What We Saw: Week 10

The What We Saw team recaps everything you missed from Week 10

Colts @ Raiders

Final Score: Colts 25, Raiders 20

Writer: Justin Herrera (@Semtexmex93 on Twitter)

 

The Indianapolis Colts came to Las Vegas ready to gamble with their new coach Jeff Saturday and their old quarterback, Matt Ryan. The Raiders and Colts came into this game needing a win to stay relevant in the playoff picture for the AFC. Entering into this game, the Raiders placed Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow on the IR and the Colts welcomed back Jonathan Taylor into the picture. The latter ended up being a big part of this game, with Taylor showing us why he was the league’s leading rusher in 2021. This game was a back-and-forth struggle between two desperate teams, and it churned out a barn burner. With it coming down to the wire and the Colts putting together a touchdown scoring drive and forcing the Raiders to have to do the same. On the final drive, we got to see the problems that the Raiders’ offense has, and an untimely drop led to the team turning over the ball on downs. The game result was the Indianapolis Colts 25, Las Vegas Raiders 20.

 

Indianapolis Colts

 

Quarterback

 

Matt Ryan: 21/28, 222 Yards, TD | 4 Carries, 38 Yards, TD

 

 

Matt Ryan was once again the starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. Leading this team to a big comeback win over the Las Vegas Raiders. And he did it with his legs and his arm, scoring a one-yard rushing touchdown and rushing for 39 yards on a third and three to set up the final touchdown pass to Parris Campbell. Ryan completed 75% of his passes, making the team palatable on Sunday. Ryan also tallied 250 yards from scrimmage and seemed to be playing with “house money” in this game. In other words, he played free and looked like he was having fun being the second-leading rusher on the team. Hopefully, the Sam Ehlinger experiment is over, and they will stick with Ryan. I can’t imagine this team turning their season around based on this performance, but for fantasy managers, this is great for the skill players on the Colts’ roster. And knowing that Ryan won’t have a leash with Jeff Saturday as the interim coach will open him up to have some fun games and maybe even be fantasy relevant.

 

 

Running Back

 

Jonathan Taylor: 22 Carries, 147 Yards, TD | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 16 Yards

Jordan Wilkins: 3 Carries, 18 Yards

Zack Moss: 1 Carry, 4 Yards

 

Jonathan Taylor needed this game against the horrendous Las Vegas Raiders run defense. Taylor had half of his yardage on one drive, carrying the ball twice for 70 yards on the Colts’ second drive of the second half. 66 of the 70 yards came on one giant touchdown run. Taylor should’ve had two touchdowns in this game, as on the first-team touchdown drive, he was just a yard short of the goal line. Allowing the ever-agile Matt Ryan to take the honor on the very next play. Taylor really took over this game in the second half, going for 94 rushing yards and adding on two catches for 16. Taylor seemed like his old self today, and for what it’s worth, the offensive line looked good again against a decent defensive end in Maxx Crosby. Taylor will hopefully continue the success throughout the rest of the year, and this game should be a sigh of relief for fantasy managers.

 

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Parris Campbell: 9 Targets, 7 Receptions, 76 Yards, TD

Kylen Granson: 4 Targets, 4 Receptions, 57 Yards

Michael Pittman Jr.: 9 Targets, 7 Receptions, 53 Yards, 1 Fumble (Recovered)

Keke Coutee: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 20 Yards, 1 Fumble (Lost)

Alec Pierce: 2 Targets

 

 

Parris Campbell caught seven of nine targets, including a 35-yard slant that led to the Colts winning the game. The 35-yard played made up the majority of his 76 yards, while the Raiders had no answer for the slot receiver most of the game. It was lackluster tackling by the team that led to this long touchdown.

Kylen Granson is blooming into this team’s most reliable tight end. In this game, he caught all four of his targets for 57 yards. His biggest play came on a 32-yard catch and run, setting up a one-yard rushing TD for Matt Ryan.

Michael Pittman was doubled up a lot in this game and missed a couple of opportunities. Including a recovered fumble that could’ve shifted the momentum to the Raiders at the end of the game. Overall, Pittman did catch seven of nine targets for 53 yards, and this offense was much more efficient with Ryan back at the helm.

Keke Coutee made a sighting in this game, making a big catch before fumbling the ball and giving the Raiders the ball right before halftime. Alec Pierce had two targets this game but was unable to bring down either and couldn’t get involved in this run-heavy game plan.

 

Las Vegas Raiders

 

Quarterback

 

Derek Carr: 24/38, 248 Yards, 2 TD

Don’t get me wrong, Derek Carr is a good quarterback, but he’s not a great quarterback, and this team doesn’t have the defense or run game to get them out of a jam. So Carr has to be elite to make this a winning team, and he’s been caught in multiple games this year where he’s needed his defense to make a stop; instead, they gave up a touchdown and needed him to score a touchdown.

Carr started off this game going three and out on four straight drives and turning over the ball on downs on the last one. The tides turned when the Raiders’ defense came up with a big fumble recovery. This leads to the first scoring drive for the Raiders, with Carr throwing a 22-yard pass to Foster Moreau, leading to a four-yard TD for Moreau. Carr made his money in the second half, passing for 161 of his 248 yards and making his biggest play of the game. Scrambling around the pocket and hitting Davante Adams in single coverage for a 48-yard touchdown that put them ahead 20-19. After the defense failed to recover a fumble and allowed a touchdown. Carr got his chance to be the hero in this game and should have been with a perfectly placed touchdown pass to Moreau. That drop and the 4th down miss on Adams effectively ended the game for the Raiders.

 

 

Running Back

 

Josh Jacobs: 21 Carries, 78 Yards, TD | 8 Targets, 6 Receptions, 28 Yards

Zamir White: 2 Carries, -1 Yard

 

 

Josh Jacobs played a big role this week with a combined 106 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. Jacobs had one big breakaway run of 22 yards but was very pedestrian outside of that. He was averaging around 2.8 yards per carry outside of that run and, on multiple runs, got stopped in the backfield. Jacobs scored on a one-yard touchdown, but outside of that was pretty lackluster for fantasy this week. It did help that he caught six of eight targets for 28 yards. Overall the game plan for the Raiders was stifled by the Colts’ run defense, leaving them their passing attack, which has let them down multiple times this year.

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Davante Adams: 14 Targets, 9 Receptions, 126 Yards, TD

Foster Moreau: 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 43 Yards, TD

Ameer Abdullah: 4 Targets, 4 Receptions, 33 Yards

Mack Hollins: 1 Carry | 6 Targets, 2 Receptions, 18 Yards

Keelan Cole: 2 Targets

 

 

Davante Adams caught nine of 14 targets this week. Adams was a monster this week, making a big first down catch after a big first down catch. Davante was the safety valve for Carr in this game and finally pulled off a big catch and run against single coverage for a 48-yard touchdown. The dominant wide receiver was the last player to get targeted in this game and couldn’t come down with a fourth-down touchdown.  

Foster Moreau got the start this week, with Darren Waller heading to the IR. Thus opening the door for Moreau to catch three of four targets for 43 yards, including a 21-yard catch and run. He set up a four-yard touchdown, and then he finished with an 18-yard catch.

Ameer Abdullah came in handy this week, catching all four of his targets for 33 yards. Abdullah was used as the dump-off option in this game and nearly scored a touchdown. Look for Abdullah to see a role from now on with this team, as they’ll be behind a lot this year.

Mack Hollins got the start in the absence of Hunter Renfrow and didn’t play badly this week. Hollins did miss on a couple of passes and didn’t look as good as in his previous performances. Hollins will continue to get a chance in this offense, but it’ll be hard to tell week to week if he’ll be able to have a big week.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.