What We Saw: Week 6

Tennessee Titans vs Denver Broncos

 

Somewhere, Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy was smiling while watching this game.  This game featured 474 total offensive yards, 23 total first downs, and 16 total points.  It also featured 17 total punts and 758 net punt yards. What did I see? The short answer is, “Not much,” but I’ll try to go into a bit more detail below.

 

Tennessee Titans

 

Quarterbacks

 

• Marcus Mariota: 7/18, 63 yards, 2 INTs, 3 sacks, 7 yards lost | 2 carries, 4 yards

• Ryan Tannehill: 13/16, 144 yards, 1 INT, 4 sacks, 35 yards lost | 1 carry, 6 yards

 

Marcus Mariota started this game struggling and finished it watching Ryan Tannehill attempt to lead a Titans comeback.  Mariota missed several throws on Tennessee’s first few drives that an NFL QB has no business missing.  He missed low on a couple of slant routes where the receiver was open then overthrew a wide-open Derrick Henry on a screen pass that looked like it would have picked up good yardage.

Last week, one could place much of the blame on the offensive line, but that same unit did a decent job of protecting Mariota in this game.  Mariota entered this game having not thrown an interception on the season, but threw two in four passes in the second half, the second of which was a terrible decision as he was pressured and escaped with open field in front of him but forced a pass downfield to a covered Darius Jennings.

Following Mariota’s second INT, Tannehill came in and looked much better than Mariota, placing passes where his receivers could catch them and make plays and generally looking more comfortable in the pocket.  Tannehill’s lone INT was on Tennessee’s final play of the game in which he had to throw for the end zone on fourth down. Despite not leading the Titans to any points, Tannehill’s performance in this game is going to prompt questions from the media, fans of the team, and perhaps the coaching staff about whether Tennessee should move on from Mariota.

Credit also has to be given to Denver’s defense as they were able to generate pressure late in the game rushing four or five players and doing a great job with seven or eight in coverage.  This is the Denver defense many thought would be present given the players and the arrival of HC Vic Fangio.

 

Running Backs

 

• Derrick Henry: 15 carries, 28 yards | 3 targets, 1 reception, 5 yards

• Dion Lewis: 1 carry, -1 yard | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 20 yards

 

Running room was hard to come by for Henry in this game as Denver’s attacking defense was disciplined in their gap assignments and made secure tackles on every attempt.  I don’t recall any broken tackles from Henry and he never was able to create as a result. Henry’s longest run was a scant six yards. Henry remains an uninspiring RB2 because of volume, but the offense as a whole dampens his upside.

Once again, Dion Lewis was an afterthought in the running game and only provided minimally in the receiving game.  In fact, Dalyn Dawkins (promoted from the practice squad just this week) got a couple of carries in relief of Henry.

Dawkins, the nephew to Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins, played his college ball at Colorado State on the same field as today’s game was played, so there is speculation that was the reason for the promotion.

 

Wide Receivers / Tight Ends

 

• Corey Davis: 5 targets, 3 receptions, 36 yards

• A.J. Brown: 4 targets, 2 receptions, 23 yards

• Adam Humphries: 6 targets, 6 receptions, 47 yards

• Delanie Walker: 5 targets, 3 receptions, 43 yards

 

As you might have surmised from looking at the numbers from the QB section above, there wasn’t much production from the receiving options for Tennessee.  Most of the production came late in the second half when Tannehill took over for Mariota.

Delanie Walker once again was Mariota’s preferred target as all of his targets and receptions came off the hand of Mariota.  It was good to see Walker involved in the offense again after consecutive games with just two targets and one reception.  Walker was not targeted by Tannehill during the team’s attempt to come back, so that may be a situation worth monitoring if Tannehill is tabbed the starter.  Walker is still valuable enough to be trusted as a high-end TE2 with TE1 upside.

Adam Humphries once again showed why Tennesse signed him in free agency, catching all six of his targets on the day.  Humphries did most of his damage following Mariota’s exit as Denver’s defense was content to play back and let Tennessee complete short passes.  Humphries doesn’t carry much fantasy value because of the shortcomings of the Tennesse offense but might provide WR4 or WR5 value in a pinch if injuries or BYEs leave you thin at the position.

Corey Davis may have seen his fantasy value bump up a little with Tannehill under center as he accumulated all his stats (save for one target) from Tannehill.  Davis took a couple of short passes and turned them into decent gains during Tennessee’s comeback bid, making up the majority of his stats. I know this sounds like a broken record, but Tennessee’s offense is not the best place to look for fantasy production.  As such, I can’t recommend Davis as anything other than a WR4 or WR5 right now. If Tannehill takes over as starting QB and continues to show favoritism toward Davis, a reassessment might be necessary.

A.J. Brown just looks like a dominant WR ready to break out almost every time he touches the ball.  Brown’s first reception was a short pass in which he broke away from a tackler and gained 13 yards along the sideline.  Brown was lazy with the ball and it was knocked free at the end of the run, but fortunately for the Titans, the defender was out of bounds when he first touched the ball.  Later, Brown showed off his ability by taking a short pass and fighting through a tackle and showing off good open-field moves on a 42-yard gain. Then play was wiped out by offensive pass interference by Brown, but that penalty doesn’t negate the skills shown following the reception.  Brown could provide WR3-level production in a better offense, but he’s not a terrible bench stash and emergency start right now. I’d put WR4 value on him now with WR3 upside.

 

Denver Broncos

 

Quarterbacks

 

• Joe Flacco: 18/28, 177 yards, 1 INT, 1 sack, 10 yards lost | 4 carries, -1 yard

 

Joe Flacco has his worst fantasy outing of the season this week, frequently taking the short throws and rarely challenging the defense deep.  Flacco didn’t do anything to put his team in jeopardy, and his interception was a result of a deep pass that Noah Fant lost track of in the sun.  The ball bounced off Fant’s back and into the hands of Kevin Byard.

Tennessee has fielded one of the best defenses in the NFL thus far this season, so a less than stellar game from an opposing QB isn’t all that surprising.  Flacco now has back-to-back games with under 200 yards passing, but Denver has been victorious in both. I don’t imagine this will be the norm going forward, but I don’t think Flacco will have games like he did in week four against Jacksonville either.

Flacco is hard to trust in leagues that only require one QB, and barely registers in two QB or SuperFlex leagues.

 

Running Backs

 

• Phillip Lindsay: 15 carries, 70 yards, 1 TD | 3 targets, 2 receptions, 5 yards

• Royce Freeman: 11 carries, 34 yards | 5 targets, 5 receptions, 42 yards

 

Denver beat writers have been espousing the team’s desire to split the workload at RB nearly equally between both Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman and the stats thus far have borne that out.  In this game, both RBs had success early attacking the middle of Tennessee’s defense, coinciding with the early exit of Tennessee ILB Jaylon Brown.

Lindsay is the first RB on the field but in several instances, both he and Freeman are out there with Freeman lining up as a WR.  Lindsay did more with his carries in this game, providing the game’s only TD on a nice run off left tackle. Lindsay spun through an arm tackle at the two-yard line then plunged into the end zone to secure the score.  Later, Lindsay bounced a run designed to go up the middle around the right end and scampered for 30 yards to set up the final score of the game. Lindsay checks in as a solid RB2 with RB1 upside despite the timeshare between him and Freeman because of the quality of touches Lindsay is getting.

Freeman might be successful as an every-down RB, but he is thriving in his role splitting time with Lindsay.  As mentioned above, just because Lindsay lines up at RB that doesn’t mean Freeman won’t see the field. On several instances in this game, Freeman lined up wide as a WR while Lindsay was in the backfield.  Despite the timeshare, Freeman still sees enough action to be trusted as an RB3 or FLEX play.

 

Wide Receivers / Tight Ends

 

• Emmanuel Sanders: 3 targets, 1 reception, 0 yards

• Courtland Sutton: 8 targets, 4 receptions, 76 yards

• DaeSean Hamilton: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 25 yards

• Noah Fant: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 16 yards

 

Courtland Sutton continues to assert his status as the #1 WR for Denver, commanding a team-leading eight targets on the game.  Sutton has excelled on deep shots, converting two in this game (41 yards and 18 yards). Sutton’s role may grow in the next few weeks (see below) and that makes him a very attractive WR3 with WR2 upside.

Emmanuel Sanders was held to just one catch on three targets, but more importantly, Sanders didn’t return in the second half following a knee injury.  As of this writing, no further information is known, but Sanders was limited in practice this week with a knee ailment, so there may be some connection between the two.  If Sanders is forced to miss time, Sutton seems poised to have no worse than a WR3 valuation. If this injury turns out to be minor and won’t cost Sanders any games, Sanders maintains his status as a WR3 as well with WR2 upside.  Monitor news reports this week and act accordingly.

DaeSean Hamilton replaced Sanders in the second half but was not really involved in the game plan as Denver had the lead and was moving the ball well on the ground.  Hamilton’s role will grow if Sanders misses time, but I don’t imagine him carrying anything more than emergency WR5 value if you’re desperate for help at the position.

Noah Fant only saw two official targets on the game but was the intended target on Flacco’s interception starting the second half.  Fant is a lightly-used part of the passing game but can provide some fantasy usefulness for owners who need help at the position due to BYE weeks or injuries.  I wouldn’t peg Fant as anything better than a low-end TE2, but he does see a handful of targets most games so the potential is there.

 

-Bryan Sweet