The Bye Week boogeymen are upon us, as week seven is on its way, destined to ruin some great teams that are currently battling to go undefeated, or drive winless teams mad, as they decide if their team is worth stashing one week players, or rebuilding for the remainder of the season (or rest of their dynasty career, if a different format entails). What did week six give us, and what can we pull from it? Let’s dive in!
Derrick Henry and Aaron Rodgers Continue To Revel In Proving Doubters Wrong
We’re just a month and a half into this season, and it seems like some things just don’t want to change. Maybe if we all take a step back, we’re so privy to fantasy football moving us away from the consistency to the ‘new what’s next to realize that some good things just shouldn’t be questioned.
It was Monday Night, and assumedly, I like many were in the belief it would be a showcase for the Bills defense and their high-octane offense lead by Josh Allen. While they showed up in some ways, the true battering ram of the ball was Derrick Henry, who went scorched earth yet again on the one defense many would unquestionably call the best of the league. The Bills did their best to harsh the mellow, but that all ended going into the second half. Per ProFootballFocus, Henry has 587 Yards After Contact, more than 29 NFL rushing squads do so far. If this man isn’t the runaway favorite for MVP, I’d eat whatever hat is within arm’s length. The first week of Henry’s resume this season may have had some of us worried, but since then he’s been an absolute force. Peep his stat lines so far this season:
Week 1 vs. Arizona: 17 rushes, 58 yards
Week 2 @ Seattle: 35 rushes, 182 yards, 3 Touchdowns
Week 3 vs. Indy: 28 rushes, 113 yards
Week 4 @ NYJ: 33 rushes, 157 yards, 1 Touchdown
Week 5 @ JAX: 29 rushes, 130 yards, 3 Touchdowns
Week 6 vs. BUF: 20 rushes, 143 yards, 3 Touchdowns
I won’t be able to give you much spectacle that hasn’t been beckoned about Henry, suffice it to say, he’s really good at football.
JUST GET OUT OF HIS WAY 👑pic.twitter.com/hiNBsdAjsj
— PFF (@PFF) October 19, 2021
Can we talk about another star of the league that was well written off and headed to his retirement home just one week into the season? Queue Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers had a very pedestrian first week of the season, and after a preseason of “Can I leave the table, I’m done eating?” conversation with management, it seemed the story was all but written for Rodgers and friends in Green Bay. Just like Henry, how quickly we forget. Rodgers rode off a 36.8 Quarterback Rating in Week 1 at New Orleans, his second-lowest in 3 years. Fans in Green Bay were calling for his trade. A-Rodg had nothing but love and a full clip of hard-nosed footballs for his opponents for the next five weeks, as he’s been his old self on a quest for NFC MVP since then, he’s averaged a Quarterback Rating of 117 and has left his mark on the entire NFC. As summed up for Disney viewers, Aaron Rodgers “owns you, and he will always own you.”
“I still own you”
Aaron Rodgers to the Bears fans 💀
pic.twitter.com/ZNGItaq4pY— PFF (@PFF) October 17, 2021
The Waiting Game Begins WithStars On Injured Reserve
It’s been mentioned a few times already, but we’re amazingly already a month and a half into the NFL Season. While that is amazing to us and seems like it has flown by, it is not without any wear and tear on it. Looking at the current NFL injury list, you can see many a star either out for the season, or in the midst of an IR stint. Injuries of recent memory include:
Maxx Williams- knee injury, out rest of season
J.K Dobbins- tore ACL, out rest of season
Gus Edwards-knee injury, out rest of season
Christian McAffrey- hamstring injury, out at least three more weeks
Stephon Gilmore- quad injury, out every game this season so far
David Montgomery – knee injury, placed on team IR
These are just the injuries over the first six teams on the list, and sparing you names that many wouldn’t care for in a non-fantasy sense. It’s amazing in a sad way to see and makes me wonder what could possibly be done to prevent this, and in a year where we add another week to the regular season, it seems we may need solutions for our squads sooner than later. As we write/read this, we’re looking at a cramped bye week schedule and could be out there using the likes of Khalil Herbert and D’Ernest Johnson in pivotal matchups to either try to break through a week with no top-end talent available on our winless or win”full” teams.
The Lions Continue To Do Everything They CanTo Remain Winless
The Lions may be the main reason why we have a run on brown paper bags sooner rather than later, as week six ended with them being the lone winless team remaining. Dan Campbell came into the coaching job promising bodily harm to his opponents, and the only thing that has been showcased so far is that Matthew Stafford was hardly a problem, but more so a piece of the solution. Jared Goff and Stafford were for lack of confusion’s sake, swapped out, but there really isn’t much to compare currently:
Matthew Stafford: 6 games, 139 completions/200 attempts, 1,838 Yards, 16 touchdowns, 4 interceptions
Jared Goff: 6 games, 159 completions/238 attempts, 1,505 Yards, 7 touchdowns, 4 interceptions
Goff seems to be more product-based talent than overall talent, while Stafford is looking to potentially be Cinderella hidden from suitors until finally being given all the tools to succeed. The fact Stafford was making ends meet with a number one potential wide out of either Quintez Cephus or Amon-Ra St Brown, we’ll never know.
See below, Campbell eating kneecaps.
Trevon Diggs Shows The Patriots The glimpse Of Stellar Secondary They Miss
Let’s key in our friends who may not have much IDP league experience. Trevon Diggs is good at football. The 24-year-old cornerback out of Alabama finished week six with 7 interceptions, more than 23 teams have totaled. Diggs coming out of college was going to become a big addition to the Cowboys defense, but it’s highly doubtful they thought a third of the way through the season, the young cornerback would have as many touchdowns on the season as his elite NFL wide receiver brother Stefon Diggs would have. Diggs was a constant presence against the Patriots on Sunday, and while the ball was slightly gift-wrapped, his pick-six sealed the deal and helped cap off a great coming-out showcase by Dak Prescott in a mid-afternoon game. Trevon may be the new best corner in the league. Take notice.
TREVON DIGGS OMG 😱😱
pic.twitter.com/cVhOyfctNz— PFF (@PFF) October 17, 2021
Herbert Fizzles, Jackson Sizzles
Lamar Jackson started the season out on a slightly lukewarm trajectory, but over the past two games, he’s had a very large share in AFC MVP discussions as well. The Ravens and Chargers matchup was a high-power affair between two young stars of the NFL, which ended up as a showcase for Jackson and his friends. The Chargers have their star quarterback that many others are waiting for in Justin Herbert, but he had one of his least thrilling games on Sunday. Herbert finished his game in week 6 with less than 200 yards passing, and a quarterback rating under 70.
Justin Herbert: 22 completions/39 attempts, 195 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception | 2 attempts rushing, 12 yards
What Lamar did just helped further his status as the king of Baltimore, as he helped encounter a slightly average passer line with his legs, as he finished the game with his fifth out of six games with more than 50 rushing yards
Lamar Jackson: 19 completions/27 attempts, 167 yards, 1 touchdown,2 interceptions | 8 attempts rushing, 51 yards
With that, Lamar Jackson has now a record of 35-8 as a professional QB in the NFL, and his foray into rushing as much as passing needs to be a sign more so that the NFL game is evolving than that “Lamar isn’t an NFL QB.” Enough is enough, the man’s earned his due, he’ll outrush you.
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