The Giants didn't look good against the Cowboys, but don't read too much into that. It's like worrying about the Patriots after they barely beat the Jets at home. Sometimes long-time rivals have a different read on each other than the rest of the league would.
Dez Bryant is the kind of player who makes his own luck - all of it bad.
Despite the 437 passing yards, the Giants defensive line gave Tony Romo a hard time, sacking him four times, forcing him into some bad throws and allowing just 7.0 YPA (Romo attempted a whopping 62 passes).
Apparently a poll named Romo as the league's most overrated player. But if everyone thinks you're overrated, it's impossible that you're actually overrated. The poll refutes itself.
Eli Manning had another bad game, but no one will worry because the Giants won, and he's now a "made" guy, in the rarefied group of QBs whose public esteem is year to year rather than game to game.
Jason Witten had a monstrous PPR day (17 catches) and is arguably the league's No. 2 tight end, behind only Rob Gronkowski who is back on his expected draft-day pace after Sunday's monster game.
Philip RIvers and Antonio Gates are broken, and I'm not sure they can be fixed. Rivers probably belongs on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues with shallow benches. Ryan Mathews is a good player when he's not fumbling or injured which is often. Robert Meachem was the real goat this Sunday with one of the worst drops you'll ever see, but he hasn't done enough outside of one game to be worth discussing.
Trent Richardson looks healthy again. When that's the case, he's a top-5 back.
Made a blockbuster trade in YF&F with DDD. It was shocking because I didn't get an email announcing the trade and found out only after I logged in to check who I got via FAAB Thursday. I actually had forgotten I'd even offered it two days before. Suddenly, I had Arian Foster and Ben Tate (both of whom were on bye) and half my team was gone. The trade was Jeremy Maclin, Stevan Ridley, Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter for Foster/Tate, Jeremy Kerley and Brian Hartline. DDD got a good deal, but I have C.J. Spiller, Ahmad Bradshaw, Calvin Johnson, A.J. Green and Hakeem Nicks, i.e., I was overloaded with depth and needed to convert it into a superstar. It's a 12-team league, BTW, even though looking at my roster, it seems like an eight-team one. And RGIII is my QB. #obviousbrag I lost this week with all the bye-week guys, but will still be in first by a game and am hoping it'll be a stronger playoff squad. Also Kerley and Hartline are easier to drop without conscience for upside than the guys I gave up.
The Steelers defense looks like it's back. But RGIII was also victimized by his awful receiving corps. Leonard Hankerson dropped an open touchdown that even Jeff Erickson would catch nine times out of 10, and Santana Moss and Josh Morgan are average at best. I don't want to hear any more excuses for Sam Bradford on account of his receivers. Griffin has as bad or worse and is playing great.
A decent game for Matthew Stafford who at least made the Seahawks pay somewhat for taking away Calvin Johnson. Still 7.2 YPA isn't a breakout game. Fantasy-wise, the yards, TDs and rushing TD were great, of course.
Bears backers simply do not deserve to be alive for another week of survivor. What a giveaway with Cam Newton throwing a pick-six up five in the fourth quarter. Even the Packers were shaky for a while. If both had lost, it would have been down to the nutjobs who picked the Broncos (me until I lost my nerve and took Green Bay at 12:35 pm ET) and Steelers.
Darren McFadden has been a durable workhorse this year but hasn't been generated big plays. His stat-line reads like he's Cedric Benson with receiving ability.
Andy Reid is now 13-1 after the bye week and 10-4 ATS. The thinking that because he was 13-0, he was likely to go 14-0 is called "inductive reasoning," of which the philosopher Bertrand Russell once said it's like jumping off the Empire State building, counting the windows as you go down and when you get to 80, saying: "So far, so good!" I didn't watch a lot of that game, but Vanilla Ice did make a perfect throw on a deep ball to Julio Jones, and winning decisively in Philly is a point in Atlanta's favor. Maybe they were a smoke-and-mirrors 6-0, but will grow into their record as the season goes on. If the 9-7 Giants last year could grow into a Super Bowl champ, why can't a team that's gotten the lucky bounces get better, too? Still, 90 percent chance I'm fading them next week, but I want to keep an open mind.
Barring a Peyton Manning injury, the Broncos are a lock to win the AFC West.