This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
-Chris Carson ran well against Atlanta (20 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown), and despite the reemergence of Rashaad Penny (eight carries for 55 yards), Carson's job security might actually be in line for a boost. Ian Rapoport heavily implied that the Seahawks might trade Penny before the deadline, in which case Carson can fumble away with impunity. He probably won't, but it would be a slight reassurance for his second-half workload if Penny were gone. The key to staying safe from Penny is to not let him on the field, an order with which the Seahawks coaches have eagerly cooperated. The narrative on Penny doesn't match the evidence – for his career he has 572 yards and three touchdowns on 115 carries (5.0 YPC) to go with 12 catches for 109 yards on 15 targets. I know I'll tempt ridicule with this statement but the case for Carson over Penny is based on little more than optics. I hope Seattle trades Penny so that the hypothesis might be tested.
-Perhaps Matt Schaub was a little too dink-and-dunk against the Seahawks, but his box score isn't meaningfully distinguished from how Matt Ryan's numbers have looked this year. In going 39-of-52 for 460 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, Schaub definitely exceeded expectations and gives the Falcons a compelling reason to not rush Ryan back. It's a small sample, but Russell Gage surprised me with how well he did against Seattle, turning nine targets into seven catches for
-Chris Carson ran well against Atlanta (20 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown), and despite the reemergence of Rashaad Penny (eight carries for 55 yards), Carson's job security might actually be in line for a boost. Ian Rapoport heavily implied that the Seahawks might trade Penny before the deadline, in which case Carson can fumble away with impunity. He probably won't, but it would be a slight reassurance for his second-half workload if Penny were gone. The key to staying safe from Penny is to not let him on the field, an order with which the Seahawks coaches have eagerly cooperated. The narrative on Penny doesn't match the evidence – for his career he has 572 yards and three touchdowns on 115 carries (5.0 YPC) to go with 12 catches for 109 yards on 15 targets. I know I'll tempt ridicule with this statement but the case for Carson over Penny is based on little more than optics. I hope Seattle trades Penny so that the hypothesis might be tested.
-Perhaps Matt Schaub was a little too dink-and-dunk against the Seahawks, but his box score isn't meaningfully distinguished from how Matt Ryan's numbers have looked this year. In going 39-of-52 for 460 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, Schaub definitely exceeded expectations and gives the Falcons a compelling reason to not rush Ryan back. It's a small sample, but Russell Gage surprised me with how well he did against Seattle, turning nine targets into seven catches for 58 yards. I still think he's a gadget guy, but I wouldn't have foreseen this game so perhaps he'll prove me wrong. Austin Hooper caught another six passes for 65 yards and a touchdown on seven targets, so Schaub evidently isn't a substantial concern for his fantasy prospects.
-Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard complement each other well. Howard lacks what Sanders possesses (quickness, explosiveness, pass-catching ability) while Sanders' deficiencies (vision, decisiveness, tackle-breaking ability) are provided by Howard. Unfortunately for owners in season-long leagues, they're assets most realistically utilized in best ball, where you don't carry the burden of correctly guessing which of the two might go off in a given week. Luckily for their owners in Week 8, both runners got hot, with Sanders providing 118 yards and a touchdown from scrimmage while Howard wore down Buffalo's tough defense with 96 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. I don't know what to tell any Zach Ertz owner other than 'I'm sorry,' because I think you have to keep playing him despite his agonizing missed opportunities in 2019. We all know he'll get going as soon as people start benching him.
-Sunday's game against the Bears was a 'good-case scenario' for Melvin Gordon and yet he finished the game with just eight carries for 31 yards and a touchdown plus two catches for three yards on three targets. It took an implausibly low level of activity for Austin Ekeler (three carries, three targets) to subsidize even that much usage for Gordon. The Chargers offense will have better days as long as Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Hunter Henry can stay healthy, but Gordon's pre-2019 standards appear well out of reach.
-David Montgomery's third and fourth-round investors might have an uphill battle to make their fantasy playoffs, but any who remain in the hunt were probably in position to win on the heels of Montgomery's breakout game against the Chargers. A 55-yard run propelled the day, but 27 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown (plus four catches for 12 yards on five targets) is a fine start to Montgomery's redemption tour. Unfortunately for him and his owners, a matchup with Philadelphia is a good way to shut it back down.
-The Lions without Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs is not an imposing defense, so I wouldn't make too much of Daniel Jones' newest big game. But he continues to show encouraging aggression as a passer, and fellow rookie Darius Slayton (two touchdowns Sunday) is working very well with Jones. Slayton, Golden Tate, Evan Engram, and Saquon Barkley are an excellent core to work with, and hopefully Sterling Shepard (concussion) can get back soon too.
-Matt Patricia or/and Darrell Bevell rolling with Tra Carson as a surprise starter is either a tank move or one of those ridiculous poor decisions that cost you the margin of victory in a meaningful game. Carson is a poor man's David Cobb, the Lions voluntarily left yardage on the field by giving him touches instead of Ty Johnson and J.D. McKissic. C.J. Anderson and Zach Zenner, both cut by Detroit this regular season, are also easily both better than Carson. No coach is perfect, but this is the sort of disturbingly poor judgment that serves as fair warning for whatever inconceivably bad idea Patricia angers everyone with next.
-Few coaches have suffered as much from the arrival of analytics as Bruce Arians, whose solvency as a coach has been revealed for situationally specific to a prior era. He's smart only when no one else is, and his rugged real talk doesn't go as far as it used to. I'm not sure I even expect him to finish the season before retiring again.
-Ryan Tannehill may or may not be an actual improvement over Marcus Mariota. The win over Tampa was nice, but basically lucky, and Tannehill couldn't provide any explosiveness at all Sunday. The three touchdowns were the product of field positioning, and going 21-of-33 for 193 yards otherwise is a highly disappointing result against a bad pass defense. So much for the breakouts of Corey Davis (two catches for nine yards on six targets) and A.J. Brown (two catches for 11 yards and one touchdown on three targets). I similarly doubt the quarterback play in Tennessee can prove Jonnu Smith's production as sustainable, but I think Smith is a very solid prospect and there's a meaningful reflection of skill in his Sunday box score of six catches for 78 yards and a touchdown on seven targets.
-The Broncos of course have their issues, including with the coaching staff, but Joe Flacco also isn't good enough to lead a consistently functional offense. Eight Noah Fant targets to six Courtland Sutton targets is a good way to lose. The snap counts aren't up yet, but it seemed like Diontae Spencer and Fred Brown might have both played ahead of DaeSean Hamilton, who didn't catch his only target against the Colts.
-Although they got the win, the Colts were lucky to do against the Broncos. Jacoby Brissett couldn't find the end zone on 25 pass attempts, compelling Brissett to provide some last-minute heroics (along with a horse collar penalty drawn by a teammate) in order to eek out the win. Marlon Mack looked substantially better than his numbers, and not too many people would have complained about 76 yards and a touchdown, anyway. It's hard to tell how much Brissett might be culpable, but one concerning detail with the Colts offense is that no receiver other than T.Y. Hilton appears capable of consistent contribution at the moment. Chester Rogers was the second-leading wideout with a seven-yard catch Sunday.
-Andy Dalton seemed to move the ball more consistently against the Rams than he had in weeks, yet he still led the Bengals to just one touchdown while averaging 6.3 yards per pass. Alex Erickson had his second straight strong game (six catches for 97 yards on seven targets), though Tyler Boyd (nine) and Auden Tate (13) still saw more targets. So did Tyler Eifert (six catches for 74 yards on nine targets), but it's hard to chase much of this since Dalton threw 52 passes.
-Another strong fantasy day for Jared Goff (372 yards and two touchdowns), but another one with problematic peripherals as well. Cooper Kupp (seven catches for 220 yards and one touchdown on 10 targets) did a lot after the catch, and Goff only completed 17 of his 31 attempts. Goff has a bye week to get it together, but going to Pittsburgh after the bye is not something I'd feel comfortable about. As much as a more competitive game may have preserved his workload, it's concerning that Todd Gurley finished with just 10 carries for 44 yards and a touchdown and no receptions on one target. Darrell Henderson caught two of three targets for 20 yards and ran for 49 yards on 11 carries. Although it's disheartening that Brandin Cooks suffered a concussion, at least Josh Reynolds (three catches for 73 yards and one touchdown on eight targets) is probably a solid backup.
-Kyler Murray and the Cardinals offense never posed a real threat to the Saints defense, leaving the rookie without a touchdown for the second week in a row. That, of course, will not cut it. Chase Edmonds is still a fine player, but his eight yards on seven carries illustrate how overwhelmed the Giants defense was against Arizona's motion-heavy run concepts in Week 7. Christian Kirk (eight catches for 79 yards and one touchdown on 11 targets) returned from his ankle issue and immediately shoved aside Larry Fitzgerald (two catches for eight yards on four targets).
-Drew Brees lit up the Cardinals defense, especially in the second half, finishing 34-of-43 for 373 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Latavius Murray has been so good the last two weeks you almost have to wonder why the Saints worked Alvin Kamara so heavily. Murray torched Arizona for another 157 yards and two touchdowns from scrimmage, including nine receptions for 55 yards and a score on 12 targets.
-Gardner Minshew lost another fumble, but he was otherwise strong against the Jets' weak pass defense, completing 22-of-34 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns, adding 28 yards rushing. Dede Westbrook (shoulder) was shut down by Brian Poole, leaving more work for Chris Conley (four catches for 103 yards and one touchdown on seven targets) and D.J. Chark (six catches for 79 yards and one touchdown on 12 targets), who dusted the Jets' weak outside corners. I still think Minshew goes to the bench when healthy – Foles could do what Minshew did against the Jets, but I don't think Foles would have struggled against the Saints and Bengals the way Minshew did the prior two weeks.
-It's fair to wonder whether Cam Newton (foot) will get healthy enough to play well this year, but it's not reasonable to argue that Kyle Allen is anywhere near Newton's level when healthy. As much as Cam would have also struggled against the ruthless 49ers defense, Allen has missed plays that Cam wouldn't before this game too.
-Jimmy Garoppolo (18-of-22 for 175 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception) still isn't the guy the 49ers thought they traded for, but at least he's managing the offense reasonably well. Emmanuel Sanders was an immediate factor and should be considered the team's WR1 going forward after catching four of five targets for 25 yards and one touchdown. Correctly deploying them in fantasy will be an agonizing if not hopeless task, but each of Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert, and Tevin Coleman is profoundly explosive. Coleman's four-touchdown day was improbable only in the sense of its selfishness (Breida and Mostert combined for only one), but Coleman's explosiveness and pass-catching ability are beyond question.
-Baker Mayfield played fine against the Patriots despite the gross box score (20-of-31 for 194 yards, one touchdown, and one interception). The problem with Cleveland is quite simply its decision makers. Freddy Kitchens is comically inept – it's baffling that no one showed him up last year. He's toast, they need to fire him. He offers no discernible utility. GM John Dorsey is the other problem with this team, but you won't hear a proper accounting of that in mainstream sports media, because its operators know who butters their bread (it's not Sashi Brown). Nick Chubb had two bad-luck fumbles, but I don't expect that to stop a baseless 'Fumble Problem' narrative with Chubb, who was nothing less than amazing otherwise. It's also worth noting that all of Chubb's three NFL fumbles occurred in the last two weeks.
-The Raiders didn't let Deshaun Watson attack downfield (7.2 YPA), but he still played hero once again and secured a victory that Bill O'Brien absolutely did not deserve. The game probably wouldn't have been so close if he hadn't given Carlos Hyde 16 more carries than Duke Johnson, but BOB would rather lose than win in an aesthetically improper way. DeAndre Hopkins was a workhorse underneath (11 catches for 109 yards on 13 targets), while Kenny Stills (three catches for 22 yards on five targets) was less involved than tight end Darren Fells (six catches for 58 yards and two touchdowns on six targets). Fells is primarily known as a blocker, but he's quietly been a dangerous pass catcher for Houston lately. He might finish the year as a fantasy TE1.
