Thursday Night Observations

What a storybook ending! I had the Chargers +3.5 in my picking pool, and had subbed in Joshua Palmer yesterday in one of my NFFC leagues. For an injured Justin Herbert to find him, of all people, for the cover was too good. And this came after Clyde Edwards-Helaire (put him in my NFFC Primetime) busted off a 52-yard run on the prior drive. It doesn’t quite make up for this, but you have to rebuild from a devastating earthquake one brick at a time.

• Having faded Austin Ekeler, I was enjoying some schadenfreude for three quarters. The Chargers were treating him like a rotation back and not even throwing to him that much. But in the fourth, he got a ton of cheap, easy catches and finished with 10-9-55 to go along with 13 carries, i.e., the workload you’d expect. (I’m still glad I faded him because I don’t trust him for TDs or health, but this game wasn’t something about which to get alarmed.

• Mike Williams (10-8-113-1) caught everything in his vicinity, but it’s not the easy pitch and catch you see from Cooper Kupp or AJ Brown. It’s always contested, always comes with a hit. He’s good with Keenan Allen out, but I’d still fade him in the third round.

• Gerald Everett looked pretty spry, and Herbert seems to trust him. Palmer (8-4-30-1) was involved, but I doubt we can rely on him once Allen comes back. (Palmer might be better off if Williams were out instead of Allen.)

• Herbert gutted out a good fantasy game, but he hurt his ribs and was unable to scramble for a wide open first down on the game’s final drive. I could easily see him missing some games.

• The only negative in this game for me was Patrick Mahomes (who I have in one NFFC league.) And it wouldn’t have been a negative had Herbert not thrown that devastating pick-six at the KC goal line which took Mahomes off the field and sent the Chiefs on a field-goal seeking, clock-killing mission. But it’s good when the bad games are 235 yards and two TDs.

• Incidentally, Mahomes wasn’t lying when he said the Chiefs would disappoint fantasy owners this year by spreading the ball around. Ten players received targets, and no one saw more than seven. I was planning to take Juju Smith-Schuster (3-3-10-0) in the fourth round of my Primetime the day before, but backed off after hearing Mahomes’ comments.