Thursday Night Observations
When I worked for RotoWire I dreaded the Thursday game, but now I’ve come to love it. Back then, it meant all my columns had to be filed by Wednesday instead of Friday, and it was just another thing I had to cover. And I had to watch the game live, wasting three and a half hours of my life on what was usually an unwatchably bad game — as well as the soul-destroying commercials. Now I write whatever I want, watch the game in 40 minutes and have a laugh when it’s especially terrible.
This particular game was pretty bad. It seemed like there was a holding call on every play. For fuck’s sake, just let them play! But it’s not as big a deal on the edited version because they cut to the next play fairly quickly.
I had the Panthers +2.5 in my home pool, and I remembered to hit save this time — I’m still pissed that cost me a $55 pool, but all I can do is win the double one this week, and I’m 1-0. I like betting teams off blowout losses. I’d prefer if the team were good, but the Panthers have showed up most weeks, and they were playing a weak team at home on a short week. And maybe my 12:1 Panthers to win the NFC South bet was just ressurected! Would have been a lot better had they been able to make a PAT or a FG two weeks ago in Atlanta.
Marcus Mariota has to go. While the Falcons could still win the division, this is not a serious contender, and you have to get Desmond Ridder live game snaps when you have the chance. If he’s bad, draft/sign a QB in 2023.
I had two fantasy players going in this game — Kyle Pitts (thank God I have him in only one league as I wanted him in more) and D’Onta Foreman who delivered.
Foreman (31-130-1) is a poor man’s Derrick Henry, and I mean that in a good way. He has good vision picking the hole and runs downhill with good speed when he finds an opening.
DJ Moore (6-4-29-0) is only a borderline fantasy starter now, exactly what you don’t want from your third-round pick. It’s almost better if they get hurt so you aren’t making the wrong lineup decision every week.
Mariota took five sacks (a few were not his fault), but just lacked rhythm and accuracy. His rapport with Kyle Pitts (8-2-28-0) is non-existent. Maybe Pitts is just a mediocre route runner because Mariota connected with Drake London and Damiere Byrd a few times, but whatever the explanation, something is very off, despite Pitts getting plenty of targets. If I had a player like Pitts, I’d be throwing downfield jump balls to him at least twice a game.
The Falcons backfield is totally unusable — here are the carry totals: Cordarrelle Patterson (5), Tyler Allgeier (8), Avery Williams (4) and Caleb Huntley (5). Mariotta also had three for good measure.
You have to love a game when three of the four PATs are missed.