Daily Dr. Roto—November 11, 2019
(Happy Veteran’s Day—a special thank you to all who have served and continue to serve our great country!)
Prescription Notes for Week 10
Giants QB Daniel Jones may have passed for 308 yards and 4 TDs, and WR Darius Slayton may have caught 10 passes for 121 yards and 2 TDs, but the most outrageous statistic in the Giants game was RB Saquon Barkley’s 13 carries for ONE rushing yard. How is it possible that the second best running back in the game was stopped so easily by the Jets? Moreover, how does Giants Head Coach Pat Shurmur even have a job? Wasn’t he an offensive guru back in Minnesota? Shurmur looks lost and confused as the coach and Barkley’s one rushing yard is the proof.
One of the most frustrating things about playing Fantasy Football is that you can do a week’s worth of analysis and start the “right” players only to see them underperform on Sunday. To wit, Bears RB David Montgomery should have had an outstanding game against the Lions and if you started him you did the right thing. There was no way that anyone could have anticipated the Lions defense holding him to 60 yards on 17 attempts after being gashed by the Raiders and Josh Jacobs just a week ago.
While it was amazing to see QB Patrick Mahomes back on the field for the Chiefs, it was equally amazing to watch Titans RB Derrick Henry dominate the Chiefs defense. Henry was a one-man wrecking crew rushing for 188 yards and 2 TDs. I am not sure why the Chiefs did not just put eight men in the box and force QB Ryan Tannehill to beat them with him arm. The Chiefs offense is sensational, but if they can’t stop the run there is little chance that they can make a deep run in the playoffs.
Yes, the Ravens beat the Bengals convincingly, but from the Bengals point-of-view they had to be happy with the way that QB Ryan Finley and RB Joe Mixon played. Finley showed nice pocket awareness and some mobility, while Mixon finally broke 100 rushing yards for the first time this season. I am not sure that the Bengals will win any games this year, but at least they are giving their younger players a closer look which should help them in 2020.
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It was the first game for the Browns with both RB Nick Chubb and RB Kareem Hunt in the lineup, and for the most part, it was a success. Chubb had 20 rushes and 2 receptions, while Hunt had 4 rushes and 7 receptions. I think that the team would be very happy if those were the approximate numbers in each game for both players for the rest of the season.
There are no words to describe the shock I have at the fact that the Falcons pulled off the upset of the season by beating the Saints. The Falcons defense played at its highest level and sacked QB Drew Brees six times. I think the even more shocking statistic was the Falcons run defense holding RB Alvin Kamara to 24 yards rushing and RB Lat Murray to 12. The only thing that I can think of from the Saints side is that this was the first time in weeks that all their players were playing at the same time. Maybe they just need a good week of practice to get in sync?
I was saddened watching Cardinals RB David Johnson run the football against Tampa. He looked so slow; I could not imagine him breaking any tackles for big gains. The good news, though, was the outstanding play of WRs Christian Kirk and Andy Isabella. I fully expected Kirk to have the game he did, but Isabella’s game was unexpected. I am hopeful that the team will start to give him more opportunities in the coming weeks. He could certainly be an offensive difference maker.
I was absolutely wrong in thinking that the Colts could beat the Dolphins with Brian Hoyer as their QB. I was convinced that playing at home against the Dolphins was a good time to keep Brissett on the sidelines with his injured knee and the Colts would use their running attack and a strong defense to grind out the victory. I think the lack of effort really shows how integral Brissett is to the Colts’ offense.
Packers RB Aaron Jones has been a revelation this season. He had the same number of carries as teammate Jamaal Williams (13), but Jones had a nose for the end zone and scored 3 TDs on the day. This was yet another week where the Panthers got gashed by the run. If the Panthers want to have any chance of making the playoffs, they must figure out how to stop the opposing team’s running game.
Outside of Saquon Barkley’s one rushing yard, the other crazy statistic on the day was the zero receiving yards (on four targets) by Rams WR Cooper Kupp. Kupp came into the game as one of the leading receivers in the league and the Steelers defense completely shut him down. I will give a ton of credit to the Steelers, but at the same time Rams QB Jared Goff put on a horrific performance on the road and gave his team little chance to win. I hate to say this, but for now I would only consider playing Goff at home and pair him up with another solid QB when the Rams are on the road.
The Sunday night game between the Vikings and Cowboys was a great game to watch, however, the Cowboys last drive of the game was a sheer disaster. Why when they were throwing the ball so effectively did they decide to run Zeke Elliott on two consecutive plays? When Kendricks made a great play on 4th down and the drive was over and the game lost. This type of bad play calling must be credited to Jason Garrett. The Cowboys as a team are good enough to win multiple playoff games, but their coaching staff is just subpar at best.
