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Monday Night Football Recap
The biggest takeaway here was that the Giants played to not lose and in the process lost. The team opted to let Patrick Mahomes get the easy completions underneath, resulting in Tyreek Hill racking up 12 catches for 94 yards and a score on 18 targets. Behind Hill, Travis Kelce (4-27 receiving line) and Mecole Hardman (4-63 receiving) were tied for second in targets with seven each. It was a game to forget for Kelce as he failed to rack up any yardage and also lost a fumble. Darrel Williams split carries with “Derrick Gore”. Before Monday Night Football, Gore had only played five snaps in the season and had never carried the ball before. Note that Gore wasn’t a factor in the receiving game at all, but he should be rostered in 12-team formats.
The Giants’ offense flowed through Devontae Booker. Booker posted 125 yards from scrimmage on 20 touches, his most in a game since filling in for an injured Saquon Barkley. The Giants lost Sterling Shepard to a quad injury in the second quarter and Kadarius Toney appeared to be on a snap count. Toney appears to have cooled off since his white-hot start, catching four of his five passes for 26 yards. Despite the Giants losing wide receivers to injury, Darius Slayton was only targeted twice. Slayton appears to be droppable in all formats. Hopefully, the Giants will be able to deploy Kenny Golladay and Saquon Barkley next week against the Raiders.
Pour One Out For The Big Dog
If you haven’t heard by now, Derrick Henry underwent surgery on his right foot and will miss the next 6-10 weeks of the season. If you were watching the game, it was clear something was wrong with the Big Dog. He posted a pedestrian 68 yards on 28 rushing attempts, failing to take advantage of a middling rush defense. Not seeing the two-time NFL rushing champ will take some getting used to. The Titans signed Adrian Peterson to their practice squad and are expected to elevate him to their active roster soon. I’m unsure that the geriatric Peterson will in any way replicate Henry’s success from this season. I’d expect that this devolves into a messy running back by committee. Jeremy McNichols is worth rostering in 12-team PPR leagues.
It’s possible that Henry’s injury forces the Titans to adopt a pass-heavier game plan going forward. Losing Big Dog means that the Titans lose their best player and their best way to control the clock. AJ Brown will be the primary beneficiary if the team is forced to adopt a pass-heavy approach. He’s posted back-to-back monster games, and Julio Jones’ absence only means that he’ll continue to receive most of the work. Even if Jones returns, I think you can pencil in Brown for an approximately 30% target share going forward. Brown is a locked-in WR1 for the rest of the season.
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Patriots Kick Chargers To The Curb
Mac Jones did a good enough job on Sunday to help the Patriots take down the Chargers in Los Angeles. Jones completed only 18 of his 35 passing attempts for 218 scoreless yards, but he moved the ball well enough to allow the Patriots’ offense to put points on the board. Nick Folk was the hero here, kicking four field goals. Damien Harris continues to turn in solid performances. He rushed for 80 yards and a score on 23 attempts. However, it appears that Harris is ceding receiving work to other Patriots running backs. Rhamondre Stevenson was a surprise active this week and he tacked on 25 rushing yards on eight attempts and caught one of his two targets for five yards. Stevenson is a solid hold for now, but I doubt you can reliably plug him into your lineup anytime soon.
Justin Herbert has painfully crashed back down to earth after his early-season successes. He also completed only 18 of his 35 passing attempts for 223 yards, but he tacked on two passing touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions, including a back-breaking pick-six. Keenan Allen was the focus for Herbert this game, catching six of his 11 targets for 77 yards and a score. It’s possible that the team is still easing Mike Williams back into the fold (2-19 receiving line) as he was a distant third behind Allen and RB Austin Ekeler on Sunday. Ekeler posted 124 yards from scrimmage and tacked on a touchdown. Despite concerns about Ekeler’s gametime status, he did not appear to be limited in any fashion. Allen is a high-end WR2 going forward, whereas Ekeler remains locked in as a top-eight running back.
The Browns Are Hurting
I’ve noted before how impressed I am with Baker Mayfield. He’s currently playing with a partially torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder and is doing a great job of managing the pain. Mayfield has thrown for more than 300 yards twice this season (against the Chiefs in Week 1 and the Chargers in Week 5) but hasn’t been a viable streaming candidate outside of superflex leagues. Mayfield targeted Jarvis Landry 10 times on Sunday, which resulted in a mediocre 5-65 receiving line from Landry. The lack of impact receivers is quite noticeable on this offense. The team traded for Odell Beckham two seasons ago and gave up quite a lot in the process to do so. They moved the 17th overall pick, 95th overall pick, OG Kevin Zeitler, and S Jabrill Peppers to land the stud wide receiver.
Sadly, Beckham has not come close to his production from his rookie season and at this point is being valued on name cache only. On Sunday, of the nine Cleveland receivers to catch a pass, Beckham was outproduced by the other eight. I’m willing to give Beckham a pass given that he’s dealing with shoulder injuries and is approximately a year removed from a season-ending ACL tear. He’s a hold on your roster for the rest of the season, but it’s unlikely that you’ll be starting him anytime soon.
Quick Hits – Injuries
There were several injuries that fantasy gamers need to monitor over the course of the week.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said that he expects that Dak Prescott will be a full go for Thursday practice. Cooper Rush did a good job stepping in for the injured Prescott on Sunday Night Football, hooking up with Amari Cooper to take down the Vikings. Prescott will be a top-12 option at the position for the rest of the season.
Will Fuller will not return to practice this week per head coach Brian Flores. Fuller is still on injured reserve and his timeline to return from injury is still unclear.
Jameis Winston suffered a torn ACL in the Saints’ Week 8 win over the Buccaneers. Winston also injured his MCL. Quite a shame for Winston, who was putting together a very solid season. QB Taysom Hill will take over under center. The Saints are playing much better than expected and could receive a boost when (if?) mercurial wide receiver Michael Thomas ever returns.
Calvin Ridley announced that he’s going to be stepping away from football to focus on his mental health. Kudos to Ridley for recognizing that he needs help and we here at NBC Sports Edge wish him nothing but the best in his recovery. The game will always be here and we’ll go back to cheering him on.
