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Week 3 Fantasy Football Recap

29 September 2020 Uncategorized


Week 3 is almost in the books, and it was a pretty crazy one. We had the first tie this year(don’t worry that’ll be covered extremely throughly this week), and we have an exciting half day until the marquee early season matchup comes to TV, the long-awaited Kansas City Chiefs/Baltimore Ravens showdown. I don’t know if I’ve been this excited for a regular season game in many years. More on this later, but that promises to be a spectacular game tomorrow night. Let’s dive into today’s and Thursday’s action, though.

As always guys, feel free to drop a follow on Twitter, the handle is @swagman95. Thanks!

TNF

Dolphins 31 @Jaguars 13

Top Scorer: James Robinson, RB- 30.9 points

Biggest Surprise: see above

Best QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick- 25.2 pts

Biggest Dud: Gardner Minshew- 9.2 pts

I think everyone expected Minshew to ball out in this game against a Miami defense that looked to be really bad. No Byron Jones, Xavien Howard was hurt, and the Jags actually looked like a team that wasn’t actively trying to tank for Trevor Lawrence after blatantly doing so all offseason. So the complete opposite happened, no D.J. Chark for Jags, and the only bright spot was Robinson, who has seemed to come out of nowhere to be an RB1 so far this season. Myles Gaskin rushed 22 times for 66 yards and had 5 catches for 29 yards, and was a nice bright spot on a team that has last a true 3 down back in some years. Laviska Shenault was unable to build on his solid start to the season and finished with 5 catches for 33 yards in the loss. Mike Gesicki was also held in check other than a 15 yarder for a touchdown, with that being his only catch of the day.

Bills 35 vs Rams 32

Top Scorer: Josh Allen, 31.24 pts

Biggest Surprise: Tyler Kroft, 18.4 pts

Biggest Dud: John Brown, 0 pts

This ended up being a great game after it looked like the Bills were going to blow out the Rams early, but the Rams stormed back, led by Robert Woods(21 pts) and Cooper Kupp(25 points). Darrell Henderson also had his first 100+ yard rushing game as well and scored in this one, as everyone got a chance here. For Buffalo, you had Kroft scoring his points on two short touchdowns and then Stefon Diggs chipping in 50 yards and a touchdown too. This was another beastly Josh Allen performance though, as he cemented his top tier QB status by throwing for 4 TD’s and rushing for another in the comeback win.

Patriots 36 vs Raiders 20

Top Scorer: Rex Burkhead 34.8 points

Biggest Surprise: see above

Biggest Dud: Josh Jacobs 9.3 pts

This ended up being a matchup of who could run the ball better, as both teams have constructed their offenses around having the identity of a run heavy team.  Burkhead absolutely dominated the scoring, with 3 total TD’s coming on his touches, even alongside Sony Michel who rushed for 117 yards as well. Josh Jacobs was stymied by the Patriots’ defense, averaging just over 4 yards a carry for 71 rushing yards. Without a healthy Darren Waller, who played as decoy for most of the afternoon, Derek Carr was forced to improvise, and that’s where a Bill Belicheck-led team will get you, as they routinely blew up any chance of the Raiders coming back in this one.

Browns 34 vs Washington 20

Top Scorer: Nick Chubb, 24 points

Biggest Surprise: Dontrelle Inman, 18.8 pts

Biggest Dud: Jarvis Landry, 7.6 pts

This one went pretty as expected. Dwayne Haskins was a mess, turning the ball over 4 times, on 3 picks and 2 fumbles, 1 of which he managed to recover. Nick Chubb absolutely dominated the Washington Football Team’s defense, rushing for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns, and even Kareem Hunt contributed 46 rush yards and a receiving touchdown.  On the other side, Antonio Gibson scored a short TD and averaged 5 yards a carry, and Inman caught two touchdowns for 40 yards.  This Washington Football Team is as expected, with really only Terry Mclaurin(4/83 yards) the only player worth trusting on a weekly basis. Nick Chubb looks more and more like a RB1 each week he plays.

Steelers 28 vs Texans 21

Top Scorer: James Conner 24.9 points

Biggest Surprise:Randall Cobb 19.5 pts

Biggest Dud:Diontae Johnson 0.9 pts

It’s not the fairest thing in the world to give Diontae the biggest dud slot because he only played one quarter and then got knocked out of the game with a concussion, but man he was disappointing.  I honestly had thought Randall Cobb was injured for how little I saw the guy in the first two weeks, but here he was almost crossing the century mark for the Texans, getting 95 yards and the nice long touchdown.  Deshaun Watson had a nice bounce-back game of sorts, throwing two touchdowns and a pick for 264 yards, coming out to 17 points.The Texans have played the hardest schedule by far in this short season, but easiness lies ahead, making Watson a great buy-low option right now.

49ers 36 @ Giants 9

Top Scorer: Jeff Wilson, 21.9 points

Biggest Surprise: Brandon Aiyuk, 21.1 pts

Biggest Dud:Daniel Jones, 8.6 pts

This was always going to be a very ugly game scorewise. I actually thought this score would be more along the lines of 17-6 due to the amount of injuries on both sides, and San Fran scoring 36 just makes me worried for next weekend. If the Giants can’t stop the 49ers backups, how will the Eagles do it?  Anyways, Jerick McKinnon and Wilson owned this game. They put up 38 fantasy points between the two of them, and scored 3 total touchdowns.  The big surprise for me is seeing Aiyuk be heavily involved in the run game. We knew he was fast, but he is extremely shifty too, showing off on his 19 yard touchdown run on Sunday.  He’s going to be more involved later in the season, but this is a nice start.

Titans 31 @ Vikings 30

Top Scorer:Justin Jefferson, 30.5 pts

Biggest Surprises: see above

Biggest Dud: Adam Thielen, 12.3 pts

What was more surprising in this one, Jefferson bursting out for his breakout game or that Stephen Gostkowski, who many people thought was going to be cut after a putrid week 1 showing, kicked 6 field goals on his way to 25 points? I’ll give it to J Jeff, but  Gostkowski showed that he still has it after a shaky start. This was a great back and forth game, but you have to hand it to the Titans, who continue to find creative ways to pull out the win behind the great duo of Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill.  Henry had 2 short touchdowns and 27 points on 119 rush yards as Gostkowski won the game for them.  Even without AJ Brown, the Titans are 3-0 and looking to repeat on their AFC title game run from a season ago.

Chicago 30 @Falcons 26

Top Scorer:Allen Robinson 28.3 pts

Biggest Surprise: Jimmy Graham 24 pts

Biggest Dud: David Montgomery 7.4 pts

Okay, raise your hand if you thought that Nick Foles(17.4 pts) would come in in replacement of Mitch Trubisky and completely save the day with 3 touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. My hand is down, and I’m sure all of yours are too. The Falcons blew ANOTHER fourth quarter lead, and Robinson finally had his breakout game. But it was none other than Jim Graham coming out of the bushes to save the day with 60 yards and two touchdown grabs, and Foles, with the tinted visor and all, looked damn good out there. This Bears team is 3-0, and their defense seems to be clicking. Calvin Ridley had 16 points, and while he looked good again, it’s worth noting that without Julio Jones healthy, teams will key on him to take away the explosiveness he brings to the Falcons offense. Tarik Cohen went down with a torn ACL in this one, so expect Montgomery to have a slightly increased workload going forward.

Colts 36 vs Jets 7

Top Scorer: Colts D/ST 26 pts

Biggest Surprise: see above

Biggest Dud: Sam Darnold, 6.7 points

This was a really ugly game. The Jets are completely decimated offensively and Darnold threw 3 picks, including two pick- sixes. I mean even Xavier Rhodes looked like his old self in this one. The Colts were able to easily dictate the game flow with Johnathan Taylor( 59 rush yards and a TD) and Philip Rivers didn’t have to do much throwing 1 touchdown to Mo-Alie Cox(14 points). Chalk this one up as a blowout and move on. Don’t play any Jets players in fantasy.

Panthers 21 @ Chargers 16

Top Scorer:  Austin Ekeler 31.3 points

Biggest surprise: Keenan Allen 30.2 pts

Biggest Dud: Dj Moore 7.5 pts

The Chargers dominated this game from a fantasy perspective, as Ekeler and Allen both put up 30+ points, having been relied on heavily by Justin Herbert in his second start. It’s very clear who he is leaning on, and both can be considered top options going forward.  If we learned anything from the Carolina team, its that Mike Davis (23 pts) can handle the Christian McCaffrey workload while he is on IR recovering from a high ankle sprain, and that it’s time to start viewing Robby Anderson (10.5 pts) as a WR2, since he continues to outscore DJ Moore and handles the downfield duties for Teddy Bridgewater.

Buccaneers 28 @Broncos 10

Top Scorer:Tom Brady 23.88 pts

Biggest Surprise: Tampa Bay D/St: 19 pts

Biggest Dud: Leonard Fournette, 4.2 points

Denver is a team on a sinking ship right now. They have lost Drew Lock, Courtland Sutton, Von Miller, and Phil Lindsay. Offensively and fantasy-wise, this team is in the same realm as the Jets.  Brady feasted on this team yesterday, throwing 3 touchdowns, 2 to Mike Evans, each at the goal-line.  Bruce Arians demonstrated that he prefers to ride the hot hand at running back each week, with Fournette having a very down performance compared to Ronald Jones who out-snapped and out-touched him.  Chris Godwin suffered a hamstring strain in this game, so as quickly as he was back from the concussion protocol, he is once again going to miss some time, which of course means more work for Evans, who is strangely on pace for 50 catches, 500 yards, and 20(?????) touchdowns.

Lions 26 @Cardinals 23

Top Scorer: DeAndre Hopkins 23.7 pts

Biggest Surprise:Andy Isabella 20.1 pts

Biggest Dud:D’Andre Swift 2.9 pts

We all had really high hopes for Swift, who has seemingly been forgotten by fantasy players after being drafted as high as the fourth round on average earlier this summer. The Lions managed to stick with the Cardinals every step of the way, picking off Kyler Murray(21.7 pts) 3 times on their way to a game-winning field goal by Matt Prater(14 pts).  The good news is that it isn’t just Hopkins standing out for the Cardinals though, it’s Andy Isabella, who caught two touchdowns in his coming out party of this nascent fantasy season. Kenyan Drake is still struggling to get going though, and I was very vocal this offseason about how I just didn’t think he was that good, especially behind this offensive line.

Seahawks 38 vs Cowboys 31

Top Scorer:Tyler Lockett 37 pts

Biggest surprise:Cedrick Wilson 27.7 pts

Biggest Dud:CeeDee Lamb 11.6 pts

There wasn’t really a dud in this game, except for the defenses from both sides.  DangeRuss absolutely COOKED this defense to be honest, and he should have had 6 touchdowns instead of the five he had, ending up with 36.8 points along the way.  Every wide receiver in this game was running on all cylinders, and it really came down to Dak vs Russ, which Russ won.  End of the day, pretty much every relevant skill player on these teams are fantasy relevant, the Seahawks are FINALLY letting Russ take over the games, and the Cowboys have been forced to rely on Dak chucking the ball 45+ times a game because the defense continually lets them down. Lockett and Metcalf are top 7 options, and Amari, Gallup, and Lamb are all WR2+ for the rest of the year.

Eagles 23 vs Bengals 23

Top Scorer:Tyler Boyd 22.5 pts

Biggest Surprise:Tee Higgins 21 pts

Biggest Dud:DeSean Jackson

I really wish I could just put biggest dud to be the entire Eagles’ coaching staff, but that’s not entirely fair. This was a weird game, because I think most people just expected the Eagles to have their way with the Bengals shoddy offensive line and massacre the defense.  Well, the Eagles highest paid in the league front 7 unit did dominate Joe Burrow with 8 sacks, but he still cooked us, outside of Darius Slay who continues to do his highpaying job.  The Eagles have the worst linebackers in the league, which means that Tee Higgins absolutely ravaged them inside and over the middle.  Let’s not get started on the Eagles offensive performance, but losing Jackson AGAIN to a soft-tissue injury is starting to irk me. Just drop him from your fantasy teams until he is completely healthy. At least Miles Sanders was active, again finishing with 95 rush yards, but they’ll need to lean on him more as injuries keep piling up around this team, who lost stud TE Dallas Goedert early.

Packers 37 @Saints 30

Top Scorer:Alvin Kamara 44.7 pts

Biggest Surprise:Robert Tonyan 16 pts

Biggest Dud:Jared Cook 4.6 pts

This was a fun game to watch. Since both Davante Adams and Michael Thomas were out, most people thought that thing would be a game dominated by the two stud running backs on each side, Kamara and Aaron Jones(16.6 pts). And it was, with Kamara absolutely going off for 13 catches, 139 yards and 2 touchdowns, since Drew Brees decided he didn’t really want to trust anyone else, and Jones getting in for a touchdown on 16 carries for 65 yards.  It was nice to see Aaron Rodgers(24.5 pts) work his magic with Allen Lazard(26.4), connecting with him on two deep shots that were vintage Rodgers, another night on Rodgers’ revenge tour after the Pack drafted his replacement. Gonna continue to see fantasy relevance on both sides going forward here, especially when Thomas and Adams get healthy again.

Chiefs 34 @Ravens 20

Top Scorer: Mahomes 40 pts

Biggest Surprise:Devin Duvernay 8.7 pts

Biggest Dud: Lamar Jackson 14.2 pts

This game was billed as “The Game of the Year”, and why wouldn’t it have been?  Arguably the top two teams from a year ago, Lamar v Mahomes is a great matchup. Except in this one, Lamar just didn’t really show up. After an opening drive where the Ravens rushed down the field on the back of Lamar’s legs, they just kind of stalled out, and Lamar didn’t even pass for 100 yards. All Mahomes did was pass for 385 yards and go off for five total touchdowns.  He got everyone involved, from Mecole Hardman(16 pts) to Sammy Watkins(13.2 pts).  It was also cool to see Devin Duvernay, the electric rookie out of Texas get involved, scoring on a crazy 93 yard kickoff return for the Ravens.  All in all, the fantasy prospects of these two teams are endless and won’t dry up anytime soon.

 

Another week is done, and with it, we add more injuries to the list.  Guys will start to come back soon,. but this season will definitely be tied to all of these injuries and how they’ve affected so many people’s teams. If you made it this far, I really appreciate you all reading and supporting the dream. As always, stay tuned for the 4th and Jawn fantasy team and follow us on the socials!


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