I can't speak for everyone, but for me and much of what I was expecting, not the best week. Tyler Lockett, Amari Cooper, and others saddled with a lesser quarterback exceeded expectations. Passing games teed up against lousy secondaries underachieved. Starting guys who flop feels bad; benching guys who blow up feels worse. On to the games.
Bengals at Jets: Crazy game that basically highlights where the term trap game comes from. No way the Bengals aren't better than the Jets, but they lost even with the Jets repeatedly turning it over and trying to give it to them. Questionable call at the end that prevented the Bengals from getting a last chance to get a win. Big game for Mike White, quite unexpected. Nice games for Michael Carter and Jamison Crowder. Good offensive numbers for the Bengals, but it wasn't enough on a day their defense let a quarterback making his first start tear them up. My survivor pool started with over 200 entries, and I think close to half of them were taken out by the Jets (first the Titans, now this).
Titans at Colts: Lately when I've seen teams score a touchdown to pull within a point in the final minute, they've gone for 2. The Colts didn't, kicked the extra point to tie, and lost on a turnover in overtime. I guess it's easy to say after the fact, but I agree with teams going for 2. Seems like better odds scoring on one play from 2 yards out (over 50 percent last I knew) than taking your chances in overtime. Couple of bad turnovers by Carson Wentz, not just the overtime one but the Pick 6 that gave the Titans a late lead. Wasted a huge game from Michael Pittman, who caught 2 TDs early on. Rest of the season is a lot easier for Tennessee and a lot tougher for the Colts.
Rams at Texans: I said something Saturday about the Rams not hesitating to run up the score. Indeed, starters were in and piling up production until it was 38-0 late in the third or early in the fourth -- not as close as the final score indicated. Some garbage time production for Brandin Cooks, nice when it happens for you, not when it happens against you. Big games for Stafford, Woods, Kupp, Henderson; the guys you had to start. Van Jefferson limped off after a long catch, haven't seen an update on that one yet. Rams roll on and have another tap in next week.
Steelers at Browns: Steelers defense played great in this one, better than that of the Browns. Maybe Cleveland misses Kareem Hunt, maybe Baker Mayfield isn't that good, or maybe it was just the key mistakes, like a Jarvis Landry fumble when the Browns were potentially driving for the winning points. Big thing going through my head through this game, after the Steelers lost Chris Boswell to injury on fake field goal and were unable to attempt any kicks after that, was how do you not have your punter at least practice some kickoffs and short kicks during the preseason and practices? I get that he's a punter and it's a different job, but surely there's some time during the week for him to try his foot at an extra point or two? It loomed large over a game Pittsburgh probably should have won by 1o. Whatever. Nice game for Najee Harris, solid game by Ben Roethlisberger, spectacular winning touchdown catch by Pat Freiermuth.
Eagles at Lions: Some Internet consternation about Kenneth Gainwell not being a bigger part of the game plan. Again, I do not know everything, and I'm pretty sure I made a bad call or two yesterday (we'll get to them), but being surprised the Eagles didn't feature Gainwell wasn't reasonable. The Eagles have had ample opportunity to give Gainwell more work over the past month and haven't done so. When Miles Sanders got hurt last week, Boston Scott got more carries. They had Jordan Howard just sitting there on the practice squad to take those short-yardage carries. Bad game for every Lion of course, but pretty bad for most of the Eagles anyone actually started, too. Hard to imagine you can win as easily as Philadelphia did and disappoint fantasy teams making both good and bad choices, but that's what happened.
49ers at Bears: Here was one of my bad calls, thinking this would be the lowest-scoring game of the week even before seeing the over-under of 39.5. In fairness, at the time I didn't know the Bears wouldn't have Matt Nagy on the sidelines, which was an immediate boost to Justin Fields and the offense. Fields made a couple of the kind of running plays we'd been waiting for all year, giving Chicago's offense some life. But San Francisco's had even more, plus they even left Jimmy Garoppolo (who I cut yesterday to pick up Teddy Bridgewater...ouch) in for a couple of short rushing touchdowns, which will never happen again in his career. Big game for Deebo Samuel, we were a year early on that guy. I still don't think the Niners are any good, but obviously the Bears defense missed a couple of injured players quite a bit (and maybe it's not that good either).
Panthers at Falcons: Game was kind of overshadowed by Calvin Ridley being a late scratch for personal reasons. Presumably it had some impact on the Atlanta offense being a total disaster, aside of course from the remarkable Cordarrelle Patterson. But Carolina wins a lower scoring one in which some players finished with bad numbers and others (I'm thinking of Chuba Hubbard) finished with good numbers despite not actually playing well. His touchdown was through a hole you could drive a truck through. I saw multiple other runs where he got less than was blocked. Carolina needs McCaffrey back and they'll need another backup next year. As for Ridley...I have no inside info. I guess, don't count on having him next week.
Dolphins at Bills: Weird that Buffalo's offense struggled in this one, again, as it did in Week 2. They won that one in a blowout and won this one with some late production, but clearly the Dolphins are doing something to mess with Josh Allen and company. Lulling them into a false sense of complacency maybe? Dunno. Anyway, Buffalo won, Allen and Beasley and Diggs and Davis gave you solid production ultimately, and the Dolphins continued their downward spiral. Even Mike Gesicki disappointed this week.
Patriots at Chargers: This one was maybe more surprising to some than those of us who remembered how the Patriots destroyed the Chargers a year ago. They've certainly got Justin Herbert's number. Closer than last year, but it seemed like New England would win this game all along, and so they did. Maybe the Patriots are going to be a playoff team this year. Seven teams will make it, and there's not a lot of elite-looking teams in the conference.
Jaguars at Seahawks: Leave it to the Jaguars to make Seattle look like the team they were supposed to be entering the season. DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and the offense looked great. The defense frustrated Trevor Lawrence and company throughout. James Robinson left with an ankle injury. Bad game for Jacksonville. Minimal garbage time numbers for anyone but Dan Arnold. Another comical Rashaad Penny stat line.
Football Team at Broncos: Mystifying game, in which both offenses underachieved all day, killing those of us who started everyone but I guess J.D. McKissic. I had just started coming around to Teddy Bridgewater when this game happened; now I'll never trust him again (not that he cares). Washington's offense seemed stuck in molasses or maybe already looking ahead to the bye week, I don't know. More work than usual for Jaret Patterson. But the cross the board dud from both passing games is what really sticks in the craw.
Buccaneers at Saints: So limited Rob Gronkowski didn't work out. He played 6 snaps, raising the question of why the team bothered to have him active at all. Just to tick off those who started him evidently. Brady, Godwin and Evans did fine, while the Saints managed to get a win with Trevor Siemian doing most of the work. Brady threw a Pick Six to end things, a reminder that even Hall of Famers can't do it every time. The Tyler Johnson game we hoped to have last week came this week, of course.
Cowboys at Vikings: So yeah, for about a half this was what was expected, with Dallas getting shutout and seemingly headed for a quiet, conservative beating. And then Cooper Rush hit some throws, Minnesota's game-managing, conservative offense couldn't make enough plays, and suddenly Amari Cooper is having a huge game on benches and the Vikings were left wondering how they let this one get away. I'm feeling about warning people away from Cooper et al, but the truth is I'd probably do it again.
Monday, Monday: What better end to this week could there be than the Giants springing a crazy upset to keep Kansas City's painful recent stretch going. But part of me also thinks that Mahomes, Kelce and Hill are overdue for big numbers, and the Giants are the kind of opponent that could let it happen. I'm starting Sterling Shepard and hoping he doesn't aggravate that hamstring injury until he delivers 15-plus points. I'm calling it Kansas City 27, Giants 24.