The Jets offensive line is the biggest disappointment of the early season. Aaron Rodgers was not well protected and the running game was non-existent.
There’s no chemistry with Rodgers and his receivers, even Garrett Wilson, who appeared to have a big day with 13 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown. Allen Lazard had a dropped TD among his bevy of dropped passes.
The bad day for the Vikings offense was due to the Jets defense. The loss of Aaron Jones to a hip pointer didn’t help. The Vikings are off in Week 6.
Darius Slayton is a good player and just needs a chance. Since 2022, he is averaging nearly 10 yards per target. For comparison’s sake, Malik Nabers (out with a concussion) is 7.4 per target thus far in his career. A team that needs a WR should be targeting Slayton, who I said last week could be a top 30 WR if given a real chance.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. looked great, averaging 7.2 yards per carry. Devin Singletary takes a real hit even when he’s healthy enough to play because I can’t see the Giants going back to Singletary getting the vast majority of the action.
Geno Smith has been good enough in reality but has five TDs on 199 attempts, which is terrible. This continues a problem from 2023 when his TD rate was well below average (4%).
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was a bad pick. That’s usually the case when we’re paying for something a guy has not done yet and especially so when the player is not a rookie. There’s no urgency to get JSN the ball and, honestly, should there be?
Caleb Williams was outstanding with a nearly flawless game. He piled up the fantasy points, too. D’Andre Swift was not efficient running but got his yards, including another big receiving play, and found the end zone on a goal-line carry. He did lose two short scores to Roschon Johnson, who did not catch a pass and who averaged less than 3.0 on his other eight carries.
This was a bad day for people who invested in the Panthers based on the idea that they could have a functional offense with Andy Dalton. We may not see Dalton again as a starter in 2024 since the Panthers said his promotion was temporary and Dalton had a 61 rating, which Bryce Young can and does put up in his sleep.
People really drafted Rome Odunze over Brian Thomas Jr.? Forget draft capital. A WR selected in the real NFL draft has a 47% chance to be a better player than the WR who preceded him in the draft, but this was a probable No. 3 team target versus a likely No. 1 target. At worst, Thomas Jr. was going to be No. 2 target on his team. Thomas now is a league winner mostly because he was so cheap.
Thomas is averaging 80 yards receiving per game and has three TDs, including two bombs. On his explosive 85-yard TD on Sunday, he hit 22 mph on the radar, which is a record for a Jaguars player in this NextGen Era. The question of the day is whether you would draft Thomas or Marvin Harrison Jr. right now. That it can even be asked says everything.
It may be over for Tank Bigsby vs. Travis Etienne Jr. — “Throw the damn towel!” Bigsby had a 28-yard catch and a 65-yard TD run.
The Colts decided Adonai Mitchell was the player to get snaps over Alec Pierce even though they were both second-round draft picks. Maybe Pierce changed that by nearly winning the game single-handedly for the Colts. It only matters if Joe Flacco is the QB, of course. I can’t see how Flacco can hold off a healthy Anthony Richardson. (Not saying this is right, just saying this is how it works with top-drafted young QBs.)
It was the Kyler Murray and James Conner show in the shocking win by the Cardinals over the Niners. Murray ran great. He has to do that to justify his fantasy rep — the passing is not going to be enough. This is bad for the receivers, who are likely sharing a 200-yard pie.
I was shocked by how the Cardinals defense controlled Brock Purdy and the Niners’ explosive passing offense with pressure. But this was a good day for Brandon Aiyuk managers. The only consistent Niners receiver has been George Kittle, who has three TDs in his four games.
Those Bengals stacks hit the jackpot on Sunday. It may seem like quibbling, but you’d really like to see Ja’Marr Chase with the most targets on the team. Chase is a near god though. He’s the most explosive weapon in football, for sure.
As for that Cincy backfield:
Bengals backfield before Zack Moss ankle injury today:
Zack Moss: 75% snaps, 47% attempts, 61% routes, 11% targets
Chase Brown: 25%, 42% , 17% , 8%
Attempts split last two games, Moss controlling pass downs.
Brown offers HUGE upside if Moss misses time.
— Dwain McFarland (@dwainmcfarland) October 6, 2024
But Zack Moss seemed to badly injure his ankle. So we have to monitor the situation. This likely is Chase Brown’s window to seize the job.
Mark Andrews is allowing other Baltimore TEs to rotate in outscoring him in fantasy. It’s maddening. Andrews would have had one of Charlie Kolar’s TDs if Lamar Jackson would have thrown a better pass instead of forcing him to fall down short of paydirt.
This was a bad day for my “Justice Hill is a playable zeroRB” tout.
I thought the play was to trade for Rhamondre Stevenson in light of all the noise about his fumbling. It was too much noise. Like I said, the Patriots already made their bet on Stevenson, the league’s seventh highest-paid RB and possessor of a long-term deal. So this was about accountability, being publicly shamed and technically benched to start the game.
This may have been the day for De’Von Achane, but he got concussed, so it was the day for rookie Jaylen Wright mostly, and also Raheem Mostert and the Miami running game, generally. I think Achane managers should be happy about what this could portend. Plus, Tua Tagovailoa is coming back soon, reportedly.
I don’t know what happened here with Deshaun Watson, but it seems bad. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said that there will be no changes at QB and he has to coach better. Really? That’s the plan? There is no Plan B with Watson, which is the real problem. Watson has a $72.9 million cap charge in 2025.
I said the Bills offense was too basic and bound to collapse when they were riding high, but I never saw it being this bad. Josh Allen went 9-for-30. He also has not scored a rushing TD since he hurt his hand on a death-defying leap into the end zone. (But he was 4-for-54 rushing.) This is not a functional WR group, if we’re being honest. The Jets await and that’s sure to be another bad Allen passing day.
Despite all this, the Bills threw three passes in a tie game from their own 3-yard line with 32 seconds left and lost the game when they had to punt back to the Texans. How can you think Allen could succeed in that situation given how his day had gone up until that point? How these weeks have gone?
Nico Collins was classified as having a minor hamstring injury but at least it came on a long scoring play for his managers.
Brock Bowers had a bounce-back week with 12 targets and maybe this is life after Davante Adams no matter who the QB is (but probably not).
The Dontayvion Wicks IPO took a big hit on the first day of real trading.
I guess we have to start Tucker Kraft given Romeo Doubs shot his way out of town. This is like what Elijah Moore did with the Jets a couple of years ago. As far as his Packers future goes, there’s probably no coming back from this for Doubs.
Kyren Williams (no punt returns) scored a TD for the eighth-straight game and was the best player on the field.
(Top photo of Tyrone Tracy Jr.: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
