Monday Night Observations

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Published on October 20, 2020

I should be happier. Yes, I went 0-2 ATS Monday night, and I lost my head to head NFFC matchup with Dalton Del Don thanks to Tyreek Hill's no-show. But my two good NFFC teams won, even with Mecole Hardman's zero and a bad game by Andy Dalton, so the most important boxes were checked.

Patrick Mahomes played well (8.7 YPA, two TDs, no picks and 36 rushing yards, a few of which were crushing first downs.) And he led the team to a win against a 4-1 Bills squad on the road. But his longest completion was a 37-yard play to Byron Pringle, Demarcus Robinson led the team in receiving with 69 yards, and there were no shots to Hill or Hardman.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire (26-161-0, 4-4-8) ran like a man possessed in his last game pre- Le'Veon Bell, but for the second straight week he had a TD called back, and Darrel Williams got the call on 4th-and-short which he broke for the team's only rushing score.
Travis Kelce (7-5-65-2) got his, but no skill player has had a monster game for the Chiefs through six weeks.
Hardman dropped his only target, and that was with Sammy Watkins out. A second-year speedster in the league's best offense should have some upside, but that's only the case if he's on the field.
The shine has come off Josh Allen's star the last two weeks. He managed only 4.5 YPA and 122 passing yards at home against a beatable defense. The 42 rushing yards were nice, but it was a modest fantasy day that ended on a pick, costing garbage time and a possible backdoor cover.
Stefon Diggs (8-6-46-1) and Cole Beasley (7-4-45-1) were modestly productive, but that was about it
No one made the case for Dak Prescott's contract better than Andy Dalton. Dalton took three sacks, threw two picks (though one of which should have been a defensive PI) and got only 4.9 YPA.
Ezekiel Elliott (12-49-0, 11-8-31) had 16 PPR points, but he lost two fumbles and now has four on the year. He won't easily be displaced given his contract and long-term status as one of the league's top backs, but that's a lot of fumbles for a running back.
The Cowboys as usual spread the ball around, with CeeDee Lamb (10-7-64) and Amari Cooper (10-7-79) catching some short passes in garbage time. Michael Gallup (6-2-23) saw a lot of air yards early, but he dropped an easy TD. (I was going against him in the NFFC Primetime, so I was happy to see it.)
Kyler Murray had another monster fantasy game -- 188 pass yards and two TDs, no picks, one sack, 74 rushing yards and a rushing TD. He nearly overthrew a wide-open Christian Kirk (3-2-86-2) on the 80-yard TD pass, but Kirk was just able to catch up to it without falling to the turf.
DeAndre Hopkins (8-2-73) didn't do much other than a 60-yard catch late, but chalk that up to game flow. Andy Isabella had only two targets, neither of which he caught, but they were both downfield bombs.
Kenyan Drake was having a decent day (19-95-1), but no catches, when he took a 69-yard run to the house in garbage time against a Dallas defense that had quit. Hopefully that didn't cost you your week.