Week 7 Observations

Horrifying

Pending Monday Night, where I have a few players going, Week 7 might have been the worst fantasy one I’ve ever had in 30 years. I say this because the three NFFC teams that put up bad scores were in first, first and second place, respectively. These aren’t bad teams having bad days, but good ones.

On one of the BCLs, I had Rhamondre Stevenson, Stefon Diggs, Malik Nabers, Younghoe Koo and Anthony Richardson active. That was the one that performed best, thanks to the Bengals defense, Brock Bowers, Ja’Marr Chase and Javonte Williams, but it’s still very likely to lose.

In the other I put in Kirk Cousins over Joe Burrow, had Jordan Mason, Diggs, Dalton Kincaid, Koo and DeVonta Smith. Drake London, Chase and the Bengals defense will put it around 100 points IF James Conner does something tonight.

But the pièce de résistance is my Primetime team which stacked Texans: CJ Stroud, Diggs, Tank Dell and Dalton Schultz (Dallas Goedert was hurt, Jonnu Smith on the bench). Those four Texans combined for 19.3 points. What’s worse is my opponent had Joe Mixon (26.4 points). I also had the Packers defense (five points) in that game. So basically Mixon outscored half my team 26.4 to 24.3 in that one game.

Based Harrison Butker had only four points, and the only reason I’m at 58.3 pending Monday night is Jahmyr Gibbs’ 32. I have Chris Godwin, J.K. Dobbins and Marvin Harrison still going, but they’ll need 20-plus each to salvage it. At least I left JSN (5.6) and Mason (8.9) on the bench for Harrison. He might do worse, but you’d obviously rather have it be this way than the reverse — as of now.

I went 4-1 ATS in Circa at least, but I’m drawing dead for Q2 and probably the contest too. My only loss was the Packers -2.5 (they won by two). It was honestly one of the more annoying and disastrous games I’ve ever watched.

Seslowsky and I moved on in Survivor, but so did everyone. We had the Bills who were down 10-0, but it was never in doubt. Survivor was impossible for a month, and now it’s so easy.

• I always get the Jaguars wrong. When I think they’ll bounce back they get blown out by the Bears. When I think they’ll collapse, they blow out the Pats. I didn’t watch the game because I was at Sasha’s basketball game, but I’m sure glad I don’t have any Travis Etienne or Christian Kirk. Both have been supplanted.

• I had the first pick in the RotoWire Dynasty League this year, took Marvin Harrison, dealt him for Malik Nabers and a pick I eventually used on Bucky Irving. But with my second pick I wanted Brian Thomas, got swiped by the guy one slot ahead of me and had to settle for the ironically named Xavier Worthy. Worthy went higher in re-drafts this year, so it was a bit of a surprise. No one cares, but I often think about how sick of a rebuild it would have been to get both Nabers AND Thomas in one draft.

• It seems like Drake Maye is a player, but I didn’t watch the game.

• I thought the Falcons would shoot it out with the Seahawks, which is why I used Cousins over Burrow (who faced a weaker opponent.)

• Bijan Robinson (and Breece Hall) are starting to earn their status as early first-round picks. Robinson passed the eye test for me too. But the Falcons couldn’t sustain drives. At least London got his as he always does.

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba got nine yards on six targets. Maybe he’ll catch a pass more than five yards down the field if DK Metcalf misses time with a knee injury. But he’s not usable otherwise.

• The Mason Rudolph-Calvin Ridley-DeAndre Hopkins Titans are the most pointless team of all time.

• Amari Cooper saw only five targets and caught a TD, but I imagine he’ll start getting closer to 10 once he gets properly integrated. Keon Coleman might get freed up for big plays. Maybe Kincaid too.

• Deshaun Watson likely tore his Achilles tendon, which solves that problem. People don’t like Watson for obvious reasons, but I didn’t see as much joy about it in my timeline as I did when the same thing happened to Aaron Rodgers in Week 1 of 2023. I guess Watson was just accused of 20-plus sexual assaults, while Rodgers made them feel like idiots for being so credulous and compliant. Personally, I hope he’s okay so I can make more massage jokes. Aaron Hernandez can’t be the only go-to in this newsletter.

• Nick Chubb achieved penetration but otherwise had a flaccid performance. Maybe Jameis Winston can bring some Viagra to this offense. Extra strength for Jerry Jeudy who is arguably having a worse career than Henry Ruggs.

• I know the Browns didn’t mount much of an offense, but would it kill the Bengals to give the best receiver in the NFL more than six targets per game?

• Tank Dell (zero points) dropped a perfectly thrown TD on the Texans’ first drive. That was 12 points left on the table right away and set the stage for the rest. The Texans run the ball way too much and also played for the field goal at the end which predictably wound up costing them the game. Their pace is glacial too. In DeMeco Ryans’ defense, the offensive line couldn’t pass-block to save its life. CJ Stroud attempted only 21 passes, completing 10 for 86 yards.

• Jordan Love spread the ball around, but he’s not targeting Christian Watson or Jayden Reed. Reed (who was my biggest regret for not drafting) has been playing through an ankle injury, so maybe that explains it somewhat. But Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks out-targeted them 16 to six. Maybe Reed’s a buy-low.

• To understand how bad Stroud’s game was, consider even Anthony Richardson had 129 yards, and he rushed for 56. Richardson is basically a poor man’s Justin Fields right now, and Fields lost his job.

• I picked up Jonnu Smith in a couple leagues this week, but didn’t have the foresight to start him. With Tua Tagovailoa coming back, I expect to use Smith regularly as he’s the No. 3 option.

• Tua is just a league-average QB, but apparently there is no one in the NFL more important to his team.

• For whatever reason Sam LaPorta is just not an important part of this offense, and it’s not because of Jameson Williams.

• There were only eight incomplete passes in the Lions-Vikings.

• Saquon Barkley annihilated the Giants, and they deserve it. Of course, Jalen Hurts stole two goal-line TDs. DeVonta Smith should have just sat this game out.

• The Giants offensive line without Andrew Thomas is the nut low, and Daniel Jones is probably the last QB you’d pick to handle that. I’ve seen deer navigate highway headlights more proficiently. The only thing the Giants do well is rush the passer.

• I can’t lie — I turned off the late games at halftime. The Indiginous Peoples were up 27-0, the Chiefs-Niners was an ugly slog, and the other game was Raiders-Rams.

• The Chiefs are so ugly and so good. They just get the first down when they need to, no matter whether it’s the carcass of Kareem Hunt, Mecole Hardman, Noah Gray, or Patrick Mahomes scrambling. It’s barely watchable.

• George Kittle is the TE1, but now Brandon Aiyuk is probably out for the year, no one seems to know if or when Christian McCaffrey is back, oft-injured Deebo Samuel left the game with an illness and even Mason is playing through a separated shoulder.

• Jayden Daniels left early with a rib injury, meaning one of 12 teams in my league did ever-so-slightly worse than my CJ Stroud ones over a full game. It sounds like the injury isn’t serious, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be back next week. If there were ever a team against which to lose your star QB and have it not matter, it’s the 2024 Panthers.

• But for Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby, the Raiders would be as pointless as the Titans.

• The Jets-Steelers was a weird game. The Jets had it under total control, up 15-6 late in the first half, Aaron Rodgers throws a ball off Garrett Wilson’s chest that gets picked, the Steelers score and dominate the rest of the game.

• Davante Adams wasn’t a big factor — he turns 32 in December, keep in mind — and the Jets are now 2-5.

• The Jets for God knows what reason take shotgun snaps on 3rd- and 4th-and-1. They have to complete a seven-yard pass to get one yard. It’s the opposite of the Eagles’ ass-smash which makes the game so much easier.

• Russell Wilson got booed early, but turned in a nice game with deep touch throws to George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth. Najee Harris had another good game, but Jaylen Warren now looks viable too, especially now that someone can throw short passes with a modicum of touch.

• I’m not a fan of two Monday Night games. Just overkill.