Well that was a Sunday. What began with a bunch of COVID-related absences ended with a frustrating MASH scene where the Bucs kept sending players to the locker room and neither team scored a touchdown. Some predictions worked out well; others didn't. On to the carnage.
Patriots at Colts: Colts scored early, blocked a punt for a touchdown to score again, forced a couple of other early turnovers -- that was basically it. New England hung around with Carson Wentz turning it over and nearly turning it over, but they were out of their game, Rhamondre Stevenson went bust, New England's passing did more than Indy's. Jonathan Taylor had a huge touchdown run late to thrill his fantasy teams and ice the game. Those kind of plays are great when they're for you. Imagine if the Colts hadn't given away a couple or three games earlier in the season.
Cowboys at Giants: I think I really am done starting Dak Prescott, now. It's just frustrating. They don't run great red-zone plays, for one thing. And their defense is vastly improved, so the offense is happy to go conservative. Nice game for Dalton Schultz and Ezekiel Elliott scored. I underestimated Tony Pollard. For the Giants, eh, it's over. Mike Glennon put up negative 2 points in one of my leagues, which is pretty hard for a quarterback to do, and I guess we'll get Jake Fromm the rest of the way. Sterling Shepard reportedly tore his Achilles.
Texans at Jaguars: Big game for Brandin Cooks, good game for James Robinson. Starting to think Houston might go ahead and give Davis Mills a shot to be their starter going into 2022. Houston's glorious three-back committee continues. Laquon Treadwell had another serviceable PPR game. If Urban Meyer did nothing else, and he didn't, he at least put the Jags on track to get the No. 1 overall pick.
Titans at Steelers: Friend who's a big Steelers fan thinks the officials always screw Pittsburgh. I'll admit my general feeling is the opposite, that they get the benefit of calls more often than not. But I watched a lot of this game and saw multiple lousy calls go against Pittsburgh, including a touchdown that Najee Harris didn't get. Then at the end the Titans completed a fourth down pass that was more than a yard short of a first down that was initially spotted as a first down; only an adjustment saved the Titans from what would have been a ridiculous gift, and even then it was about a fraction of an inch short. Big story in this one was the Titans kept turning it over, squandering a game they seemed to control most of the way. Pittsburgh's offense was pretty bad, but Tennessee's turnovers made the difference.
Jets at Dolphins: Jets defense is horrific, which is why you had to feel good about starting Myles Gaskin against it. Except of course the Dolphins decided instead to feature Duke Johnson, brought up from the practice squad earlier in the week, letting him rush over 100 yards and 2 TDs. So Gaskin didn't work out. DeVante Parker did, the other plausible start here, while Gesicki was his typical underutilized self. Oh, he got an end zone throw, but he was triple covered at the time. Miami also decided to throw a 1-yard touchdown to a defensive tackle, because of course. With the Jets, Michael Carter not featured, the risk of starting players first game back from injury. Zach Wilson: he doesn't look good. No one is saying he does so I'm not going to pile on. But it's difficult to watch him play and find positives in it.
Cardinals at Lions: OK so maybe the Cardinals looked past the Lions? Clearly, not a terrible team. Arizona didn't call many runs in the first half, but they also didn't have the ball very much, with Detroit moving the ball up and down the field. Craig Reynolds featured and over 100 rushing yards, guess he's their new lead back. For Arizona, I thought a key sequence was just before the half, down 10-0 near the goal line, Arizona decided to go for it with a slant that wasn't there, rather than take the 3 points. Whenever I watch Cardinals games I disagree with choices Kliff Kingsbury makes. There was another key play where A.J. Green ran a lousy route, frustrating Kyler Murray on an interception that would otherwise have picked up a first down. I'm with Murray. Nice game for Christian Kirk at least, albeit mostly in garbage time, but feels good when recommendations work out for people. They don't always, of course.
Panthers at Bills: Among the players on my bench who I could have started and got more points out of than Dak Prescott was Cam Newton. Newton doesn't look very good most of the time, but it's quite a fantasy-friendly game he has -- yet another rushing touchdown, lots of rushing yards. And a little throw over the middle for a touchdown for Ameer Abdullah. Decent numbers for DJ Moore, too. For Buffalo, Josh Allen, Devin Singletary, Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis all had nice games.
Bengals at Broncos: I feel bad to admit that I was in the process of criticizing Teddy Bridgewater's play about a minute before he got stretchered off with a concussion. Sorry Teddy. And since Drew Lock was really awful in relief (threw a touchdown, but it was a 50-50 ball that could have been picked, and on every other play he looked like he had no sense of urgency or anything, bleeding sacks and near interceptions), Bridgewater really does give Denver its best chance to win these days. In any case, Denver needs a quarterback and a new offensive coordinator. Ugly sequence before the half where Denver should have but failed to pick up a first down, missed a long field goal, and left Cincinnati enough time to kick a long field goal over their own. A 6-point swing in a game Denver lost by 5 points. Not good. Neither was Cincinnati's offense, but it got the win. Joe Mixon picked up an injury late that wasn't updated, so we'll see.
Falcons at 49ers: Big games for Kittle, Samuel, and (finally) Jeff Wilson. Niners are rolling, although the Falcons do have a way of making opposing offenses look very good at times. The Cordarrelle Patterson magic ran out, with San Francisco stuffing him for pretty much the entire game; perhaps would have fared better as more a wide receiver. Russell Gage had a big game, probably wasn't started quite as often. Niners continuing to impress, making a little playoff run these days.
Packers at Ravens: Quarterback controversy in Baltimore? Probably not, but a pretty impressive game by Tyler Huntley, going toe to toe with Aaron Rodgers and, again, giving Mark Andrews a monster game. The play that will be remembered most is I suppose the failed two-point conversion. Not a great play, not a throw I think Huntley should be expected to make or many quarterbacks would have made, though I kind of agreed with going for 2 there. Baltimore has had a lot of final-minute games this year, as has Pittsburgh. Steelers have been winning them lately, which is why anyone can still win the crazy AFC North. Green Bay wins the NFC North, good game for Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and both running backs, unexpectedly, got in the end zone along the way.
Saints at Bucs: Writing about this game, I started with the idea that the Saints had really had Tom Brady's number in all three previous meetings in the regular season the last two years. But had to weigh in the Bucs winning the more important playoff meeting last year, and the very high level that Brady and the Bucs offense were playing at these days. I ended up with a warning, but still felt a strong outing from the Bucs would happen. But Tampa Bay looked bad pretty much throughout, and that was of course exacerbated by Godwin, Evans and Fournette all leaving the game with injuries -- what are the odds? Godwin looked like he was on his way to a 15-catch game. Anyway, a lot of us lost playoff matchups thanks to this dud, from both offenses. Taysom Hill was better than I expected (at least NFL wise, not a great fantasy game).
Monday, Monday, two for Tuesday: Weird to have four games left to play. I'm expecting a pair of lower-scoring games tonight -- Sunday set the tone, and there are some good defenses and/or struggling offenses involved in these games. The Tuesday games might be higher scoring (better offenses, suspect defenses), but Tuesday football is sort of an anomaly and it's hard to say what you'll get from teams playing when they're normally watching film or treating injuries. And of course in many of these we're just guessing as to who the quarterbacks and pass catchers will be by the time the games kick off. Picking four final scores: Browns 20, Raiders 13; Vikings 26, Bears 23; Rams 27, Seahawks 17; Eagles 24, Football Team 20.