Tag: NFL (Page 9 of 34)

The Broncos jumped all over the Chiefs, as Kyle Orton (296 yards, 4 TD) hooked up with Brandon Lloyd (6-90-2) for several big plays. Knowshon Moreno finished with 156 yards on 25 touches and scored on a 17-yard catch. With the Chiefs playing from behind the entire game, Jamaal Charles (19 touches, 121 yards, TD) dominated the work in the KC backfield. Thomas Jones (5 touches, 22 yards) never really got it going. In the passing game, Matt Cassel (469 yards, 4 TD) connected with Dwayne Bowe (13-186-2) over and over and over. Many prognosticators were down on Bowe this week due to his matchup with Champ Bailey, but that clearly wasn’t an issue. What’s strange is that Cassel only targeted Tony Moeaki (1-34) three times even though he threw 53 passes.

Bills 14, Lions 12…That’s a fairly stunning score given the offenses and defenses involved. Shaun Hill (323 yards, TD, INT) finished with pretty nice numbers, though he didn’t throw his TD until late in the 4th quarter. Calvin Johnson (10-128-1) continues to dominate, but Jahvid Best‘s numbers (17 carries, 35 yards) are very worrisome considering the Bills own the 32nd-ranked rush defense in the league. Plus, he only had four yards in the passing game, marking the first game in his last six in which he had fewer than 30 yards through the air. For the Bills, Ryan Fitzpatrick (146 yards, TD) was pretty quiet, so as a result Lee Evans (2-52) and Steve Johnson (3-37) were quiet too. Instead, it was the Fred Jackson show. He racked up 170 total yards and scored twice. C.J. Spiller left with a hamstring injury, so look for Jackson to be a good start in the weeks to come.

The Browns and Jets went to overtime, and New York won on a 37-yard TD catch by Santonio Holmes (5-76-1), who continues to come up big in clutch situations. Mark Sanchez (299 yards, 2 TD, INT, rush TD) showed a lot of grit by shaking off a calf injury and dodging a number of sacks that could have snuffed out the Jets’ chances. The Jets promised a 50/50 split in the backfield and they delivered; Shonn Greene (23 touches, 94 yards) and LaDainian Tomlinson (24 touches, 110 yards) split the work but were both heavily involved. For the Browns, Peyton Hillis (23 touches, 109 yards, TD) put up great numbers in a terrible matchup, so he’s entering ‘must-start’ territory. Benjamin Watson (5-74) bounced back from a couple of bad games with a big outing.

The Tennessee debut of Randy Moss (1-24, 4 targets) was not good, but Nate Washington (3-26-1) and Bo Scaife (7-51) benefited from the attention the Dolphins were paying to Moss. Miami had to use all three QBs, so there’s no telling who will be under center in Week 11. Brandon Marshall (3-36) continues to struggle, and while Ronnie Brown scored, he only gained 11 yards on the day. Ricky Williams (12 touches, 60 yards) outplayed him. Anthony Fasano (5-110-1) had his best game of the year.

The HOU/JAX game was fun, and David Garrard (342 yards, 2 TD) continues to play well in good matchups. His second TD came on the game-winning Hail Mary which ricocheted into Mike Thomas‘s hands. Thomas finished with 8-149-1 and benefited from Mike Sims-Walker (3-26) missing big chunks of the game with some sort of leg injury. Thomas continues to play well with Garrard under center. The old Maurice Jones-Drew (26 touches, 123 yards, 2 TD) seems to be back. Meanwhile, Kevin Walter (6-90-1) stepped up for the Texans after being very quiet the last few weeks. He had six targets to Jacoby Jones’s two.

The Cowboys looked a lot better in their first game in the Jason Garrett era. Jon Kitna (327 yards, 3 TD, INT) posted great numbers in a terrible passing matchup, and Dez Bryant (3-104-1) continues to be his favorite target. Miles Austin (2-68-1) caught a TD which saved him from another disappointing day. Jason Witten (1-7) was a non-factor, but Felix Jones (17 touches, 136 yards, TD) had a big day, thanks to his 71-yard TD catch and run. For the Giants, Mario Manningham (10-91-1) and Kevin Boss (5-81-1) stepped up with Steve Smith 2.0 sidelined with a injured pec.

I saw a funny line on Twitter yesterday that went, “At some point, Philip Rivers is going to drop back, look down field and see nothing.” With all the injuries the Chargers have suffered to their receiving corps — Malcom Floyd, Legedu Naanee, Antonio Gates — Rivers is seemingly running out of options, but you wouldn’t know it by the numbers (295 yards, 4 TDs) he put up against the Texans. I mentioned rookie Seyi Ajirotutu (4-111-2) as a good desperation play in my weekly Love ‘Em & Leave ‘Em picks, and I wish I would have taken my own advice. (I picked up Michael Jenkins instead, on Falcon super-fan Anthony Stalter’s advice. Thanks for nothing, Stalter.) Randy McMichael (2-23-2) caught only two passes, but they were both TDs. Ryan Mathews (11 touches, 60 yards) had a nice thing going before he left the game with an ankle injury. For the Texans, Owen Daniels was a scratch and Joel Dreessen (5-66) had the second-most yards of any Texan receiver. Andre Johnson (4-41) was quiet.

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As I’m sitting here attempting to start my fallout column, there’s a little two-and-a-half year old firefighter pestering me to go trick-or-treating, so don’t be surprised if this week’s version is abbreviated. I’m only going to focus on the truly surprising fantasy lines of the day.

EARLY GAMES

In my Waiver Wire Watch, I’ve been pushing Matthew Stafford (212 yards, 4 TDs) for the last couple of weeks and he delivered in a great matchup this week thanks to Calvin Johnson‘s (9-103-3) outstanding performance. The split in the backfield between Jahvid Best (17 touches, 79 yards) and Kevin Smith (14 touches, 67 yards) is a little worrisome, however. Smith has looked good in recent weeks in limited duty and we’ll have to wait and see if the Lions were limiting Best for any particular reason. Ryan Torain (12 touches, 29 yards, TD) left the game with a hamstring injury, and Keiland Williams (9 touches, 53 yards, TD) took his place. Williams may be a hot waiver wire pickup this week.

David Garrard (260 yards, 4 TD, rush TD) was a common pickup for a lot of Tony Romo owners who were scrambling for QB help this week, and boy, did he deliver. Mike Sims-Walker (8-153-1) exploded with a big game as well. Garrard has his bye next week and then has two good matchups in Weeks 10 (HOU) and 11 (CLE), so he’s a good play, at least in the short-term. And don’t read too much into Jon Kitna‘s so-so week (379 yards, TD, 4 INT). With the way that the Dallas DT is playing (poorly), the Cowboys are going to be in a lot of shootouts this season and that should mean some nice fantasy lines from Kitna. Felix Jones‘s struggles (11 touches, 36 yards) are very troublesome — I’d probably bench him until he can get it going.

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