(Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire)
Is It Legit? Week 10
Apologies for being a day late
Week 10?! The sad, sad day of double digits. There were quite a few shocking games on Sunday: the Titans crushed the Patriots, the Bills smoked the Jets, and the Browns were able to outpace the Falcons. As shocking as these results may have been, they do make quite a bit of sense. The Titans defense is legit, the Bills defense has been decent and their quarterback threw to the right team, and the Browns have a competent offense to match the defense that has always played well. On the other side of the ball, the Patriots looked terrible on all accounts, the Jets might be one of the worst teams in football, and the Falcons looked like the team from the beginning of the year. After looking at those shocking teams, let’s look at the stars from yesterday.
Corey Davis
(Wide Receiver, Tennessee Titans)
The Titans offense was finally bearable! They broke the 30-point mark for the 1st time this season! It’s not good when you average less than 5 ppg more than the Bills…Regardless, the Titans showed up this week. The Patriots went all out to stop the run and challenge Marcus Mariota to beat them through the air, and he rose to the occasion. His biggest recipient, Corey Davis, finished Sunday with 7 receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown. Davis continuously torched Stephon Gilmore, the Patriots 2nd most expensive player. Unfortunately, like the Titans offense this year, Davis has been entirely unreliable. He has almost double the targets of any other receiver, but just a 57% catch rate and two touchdowns (still the most on the team). He is worth having him on your bench because of his consistent usage, and however, unless you are in a PPR he should not be played consistently.
Bears’ Other Guys!
While I have already written about Taylor Gabriel and Trey Burton, no other Bears receiver has made the list. Anthony Miller (5 rec, 122 yards, 1 TD) and Allen Robinson (6 rec, 133 yards, 1 TD) are both deserving of spots this week. Miller will not likely be a major factor moving forward; a gamble play at best. He is 5th on the team in targets, however he is second on the team in touchdowns with five. Robinson is more likely to be an every week play as he is 2nd on the team in targets and has missed two games this season. Unfortunately for both, the Bears passing offense is almost perfectly spread out. Their top receiver in terms of yardage, running back, Tarik Cohen, has only caught 103 more yards than Miller, their 5th best receivier. This being said, both of these players should fall to the bottom of your lineup.
Buffalo “New Look” Offense
Their new look is an offense that scores more than 10 ppg. This might be as simple as a just saying “No, it’s not possible for the Bills to remain competent.” But new quarterback, Matt Barkley, made this offense COME ALIVE. LeSean McCoy (26 rush, 113 yards, 2 TD) and Zay Jones (8 rec, 93 yards, 1 TD) had their only fantasy-relevant games of the year. McCoy is this weeks entrant in to the “My Coach Finally Played Me and Not That Other Guy” Group. It would be crazy to say this is repeatable, but they do have a relatively easy schedule. 2 games against the Dolphins, and then games against the Jaguars, Lions, and the Jets. If Barkley can throw to the correct team, which has not been easy for Buffalo QB’s, there is a chance that their best RB and WR can be viable…
Rashaad Penny
(Running Back, Seattle Seahawks)
Hey new week, guess what? The Seahawks are trying to confuse everyone again. Rashaad Penny had been COMPLETELY WORTHLESS for the last 5 weeks; he never got more than 9 carries. The other two backs, Chris Carson and Mike Davis, consistently received carries in the double digits. Naturally, the Seahawks trot out Penny to be the lead back this week and he finished the day with 12 rushes for 108 yards and a touchdown. Regardless, if Carson is healthy, he is the guy (has been), but it is the Seahawks so we never truly know. I would still go with Carson, Davis, Penny as my Seahawks’ backfield ranking.
The
“THANK GOD I GOT A NEW OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR”
Group
This is my way of letting people that have already made the list, make another appearance. It’s like their different players right?
The Cardinals are finally getting David Johnson as many touches as he should have been getting all season. He has 48 touches in 2 weeks under Leftwich. He averaged 18 per game prior to Leftwich, 15 of those were rushing attempts. They are putting him to work and it is working. He had 28 touches for 183 total yards and 2 touchdowns. Keep doing it please. Trade for DJ before it’s too late.
The Browns offense has kept them competitive in the last couple games, and it has been great for Nick Chubb. Hes been over 23 touches the last two games, and had 2 touchdowns to go along with 209 total yards of offense on Sunday. As long as they are competitive in their games (schedule is not too difficult), Chubb will be just fine.