Few things in this world are as annoying to me as when I have a side along with some player props, the team is down big in the second half and they’re playing with no urgency whatsoever, like they have all the time in the world. The Falcons were down 31-17 with 13 minutes left, use the entire play clock, run the ball for a two-yard gain, use the entire play clock again, get called for a hold, then complete a pass for no gain, use the entire play clock getting the field-goal unit on (can’t be avoided) and then miss the field goal.
I can live with errors, I can live with injuries (to a point, more on that later), but one thing I can’t abide is ongoing situational retardation. Every NFL team knows if you’re down 10 with four minutes left, you have to hurry. But only about a third seem to realize if you’re down 14 with 13 left, the clock is every bit your enemy there too, especially when the other team (Bengals) has a good offense and will probably score again.
It might seem like a small thing, but it was so annoying I stopped watching and went to pick up Sasha and her friend who were at a coffee shop and didn’t want to walk home because it was raining. I mean she knew it was supposed to rain, didn’t take an umbrella, and once I got there, she asked me if I could drive the friend home too, which was out of the way, and ordinarily I would have said hell no, it’s Sunday, and I’m watching the game, but in this case, she lucked out because the game sucked so much, the Falcons were such a disgrace that I did so out of spite and was almost happy to take the extra 20 minutes round-trip of dropping the friend off just to avoid it completely.
The Bengals are the AFC Packers, only with a worse defense. I made a NO bet on Joe Burrow reaching 4,500 yards and leading the league in TDs before the season, and I’m probably losing both. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are so good, Burrow is so good, and with no running game of which to speak and an average at best defense, this train can only be slowed one way, and that’s injuries.
Bijan Robinson is a great player, probably even better than I had originally thought, and a YFS machine, but Vagenix is so condition-sensitive, this team has no ceiling. He’s like the Princess who can feel the pea, 20 mattresses down. And I thought this might be a good enough matchup, but it wasn’t.
The Cowboys really almost lost to the Colts who already traded away DeForest Buckner and Quentin Nelson.
CeeDee Lamb (16-10-195-1) might be the WR1 ROS just based on opportunity. He’s not as good as Chase or JSN, but he’s healthier than Puka Nacua and gets more targets than anyone else.
Adonai Mitchell had seven targets and zero catches, the week after he blew up on your bench. And Omar Cooper (11-8-58-0) had 13.8 fantasy points, the week after he had zero, the week after he blew up on your bench. Starting to think it’s worth fading entire teams on draft day the same way you do ATS.
Kenny Walker went back to his early-season ways thanks to facing a soft opponent. He gets the Falcons next week and the Cardinals after that too.
Patrick Mahomes appeared to have injured his arm on a hit, and I immediately bought Broncos AFC West futures and sold Chiefs. Then I saw him return, and immediately sold both. Stressful way to make $8.
The Dolphins defense showed up at home, but they fell a little short of covering the spread for me in Circa. It was that last Jahmyr Gibbs TD run that sank them — Gibbs got around the corner and was just too fast.
I bought a bunch of Saints NFC South futures for 14c — to me all four teams are roughly equal, so that seemed cheap, but I really needed them to beat the Browns at home which they almost didn’t.
Shedeur Sanders looked okay to me, even if he took five sacks. He was able to get the ball downfield and would have had a bigger day but for a KC Concepcion drop. Might as well turn it over to him at this point, even though they’re 5-4, but apparently Deshaun Watson is slated to return.
Jordyn Tyson’s first NFL catch ended with a catastrophic fumble inside the five yard line. Otherwise, he mostly caught short stuff while Chris Olave got his usual 12 targets.
I guess Audric Estime is the main ball carrier until Travis Achane comes back.
The Giants are a case in point on how much difference coaching makes. It doesn’t matter who the QB is, it doesn’t matter who the RB is, it doesn’t matter they lost Brian Burns and his 16.5 sacks, or that the kicker has missed five FGs already. They keep it together and do what needs to be done. It’s a different world from the last decade.
Another example of the Giants new culture — JJ McCarthy plays poorly, leaves with a hip pointer, Jameis Winston, who was terrible in his last game, comes in, leads them to their first and only TD on an immaculately executed drive, then McCarthy returns, plays better and helps close out the game.
Devin Singletary (21 carries for 31 yards) has no juice. He had a sure-thing first down on a catch too and went out of bounds rather than forward, causing them to punt. Apparently the Giants aren’t willing to overpay for Jonathan Taylor (good), but even Cam Skattebo, back in Week 10, will be a massive upgrade.
Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely had modest games, but the Eagles played well defensively, Nabers dropped a would-be perfect TD pass from McCarthy and the Giants could be conservative with the Eagles offense such a joke.
Greg Olsen got in trouble for slagging Nabers on the broadcast. I was half-listening, wondering what did Nabers actually do and realized Olsen took Nabers’ frustrated display on the sideline and spun it into a hypothetical about how alpha receivers have to walk the line, but forgot to add the disclaimer that Nabers’ behavior only reminded him of that fine line but that it was only a hypothetical and from the display alone you could not say Nabers was on the wrong side of it. I love Nabers who has been a stud since the Giants drafted him, but Olsen should apologize for not clarifying. I know what he meant, but he left out the disclaimer.
Arvell Reese (12 tackles three sacks), who I had going in the Steak League, thank God because I also had Josh Jacobs and Ladd McConkey, looked like the second coming of LT. It’s about time we hit big on ONE of these early edge rush picks. Apparently Harbaugh said Reese will be a Hall of Famer, according to the broadcast.
No one is better in fantasy than a healthy Nacua (19-14-150-1), but he’s banged up yet again and going for an MRI on his knee today. JSN was the obvious pick there, but people wanted to pretend injuries were random.
I had WAS +4 in Circa (went 1-4 overall), and they were in this game, but to be honest I didn’t watch enough to see how it went south.
Myles Garrett had three sacks in his return, so maybe the Rams defense will start destroying people like everyone expected.
The Broncos rarely look good, but all they do is win.
Pat Bryant (5-4-56-1) might turn out to be their No. 1 receiver by year end.
Bryce Young broke out of his slump against a good defense. Darren Waller (10-8-90-1) still shows flashes of the old upside on occasion.
CJ Stroud (384 yards, five TDs) went bananas against the 0-8 chargers, but Nico Collins (4-4-55-1) is just a rotation player like Marvin Harrison (3-2-20-0). Maybe Tank Dell can be DeSean Jackson again though.
I can tolerate injuries to a point, but Ladd “among men” McConkey crossed the line. If you can’t play, don’t play. Don’t suit up and take a zero for essentially the third time this season. Just find something else, walk the earth, whatever. I’m gonna be shelling out for steak because of this NLM!
The Chargers should deal Justin Herbert to the Vikings for whatever number of picks he’d fetch, emancipate themselves from ownership, move back to San Diego and start over. Or maybe consider competing in a different sport.
My biggest position right now is 1800 Packers NFC North futures. They went from bid of 8, ask of 9 to 13/14 after their win (though the Bears and Lions won too). The Packers are good, and Micah Parsons is coming back soon.
I have Jacobs in the Steak League and on my best NFBC team, so that injury sucked. You could see his finger snap as it was caught in a defender’s facemask. It’s unclear how much time he’ll miss, but he has a lot of upside in this offense, especially as the weather gets colder, and they run more.
As I mentioned earlier, Jordan Love, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden are the NFC’s Burrow-Chase-Higgins. So fun to watch, even better to have them on your teams. I don’t know when the last time two receivers on the same team cracked 160 yards, maybe one of those Isaac Bruce-Torry Holt Greatest Show On Turf teams?
Drake Maye is an interception machine against good defenses. In his defense, he’s throwing to arguably the worst receivers in the game right now with AJ Brown and Romeo Doubs out. And now Rhamondre Stevenson is hurt, and that’s on top of TreVeyon Henderson being out with neurological problems. Doctors can’t say what’s causing them, but everyone knows for sure what is NOT causing them.
Drew Lock didn’t take a sack and didn’t turn it over, which is what Seattle needs most from its QB.
Zach Charbonnet saw most of the carries, but Jadarian Price (4-4-54-0) looked pretty good as a receiver out of the backfield.
JSN (10-7-51-0) had his worst game of the year, but 12.1 points with the backup QB isn’t the end of the world.
The Minshew magic was good against the Cowboys, but predictably not in Seattle.
Caleb Williams was zoning so hard in the first quarter — no matter how much pressure he was under, every ball he threw was perfect. Then in the second, he threw picks on consecutive passes, let the Bucs back into the game.
Luther Burden (9-7-97-1) left with a concussion, but had the decency to do so late after he had gotten his work in. Stark contrast to the McConkeys and DJ Moores of the world.
Bucky Irving looks like Bijan Robinson to me, smooth, decisive and quick, though Robinson is actually much bigger.
Baker Mayfield really needs a receiver like Mike Evans he can gunsling to even when he’s not open. Tez Johnson had two bad drops, but neither Chris Godwin nor Emeka Egbuka can make plays down the field. It’s too bad because the running game and the defense are pretty good. Even after the loss, Tampa 37/38 is still the NFC South favorite right now.
Shout out to Calvin Ridley for being involved in an “unfortunate” interaction at the Nashville airport during his bye week. Real man.