Matchups are important. They can make Colin Kaepernick and Quinton Patton look like elite talents. They can make Jason Witten look young again. And they can make you glad that there are bad, bad defenses in the league, because they help some ordinary players have good days and good players have great ones.
Steelers at Ravens: Scary moment for Ravens fans and people in general when Joe Flacco slid awkwardly after a scramble and got up limping with part of his knee bone sticking out. Oh wait, no, it was his knee brace. He returned. Game not quite as close as final scored indicates; Ravens up 21-0 before Ben Roethlisberger had shaken off the injury rust and started to play well, leading a couple of late touchdown drives. Which included Sammie Coates getting behind the defense in the end zone and dropping a touchdown that hit both hands. Ugh. Darrius Heyward-Bey hurt early on, helping Eli Rogers have a good game.
Cowboys at Browns: The Ezekiel Elliott show. Teams can basically do whatever they want against Cleveland. Huge game, could have probably been bigger. ... Dez Bryant dropped a touchdown, wanted a flag. But he had another red-zone drop with no one around him. Meanwhile Jason Witten had a huge day, and Beasley and Gavin Escobar, of all people, scored. Anyway, disappointing day for Dez, but he'll get his. Too many other people getting open against this sorry defense.
Jaguars at Kansas City: Jeremy Maclin active after dealing with a groin injury all week. Aggravated it early and left. May drop Maclin this week. Speaking of disappointing wideouts, Allen Hurns also injured an ankle in this game, returned, and may have suffered a concussion. Kind of a disappointing game for Charcandrick West and the Kansas City offense in general, but they win. Travis Kelce held in the end zone, didn't get a flag, complained, got ejected. Had some decent PPR production beforehand at least. Jags and their new coordinator able to get the run game going and had some moments, including T.J. Yeldon catching a score and Chris Ivory going over 100 yards and running one in...except he fumbled it away at the goal line. So he didn't score and the Jaguars didn't win. Decent game for Allen Robinson, finally.
Jets at Dolphins: Jets drive the field late to take a lead on a sweet touchdown throw and catch, then allow a kick return touchdown on the next play. There was a punt return touchdown called back by a penalty in this game as well. Anyway, typical day at the office for the Jets. Also failed to challenge a potential turnover by Miami deep in its own end; might have been a backward pass. Oh well. ... Bad pick for Fitzpatrick deep in his own end in a close game. Maybe just as well the Jets lost, they're not going anywhere. Nice early touchdown run for Matt Forte. Quincy Enunwa caught 1 pass; not so clearly the No. 2 receiver.
Lions at Vikings: Wow. Vikings scored a touchdown with 30 seconds left to go up by 3 points. But the Lions had enough time to get in position for a 58-yard field goal, which Matt Prater nailed. Lions won the toss, drove the length of the field in overtime, completing a couple of crazy third-down plays, and then Golden Tate shook a tackle or two after a catch to score the game-winning touchdown. Just nuts, and as rough as losses get for Vikings fans. ... Anquan Boldin touchdown catch, basically a long handoff, like most of Golden Tate's catches before the touchdown. ... Vikings gave some play to Ronnie Hillman, and he gave the running game some juice. Matt Asiata, meanwhile, got stuffed on a fourth and short near the goal line and it looked like he maybe should have picked it up. Didn't. Cordarrelle Patterson dropped a touchdown in this game, as well, though he made some good catches (and Stefon Diggs caught a ton). Oh yes, let's not forget Blair Walsh, who missed an extra point and had a field goal blocked. Kind of important in an overtime game.
Eagles at Giants: Eagles went for a couple fourth and short chances in the red zone, stuffed on both (neither play particularly well thought out, either). That kind of stuff looks especially bad in a game that was pretty close for most of it, and at the end. This game seemed to go on forever. Early on Carson Wentz struggled some, but made some good throws late and led some scoring drives. Probably the Eagles are going to fall off the pace in the East (maybe they already have) but I like Wentz. ... Big game for Eli Manning, Odell Beckham Jr. Sterling Shepard also caught a touchdown. Some defensive breakdowns for Philadelphia, clearly not quite as good as they were early on. Near punt return score for Darren Sproles, again; barely stepped out of bounds.
Panthers at Rams: Yawn. Saw some of the postgame interview with Jeff Fisher where he said it was the offense not doing its job. Ya think? Panthers offense also disappointing, especially considering it scored its only touchdown early on. Cam Newton, not a difference-maker against anyone but San Francisco this year. Speaking of which....
Saints at 49ers: Comically high-scoring, as expected. Big games for most Saints, nice call by those of us who said DuJuan Harris was the way to go. Shame Chip Kelly didn't realize it enough not to give Mike Davis some important reps in order to have him lose a fumble inside the 5-yard line. Big game for the 49ers offense, too. Colin Kaepernick will make some money next free agency period off this game. Were Ingram and Hightower both top-1o fantasy backs? Kooky. San Francisco faces David Johnson next week, and I will think about adding Andre Ellington too.
Colts at Packers: Frustrating game for Packers fans and those of who picked the Packers in our Survivor Pool. Seemed like a good pick right up until the Colts ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown and the Packers started settling for field goals, at which point it became clear it was going to be one of those games. Jeff Janis let a perfectly thrown 50-yard bomb clang off both hands, too. Packers made a late run because the Colts are a poorly coached team, but the kind of game that makes you question whether Green Bay will do anything noteworthy for the rest of the Rodgers era. At least most offensive players delivered about as expected, so there's that. And some of these Sunday morning reports are pretty useless, since Randall Cobb was active, though he didn't play much.
Titans at Chargers: High-scoring. Pretty impressive game by the Chargers on both sides of the ball, especially when you consider all they've lost. And I'm ready to admit defeat on Melvin Gordon, who has really put things all together of late. Guy is playing great, Philip Rivers and Tyrell Williams are on it, and even another touchdown for Antonio Gates. For Tennessee, well, not a terrible offensive outing. Just a bad defensive one and a couple of untimely mistakes.
Broncos at Raiders: Can't say we didn't warn you off the passing games, which did absolutely nothing. Less expected was Latavius Murray scoring 3 TDs, all of the goal line variety, and Kapri Bibbs having Denver's lone running back score. Trevor Siemian not getting it done, it's almost like he and Brock Osweiler are just late-round picks who won't ever be good NFL starters.
Monday, Monday: Need the Bills to hold Baldwin in check to get a win in one league, we will see. Ultimately I can't see Seattle losing this one, but probably more defense than offense in this game. McCoy should play and he's pretty good. Calling it Seattle 23, Buffalo 17.