Brian Burns (ankle) questionable for Week 3

Pickens had a 35-yard touchdown taken off the board by an offensive holding penalty. Outside of feasting on Thursday Night in Week 5 while CeeDee Lamb rested following his bludgeoning of the Texans, this is mostly just what it’s been for Pickens. He has one touchdown and zero games over 82 yards outside of that one. He’ll remain a reasonable WR2 next week against the Colts but the boom weeks have been tough to come by this year.

Goff, like all quarterbacks against the Vikings, seemed lost from start to finish, unable to decipher to intricate Vikings blitz scheme. He was sacked four times and saw pressure on seemingly every drop back before the Lions abandoned the pass game for the run game in the second half. Sunday marked only the second game this season in which Goff did not have multiple touchdown throws, and the first time he has not eclipsed 200 passing yards. Goff should be able to get back on track next week against a bad Dolphins defense.

Perine took a backseat to Chase Brown against the Titans, seeing 26 snaps to Brown’s 50. He was still involved in the red zone, but was not utilized as much as Brown as a pass-catcher. Perine’s path to fantasy production will be touchdown opportunities. He is a fantasy handcuff with some desperation RB4 value in Week 9 against the Falcons.

Looking to bounce back from a Week 7 doughnut in his return from a marathon injury absence, Mitchell responded with by far the best game of his career. This, even as one of his two missed connections was a heinous deep drop. Geno Smith never stopped looking his way, however, and the quarterback was rewarded with multiple chunk gains. Smith once again failed to get fully in sync with Garrett Wilson. Smith also targeted Omar Cooper Jr. zero times. That was hard to see coming, and will be difficult to sustain going forward, keeping Mitchell as more of a boom/bust WR3/4 than weekly must start. This blow-up effort confirmed he still has life in 12-team leagues, however. That will include for Week 9 against a Chiefs defense that is admittedly much better than Vegas’ porous unit.

Lamb’s most memorable play from this game was evading three tacklers on a screen to finally find a first down. He had two of Dallas’ six red zone targets but turned them into just one catch for four yards. Arizona’s aggressive defense simply clouded Lamb and dared the other receivers to win. He’ll remain on the WR1 line next week against the hapless Colts.

He found 20-of-74 running back snaps against the Cardinals; not bad work but nothing that is making you consider a waiver claim either. Goodson should be held in deeper leagues as a contingency stash.

Allen added two receptions for six yards. With Breece Hall a surprising weekend ruleout with an aggravation of his long-running quad injury, Allen got another start and once again made the most of it. Allen’s career-high 147 yards on the ground included a 24-yard rush and 21-yard touchdown where he got the edge and was then not touched en route to the house. In between, he got shaken up on a big hit but appeared no worse for the wear. Although Hall is supposedly in play for Week 9, he was never even supposed to be in doubt for Week 8. For now we will consider Hall on the wrong side of questionable to face the Chiefs’ strong defense on the road. Even if Hall goes, Allen will maintain FLEX appeal. If Hall sits, Allen will be a must-start RB2.

Brown saw most of his fantasy production come from the passing game, seeing nine targets in a pass-heavy game script. He fumbled on a handoff from Joe Burrow and also had a receiving touchdown called back for holding in the first half. Despite the dampened fantasy production, Brown saw most of the backfield opportunities for the Bengals, out-touching Samaje Perine 20-to-5. Brown’s production has been underwhelming the first half of the season but fantasy managers should hold tight given his large share of opportunities in pass-heavy game scripts. Brown’s production should regress to see more touchdowns the second half of the season. He is in the RB2 ranks for Week 9 against the Falcons.

Woof. The Cardinals simply overwhelmed the line of scrimmage with run blitzes and dared the Cowboys to do something about it; they often didn’t. Williams also fumbled away a goal-line tote only for it to wind up as a Cowboys touchdown by landing in the hands of journeyman tight end James Mitchell. Things should be easier next week against the Colts, where Williams will remain a reasonable RB1/high-end RB2 tweener.