It was a weird day in fantasy football, as Andrew Luck was stymied and Peyton Manning continued to look like he may be on his last legs. Meanwhile, the Titans looked unbeatable. It’s just one week, though, and here are some observations.
As mentioned, Tennessee looked great today. Marcus Mariota put up some big numbers – 209 yards and four TDs. And Bishop Sankey had 86 total yards and two TDs. But before you go chasing the waiver wires, remember to consider the opponent. Tampa Bay isn’t going to win much this season. And while Sankey looked decent, recently acquired Terrance West actually received more carries than he did (13-12). That may have been situation dependant. And Sankey did more with his touches than West. I’m not going to discount it completely, but let’s take a breath and remember how bad Sankey has looked up until today.
Nobody is unseating Rob Gronkowski as the league’s top tight end anytime soon, but Jimmy Graham definitely has competition for the number two slot going forward. Graham did manage a TD today, but disappeared for significant periods of time. I have to go back and look at some video, but was he even on the field at the end of the game? Meanwhile, Travis Kelce, Tyler Eifert and Austin Seferian-Jenkins each put two scores on the board today. Martellus Bennett, Jordan Reed and the ancient Jason Witten both looked good too. And Eric Ebron crossed the stripe once too. The TE position is deeper than it has been in a long time.
Speaking of Detroit, what was up with the playcalling in that game? Calvin Johnson gets just four targets (and two catches?), one fewer than both Golden Tate and Eric Ebron? Ameer Abdullah takes his first carry 24 yards for a TD, juking Eric Weddle in the last couple steps before scoring, but then only gets six more carries? He did get four catches too, but … he is clearly a game-changing weapon. If you have Joique Bell, you may want to find a fellow owner who’s been living in a cave. The Lions have to find ways to get their aging star and their new phenom more involved.
On the other side of that same game, anyone who doubted that Danny Woodhead was greatly missed in San Diego last season had that notion corrected today. Despite the presence of first-round RB Melvin Gordon, Woodhead took 16 touches, including 12 carries, just one fewer touches and two fewer carries than the rookie. He made the most of them too, sniping two TD runs. They love Woodhead on third down and they like him in the red zone. And Gordon has some flaws to his game, including dancing a bit too much before hitting the hole. Expect Woodhead to be a regular presence and a significant fantasy contributor going forward. Oh, nice game for Keenan Allen, too. 15 catches? Where was that last year?
This probably goes without saying, but Andrew Luck owners need not panic. The game against Buffalo was expected to be Luck’s toughest of the season and it will be hard for anyone to equal the Bills’ success in shutting him down. Interesting going forward will be how Indianapolis deals with the absence of T.Y. Hilton, who is expected to miss “a few weeks” with a knee injury, according to Jim Irsay. Donte Moncrief looked solid in bumping up a step. Speculation at this point seems to be that he’ll step into the starter’s role beside Andre Johnson. Phillip Dorsett’s role will be interesting. The first-round pick was criticized, not because of a lack of skill, but because of Indy’s many holes on defense. He’ll get a chance early on to prove he was worthy. Keep an eye on him – he received rave reviews during camp.
Devin Funchess showed in Carolina’s win against Jacksonville that, at least for now, he’s no Kelvin Benjamin. Funchess caught just one pass for nine yards and was one of nine receivers who caught a pass from Cam Newton. I’m not touching anyone on that offense right now with the possible exception of Greg Olsen – who was mostly invisible today.
John Brown was the most hyped Arizona receiver heading into fantasy drafts and he justified that to some degree with a TD on the Cardinals’ first drive of the game. He was invisible after that, though, with Larry Fitzgerald taking on the lion’s share of the receiver role this afternoon. Fitz caught six passes for 87 yards and showed that his hourglass has not yet run out of sand. Carson Palmer largely looked great too, though keep in mind that New Orleans’ defense is going to be horrible.
Perhaps bigger news out of Arizona is the latest injury suffered by Andre Ellington. Early reports indicate the possibility of a PCL problem. He looked great, but so did Chris Johnson and David Johnson. Ellington’s likely going to miss multiple weeks. My guess is Chris starts right away, but David will get himself in the mix. Mute your expectations though. Hard to say how good those two are, considering the Saints’ defense.
One old-timer who didn’t look so good was Peyton Manning. The vet threw 40 passes, completing 24, but managed just 175 yards for his efforts and he did not toss a TD. I’ve stayed away from Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas as much as possible this fantasy draft season because it just felt to me like A) Manning was nearing the end and B) the team was going to run more. Don’t give up yet – Baltimore’s defense is coming along. But this isn’t a good sign.
Newly acquired WR Jeremy Maclin caught five passes on nine targets for Kansas City Sunday, but he was not able to snap the team’s WR TD drought. Travis Kelce caught two and Jamaal Charles caught one.
Alfred Morris might not be ready to cede his job to rookie Matt Jones just yet. Jones did get six carries, but Morris put up 121 yards on 25 carries. If he runs like that he’ll be relevant all season.
Didn’t take long for James Jones to feel comfortable in his return to the Packers. He caught four passes for 51 yards, but tallied two TDs in his return. Davante Adams still led the team in targets, but he, Randall Cobb and Richard Rodgers may have dropped down Aaron Rodgers’ list of red zone targets with Jones back in town.
Don’t write off Johnny Manziel yet. The embattled Browns signal caller got into the game today when Josh McCown suffered a concussion. He committed three turnovers and didn’t lead a comeback win, but also gave Cleveland its only spark with a long TD to Travis Benjamin. If he’s really kicked some of the bad habits, he still has a shot to turn into a solid NFL QB.
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