Welcome to the 2024 Fantasy Football season. Every week we will rewatch as many games as possible from the previous week and breakdown the most significant happenings in those games.
Texans @ Colts
Anthony Richardson’s arm talent is unbelievable as evidenced on his falling down throw get back up bomb to Alec Pierce. He also hit Pierce on another bomb late In the game. Pierce blew past Derek Stingley Jr and the safety on the first bomb for a TD and the 2nd one he went up and got it. Pierce could be in for a breakout season, 6’3 and he ran a 4.4 He was really impressive, Richardson is going to throw up bombs often and it’s likely going to be a lot of Pierce and Adonai Mitchell who he tried to go deep to twice but just couldn’t hit. Some big games are coming for him also. Richardson had a couple awful throws and an bad pick, that’s to be expected but he is an absolute force with this throwing and running ability. The TD pass to Ashton Dulin on the deep cross was a laser also. Richardson barreled over defenders for a TD run on 4th and goal after Jonathan Taylor was stuffed twice.
Michael Pittman Jr will have better games but probably won’t be the consistent option he was last year with Gardner Minshew, certainly not worth that 2nd, 3rd round price. Josh Downs should be back in a couple more weeks from that high ankle sprain.
Jonathan Taylor had a TD run directly after the Colts blocked punt, but didn’t do much otherwise, not a lot of room to run, and the Colts run scheme doesn’t seem great, especially compared to the Texans. Hopefully the Colts can get a little more creative with their run scheme.
C.J. Stroud played smart for the most part although he had an interception called back for a holding by Jaylen Jones on Indy. His best throw was a roll out cross body to Nico Collins on a key 3rd down. Nico caught a bomb and also ended the game with a beautiful sideline catch where there was little to no room on good coverage. Nico is really impressive with his size and speed combination. He seems to have it all. Stefon Diggs operated mostly in the slot and scored two TD’s, but was not running deep. Tank Dell was just missed for a TD pass, Jaylon Jones made a nice play for Indy, but Stroud could have thrown a better ball. Dell had a big run on a reverse play and he certainly is going to have some big games. Dalton Shultz is going to be very inconsistent with the three WR’s there and Joe Mixon in the run game.
Mixon ran this zone blocking scheme at Oklahoma and he looked very comfortable in this offense. The blocking was great and Mixon was running with burst and power. He’s a true workhorse back. The Colts run D didn’t seem great and suppposedely sold out to stop the pass, but the Texans have a very good run scheme, similar to Miami and the 49ers. Damien Pierce had a few carries and a few nice runs but he’s nothing more than a handcuff. Cam Akers was a healthy scratch.
Denver @ Seattle
Bo Nix had a rough rookie debut, trying to force in two balls into double and triple coverage to Cortland Sutton that were picked off. He also threw a ball about 10 feet over Sutton’s head on another. He did make some plays and played within Payton’s system, but anything past 10 yards was kind of scary. He ran for a TD late with a nice move on the defender. Cortland Sutton and the rest of the Bronco WR’s struggled to separate against the big physical Seattle Corners. The Seattle D under first year defensive head coach Mike McDonald looked pretty sound.
Javonte Williams looked slow and crusty but the holes were not being opened. Jaleel McClaughin also didn’t look great. Audric Estime got a carry early and exploded up the gut for 10 yards, but almost lost a fumble. He only got one more carry after that. He should probably get more work, because the other two backs were underwhelming. I’m not sure about Payton’s offense in the NFL, will see if the Broncos look a little more fluid and explosive as the season goes on, I think it would help to get speedsters Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims more involved.
Geno Smith opened the game with a perplexing INT with no WR’s seemingly around. He played better late and had a great TD run where he juked out the defender. He talked about running more this year and he should. Tyler Lockett was the best Seattle WR on the day, catching two Geno back shoulder throws and also sealing the game with a key catch. JSN caught two balls early then was not heard from. D.K. was being guarded by Pat Surtain who is one of the if not the best corner in the league. This Seattle pass game should look better as the season goes on, I think they did some good things here.
Kenneth Walker was the story for the Seahawks, looking ultra explosive scoring a TD while having another called back. He’s clearly the superior runner over Zach Charbonnet. Walker should also catch more passes this year in this offense, he could have a huge year, certainly a career year. Walker suffered some kind of abdomen injury, no word yet on how serious it is, but he said he would be fine. Charbonnet caught a TD on a wide open wheel route.
Panthers @ Saints
Same old same old for Carolina and Bryce Young from last season. He started the game by overthrowing Diontae Johnson for a pick and missed several throws during the game. There was a lot of pressure on him, but Bryce was unable to make accurate throws on the run. The Saints were sending all out blitzes against him and Young was either unable to evade pressure, unable to find the check down or simply had no shot. This Saints defense still is very formidable with veterans like the HoneyBadger, Cam Jordan, Marshawn Lattimore and Demario Davis. They also add Chase Young to the mix. The Panthers run game was also non existent and Miles Sanders even mixed in hurting Chuba Hubbard’s value. Jonathan Brooks should help this team some, but he might be eased back in very slowly even though his ACL tear was clean with no other ligaments impacted. Xavier Legette caught a few balls, Jonathan Mingo fumbled, Adam Thielen also caught a few balls and so did Diontae Johnson. Johnson is still the favorite to emerge but this passing game needs a ton of work. Bryce needs to turn things around fast before he’s benched for Andy Dalton.
The Saints offense looked better and more crisp under first year Offensive Coordinator Klint Kubiak. Most notably the run game looked more creative and explosive. Alvin Kamara still has plenty of juice and still no real competition behind him with just Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller who is hurt and on Davis Allen’s shit list. This Carolina D was getting manhandled but still the run game looked better. Rashid Shaheed has elite speed and it was good to see the Saints get him involved early as he caught a 59 yard TD to open the game. Derek Carr took another shot deep to Shaheed also but the pass was broken up by a good play by the corner. Shaheed was also used on a reverse run that went for a nice gain. Chris Olave was very quiet, but that will change. Still, Shaheed may have a bigger presence this year which could eat into Olave’s overall production and certainly prevent him from paying off that 2nd round ADP. Again, Olave is very good, but this drafting 400 WR’s trend has gone overboard and is overly trendy and annoying now. Especially when the majority of these people adapting this strategy are best ball drafters and/or playing in a enormous amount of leagues. A lot of there teams will be complete dust, although many will certainly score a ton, but I think overall they are deceiving the masses with this “FantasyFootballHack” strategy.
Derek Carr only threw for 200 yards but tossed three TD’s, continuing his TD pace from last season. Juwan Johnson caught a TD and Taysom Hill was used in the backfield on runs and almost caught a TD himself. He will continue to be a weapon in this offense and surely will have some big games. He will be volatile, but still good in redraft if you can slot him in at TE.
The Saints should be a slightly above average team this year, I have my doubts about Dennis Allen, but Klint Kubiak may save the day on offense.
Jaguars @ Dolphins
Trevor Lawrence continued to look uncomfortable under pressure and not quick enough to evade it, but he did make some nice throws in this game. Most notably the TD to Rookie Brian Thomas in the back of the end zone. Thomas almost caught bomb for another TD but was mugged by Jalen Ramsey, he still could have caught it however. Christian Kirk made one big play and Evan Engram was silent. This Jags passing game looks sort of stale like it did last year, most notably because they aren’t doing a great job at protecting Lawrence and he doesn’t do a great job under pressure. Christian Kirk’s days of being a consistent WR are probably over.
Tank Bigsby had some nice strong runs in this game, which is encouraging but Travis Etienne is still the guy in this offense. Etienne had one TD and would have had another but fumbled the ball in the end zone after a nice run up the middle. The Dolphins connected for a bomb TD to Tyreek on the next play, killer.
Tua also struggled with pressure taking some bad sacks and missing some throws. Devin Achane was used a ton in the passing game, essentially a swing pass specialist. He didn’t do much in the run game, but ended up finding the end zone. Raheem Mostert got a little banged up in this game, so it’s tough to tell about the true usage, but there is no doubt that Achane is going to be a big factor in this passing game and offense overall. Jeff Wilson mixed in later, Achane also has some sort of ankle injury that has him questionable for Thursday’s game. Mostert is also questionable with a chest injury.
Tyreek Hill got handcuffed before the game but still found his way into the end zone on another explosive play. Jaylen Waddle also went over 100 yards. Really the Dolphins should just throw to these two guys every single play. Both are special players. Waddle could be a 1500+ yard receiver as the #1 on another team. Ultimately I think Tua’s limitations holds both these guys back some.
Vikings @ Giants
The Giants continue to be a hot mess, the QB, the defense, the Oline, just awful. Danny “Pennies” Jones was under pressure most of the game, the offensive line didn’t pass or run block well and Jones once again made some awful throws. The worst one on a attempted swing pass that was intercepted by Van Ginkel for a pick six. Jones was uncomfortable most of the day, also throwing another pick in the end zone on 4th down. His best pass of the day was over the head of Stephen Gilmore where Malik Nabers went up high and came down with the pass. Jones is going to have to look Nabers way a little bit more especially in pressure situations.
Wandale Robinson looks like he should be a consistent option all year, always a talented player he’s a couple years removed from the ACL now. Quick shifty player who is a nice weapon for them. Devin Singletary didn’t have much room to work with and Eric Gray and Tyrone Tracy Jr, mixed in some. Singletary is more like a RB3, flex the rest of the way.
Sam Darnold looked pretty composed under this Kevin O’Connell system, throwing for two TD’s, his best throw a beautifully place corner route to Justin Jefferson. He also hit Jefferson on a quick slant for a TD. He had one interception where Dexter Lawrence hit his throwing hand and the ball skied in the air and was picked.
Aaron Jones looked great, like one of the best backs in the league, which he is. While everyone was obsessed with grabbing WR’s, Jones was falling into the 6th-8th rounds and will prove to be an extreme value. The Fantasy Football landscape has been altered by PPR, I think all leagues should be half PPR.
The Vikings defense looks solid once again under Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores. Tougher tests ahead but they are a sound unit.
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