Let’s start with the best game of the day, NO/ATL, where Michael Turner (30 carries, 114 yards, TD) and Jason Snelling (14 carries, 62 yards) wore down the interior of the Saints’ rush defense to triumph in overtime. A few things to note here: 1) Anyone writing off Tony Gonzalez (8-110-1) is making a mistake, 2) Jeremy Shockey (8-78-1) looks like he’ll get some of the short work originally designed for Reggie Bush, and 3) Lance Moore (6-149-2) can still play, and may have usurped Devery Henderson (2-23) and Robert Meachem (1-5) to be the Saints’ WR2. More likely, Drew Brees will continue to take what the defense gives him, which means any of these WRs could go off on any given day.
Over in Baltimore, the Browns were down Jerome Harrison today with a thigh injury, so Peyton Hillis was the feature back and he didn’t disappoint (to the tune of 29 touches for 190 yards and a TD). Baltimore’s rush defense isn’t as good as its reputation, so I tweeted earlier in the day that Hillis was a decent RB3/flex start, and he turned in an outstanding game. Ben Watson (5-47-1) has posted 12-125-1 on the season and is turning into a decent TE2 option. On the other side of the ball, Anquan Boldin (8-142-3, 11 targets) and Joe Flacco (262 yards, 3 TD) are totally in sync. Flacco isn’t as bad as he looked last week against the Bengals and he isn’t as good as he looked this week against the Browns.
Let’s take a look at the Jamaal Charles/Thomas Jones situation in Kansas City. Charles averaged 8.1 ypc to Jones’ 5.0, and finished with 154 yards on 15 touches. On the season, Charles is averaging 7.0 ypc to Jones’ 4.2, but don’t expect Todd Haley to do anything differently as long as the Chiefs keep winning. Matt Cassel (250 yards, 3 TD, INT) showed some signs of life, which means that rookie TE Tony Moeaki (4-44-1) is entering TE1 territory. He has posted 12-123-2 in the first three games. Meanwhile, Dwayne Bowe scored (2-61-1), but it was on a trick play. He’s a real shaky start at this point. If nothing else, we can probably bench/cut the 49ers DT at this point. They were miserable today.
Up in Minnesota, the Vikings got a much-needed win behind big games by Adrian Peterson (190 yards, 2 TD) and Percy Harvin (6-62-1). Visanthe Shiancoe‘s quiet game (1-7) was due to a leg injury. Jahvid Best (9 touches, 39 yards) missed the entire second half with a toe injury (which is wonderful since I benched MJD for him in my keeper league).
The Bills gave the Pats a bit of a run, and while Ryan Fitzpatrick (242 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT) didn’t outplay Tom Brady (252 yards, 3 TD), he fared better than most thought he would. The Patriots DT was not sharp, as C.J. Spiller (7 touches, 39 yards, TD) scored on a pass play and on a kickoff return. BenJarvus Green-Ellis (16 carries, 98 yards, TD) may have usurped Fred Taylor (6 carries, 16 yards) as the Pats’ primary ballcarrier. Taylor left in the third quarter with a toe injury.
That HOU/DAL game was supposed to be a shootout, but the two teams scored a combined 40 points, so fantasy-wise it wasn’t as crazy as many thought it would be. Tony Romo (284 yards, 2 TD) finished with great numbers yet again, but it was Roy Williams (5-117-2), not Miles Austin (2-20) that was the Cowboys’ heavy-hitter in the passing game. Andre Johnson (4-64) left the game briefly with an ankle injury, but returned. Kevin Walter (3-34-1) scored again, but Jacoby Jones (5-51) caught all five of his targets and Owen Daniels (3-27, six targets) seems to be getting more and more involved.
In one of the better late games, the Cardinals survived a late charge by the Raiders after Sebastian Janikowski missed his second go-ahead field goal attempt. He did make three FGs on the day, including a 54-yarder, but he also missed three. Bruce Gradkowski (255 yards, TD, INT) was a little shaky, and could have had 1-2 more interceptions, but he put the Raiders in position to win. Louis Murphy (5-119) had a big game and nearly scored on a long run, while Zach Miller (4-64-1) got off to a strong start but disappeared somewhat in the second half. Darren McFadden (122 yards, TD) is approaching must-start territory, and Michael Bush (three carries, 13 yards) doesn’t appear to be much of a threat at this point. For the Cardinals, the only fantasy news of note was Beanie Wells‘ 2010 debut (14 carries, 75 yards), which wasn’t bad. He looked quick and shifty and is showing no ill effects of his recent knee surgery.
In the Chargers/Seahawks game, Mike Tolbert (20 touches, 90 yards) got most of the work with Ryan Mathews out, while Darren Sproles (2 touches, 26 yards) was pretty much a non-factor. For Seattle, it looks like Pete Carroll has decided to feature Justin Forsett (20 touches, 94 yards). Leon Washington (one touch, zero yards) was the only other Seattle RB to touch the ball. This is pretty big news assuming the Seahawks continue to feed Forsett the ball going forward. In the passing game, John Carlson (5-61-1) now has 13 catches in three games.
The Redskins were supposedly going to give Keiland Williams some work, but he only had two catches for 14 yards. Ryan Torian (7 carries, 46 yards) and Clinton Portis (7 carries, 44 yards) split the work out of the backfield. Seeing that both guys averaged more than 6.3 ypc, it’s surprising that the Redskins wouldn’t have run the ball more. Santana Moss (6-124-1) has shown a really good rapport with Donovan McNabb (236 yards, TD, INT) and found the endzone for the first time this week. Moss is on pace for a 117-catch, 1546-yard season. (He’s not going to keep that pace up, but he’s turning into a must-start in PPR leagues.) For the Rams, Steven Jackson (10 carries, 58 yards, TD) got off to a great start, but left the game with a groin injury. Kenneth Darby (14 carries, 49 yards, TD) and Keith Toston (11 carries, 22 yards) picked up the slack. Darby appears to be the back to own if Jackson’s groin injury lingers.
Michael Vick (291 yards, 3 TD, 30 rush yards, rush TD) is playing the best football of his career, and his schedule is going to be pretty favorable over the next few weeks. DeSean Jackson (5-153-1) and Jeremy Maclin (4-83-2) both went off, but LeSean McCoy (13 touches, 61 yards) had a relatively quiet game.
With Pierre Garcon out due to a hamstring injury, Austin Collie (12-171-2) had his second huge game of the season and took advantage of all the Denver cornerbacks not named Champ Bailey. On the other side of the ball, the Bronco receiving situation continues to be fluid. Demaryius Thomas (2-43) and Eddie Royal (4-23) had quiet games, while Brandon Lloyd (6-169-1, 10 targets) and Jabar Gaffney (12-140, 14 targets) dominated the targets. Laurence Maroney (12 carries, 24 yards) dominated the carries, but that’s pathetic production given the Colts’ trouble stopping the run. Maroney did add 2-40 in the passing game.
In the night game, Dustin Keller (6-96-2) continued to catch the eye of Mark Sanchez (256 yards, 3 TD), who has looked like a completely different QB in the last two weeks than he did in Week 1 against the Ravens. This was bad news for the Dolphins DT (my top DTBWW pick for the week), who scored 30 points in the first two games and were brutal (fantasy-wise) against the Jets. No sacks, no turnovers, no nothing.
It appears that LaDainian Tomlinson (18 touches, 88 yards, TD) is the Jets’ feature back, while Shonn Greene (10 carries, 36 yards) has taken more of a complimentary role. Blame Rex Ryan, who said in the preseason that Greene was going to be the ‘bell cow’ back, but LT2 has simply outplayed Greene at every turn.
Chad Henne (363 yards, 2 TD, INT) looked great, and showed a nice rapport with Brandon Marshall (10-166-1), while Brian Hartline (5-84) and Davone Bess (6-86) are only startable in PPR leagues.
