Week 3 Reactions: Brady Back At It

The 2017 NFL rule book is a 92-page document explaining each and every rule and regulation regarding a game in the National Football League. Some rules are well known, such as the standard dimension of the field (360 feet in length and 160 feet in width) to the standard dimensions of the ball (must be a "Wilson," hand selected, bearing the signature of the Commissioner of the League, Roger Goodell. The ball shall be made up of an inflated (12½ to 13½ pounds) urethane bladder enclosed in a pebble grained, leather case (natural tan color) without corrugations of any kind. It shall have the form of a prolate spheroid and the size and weight shall be: long axis, 11 to 11¼ inches; long circumference, 28 to 28½ inches; short circumference, 21 to 21¼ inches; weight, 14 to 15 ounces.). There are also some more arcane rules that only become known when a team gets screwed, like what we saw with the Lions on Sunday.

Starting at his own 11-yard line with 2:23 remaining and trailing the Falcons 30-26, quarterback Matthew Stafford executed another great late drive to set up a third-and-goal from the Falcons' one-yard line with 12 seconds to play. Taking a snap out of the shotgun, Stafford found Golden Tate on a quick slant for the game-winning touchdown. Or not.

After a review by the officials, Tate was deemed (correctly) to be down by contact before breaking the plane. So, place the ball at the half-yard line and the Lions have one play to win it, right? Wrong. As anyone familiar with Section 7, Article 4 of the rule book knows, the game is over, Falcons win. Of course. Or, more specifically from page 16 of the rule book:

ARTICLE 4. REPLAY REVIEW AFTER TWO-MINUTE WARNING OF EITHER HALF. If a replay review after the two-minute warning of either half results in the on-field ruling being reversed and the correct ruling would not have stopped the game clock, then the officials will run 10 seconds off the game clock before permitting the ball to be put in play on the ready-for-play signal. The defense cannot decline the runoff, but either team can use a remaining timeout to prevent it.

Stafford wasn't having a great fantasy day anyway, throwing for 264 yards and one touchdown, though a line of 265 and two scores is obviously better. Tate's fantasy owners were probably much more disappointed (to put it lightly), as the score would have been his second of the game, moving him from being the 21st-highest scoring wideout in PPR formats to the 10th.

Speaking of the highest-scoring wide receivers, what if I told you that with two games left to play the quarterbacks responsible for the top four highest-scoring wideouts this week were Case Keenum, Tom Brady, Jared Goff and Jacoby Brissett? There was plenty of early optimism for Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs after Sam Bradford threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 1 win over the Saints, but another knee injury tempered those expectations when Keenum took over under center. Well, it may be time to reassess, with Keenum completing 25 of 33 passes for 369 yards and three touchdowns Sunday against the Buccaneers, helped by Diggs' eight catches on 11 targets for 173 yards and two touchdowns, while Thielen caught five of eight for 98. There is no doubt that the Vikings' passing game is better with Bradford starting, but Diggs and Thielen showed Sunday that they may be good enough of a duo to make Keenum a serviceable fantasy option while maintaining their own respective upsides.

T.Y. Hilton was another receiver whose fantasy value was greatly affected by an injured quarterback, as he failed to surpass even 60 receiving yards in the first two games of the season with Brissett starting for the injured Andrew Luck (shoulder). However, he rewarded fantasy owners who thought he could still produce by catching seven of nine targets for 153 yards and a touchdown Sunday against the Browns. A big chunk of his fantasy value came on a 61-yard touchdown in the second quarter, with much of that yardage coming after the catch, but it was at least promising to see the increase in targets and yardage. Brissett had a solid game himself, throwing for 259 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 14 yards and two other scores, helping him to the sixth-highest fantasy score among quarterbacks, ahead of players like Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Marcus Mariota, among others.

Fantasy owners who started Brissett and Keenum were certainly surprised with their outcomes, while Tom Brady owners were quite content with his 378 yards and five touchdowns Sunday, making him the highest scoring quarterback for the week. Brady was phenomenal, throwing two touchdowns each to Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan as well as one to Rob Gronkowski. Cooks finally had the breakout game many were expecting when he joined the Patriots, and even more so when Julian Edelman was ruled out for the year with torn knee ligaments. However, it's worth noting that Hogan has now scored three touchdowns in the last two games while also getting one more target than Cooks. Of course, Gronkowski has even more targets in that span (19 versus 12 for Hogan and 11 for Cooks) while also scoring in back-to-back weeks. Despite having plenty of mouths to feed, Brady is showing he has no problem spreading the success around.

Brady's final touchdown pass was the game-winner with 23 seconds left, capping an eight-play, 75-yard drive that was just so classic Brady that everyone knew it was coming before it happened. After struggling in Week 1 against the Chiefs, Brady has thrown for 825 yards and eight touchdowns in his last two games.

Four quarterbacks scored at least 30 fantasy points this week (Brady, Russell Wilson, Keenum and Brian Hoyer), while six wide receivers (Diggs, Cooks, Watkins, Hilton, A.J. Green and Antonio Brown) also reached the mark. However, only two running backs did it, including Todd Gurley, who racked up 149 total yards and three touchdowns in a shocking 41-39 Rams win over the 49ers on Thursday. The only running back to reach 30 fantasy points (PPR scoring) on Sunday was the Bears' Jordan Howard, who rushed 23 times for 138 yards and two touchdowns while also catching all five of his targets for 26 receiving yards. Howard's dominant performance may have been the most surprising outside of Keenum's and Brissett's, as he came into the game with 59 rushing yards on 22 carries and 14 receiving yards on three receptions in the first two games combined. Additionally, Howard is reportedly dealing with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder, which prompted many to speculate that Tarik Cohen would be the Chicago running back to have this weekend. Cohen did have a solid game, rushing 12 times for 78 yards and catching all four targets for 24 receiving yards, but it was Howard who lit up the fantasy scoreboard. However, that situation could have been completely turned around, as Cohen appeared to win the game on a 73-yard touchdown run in overtime, only to be ruled out of bounds at the Pittsburg 37-yard line. Instead of winning the game, Cohen's run helped set up Howard's game-winning 19-yard run, giving him the most fantasy points by a running back on Sunday's slate. Jordan was seen clutching at his shoulder multiple times during the game, so despite outscoring Cohen, the debate over who is the one to own is far from over.

Jordan's inconsistent play has been tough for fantasy owners in all formats, but those who grabbed Chiefs rookie Kareem Hunt, even the most optimistic ones, are getting much more than they expected. Hunt was having a fairly strong game against the Chargers, but it became a dominant one when he broke off a 69-yard touchdown run with 1:49 left in the fourth quarter to make it 24-10 Chiefs. He finished the game with 172 rushing yards on 17 carries while adding one catch for 11 yards, becoming the first rookie to have at least 100 scrimmage yards in his first three games since Matt Forte did it for the Bears back in 2008. Let's not stop there with Hunt, who:

While we're on the topic of historical significance, it's time once again to appreciate just how good Odell Beckham is so early in his career. The Giants' star wideout caught nine of 13 targets for 79 yards and two touchdowns Sunday against the Eagles, including another ridiculous one-handed grab that is only made less ridiculous because of how easy he makes these plays seem:

Beckham became the fastest player ever to 300 catches, doing so in only 45 games, while ESPN's Tristan Cockcroft points out that Beckham's 947.7 PPR fantasy points over that span are the most by any wide receiver since 1950 (in other words, since we started playing fantasy football). For those wondering, recently retired Anquan Boldin needed 47 games to reach 300 catches, a feat that is now the second-fastest ever. Now, imagine how good Beckham would be with a better quarterback and a competent offensive coordinator calling the plays.