I was feeling pretty good about the week, heading into Sunday night. My best NFFC team was up 30, and my opponent had only Dalvin Cook left, making me a decent-sized favorite. And my other NFFC team scored 189 points, putting it back into contention for the postseason. I was 6-4-1 ATS, won my best bet, was 2-1 so far in the Super Contest with the Cowboys and 49ers to go. I also had one team that was leading, but an underdog with my opponent having Michael Gallup and Jimmy Garoppolo going Monday night.
But Cook scored 31, knocking my top NFFC team to 7-2, the Cowboys obviously didn't cover, and Gallup scored a TD, to boot. It was lose-lose-lose.
• Not that this is breaking new ground, but Jason Garrett is a moron. He attempted a 57-yard field goal to start the game, he punted on 4th-and-short in plus territory in the first half, and the Dallas play-calling was beyond predictable with a failed run every first down. I know he doesn't call the plays, but the buck stops with him to ask for an adjustment.
• The Vikings offensive line is pretty good. If anything happens to Cook, Alexander Mattison would be a league winner.
• Strange that Amari Cooper got an MRI this week. He looked like DeAndre Hopkins out there.
• I can also blame my loss on using Derek Carr on Thursday night instead of picking up Ryan Tannehill like I had wanted to do. But my opponent started Jared Goff over Daniel Jones for God knows what reason too.
• Matt LaFleur's punt on 4th-and-3 from the Carolina 38, up eight, with 2:32 left was beyond cowardly -- it was idiotic. Essentially he gave up a 50/50 shot at sealing the game for 27 yards of field possession. Luckily for him, the replay officials couldn't see that Christian McCaffrey actually scored at the end. (I was rooting against the score because I had the Packers minus five, but now that I know Cook got 31, I wish he had scored for my NFFC team.)
• Aaron Jones is a monster, and he's stealing most of Aaron Rodgers' fantasy value too.
• Not that I expect any of the rabid Packers fans who savaged me for calling Davante Adams "a mediocre talent" for a first-round fantasy pick to admit it, but I was obviously right.
• The Jared Goff-Mason Rudolph duel is something the NFL should delete, though it was a legitimate breakout game for James Washington, a heretofore failed 2018 second-round pick.
• Cooper Kupp is apparently suffering from the classic delayed-onset ACL recovery drop-off, as so many of us who bet against him were prescient enough to foresee.
• The Rams are on the ropes not only for this year, but with the contracts to Goff and Todd Gurley, possibly for the next several. But not to worry, Sean McVay has the phone book memorized.
• Adam Vinatieri has cost the Colts three full games this year -- the first game of the year they lost in overtime to the Chargers after he missed two field goals and a PAT, last week's game in Pittsburgh (where he missed an easy game winner) and this week at home against the Dolphins when they lost by four in field-goal range, thanks to a missed PAT. Time to ditch him for a Younghoe perhaps? Would be an especially good fit with Malik Hooker already rostered.
• I made the Bears minus 2.5 my best bet before I knew about Matthew Stafford's injury, and they barely held on for the win against Jeff Driskell. I'll take it, though. (I was surprised the line moved only four points from 2.5 to 6.5 on the QB downgrade -- assumed Stafford was worth closer to six over a generic backup. Maybe the market is starting to realize it's never been easier to play QB in the NFL)
• Matt Nagy declined a five-yard penalty down 3-0 in the first half to make it fourth down and give Matt Prater a 54-yard FG attempt, something he makes routinely. And of course he made it. It was as though he thought the Lions were trotting out Eddy Pineiro.
• The Ravens should sign Michael Vick, add some speed at the quarterback position.
• It has to be the first time ever a team that won by more than 35 had its lead back (Mark Ingram) carry the ball fewer than 10 times, while the losing team had its lead back (Joe Mixon) carry it 30 times.
• Frank Gore isn't compiling enough anymore to offset the downward drag on his per-carry career averages.
• The good news for Chubb is he got 20 carries, lack of goal-line penetration notwithstanding, to Kareem Hunt's four. The bad news is Hunt had nine targets to Chubb's four. This is likely to be a timeshare, not a strict starter-backup situation.
• The Chiefs are a frustrating team. It's one thing to miss field goals, but can't you at least get one of the two up in the air and heading toward the uprights?
• At least Patrick Mahomes looked healthy and was up to his usual level. The regression police will win this battle -- Mahomes struggled for several weeks on a gimpy ankle before he missed time with the knee, and playing through injury is part of the game, and why regression is usually warranted. But a healthy Mahomes is in his own category when it comes to passing stats.
• Derrick Henry is a difference maker -- so much power and speed -- even if he can't catch passes.
• Tyreek Hill had 19 targets. It's hard to argue he's not the WR1 with Mahomes back.
• I didn't watch much of the Saints-Falcons, but from a distance it seemed like one of those random games every year where a bad team beats up a good one, and you must not try to extract meaning from it.
• It was bad enough to sit through the Giants losing to the Jets, but having Ronde Barber narrate it put me on the verge of defenestration.
• Danny Dollars has an incredible ability to stay focused downfield, but it's to the detriment of his awareness of the rush. It's not that he has poor ball security (he leads the NFL in fumbles), or that he lacks pocket awareness -- it's that he behaves as though the other team's defensive line does not exist.
It's an admirable quality -- I've never seen a QB as courageous, and behind a good line it would afford him every last opportunity to find someone open. Unfortunately, the Giants line is terrible and also banged up, and it's more likely to result in sacks, fumbles and eventually injuries.
• The Giants so rarely get the ball to Saquon Barkley in space, preferring instead to run him into opposing team's already-in-the-backfield defenders before he can get a head of speed. Barkley is pretty elusive for his size (233 pounds), but he's not Tarik Cohen, able to beat someone from a full stop.
They could solve both problems (Jones holding it too long) and Barkley not getting going, by designing simple screens and check downs, but for God knows what reason, they never do. And now Barkley might be injured again anyway.
• Darius Slayton is a player, a nice find in the fifth round.
• The Jets have one good player, Jamal Adams, but he was enough.
• I didn't watch much of the Cardinals-Buccaneers, except Kyler Murray's bizarre interception late in the game. I say this every week, but it still boggles my mind what a bad value David Johnson has been the last three seasons.
• Christian Kirk has been inconsistent, but it's nice when a player delivers in the obvious spot -- if you owned him, you were probably starting him. It was also the second straight week where Andy Isabella, the team's second-round pick, showed a spark. He had more yardage on three targets than Larry Fitzgerald had on eight.