I don’t feel like writing about football, but I’m going out of town for four days with Sasha (giving her mom a break during Sasha’s school break), and won’t be doing my podcast on Wednesday (we’ll see if I can squeeze in a Guessing the Lines or Monday Night Observations). Basically I want to get Sasha off the internet for a few days, and she won’t go for it if I’m on my laptop, so it’ll have to be in the morning while she’s sleeping in. In other words, I should write *something* while I’m still here and have the chance even though my chief emotion after watching those games is detached revulsion.
I say “detached” because out of self defense lately if something goes south on me, I just choose not to agonize over it. More like, “that sucked” and think about something else. It’s a skill I’ve cultivated just recently and with only partial success.
I have (had) three great NFFC teams, but last week was a total disaster, and I lost Chris Godwin for the year. This week, I had Jordan Mason in three leagues and Stefon Diggs in all five. Imagine losing your third/fourth round pick who is doing well in one league — you’d be bummed. Now multiply that by five.
I know, I know, I could have diversified more, and I almost did a couple times. I considered Brandon Aiyuk for example in one, but narrowly went Diggs yet again. It really goes to show fantasy football is all fun and games when other people get devastating injuries, but when it happens to you it’s the proverbial “losing an eye.”
I also went 3-2 ATS in the Circa Millions, running this quarter to 13-7 and getting back to .500. I’m drawing dead in the overall, but hopefully I can parlay some of that momentum into Q3, And Seslowsky and I had the Lions in Survivor which was easy. There are still a couple hundred people left in a $70K pool, so it’s not noteworthy yet.
Watching Isaac Guerendo rip off 20-yard runs and get a short TD on the 40-minute edited version was torture. Was Mason seriously hurt, was he coming back in? No way to know except by slowly having it dawn on you that it wasn’t happening. Tough backs like Mason can be a problem because they should just sit out, but they play through things ineffectively and then aggravate the injury. Just admit you’re hurt so I can sit you!
Brock Purdy is an underrated scrambler. He’s a top-five NFL QB in real life.
I fucking hate “national tight ends day” and the enthusiasm with which Scott Hanson talks about it. It’s stupid and annoying, and I don’t have George Kittle.
At least I had CeeDee Lamb going in the Steak League.
I use the Bengals often in the Circa Millions, and I’m starting to think maybe they just suck.
Saquon Barkley’s having a great year, but imagine if Jalen Hurts weren’t stealing so many TDs. The Eagles have a very narrow tree now — just two WR, Barkley, Hurts and the TE. That’s it.
It was nice to see the Browns knock some people out of Survivor. I took the Browns in Circa too as it was kind of obvious the Watson injury would be liberating to the entire team. Everyone’s talking about Cedric Tillman and the two TDs including the game-winner, but Elijah Moore quietly had 12 targets and eight catches too. Even Jerry Jeudy showed a pulse with Jameis Winston.
Derrick Henry got a late TD, but saw only 11 carries. He’s always been heavily game-flow dependent, and that’s a normally a good thing on the Ravens, just not this week.
I took the Lions -11.5, and after an early fight, it was easy peasy. The Lions scored 52 with Jared Goff passing for only 85 yards.
The Titans are pointless, but Calvin Ridley must have had the over on his yardage.
Tua Tagovailoa looked sharp enough in his return. I saw a post saying “zero medical experts recommended” Tua retire. Given the track record of “medical experts” the last few years, he’ll probably get decapitated in a couple weeks. But enjoy the fantasy production until then!
Marvin Harrison made some great catches including a TD while sliding toward the sideline. He’ll be up and down, but more ups than downs the rest of the way and finish more or less with the numbers for which you paid, health permitting.
Kyler Murray finally played a good game. The Cardinals are still very much alive in the NFC West. Everyone is.
I love Aaron Rodgers, but he is not going to rescue the Jets, and I’d expect him to be done after this year. They should trade Davante Adams before the deadline.
Of course I had Rhamondre Stevenson on my bench. When you draft a player, it’s not just what he does, but what he does while startable.
Cade Otton is a top-five TE now. Maybe Kyle Pitts too!
Bijan Robinson going back to the timeshare is not something I expected, but I’m here for it. He did have six targets and a receiving TD though.
Annoyed I started Kirk Cousins over Joe Burrow last week but did the reverse this week.
Jordan Love is hurt again, but Malik Willis is now 3-0.
The Packers are spreading the ball around so much, it’s hard to start anyone except Josh Jacobs.
C.J. Stroud is a tough watch this year. He’s lost his best and probably second best receivers, his offensive line is horrendous and his coach is way too conservative. He’s playing well, all things considered, but it’s brutal having him in fantasy and hoping he does something.
Joe Mixon, like every other old running back, is good as gold every week.
Anthony Richardson was 10 of 32. I saw some of the throws, he was close a few times, but he’s not an NFL QB right now. Either they overhaul the offense to suit his skills, or they switch to Joe Flacco.
Ladd McConkey is a player. He’s fast, quick and changes direction on a dime in the open field. The Chargers need to turn Justin Herbert loose more.
JK Dobbins is holding up, but I don’t see much burst.
Chris Olave woke up when Jake Haener took over. He should see a ton of volume the rest of the way with Rashid Shaheed out and Derek Carr coming back.
Amari Cooper barely did anything in his second week with the Bills, but they didn’t need him. Keon Coleman is emerging too.
Unlike Barkley, James Cook is getting some work near the goal line despite having a great goal-line-running QB.
The Seahawks are so sloppy. On a fourth-down play near the goal line, the center stepped on Geno Smith’s foot, he fell on his ass, and that was that.
I started JSN with DK Metcalf out, and he caught a bunch of short passes as usual.
I didn’t watch Denver-Carolina, but maybe Bo Nix is emerging with Sean Payton as his coach. Courtland Sutton had a nice game on everyone’s bench. At least do it during a week where there are byes, so you’re forced into a few lineups!
The Panthers are pointless now. Bring in Jonathon Brooks.
Kareem Hunt (21 carries for 59 yards) is the perfect encapsulation of the Chiefs. And Travis Kelce (12 targets, 90 yards).
The Raiders are hilarious. Forcing-running Alexander Mattison at the goal line, followed by Gardnew Minshew’s laughably bad fourth-down scramble where he got sacked immediately on a play that had zero chance. At least they backdoored the cover.
I had the Bears in my picking pool, so I was not thrilled with the Hail Mary, but it was an amazing scramble and throw, batted perfectly into Noah Brown’s hands. It rarely works, and when it does, it’s rarely that clean and easy.