Atlanta Falcons @ Indianapolis Colts
Final Score: Colts 31, Falcons 25
Writer: Pranav Babarjung
A riveting back-and-forth ballgame enthralled the crowd in Berlin. Just when it looked like the Falcons had won off a Tyler Allgeier touchdown, Daniel Jones took the Colts down the field to set up Michael Badgely‘s game-tying field goal. In the end, country roads took Jonathan Taylor home as he led the Colts to victory in overtime.
Four Up
- Jonathan Taylor — Taylor continued to add to his MVP candidate resume with a FIFTH hat trick on the season.
- Drake London — London had another big game as the only real threat in the Atlanta passing offense.
- Alec Pierce — Pierce maintained his role as the deep threat and managed to snag a long touchdown in double coverage.
- Tyler Warren — The rookie TE phenom led all Colts pass catchers in both targets and receptions.
Three Down
- Darnell Mooney — Mooney caught only one pass despite being consistently targeted.
- Josh Downs — Downs had only one reception for 3 yards, resulting in an abysmal performance.
- Michael Penix Jr. — Penix failed to come through in the clutch, and remains fantasy irrelevant.
Atlanta Falcons
Quarterback
Michael Penix Jr.: 12/28, 177 Yards, TD, 2-Point Conversion| 1 Carry, -1 Yard, Fumble (LOST)
Michael Penix Jr. did not play well. The Falcons remained competitive in spite of this, however, mainly due to the ground game. Penix’s passes were seemingly only accurate when targeting Drake London. In the overtime drive, he did not complete a single pass, despite being bailed out by a penalty. When the game is on the line, Penix is simply unable to produce. Add in no rushing upside, and you get a QB that is not at all startable for fantasy purposes.
Running Back
Bijan Robinson: 17 Carries, 84 Yards | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 4 Yards
Bijan Robinson had a down week with no end zone visits and minimal receiving volume. You would think he’d have a better day given that Penix only threw for 177 yards. He had no red-zone touches, which could be a concern going forward.
Tyler Allgeier: 11 Carries, 57 Yards, 2 TDs
Tyler Allgeier had the best performance of his season so far. He saw double-digit carries and more notably got every single red-zone touch. He was already the designated goal-line back, but expanding his role to the whole red zone was a significant increase.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Drake London: 8 Targets, 6 Receptions, 104 Yards, TD, 2-Point Conversion
Kyle Pitts: 5 Targets, 2 Receptions, 38 Yards
Darnell Mooney: 8 Targets, 1 Reception, 17 Yards
Charlie Woerner: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 14 Yards
David Sills: 1 Target, 0 Receptions
Drake London rewarded his fantasy owners with another big game. His touchdown came on a play where he was not being shadowed by the Colts’ newest acquisition in Sauce Gardner. Kyle Pitts was an uninteresting play when both London and Darnell Mooney were healthy. Mooney actually matched London in targets, though six of these targets came only in the third quarter and beyond. London continued to be the only pass catcher of interest on this offense, especially if Penix can’t complete more than half of his passes.
Indianapolis Colts
Quarterback
Daniel Jones: 19/26, 255 Yards, TD, INT | 7 Carries, 53 Yards, Fumble (LOST)
Daniel Jones had an alright fantasy performance. He was intercepted off a risky throw at the end of the first half and fumbled while getting sacked in the third quarter. Jones stepped his game up in the clutch to tie the game. He ran for 19 yards and threw two passes to get in field-goal range despite taking two devastating sacks on the same drive. Jones’ willingness to scramble keeps in a high-scoring offense keeps him an interesting weekly play.
Running Back
Jonathan Taylor: 32 Carries, 244 Yards, 3 TDs | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 42 Yards
Jonathan Taylor is simply unstoppable. This offensive line was able to create massive openings for him to exploit. Even if his linemen don’t, he is so hard to bring down that he can just bounce off tacklers and make a huge play, like on his 83-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. Despite being used consistently through the entire game, he put the team on his back in overtime to run on six out of the seven plays (not a reference) for 34 more yards and a third touchdown to ice the game.
Tyler Goodson: 1 Carry, 4 Yards
Ameer Abdullah: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 8 Yards
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Tyler Warren: 10 Targets, 8 Receptions, 99 Yards
As the Colts’ most targeted pass catcher, Tyler Warren showed out. He was targeted once in the end zone, but was unsuccessful. Warren knows how to use his size and got good YAC on multiple designed screen passes.
Alec Pierce: 7 Targets, 4 Receptions, 84 Yards, TD
Alec Pierce hit many fantasy players’ lineups with the byes this week, and owners who started him were rewarded. Pierce’s shortest target was 10 yards out, so he had a solid showing even with only four receptions.
Michael Pittman Jr.: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 19 Yards
Michael Pittman Jr. just did not have to do much in this game. When the game was on the line, Jones did look for him to get an important reception and keep the game-tying drive alive.
Josh Downs: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 3 Yards
With the emergence of Pierce, Josh Downs‘ role was expectedly reduced. He dropped a 2-yard pass on fourth down in the fourth quarter, and had only one other insignificant reception.
Ashton Dulin: 1 Carry, 22 Yards
Mo Alie-Cox: 1 Target, 0 Receptions