Week 8 Fantasy Reactions
DJ Moore truthers stand up! Your time has come. What an electric finish in regulation in that game. The Falcons got the win in OT because kickers can’t do their jobs. Solid comeback game by the Ravens. Tom Brady is finally a single man, hopefully, he can get his mind right and get back to his GOAT self. The Eagles roundhoused the Steelers. AJ Brown caught 3 TD passes from Jalen Hurts!
The Jets are still the Patriot’s little brother. They won 22-17. The Raiders must’ve been out on the town last night because they forgot how to score. I guess? I’m not sure how else you dissect that loss. New Orleans won 24-0. The Cowboys nearly hung a 50-burg on the Bears. Dallas could gain some momentum going forwards, watch out! The Broncos and Jaguars battled it out on foreign soil, and the Broncos are coming home with the win.
The Vikings got the win in a close one, luckily, it was the release weekend of the new Call of Duty, so Kyler wasn’t locked in. The Dolphins had a great comeback win. Shut out the Lions in the second half and were led by the Samoan prince, Tua Tagovailoa. Derrick Henry steamrolled the Texans, because of course. Titans won. Terry McLaurin claimed the whole city of Indianapolis and helped get the win by 1 point! CMC set records and propelled the 49ers over the division-rival Rams. QB1 Geno Smith took down the 6-1 G-men while Josh Allen and the Bills topped Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Lastly, on Halloween night, Myles Garrett haunted the Bengals’ offensive line. Joe Burrow still has not beaten the Browns.
Ravens vs Buccaneers
This game was really all in the second half for the action. 10-3 going into halftime and the Ravens couldn’t get any offense going. Mike Evans led the Bucs in receiving, he caught 6 passes for 123 yards. Both he and Godwin had 11 targets. Godwin with slightly less production catching 6 passes for 75 yards. One score away from a great week. Still 12 fantasy points on the week. Fournette was just shy of a 15-point week, but if you’re anything like me, I needed a 20-point week from him. The Ravens had solid days from Lamar Jackson and Isaiah Likely. Likely saw an uptick in production when Mark Andrews went down. That guy is getting beat up. Likely caught 6 passes for 77 yards and a score. Kenyan Drake and Devin Duvernay also found the endzone this week. Rashod Bateman goose-egged you (and me), which sucks because he was supposed to be the reason they traded Marquise Brown. The Ravens remain in first place despite the rough start to the year.
Fantasy Take: Rashod Bateman – I think I’d be benching him going forward, not dropping.
Broncos vs Jaguars
Another one across the pond! My favorite games to watch are these because the fans are wearing jerseys from all 32 NFL teams. Just people there to enjoy football. You gotta love it. Unfortunately, we got a rather bland matchup. The struggling Jaguars and the confused Broncos faced off in a must-win game for both teams. I suppose that is what made this game watchable. Travis Etienne led the Jaguars in fantasy points and on the field. He scored 25 thanks to his 156 yards and touchdown. Love to see Travis Etienne thriving. Evan Engram was pretty much the only other fantasy-relevant player. He had 15.5 points and that was because he scored a touchdown this week. Love to see it. The Broncos won, but I hardly remember much of their game. Latavius Murray and Melvin Gordon both scored a touchdown, giving them 14 of their points, and Jerry Jeudy caught a touchdown as well. Jeudy scored 18 points and Melvin Gordon had 14. Greg Dulcich had a decent day, scored just under 13 points, and made some great plays. Denver got this win, but I’m not convinced they could have won against a lot of other teams. Must have been the physical therapy Wilson was doing on the flight over there.
Fantasy Take: Travis Etienne – He’s for sure an autostart going forward. He is taking over as a workhorse. He could have a bad week here or there, but I see a solid second half of the season in front of Etienne.
Steelers vs Eagles
Nothing against Chase Claypool, but you know the Steelers had a horrible day if Claypool leads them in fantasy points with 12. Kenny Pickett had 191 passing yards and no touchdowns. I would say the Eagles’ defense is legit. Najee put up an embarrassing 32-yard day. Fortunately for his fantasy manager,s he caught 6 balls to put him in double digits. Not much else to recap for the Steelers. Buckle in, Steelers fans. It’s going to be a long season. As for Eagles fans, they’re still the only team undefeated in the NFL. At halfway through the season, I did not expect to be saying that. Jalen Hurts was money on Sunday. Hurts threw for 285 yards and 4 TDs. What more can you ask for? He scored 28 fantasy points and his target of the day, A.J. Brown, scored nearly 40! I have a league with those 2 as my workhorses, I better win that damn league. Miles Sanders sort of saved his day with the late score. He only had 9 carries for 78 yards and a score. Solid 14-point game almost. I’ll take it. Dallas Goedert had yet another double-digit week, which is typical for him. DeVonta Smith went missing, but it was the A.J. Brown show, so it happens.
Fantasy Take: DeVonta Smith – 7.3 points isn’t great, but against a better defense he should do better. A.J. Brown was simply unguardable this week. Smith was almost unneeded in a way! He will be fine going forward.
Patriots vs Jets
This game was a bit of a bland watch. It wasn’t on RedZone much and that is how I know there wasn’t much scoring. We saw a Jakobi Meyers score in the 3rd quarter for the Patriots, but that was their only touchdown. Nick Folk did the leg work from there. Pun intended. I’m sorry. It was sitting right there for me. Zach Wilson threw for 350 yards, but he had 3 interceptions, so it didn’t mean much. Their offense clearly misses Breece Hall. Only 49 rushing yards among all three running backs to log a carry. Not good. Tyler Conklin and Garrett Wilson were the bright spots in the offense. Conklin had 2 TDs and 79 yards to go with it from 6 catches. Wilson logged 6 for 115. Solid day. Not as solid as Rhamondre Stevenson’s day. He put up 21 points. His buddy Jakobi Meyers ALSO put up 21 points. Mac Jones stinks, he only put up 12. He looked so much more promising last season. I don’t hate it though, Patriots were blessed for YEARS. They gotta go through the thick now. The Patriots get the W, and now the AFC East is almost all at 5-3.
Fantasy Take: Damien Harris – Clearly, he is just a handcuff at the moment. Don’t drop him. But it is probably hard to start him.
Raiders vs Saints
This blurb is starting similarly to the Steelers’ blurb. When Mack Hollins is the leading fantasy scorer with 13 points, it probably wasn’t a good week. Well, that was exactly the case for the scoreless Raiders team. Josh Jacobs was M.I.A. May as well put his face on a milk carton after 43 rush yards. Not a good outing for the Raiders. In reality, this game was just Alvin Kamara scoring against the Raiders. He led the Saints with nearly 43 fantasy points! Something about that dude and Vegas… 3 TDs and 158 scrimmage yards. Hell of a day. Andy Dalton put together another decent week scoring 17 points. Chris Olave, who has been having a fantastic rookie campaign, had a quieter week with 10 points. 5 catches for 52 yards. Not much to recap here, as I said, it was all Alvin Kamara this week.
Fantasy Take: Chris Olave – He is still an autostart for me going forward. It just so happen to be an Alvin Kamara week.
Cardinals vs Vikings
This one was quite the thriller. Lots of yards in this game. Nearly 800 yards of offense between the two teams. Kyler himself had 326 passing with 36 rushing. Actually led the Cardinals in rush yards. Kyler also threw 3 touchdowns. 1 of which was to his buddy DeAndre Hopkins, who had a huge day. Hopkins caught 12 passes for 159 yards and the TD I mentioned. Good for 34 fantasy points. Electric! I missed DHop. He had a one-handed catch in this game that just shows that he has the best hands in the league. They’re like dinosaur feet. Massive. Rondale Moore scored 23 points the week everyone benched him, because of course. Zach Ertz had yet another solid week. He scored 13.4. Consistency is his greatest asset. Unfortunately, Kyler was too eager to play COD and lost this game. The Vikings were led by Dalvin Cook and his 111 rush yards and TD on top of 5 catches for 30 yards. 25 points for Dalvin off the bye week. Justin Jefferson caught 6 balls for 98 yards but wasn’t able to find the end zone this week. K.J. Osborn and Johnny Mundt were the lucky recipients of Kirk Cousins’ passing touchdowns. In the end, the Vikings got the win and move one step closer the securing the NFC North.
Fantasy Take: DeAndre Hopkins: Yes. He’s legit. He’s going to end up as a top-12 WR despite missing 6 games. He’s insane.
Lions vs Dolphins
This game was exciting from the get-go. The Lions’ offense was connecting left and right with their studs back and healthy. Without Swift and Amon-Ra, the offense is super bland. Jamaal Williams led them in rushing. He scored 2 TDs and had 53 yards to go with it. Amon-Ra had a decent day – 7 catches for 69 yards. T.J. Hockenson had a huge play but only wound up with 3 for 80. D’Andre Swift had a receiving TD, which was the highlight of his day. Got him to 14 points. Jamaal led them with 22 points. The Dolphins had much bigger fantasy days. Tyreek Hill scored 31.5 from his 12 catches and 188 yards, Jaylen Waddle had 30 thanks to 8 catches, 106 yards with 2 TDs and Tua topped 29 points. Tua threw for 382 yards and 3 TDs. To be honest, he had a play later in the game where Braylen Sanders would have had a receiving touchdown if the play got reviewed, but Miami ran a play and scored anyways. But it was a rushing TD so Tua only ended up with 3 Heck of a trio between Cheetah, Penguin, and Tua. I have a lot of Jaylen Waddle in fantasy so I am enjoying this. Miami shut down the Lions in the second half. The Lions didn’t score. So, who knows what the Lions’ playmakers could have done? I’m happy to say my Dolphins are now 5-3 and have not lost with Tua as the starter! This should be a fun second half of the season.
Fantasy Take: Raheem Mostert – Not his day, but he will bounce back. He’s the guy in Miami’s backfield. Teams can’t focus on the run when they have Hill and Waddle running everywhere!
Panthers vs Falcons
Who would have thought the answer to D.J. Moore finding the end zone would be P.J. Walker? Not me. The XFL product is helping the Panthers compete finally! You love to see it. Despite CMC no longer being on the team, they are still attacking the rush with D’Onta Foreman. He has 2 straight games of over 100 rushing yards. Plus, in this matchup, he scored 3 touchdowns! 3! The Bengals could barely score 1! The Panthers just about won this one with a last-second hail mary toss to D.J. Moore, but then the unthinkable happened. D.J. Moore celebrated his TD by taking his helmet off while still on the field, causing an unsportsmanlike penalty. Which in turn made the PAT 45 yards…and guess what? They missed it. The game was then tied and it went into overtime where the Falcons won it. So unfortunate for Panthers fans after such an electric game. The leading fantasy scorers for the Panthers were Foreman with 31.8 and D.J. Moore with 27.5. The Falcons didn’t quite have the day that the Panthers did, despite the win. We finally saw Kyle Pitts get his utilization, he scored 19 fantasy points. Tyler Allgeier had a solid 17.5 and even Damiere Byrd got involved with 15.7 points. Mariota was the high scorer with 22, and that was due to his 3 TDs. Big day for Mariota and an even better win, but man was that a sweat!
Fantasy Take: Kyle Pitts – Honestly, it probably feels great to see Pitts score 19 points, but I am personally going to try to sell high where I can. No doubt in my mind that he will wind up with 4 or 5-point weeks again.
Bears vs Cowboys
I wish the Bears would have faced someone else this week rather than one of the best defenses in football. The Bears seem to be putting things together. But not in, say, a monumental way. Just an “okay, they seem to not be terrible on offense” sort of way. Justin Fields had 2 passing TDs on top of a rushing TD. So he obviously had a big fantasy day with 26 points. We saw Khalil Herbert and more of his abilities to dominate the rush. He had 99 yards and a score to go with it. Giving him a 16-point day. Monty and Herbert were basically tied in touches, but Herbert keeps out-producing Monty. I wonder if we’re seeing a change of the guard? Something to keep an eye on for fantasy purposes. The Cowboys had all kinds of production. They scored 49 points, how could they not? Tony Pollard had a HUGE day. He racked up 131 rushing yards and 3 TDs! The hat trick! 33 points later and I wonder if we will see their backfield switching over to Pollard despite Zeke having the hefty contract? Doubt it. Jerry Jones reportedly already said if Zeke is healthy, he is the starter. Or something similar to that. Dak had a good day. 250 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, and 1 rushing for a solid 25 points. CeeDee Lamb caught 5 passes for 77 yards and a score. He had 18.8 points this week. Dalton Schultz is back in the double digits, which is about all you can ask for from a guy who has been in and out of the lineup. Cowboys grab yet another win. NFC East is getting interesting.
Fantasy Take: Khalil Herbert – I would try to trade for him personally. If he does take over that backfield or David Montgomery is in a surprising trade, Herbert is due for some huge workloads. Plus, he won’t cost as much now as he would if either of those 2 things were to occur.
Texans vs Titans
There were plenty of eyes on this game as we saw Malik Willis getting his first career start. Unfortunately, for all of those eyes I mentioned, Malik struggled. Struggled really badly. He quite literally only attempted 10 passes and had 55 yards off of that. How did the Titans win you ask? Derrick. Fricken. Henry. This man had 219 rushing yards and 2 TDs. Who cares if your rookie QB shits the bed when you have a running back doing that! Henry had 36 fantasy points. You love to see it. As for fantasy-related topics, there really is no one outside of Derrick Henry for the Titans. Robert Woods led the WRs with 2.6 fantasy points. Yes, less than 3 points. Yikes. The Texans didn’t have that great of days either. Dameon Pierce led them with 14 points and most of those were due to his receiving touchdown. Outside of Pierce, there is not much to cover. We did see Brandin Cooks play despite the trade rumors. He scored 11. The next highest-scoring fantasy player for the Texans was Davis Mills with 8.8. As I said, short and sweet recap. Derrick Henry = Freight train.
Fantasy Take: Robert Woods – I wish I had advice here. I am not sure. Will he likely have games over 10 fantasy points, but the Titans’ passing game is horrid. They need Treylon Burks to step it up in a big way when he is off the IR.
Commanders vs Colts
Something must be up with Jonathan Taylor this year because he does not seem like his normal self. I know he tweaked his ankle again this week, but as a whole, he has looked very off this season. Nyheim Hines led them in fantasy points, he scored 12.9. That should tell you just about everything you needed to know in Sam Ehlinger’s first career start. JT had 76 rush yards, that was it. Hines scored a touchdown, which was the majority of his fantasy points. Michael Pittman Jr managed to catch 7 passes for 53 yards. He has got to get into the end zone soon. The Colts came up short, and the Commanders took the W in Terry McLaurin’s hometown. He made sure to let the Colts know about it after his big catch near the end of the game. Scary Terry had a big day, he caught 6 passes for 113 yards. Came up just short of the touchdown near the end of the game, but had 17 fantasy points. Antonio Gibson is going to be the lead running back again. I think Washington was blind-sided by the preseason. Brian Robinson had his moments, but he has some learning to do. Gibson got most of his work done in the air, however. He caught 6 passes for 58 yards and a score. Only 19 rush yards. Outside of McLaurin and Gibson, only Taylor Heinicke had a solid day. 22 fantasy points for him and a win for the Commanders.
Fantasy Take: Antonio Gibson – Look, if you’re worried this production won’t last, trade him! His value is better after 2 solid weeks in a row.
49ers vs Rams
The Rams are going through the Super Bowl hangover right now. It’s tough to watch. They host a home game against the 49ers and I promise every time that game flipped on RedZone it was the 49ers on offense or the Rams on offense and the 49ers fans making it feel like a 49ers home game. It was insane. To start, CMC became one of 10 people to ever throw a TD, catch a TD and run a TD in. First time since 2005 (LaDainian Tomlinson). He had a massive 40-point week. 94 rush yards, 55 rush yards, and the 3 TDs. Brandon Aiyuk was the one who caught CMC’s TD pass. Aiyuk ended up with 20 fantasy points. George Kittle had an okay week, 12.9 fantasy points but that was mainly due to CMC carrying the 49ers. The Rams didn’t have quite as good of a day. Cooper Kupp hurt his ankle. He did have 23 fantasy points before injuring the ankle. 8 catches for 79 and a score. The Rams better be players in the trade market for a RB. I don’t think Ronnie Rivers is the answer. I didn’t even know who that was until I saw his name on my TV. Stafford can only do so much, you need a RB! At this point, the Rams are 3-4 with no answer at RB, and the offense lacks the spark it had just 10 months ago. It’s a damn shame what a discombobulated offensive line will get you.
Fantasy Take: Cooper Kupp – I’m picking him because if the injury is going to hold him out for some time, you should try to swap him for someone like Diggs/Adams/Waddle.
Seahawks vs Giants
To be sitting here, writing about the Giants/Seahawks matchup being a game between two winning franchises right now, is wild to me. Before the season, you would have thought this game would be 1-6 vs 3-4 not 6-1 vs 4-3! So funny how the NFL can blindside everyone. It’s about time the G-men got put in their place. No way they should be 6-1, but here we are. They couldn’t quite get it going against the Seahawks. Daniel Jones couldn’t quite get it going for the Giants. Only managed to score 9 fantasy points on 175 passing yards and some rush yards. No touchdowns for him. The only touchdown was Saquon Barkley – who was the only fantasy-relevant player for them. Maybe Darius Slayton if you were desperate, he had 11 points. The Seahawks keep on rolling, getting another big win. Geno is the man! He had 212 yards and 2 TDs. One went to Tyler Lockett who had 5 catches for 63 yards 15.3 points). The other was to D.K. Metcalf who caught 6 for 55 yards (17.5 points). The last fantasy-relevant guy was Kenneth Walker, who has been on fire lately! He scored 12 points on 18 carries for 51 yards. Not a bad day against a solid defensive front. I would love to see the Seahawks win that division…
Fantasy Take: Wan’dale Robinson: He was certainly in line for all the opportunities in the Giants’ passing game, but they pretty much got shut down. Wan’Dale should see more opportunities going forward.
Packers vs Bills
I’ll tell you one thing, the Packers finally figured out they need to establish a run game for anything else to work. The problem is, the Bills are the better team, and it showed. Aaron Jones put up a solid 143 rush yards against a solid defense. A.J. Dillon had 10 carries for 54 yards, but that is it. Solid yards per carry average. Rodgers was held to 200 passing yards and 2 TDs. One TD to Romeo Doubs and his 4 catches for 62 yards (16.2 pts) and the other TD to Samori Toure who caught a deep ball from Rodgers. That was his only catch. Robert Tonyan was robbed of a TD. He got called for offensive pass interference on a very questionable play. Would have been a big week for Tonyan if he didn’t get called for that. He wound up with 8.5 points. The Bills had the better week. Josh Allen had 218 yards with 2 TDs, and Stefon Diggs had just about 50% of Josh Allen’s passing yards with 108 on 6 catches and a TD (good for 23 fantasy points). Dawson Knox also found the end zone to save his fantasy week and so did Isiah McKenzie on a run play. All in all, the Buffalo Bills kept the lead and took the win with them. The better team won. I do think it is a good sign that the Packers committed to the run game. That has to open up the passing lanes for Aaron Rodgers going forward, right??
Fantasy Take: James Cook – We’ve seen it before, where a team waits a good chunk of a rookie’s season, and then after the bye week that rookie has a much larger workload. I wouldn’t be surprised if James Cook finds himself to be a solid fantasy option in the second half of the season.
Bengals vs Browns
It’s a good thing it was Halloween night because Joe Burrow looked spooked out there. I mean c’mon, 230 passing yards and 2 TDs against a depleted Browns’ secondary? I know it’s not all Joe Burrow’s fault, but someone needs to pop Zac Taylor in the back of the head. How do you have Mixon, Higgins, Boyd, and Hurst as weapons WITHOUT Ja’Marr Chase and you still can only put up 13 points against a crappy defense? That’s just sickening. Bengals fans ought to have him on the hot seat (if he’s not already). The leading fantasy scorer for the Bengals was Tee Higgins thanks to his deep ball TD (13.9 points). Burrow struggled, only getting 13.4 and Mixon only had 12.9 points. Tough night for the Bengals. On the other side of the ball, Nick Chubb ran it down Cincinnati’s throat for 101 yards and 2 TDs. Kareem Hunt added another 42. Chubb had 25.4 points. Jacoby Brissett was also airing it out! He connected with Amari Cooper on 5 passes for 131 yards and a TD. Solid day for the veteran pair. The Bengals end up falling another game behind, and the Browns earned another win as they get closer to their cornerstone QB coming back from suspension. The AFC North is getting interesting!
Fantasy Take: Tee Higgins – Don’t worry yet, Zac Taylor decided to fade the style of offense he ran when Ja’Marr was going off, so hopefully they revert back to that next week…
