Week 6 Game Notes
Lions @ Bucs
Jared Goff didn’t play that great despite the numbers. He missed a good amount of throws, but didn’t throw any picks or make any crucial mistakes. The offensive line continues to protect him, give him time to throw and they complete the same passes over and over again. Quick outs, drags, 10 yard curls, screens, etc. He did complete a bomb to Jameson Williams where the ball kind of hung up there, the Lions were so used to short passes they only had one guy deep running with Jameson. The presence of Jameson will help open up things for them, but I doubt that him and Goff will ever have a consistent connection, unless they start using Jameson on a bunch of shorter routes. Josh Reynolds numbers and consistency probably start to dwindle each week with Wiliams back. Sam LaPorta had a few drops, a slow day overall. Amon St. Brown caught his usual quick outs, screens, curls, etc. Defenses will let him get those quick outs, but they need to start mannin him up more on those deeper curls. Goff just sits back there with plenty of time and waits for Brown to run the curl wide open. I think defenses need to start manning up and blitzing Goff. Under pressure he just folds and is extremely inaccurate. You have to force him into turnovers. You can’t continue to play soft and just let his wrs run wide open. The Lions defense is much improved this season, but I still think this Lions team is going to get exposed eventually and won’t make any real noise in the playoffs.
David Montgomery got hurt in the 2nd quarter it sounds like he’s going to miss time. Craig Reynolds stepped in and didn’t do much outside of catching a screen pass with a good run after catch. Jahmyr Gibbs and Reynolds will split the backfield for now, a great opportunity for Gibbs, but Reynolds is still going to be utilized, The Lions likely aren’t going to use Gibbs as a workhorse like Montgomery.
Baker Mayfield had a pass picked early off a tip, where he had Mike Evans running wide open in the seam. It may have gone for a TD. He also missed Trey Palmer deep multiple times and missed Evans and Godwin also. He did not throw the ball well in this game. He made a few nice throws, but the Bucs only scored six points and Baker missed too many throws. Rachaad White got hurt in this game, but came back, but still didn’t do much, per usual. Keshawn Vaughn got his most usage of the year, but didn’t do much either. This Bucs offensive line doesn’t open up much. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin both could have had TD’s if Baker didn’t miss them, same with Trey Palmer. Evans also had a big drop, he probably wasn’t fully healthy, but still didn’t look injured while running. Evans and Godwin and Fantasy Owners are going to have to live with Baker Mayfield hurting their production.
49ers @ Browns
The Browns defense got a lot of pressure on Purdy, forced him off his spot, played aggressive man defense, clogged the middle passing lanes and forced Purdy into a lot of inaccurate throws and a bad pick. Losing Deebo Samuel early didn’t help and also CMC in the third quarter, but the Browns were doing a good job stopping the run and containing CMC outside of that first TD drive to start the game. Not all defenses will be able to pull this off, but it’s smart to try and get to Purdy instead of sitting back in a soft zone and letting the 49ers playmakers, scheme and Purdy pick you apart. We will see if more teams can follow this blueprint. Jimmy Schwartz is now 9-1 against Shanny led offenses.
Jordan Mason filled in after CMC went down and had a nice TD run after a Lenoir Pick. George Kittle had one catch, Deebo got hurt Early, Aiyuk had a decent day, could have been bigger if Purdy didn’t miss him a few times. Aiyuk helped them get into FG position late for the game winner before Moody missed his 2nd FG of the day for the loss.
PJ Walker was mostly terrible in this game throwing two picks and he could have had two more, including one late that was totally unnecessary that would have thrown the game away. He did make a few nice throws, the biggest to Cooper in which Cooper burnt Lenoir and then juked out Tamanfaghahahaa. Cooper also high pointed a ball over Cherdavious Ward. Lenoir did get the best of him on a route where he fell down and Walker threw a pick, but probably shouldn’t have been thrown by Walker. Still, Cooper looked awesome in this game and was a huge reason why the Browns won this game. Kareem Hunt looked good and the Browns ran a great play where they had TE Harrison Bryant under center faking the sneak and then pitched out to Hunt for a TD. Jerome Ford came up with some big runs late. Ford is still ahead, but Hunt probably earned himself some more playing time after this game. Cooper was the only relevant WR in this game and really he’s been the only trustworthy WR all season. Great win for the Browns.
Seattle @ Cincy
Seattle has a nice passing game, Gino threw two beautiful balls to Lockett and another one to Metcalf. He made one big mistake in the red zone throwing a a pick, the other one DK Metcalk stopped running on the in route and Cam Taylor Britt picked it off. Britt also prevented a TD to Lockett in the corner of the endzone. The Seahawks had multiple chances to take the lead and win this game, but the Bengals defense continued to make plays, get pressure and force Smith into incompletions and sacks. Lou Anarumo and his defense won this game for Cincy, they have done this a few times this season. Ken Walker had a TD, made a one handed catch and broke one big run in this game. Zach Charbonnett didn’t get as much work as he did the previous week. Jake Bobo made a couple big catches in this game and I think this was probably JSN’s best game, he also looked open for a potential TD, where Gino Smith took off and ran. His involvement and production should only increase as the season goes on.
Joe Burrow started out hot throwing a TD on a slant to Tyler Boyd then having all day to throw on his next TD to the rookie Iosvias. After that the Bengals couldn’t do anything offensively. It was a bunch of dink and dunk throws from Burrow, curls, slants, screens. He threw deep twice, once it was picked and the other he threw it out of bounds. Seattle’s defense continues to improve, with their corners and pass rush stepping up to play. They also shut down Joe Mixon, but every defense has been doing that for the past two seasons. Tee Higgins was likely playing hurt, didn’t do much and Chase had a bunch of targets and catches, but again no big plays from either of these guys and both held scoreless. The Bengals need to get Tee Higgins more involved and start hitting deeper down field. Irv Smith just one catch, he’s irrelevant still and likely won’t be a thing the rest of this season.
Saints @ Texans
Derek Carr threw some nice balls in this game, a few to Olave and Shaheed, but still is just inconsistent overall, and can’t seem to rack up more than one TD in a game this year. He did throw for over 300 yards. Olave had a nice day, and every time Rashid Shaheed touched the ball something good happened. He had a deep TD and would have had another TD after he burnt Texan corner Steven Nelson, but Carr severely under threw it, still the 6 ‘0 Shaheed came back to the ball and mossed Nelson for the catch. The Saints need to give this guy the ball way more.
Pete Carmichael’s design and play calling leaves a lot to be desired at times, one possession running it three straight times with Kamara, then throwing it on 4th down and failing to get the 1st down. Then the last sequence of the game, just poor design, a lot of streaks and such, and Carr was facing a lot of pressure. It might be time to move on from Pete after this season. Alvin Kamara is still showing burst, but the old days of explosive, incredible contact balance Kamara are done. He is getting a ton of usage in the pass game keeping him very productive each week. Kendre Miller had one nice catch and run, but did nothing on the ground and isn’t a threat to Kamara’s touches right now. Jamaal Williams is looming which could potentially hurt redzone chances for AK.
C.J. Stroud continues to impress with his poise, pocket presence and accuracy. He did throw his first INT of the season, but made some really impressive throws in this game, one beautiful toss on a crossing route to Nico Collins where Marshawn Lattimore had good coverage. Dalton Schultz scored again in a tough matchup and he’s looking mighty solid the rest of the way here. Tank Dell will return after their bye this week. I thought John Metchie would get more involved in this game, but they are barely using him at all and I’m not sure why. Maybe he’s still recovering from everything he has gone through the past couple seasons. Noah Brown is playing ahead of him.
Damien Pierce continues to look lackluster and was outplayed by Devin Singletary in this game, although not by much, but Singletary seems to fit this zone run scheme a bit better. It looks like a full blown 50/50 split right now, although Pierce is still getting the goal line looks. He had his chances in this game by the goal line but was repeatedly stuffed.
Fantasy Savvy 