. We also a productive day from Mike Gesicki, who caught five passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns, and Lynn Bowden with seven receptions for 85 yards.
Chances are if you stacked the Titans yesterday, you had a good day. Derrick Henry had 216 yards and two touchdowns, A.J. Brown seven receptions for 112 yards and a touchdown as well. Ryan Tannehill certainly didn’t set the world on fire, but at his price, getting 216 yards and two touchdowns certainly didn’t hurt you. As for the Jaguars, Keelan Cole was really the only player of note catching seven balls for 67 yards and a touchdown.
The Cowboys and the Bengals turned out to largely be a DFS blackhole. Of the two teams, A.J. Green was really the only player of note and he had just six receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown.
The Bears took on the Texans at home this week and saw productive days from David Montgomery, who had 113 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and caught three passes for 42 yards. Allen Robinson caught nine passes for 123 yards and a touchdown, and Mitchell Trubiskywas useful as well passing for 267 yards and three touchdowns, and rushing for another 23 yards. On the Texans’ side of the ball, Keke Coutee caught three passes for 24 yards and a touchdown, and DeShaun Watson threw for just 219 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 38 more.
For whatever reason when I see two teams combine for more than 50 points, I always want to think there were some big DFS days that were had. The Broncos and the Panthers was one of those games that proved me wrong. When reviewing the two, we saw nice games from Drew Lock of the Broncos, and Teddy Bridgewater, but that was the extent of it. Lock threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns, while Bridgewater 283 yards, and rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown. Otherwise, it was pretty slim pickings from a productivity standpoint. Mike Davis had 51 yards and two touchdowns, Robby Anderson had 8 catches for 86 yards, and K.J. Hamler had two receptions for 86 yards and two touchdowns.
The Jets and the Seahawks was as high scoring as expected, but we didn’t see the big performances as expected. Russell Wilson for 206 yards and 4 touchdowns, Chris Carson had twelve carries for 76 yards and a touchdown, and D.K. Metcalf had six receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown. On the Jets’ side of things, Sam Darnold was unable to take advantage of the worst passing defence in the league throwing for just 132 yards, which crushed any dreams of their receivers having any sort of productivity.
In Vegas, we had a somewhat surprisingly high scoring affair with the Raiders and Colts combining for 71 points. For the Colts, we saw Jonathan Taylor have his biggest performance of the year so far, with 150 yards rushing and two touchdowns. This was his third straight game with 90 yards or more on the ground and his second straight game of 7 yards per carry or better. T.Y. Hilton caught five passes for 86 yards and a touchdown and Philip Rivers threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns. For the Raiders, we saw a big game from Nelson Agholor who had five receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown, we also saw another useable game from Darren Waller with seven receptions for 75 yards. Otherwise, Derek Carr’s 318 yards were largely nullified by having two interceptions to go with the two touchdowns.
In what was expected to be a defensive matchup with Washington and San Francisco, we saw just one really usable DFS player in Brandon Aiyuk, who had 119 yards receiving on 10 receptions. Otherwise, there was nothing really to note in this game.
The Eagles and the Saints were a more interesting matchup than expected. Rookie Jalen Hurtsearned himself another start with 167 yards passing and a touchdown, to go along with 106 yards rushing. Miles Sanders also had a big day with 115 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles to go along with 4 receptions for 21 yards. With the Saints, we saw Taysom Hill continue to be a threat passing the ball and rushing, as he threw for 291 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for 33 yards as well. Alvin Kamara had his usual duel threat game with 50 rushing yards and a touchdown, to go along with seven reception and 44 receiving yards. Michael Thomas also added eight receptions for 84 yards.
Atlanta went out to LA to take on the Chargers this week. Matt Ryan struggled, for the Falcons but we saw nice days from Calvin Ridley who eight receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown, and also a big game from Russell Gage with the absence of Julio Jones. Gage caught five passes for 82 yards and also threw a touchdown for 39 yards. Justin Herbert was a bit underwhelming again for the Chargers, with just 243 yards and two touchdowns, while Keenan Allen had 9 receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown, and Austin Ekeler had the biggest performance for the Chargers rushing for 79 yards and catching 9 passes for 67 yards as well.
Last but not least, possibly the game I had the most riding on with the Packers in Detroit to take on the Lions. I got about 70% of this matchup up correct. Aaron Rodgers had 290 yards and three touchdowns and 19 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground as well, Davante Adams had seven receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling added six receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown. Where I missed on the Packers is that I thought we would see a lot more from Aaron Jones, who had just 15 carries for 69 yards and 2 receptions for six yards. The biggest reason for this was the Lions keeping this game close for much of the day, and Matt LaFleur choosing to give 10 carries to Jamaal Williams as well. For the Lions, we saw T.J. Hockenson see 11 targets and convert six of those into receptions for 43 yards and a touchdown. Otherwise, we didn’t see a lot from the Lions offence, I expected a bigger day from Marvin Jones, who was one questionable out of bounds call which would have added 35 yards and a touchdown to his day, but at the end of the day, he finished with 4 receptions for 48 yards.
