What We Saw: Week 10

The Patriots are back, and so is Patrick Mahomes, but the AFC is still a mess

Ben Brown
What We Saw 3 Years Ago
Series Navigation
Introduction
Ravens @ Dolphins
Bills @ Jets
Buccaneers @ Football Team
Falcons @ Cowboys
Saints @ Titans
Jaguars @ Colts
Lions @ Steelers
Browns @ Patriots
Vikings @ Chargers
Panthers @ Cardinals
Eagles @ Broncos
Seahawks @ Packers
Chiefs @ Raiders

Saints @ Titans

Final Score: Titans 23, Saints 21

Writer: James Schiano (@JeterHadNoRange on Twitter)

 

This game was certainly not easy on the eyes. It was a lot like football in the 90s: trench warfare, short passes, and running the ball between the tackles without many yards to show for it. The Titans are very clearly missing Derrick Henry and Julio Jones as their offense lacked explosiveness for the second consecutive week.

Shockingly, Trevor Siemian and the Saints were flinging the ball all over the yard and consistently ripping off chunks of yards. That is when they finally decided to open up their offense in the second half. These are now back-to-back weeks where Sean Payton played too tight early and watched a furious comeback fall short in the end.

 

New Orleans Saints

 

Quarterbacks

 

Trevor Siemian: 19/34, 298 yards, 2 TD

Taysom Hill: 2/2, 11 yards | 3 carries, 23 yards | 2 targets, 1 reception, 15 yards

 

The Saints have lost back-to-back games since Jameis Winston tore his ACL, but Siemian is not the reason why. The offense opened up in the second half once the Titans jumped out to a big lead and Siemian was letting it rip. Sean Payton was masterfully hiding Siemian’s lack of arm strength while still pushing the ball downfield.

 

 

The fear with a QB like Siemian is a lack of red zone efficiency as the defense tightens up. Well, he threw two TDs and helped New Orleans to get six points on three of four red zone possessions.

 

 

The veteran was not afraid to squeeze one in a tight window either! That type of moxie is necessary when, again, your arm is not the best. There are not many critiques for Siemian right now, he is certainly able to execute.

Hill is the giant elephant in the room. Rumor had it he would have a bigger role this week and he did, contributing in multiple facets of the game as he always does. He was even on the field for the potential game-tying touchdown above rubbing the corner to allow Callaway just enough separation.

His fantasy potential as a true QB is tantalizing and feels possible, it just is not something I would expect at this juncture given Siemian’s success.

 

Running Backs

 

Mark Ingram II: 14 carries, 47 yards, TD | 7 targets, 4 receptions, 61 yards

Dwayne Washington: 2 carries, 8 yards

Ty Montgomery: 1 carry, 2 yards

 

Big truss baby! Ingram was back in the black and gold and it felt like he never left. He operated as a true bell-cow with Alvin Kamara on the shelf seeing 87.5% of the team’s running back rushes and a 21.2% (!!) target share.

I want to give fair warning to not expect this next week though if Kamara is forced to miss more time. The Saints were down early and forced into more obvious passes than they would have liked. Generally, that would push Ingram off the field, but this happened to Montgomery not even five minutes into the game.

 

 

Disgusting. Still, I don’t want to rain on Ingram’s parade because he really did turn back the clock in this one. There wasn’t much space early in the game, but he found some creases as it opened up in the second half.

 

This TD got the Saints back in the game when it could have gotten out of hand which was big. Possibly bigger was it made Ingram the Saints all-time leading rusher, passing the legend Deuce McAllister. What an honor for the legend who played this game like he was still in his prime.

 

Check out the 31-year-old getting out there! And wearing number 14! He looked like a real athlete and bravo to anyone who had the guts to start him this week.

 

Wide Receivers

 

Tre’Quan Smith: 7 targets, 4 receptions, 44 yards, TD

Adam Trautman: 6 targets, 5 receptions, 32 yards

Deonte Harris: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 84 yards | 1 carry, 6 yards, 1 fumble lost

Marquez Callaway: 4 targets, 2 receptions, 37 yards, TD

Juwan Johnson: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 36 yards

Kevin White: 2 targets

 

This is an…eclectic group of pass-catchers. Smith led them in targets, snaps, and routes run and was very active early, including that first-quarter TD I showed you earlier. He is not explosive but he knows how to get open and seems to have a rapport with Siemian already.

The player who has really stuck out to me is Harris. He is far and away the most explosive player from this group and is the only one that even somewhat resembles a deep threat at this point. I loved him in the preseason and figured his skillset would blend nicely with Winston’s free-wheeling nature, but he’s blossoming with Siemian at the helm.

 

 

Beating a defensive back one on one, a novel concept in New Orleans. Harris is very clearly operating behind both Smith and Callaway and is rarely targeting in the redzone, but he is a very valuable piece of this offense and will get a handful of deep targets like this every week.

Callaway found the endzone again this week, which is a good thing. However, he is falling out of favor. Part of that is Smith being fully healthy again, another part is Trautman’s increasing role.

He has now set career highs in targets and receptions in back-to-back weeks with Siemian at the helm and should be monitored. His athleticism at the TE position is welcome, but he committed a brutal false start ahead of the Saints’ potentially tying two-point conversion attempt. Search his name on Twitter and see what Saints fans think about the Dayton product.

 

Tennessee Titans

 

Quarterback

 

Ryan Tannehill: 19/27, 213 yards, TD | 5 carries, 1 yard, TD

 

Tannehill has slowly become fantasy teflon. Injuries, coordinator changes, bad matchups, doesn’t matter. This guy just hangs out in that low-end QB1 spot like nobody’s business. The Titans’ offense was completely dead in the first half besides a few drag routes that found space.

That is, until two key Saints third-down penalties allowed Tannehill and the Titans to run seven consecutive plays from inside the 10-yard line. The first call was a very questionable roughing the passer.

 

 

Nevertheless, the drive continued until Tannehill found paydirt.

 

 

He sneaky has one of the smoothest TD celebrations in the league with that Air Jordan flip. It’s become so recognizable because Tannehill has the third most rushing TDs by any QB since the start of 2019. He found the endzone from the goalline again on the Titans’ next drive, but that time with his arm.

 

 

This was a gutsy game from the veteran to keep the momentum for one of the league’s hottest teams.

 

Running Backs

 

D’Onta Foreman: 11 carries, 30 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions 48 yards

Adrian Peterson: 8 carries, 21 yards | 1 target, 1 catch, -1 yards

Jeremy McNichols: 4 carries, 7 yards | 3 targets, 1 reception, 1 yard

 

Wow, do I miss Derrick Henry. This rushing attack is completely brutal, no two ways about it. Not only is it ineffective, it is sucking the soul of this offense. The Titans sputtered to four three-and-outs on Sunday and the commitment to this group is the main reason why.

There is no fantasy relevance here. Period. The Peterson storylines were fun, but he looks his age. Foreman kind of looks like Henry if you really squint or are maybe in your kitchen trying to catch the game from the living room. Do not be fooled, he is not even 20% the athlete Henry is.

McNichols is the only guy here who could possibly carve out some type of fantasy-viable role. The Titans have shockingly jumped out to big leads in the two games since Henry went down taking McNichols out of the game plan. There will be a week where they fall behind early and he winds up with 10 targets, that’s a guarantee.

 

Wide Receivers

 

Marcus Johnson: 6 targets, 5 receptions, 100 yards

Geoff Swain: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 26 yards

A.J. Brown: 4 targets, 1 reception, 16 yards | 1 carry, 7 yards

Anthony Firkser: 2 targets, 1 reception, 2 yards

Nick Westbrook-Ikhine: 1 target, 1 reception, 10 yards

Chester Rogers: 1 target, 1 catch, 9 yards

Mycole Pruitt: 1 target, 1 catch, 2 yards, TD

Dez Fitzpatrick: 1 target, 1 reception, 0 yards

 

The Saints have a talented group of defensive backs and it’s obvious Todd Downing had no intention of challenging them on the outside. Do I think Brown can beat Marcus Lattimore one on one? Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. Sadly, I’m not calling the Titans plays and can’t tell Tannehill to give Brown a shot. Maybe next week.

The beneficiary of this conservative game plan was Johnson. He has turned in exactly one 100 yard game in each of the last two seasons and this very well may have been it. I referenced a few drag routes that broke before when discussing Tannehill and Johnson was on the other end of them.

 

 

This was the longest play of the day, including half of Johnson’s 1oo yards, and seemed completely ordinary. I hate to take shots at someone with a job, but this offense is just not very imaginative at the moment. Their only move right now is a rub on a drag, like here. Listen to Matt describe another one from Johnson later in the game.

 

 

He is the only receiver here worth monitoring. The rest of this group is largely unimpressive and are not being ‘schemed’ the same opportunities.

 

— James Schiano (@JeterHadNoRange on Twitter)

Series Navigation
Introduction
Ravens @ Dolphins
Bills @ Jets
Buccaneers @ Football Team
Falcons @ Cowboys
Saints @ Titans
Jaguars @ Colts
Lions @ Steelers
Browns @ Patriots
Vikings @ Chargers
Panthers @ Cardinals
Eagles @ Broncos
Seahawks @ Packers
Chiefs @ Raiders

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