What We Saw: Week 8

Jets @ Chiefs

The Jets scored points on their first three drives and it looked like maybe they were going to shock the world and make this game competitive. Sadly, their fourth drive ended in a blocked field goal to take the game into halftime and they never threatened to score again. Meanwhile, the Chiefs seemed to either score on a big play or have their drive stall out. Since they’re the Chiefs that still meant they scored five touchdowns as Patrick Mahomes threw for over 400 yards. The Jets can take a moral victory away from this game, as they preserved their lead in the race for the number one overall pick and they kept their old pal Le’Veon Bell out of the endzone. The Chiefs won 35-9 and were able to play their backups for most of the fourth quarter after putting the game away early.

New York Jets

Quarterback

Sam Darnold: 18/30, 133 yards,1 sack | 4 carries, 21 yards

It wasn’t Sam Darnold‘s fault the Jets offense looked bad, but he also didn’t really do anything to show that he’s part of the solution. A lot of his completions came on checkdowns or designed screens, and when he did look to push the ball downfield it didn’t look good. He completed one pretty nice throw down the sideline to Denzel Mims:

Darnold ➡ Mims 👍

📺 #NYJvsKC on CBS pic.twitter.com/VxqNAx1now

— New York Jets (@nyjets) November 1, 2020

Aside from that completion the only other positive from Darnold was that he had a few nice scrambles and generally did well to avoid taking sacks despite constantly being under pressure. He had two passes that probably should have been intercepted, although to be fair to him on one of those throws it looked like the receiver stopped his route early, and he had a few throws where he was hit as he released the ball but was able to direct the ball out of bounds. The Jets will probably be able to draft whichever quarterback they want when the NFL Draft rolls around, and Darnold didn’t show anything today that should cause them to hesitate.

Running Backs

Frank Gore: 10 carries, 30 yards 

La’Mical Perine: 8 carries, 27 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 6 yards

It’s not like there were running lanes for them to take advantage of, but neither Frank Gore nor La’Mical Perine looked inspiring. There were a lot of three-yard runs where the first defender to hit them was able to stop their forward motion and neither of them contributed anything in the passing game despite the Jets choosing to throw short a lot. Their combined one highlight was back-to-back runs by Perine on 3rd-and-three and 4th-and-one to convert a key first down.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Denzel Mims: 3 targets, 2 reception, 42 yards

Braxton Berrios: 11 targets, 8 receptions, 34 yards 

Jeff Smith: 8 targets, 3 reception, 29 yards

Vyncint Smith: 1 target, 1 reception, 13 yards

Chris Herndon: 2 targets, 1 reception, 3 yards, 1 fumble lost

Denzel Mims made the nice catch mentioned above and looked like he was going to be a big part of the game plan before completely disappearing after the second drive. What I saw from him was impressive, and if there’s anyone from this offense today to watch going forward it would be him. Braxton Berrios had several screens designed for him and almost all of them were blown up by the defense. Jeff Smith was overthrown by Darnold on what could have been a long touchdown after Smith got behind the defense and saw a lot of targets, albeit not many that were catchable. Chris Herndon fumbled his only touch and continues to be a huge disappointment for fantasy managers this year.

Kansas City Chiefs

Quarterback

Patrick Mahomes: 31/42, 416 yards, 5 TDs 

Chad Henne: 3/4, 17 yards | 1 carry, 0 yards

This game was worth watching for Patrick Mahomes alone as he dominated the Jets en route to the easiest 400 yards, five-touchdown game I have ever seen. He scored on a jet pass to Mecole Hardman where Hardman did most of the work but his other four touchdowns were all impressive. Mahomes threw two deep passes to Tyreek Hill, a relatively deep throw that he placed perfectly to Demarcus Robinson, and an underhand throw to Travis Kelce all for touchdowns.

As @Dadams0323 likes to appropriately call it, the “NFL Street Underhand” from Patrick Mahomes. #FantasyFootball | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/dwUcWz6maZ

— QB List (@TheQBlist) November 1, 2020

Mahomes made it look effortless as he would just drop back deep into the pocket before flicking his wrist and sending the ball past all the defenders. He’s been a must-see since he entered the league and didn’t disappoint today.

Piggyback rides for the win!#NYJvsKC on CBS pic.twitter.com/GXcBRpMmbd

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 1, 2020

Running Backs

Clyde Edwards-Helaire: 6 carries, 21 yards | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 10 yards

Le’Veon Bell: 6 carries, 7 yards | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 31 yards

Darrell Williams: 3 carries, 19 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 7 yards

When your quarterback keeps connecting on the deep ball there isn’t going to be much left for the running backs to work with. Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Le’Veon Bell each handled nine unremarkable touches a piece. They appeared to alternate drives and handled most of the work on their respective drives, with the exception of Darrell Williams making some brief appearances. Williams had the best play of the three; a really nice one-handed catch on a pass that was thrown behind him to convert a third down. Bell was stuffed a few times, and it looked like maybe his old team had a little extra motivation to tackle him. CEH has really seen his value take a hit since Bell’s arrival, which has turned the backfield into a true timeshare situation. He was unable to get anything going, with the closest he came to a big play being one of his receptions that he took to the three-yard line before being tackled.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Tyreek Hill: 6 targets, 4 receptions, 98 yards, 2 TDs

Mecole Hardman: 9 targets, 7 receptions, 96 yards, 1 TD

Demarcus Robinson: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 63 yards, 1 TD

Travis Kelce: 12 targets, 8 receptions, 109 yards, 1 TD

Byron Pringle: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 22 yards

Tyreek Hill got loose twice for deep touchdowns but continued his streak this season of not breaking 100 receiving yards.

Mahomes Cookin’.

400+ passing yards
5 TDs
No sacks, no interceptions #FantasyFootball | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/5yHgASPx2X

— QB List (@TheQBlist) November 1, 2020

Hill was open in the endzone for his first touchdown, which immediately followed one of Mahome’s only miscues when he missed Hill open deep. Travis Kelce led the team in targets and did most of his damage off of play-action, adding on some yards-after-the-catch thanks to lackluster tackling. Demarcus Robinson caught a deep touchdown despite the defender interfering with him:

Lighting it up 🍯⚡️#NYJvsKC on CBS pic.twitter.com/QZuqJXLGdz

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 1, 2020

Mecole Hardman took a jet pass 30 yards for a score, and after that, it seemed like the Jets were willing to concede the underneath stuff to him for fear of letting him use that speed to burn them deep. He did a nice job of taking advantage of that with some curl routes and had himself a very nice game. Byron Pringle caught a pass from the punter on a fake punt early in the game to pick up the first down.

— Dan Adams (@dadams0323 on Twitter)