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

Chiefs @ Raiders

Final Score: Chiefs 41, Raiders 14

Writer: Corey Saucier (@Deputy_Commish on Twitter, /u/Lights_Kamara_Action on Reddit)

 

QB Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs got back to the basics on Sunday night – beating QB Derek Carr and the Raiders like a drum in the process. If you could argue that the league has ‘figured out’ the Chiefs’ offense this year, you would have to make the case that playing two high safeties, refusing to blitz, and forcing Mahomes into more contested downfield throws has proven to be at least somewhat of a success. So on Sunday night, what was it that Mahomes did so differently? He took what was open underneath instead of playing hero ball. He dinked. He dunked. In fact, RB Darrel Williams had by far the biggest receiving performance of his career – but more on that later. The Raiders, on the other hand, fell asleep at the wheel after hanging close into the second half. They finished with just 50 total rushing yards as a team (Carr led the way with a whopping 18 rushing yards). Carr hooked up with WR Bryan Edwards on this 37-yard strike to pull the Raiders within a FG:

 

 

After that score, the Chiefs went on to score 24 unanswered points to close out the game – helped greatly by turnovers on back-to-back Raiders’ possessions in the third quarter. How did your fantasy team fare through this AFC West battle? Let’s dive into what we saw:

 

Kansas City Chiefs

 

Quarterbacks

 

Patrick Mahomes: 35/50, 406 yards, 5 TD

 

At long last, the fantasy football world was treated to a vintage Patrick Mahomes performance in Las Vegas on Sunday night. Mahomes passed for his first 400+ yard game of the season, and also had his second-straight game without a turnover – turning in his biggest fantasy output thus far. Mahomes led the Chiefs to a multitude of long TD drives, and he wasn’t entirely dinking and dunking – he did complete passes of 20+ yards to 5 different receivers, after all. That being said, Mahomes showed more patience in taking what the defense was giving him underneath and didn’t try to force as many deep throws into tight windows. Mahomes did miss a handful of throws on the night including a late shot to WR Tyreek Hill down the right sideline that could have potentially been another score. Even still, Mahomes had a monster night and his managers should all feel encouraged by his performance. Here’s a couple of Mahomes’ 5 TD passes:

 

 

 

Running Backs

 

Darrel Williams: 11 carries, 43 yards | 9 targets, 9 receptions, 101 yards, TD

Jerick McKinnon: 3 carries, 26 yards | 3 targets, 1 reception, 6 yards

Derrick Gore: 6 carries, 19 yards

 

As I mentioned in the opener, it was an absolute career night for Chiefs’ RB Darrel Williams on Sunday. Williams saw career-highs in targets, receptions, and receiving yards while adding just his second career receiving TD. Check out this beauty of a contested grab to put the game away:

 

 

With the probable return of Chiefs’ RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire from his IR stint next week, it could be the final week for Williams as the Chiefs’ starter at RB. If so, he went out in a blaze of glory – with a receiving workload that would certainly make CEH’s managers green with envy.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Tyreek Hill: 10 targets, 7 receptions, 83 yards, 2 TD | 1 carry, 2 yards

Travis Kelce: 10 targets, 8 receptions, 119 yards

Mecole Hardman: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 27 yards

Demarcus Robinson: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 23 yards

Byron Pringle: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 46 yards, TD

 

With a vintage performance from Mahomes, we were treated to some vintage performances from his pass-catchers as well. WR Tyreek Hill had a huge night with two scores and perennial Raider-slayer TE Travis Kelce found himself open all over the field, all night long. While Hill finished with fewer than 100 yards and both of his TD catches came from within the 10-yard line, he still bounced back strong after a dud last week against the Packers. We know that Hill can score from anywhere on the field, but his role as one of Mahomes’ favorite red-zone targets only adds to his value:

 

 

 

Kelce failed to find the end-zone on Sunday night, but his 8 catches tied his season-high and his 119 yards were also a season-high. In his high-profile TE matchup with Raiders’ TE Darren Waller, Kelce clearly emerged as the winner.

 

Las Vegas Raiders

 

Quarterback

 

Derek Carr: 25/35, 261 yards, 2 TD, INT | 3 carries, 18 yards

 

Raiders’ QB Derek Carr stood toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes early on and made it seem like we might be set up for a shootout down the stretch, but ultimately Carr and the Raiders stalled out early. With the Raiders’ running game basically non-existent, the Chiefs’ defense forced Carr to beat them with his arm, and he wasn’t quite able to do so.  Carr did have this beauty of a TD strike to WR Bryan Edwards:

 

On the other hand, there were also throws like this one:

 

It was mentioned on the telecast that Carr’s arm might have been hit as he threw that INT, but I wasn’t able to definitively see one way or the other. It’s been a tough fantasy season for Carr to this point, but he’ll try to turn things around next week against the Bengals.

 

Running Backs

 

Kenyan Drake: 4 carries, 16 yards | 3 targets, 2 receptions, 15 yards

Josh Jacobs: 7 carries, 16 yards | 5 targets, 5 receptions, 20 yards

 

The Raiders’ RB group was easily the most underwhelming of the night – as you probably gathered from the opener where I mentioned Carr’s 18 yards leading the way. RB Josh Jacobs added 5 catches as a small consolation in PPR leagues, but both Jacobs and RB Kenyan Drake struggled to get anything going on the ground. Managers of both backs could have expected a respectable outing considering how mediocre the Chiefs’ defense has been against fantasy RBs this season, but neither were able to produce. Both of these Raiders’ backs will have a decent shot to turn things around next week against a Bengals’ defense that has been even softer against fantasy RBs than Kansas City.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Bryan Edwards: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 88 yards, TD

Hunter Renfrow: 9 targets, 7 receptions, 46 yards, TD

Darren Waller: 7 targets, 4 receptions, 24 yards

DeSean Jackson: 1 target, 1 reception, 38 yards, Fumble (Lost)

 

In one of the most bizarre sequences of the night, WR DeSean Jackson made his first catch as a Raider, but then he fumbled the ball away after appearing to have lost track of which way he was going. After making a hard turn and football move back towards the line of scrimmage, Jackson had the ball punched out by Chiefs’ CB Rashad Fenton and then scooped up by Chiefs’ S Tyrann Mathieu:

 

 

WR Bryan Edwards was able to make the most of his 4 targets – turning them into 88 yards and a score after posting a goose egg last week against the Giants. After a 23-yard reception to start off Las Vegas’ early second-quarter drive, Edwards drew a defensive pass interference penalty that ultimately set up this first Raiders’ TD. Speaking of that TD, WR Hunter Renfrow runs some of the most interesting routes in the entire NFL. Check out this score from Renfrow where it looked like he was falling down. Is it just me, or was that a fake fall as part of the route?

 

 

TE Darren Waller had his worst fantasy performance of the season thus far, finishing with just 4 catches for the third time this season. Waller appeared to come down with a garbage-time TD late in the 4th quarter but unfortunately for his managers, the play was called back due to holding.

 

— Corey Saucier (@Deputy_Commish on Twitter, /u/Lights_Kamara_Action on Reddit)

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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