It was another rough week for some of us fantasy owners as we dealt with pitiful performances and injury bugs while fighting for a playoff spot in our respective leagues.
There weren’t too many terrible performances outside of Oakland’s display on offense in their loss in Detroit on Sunday, 19-13. Second-year quarterback Derek Carr completed 13-of-25 pass attempts for 169 yards and failed to throw a touchdown for the first game of the season. He didn’t look like himself after racking up over 1,200 yards and 13 touchdown passes combined in the previous four contests heading into Sunday.
The Raiders mustered a measly 214 total yards with rookie Amari Cooper recording just one catch for four yards, scoring zero points in standard leagues. Tailback Latavius Murray scored the Raiders’ lone touchdown on a one-yard run, but he only totaled 28 yards rushing all game himself.
It looked even worse on paper for San Diego’s Philip Rivers who was under constant pressure in a lopsided loss to Kansas City. The Chargers’ offensive line couldn’t protect very well and Rivers is throwing to a makeshift receiving unit as injuries have them wounded. Rookie running back Melvin Gordon isn’t finding running room and hasn’t topped 100 yards rushing or scored a single touchdown all season.
Moving from the AFC West to the East, the Dolphins’ Lamar Miller and the Jets’ Chris Ivory saw less than 10 touches apiece and failed to make much of them in their teams’ losing efforts. Both guys need to step it up to remain fantasy relevant down the stretch.
New England beat Buffalo by a touchdown on Monday night even though Tom Brady and the offense were uncharacteristically sluggish. Brady threw just one touchdown to running back James White and was picked off once while another interception was negated by a Buffalo penalty. He and Rob Gronkowski only connected twice on seven targets for 37 yards and LaGarrette Blount had 56 yards rushing. If the poor officiating and so-called #WhistleGate didn’t occur this game, fantasy performances surely would have been different.
It isn’t often we talk about how bad a defense plays, but the Eagles warrant a conversation after they allowed 45 points at home to the Buccaneers. Last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston threw five touchdowns and 246 yards passing. Doug Martin added 235 yards rushing on the ground and Philly got overmatched just like the 76ers have every game so far this NBA season with an 0-12 start.
Moving on to the key injuries, running backs Devonta Freeman, Charcandrick West and Justin Forsett all got hurt and left the game prematurely. Each player’s backup got plenty of touches and the Chiefs’ Spencer Ware rushed for a pair of scores and 96 yards.
As painful as it is to watch your player’s backup go off, it wasn’t more painful then the broken arm suffered by Forsett. The Ravens’ tailback got thrown to the turf by Rams’ defensive end, Aaron Donald, breaking his right arm in two places needing an aircast before walking off the field and onto the injured reserve.
Baltimore and fantasy owners also lost signal caller Joe Flacco to a season-ending knee injury in the final seconds of the 16-13 win over St. Louis. Hopefully you weren’t relying on him winning you a championship.
Make sure to subscribe to the VIP Waiver Wire List to get the top waiver adds sent straight to your inbox.
