This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
-The infallible New England defense is no more, shown up by a second-year 22-year-old quarterback that some major plurality of NFL decision makers quite literally refused to consider playing. They looked at him and said, "No thank you! Give me Mason Rudolph instead. Give me Luke Falk instead! You just give me a call when he comes to his senses and agrees to run some routes for us." I can almost guarantee you that the people comprising that plurality would insist even now that they weren't wrong.
-It was mostly the Good Jameis Winston in Seattle on Sunday, completing 29-of-44 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns, though he still lost a fumble. Chris Godwin was fairly busy (seven catches for 61 yards on nine targets), but Mike Evans had his second straight monster game with 12 catches for 180 yards and a touchdown on 16 targets. The Buccaneers also might have finally made the switch at running back, as Ronald Jones ran for 67 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries while Peyton Barber saw only four carries for 15 yards.
-Russell Wilson has always been great, but the arrival of DK Metcalf may have helped push Wilson and the Seahawks passing game to a new level. The combination of profound speed and catch radius limits the defense's options off the bat, and rather than function as a decoy Metcalf has instead repeatedly proven a credible threat if the defense forgets to call for deep safety help. After
-The infallible New England defense is no more, shown up by a second-year 22-year-old quarterback that some major plurality of NFL decision makers quite literally refused to consider playing. They looked at him and said, "No thank you! Give me Mason Rudolph instead. Give me Luke Falk instead! You just give me a call when he comes to his senses and agrees to run some routes for us." I can almost guarantee you that the people comprising that plurality would insist even now that they weren't wrong.
-It was mostly the Good Jameis Winston in Seattle on Sunday, completing 29-of-44 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns, though he still lost a fumble. Chris Godwin was fairly busy (seven catches for 61 yards on nine targets), but Mike Evans had his second straight monster game with 12 catches for 180 yards and a touchdown on 16 targets. The Buccaneers also might have finally made the switch at running back, as Ronald Jones ran for 67 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries while Peyton Barber saw only four carries for 15 yards.
-Russell Wilson has always been great, but the arrival of DK Metcalf may have helped push Wilson and the Seahawks passing game to a new level. The combination of profound speed and catch radius limits the defense's options off the bat, and rather than function as a decoy Metcalf has instead repeatedly proven a credible threat if the defense forgets to call for deep safety help. After completing 29-of-43 passes for 378 yards and five touchdowns, Wilson is now on pace for 4,453 yards and 39 touchdowns to two interceptions with career highs in both completion percentage (68.3) and yards per attempt (8.5). Tyler Lockett dominated against Tampa with 13 catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns on 18 targets, while Metcalf torched for six catches, 123 yards and a touchdown on nine targets. Journeyman pseudo-prospect Jacob Hollister posted an intriguing box score at tight end, scoring twice and catching four of six targets for 37 yards. Chris Carson fumbled twice but Rashaad Penny still only saw four carries for 12 yards.
-I'm not sure that there's anything to add about the Browns other than that they won't improve until Freddie Kitchens is fired. He can't manage the team, functioning more like a saboteur than an organizer, and by now we can say that even pushover opponents assure the Browns nothing.
-Brandon Allen's debut numbers look good, but I'd imagine he crashes back down to earth against a real team. Even in completing 12-of-20 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns, Allen did very little of the work. Noah Fant propelled the passing game with three catches for 115 yards and a touchdown on four targets, the vast majority of damage done after the catch, and Courtland Sutton caught Allen's other touchdown mostly just because of his incredible catch radius. Those two could both remain good and still regress from the dominance they displayed here.
-Dwayne Haskins' debut could have gone worse, but even in Buffalo you'd like to see better than 15-of-22 for 144 yards. I have no idea how Adrian Peterson ran for 108 yards on 18 carries in conditions like that. Paul Richardson (four catches for 42 yards on five targets) and Terry McLaurin (four catches for 39 yards on six targets) both flickered some promise despite the modest box scores, but it looks like the Trey Quinn thing just isn't happening. He finished with a nine-yard catch on three targets, and I'd worry about Steven Sims/Kelvin Harmon peeling some of his snaps away to potentially make things even worse. I really thought he'd be better than this.
-Josh Allen might have had a bigger day than 160/1 passing and 12/1 rushing, but Devin Singletary's monster breakout game took most of the spoils in the Bills offense. Singletary took 20 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown, adding three catches for 45 yards on four targets. Singletary has been so good that if his playing time increases it might pose a subtle threat to Cole Beasley's workload in addition to the obvious threat to that of Frank Gore, who still saw 11 carries in this.
-Dalvin Cook was a disappointment against the Chiefs, even as he posted numbers (71 yards on 21 carries, 45 yards on four catches) that would be more than acceptable for lesser players. The Chiefs defensive line roughed up the interior Minnesota line at multiple points, with all of Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, and Khalen Saunders making memorable disruptions. Kirk Cousins wasn't necessarily bad against the Chiefs, but he was far from good in completing 19-of-38 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns. I was too low on Irv Smith before the draft. He had a subpar combine at a prohibitively light weight, but his upside is immediately obvious on tape. That Kyle Rudolph contract is a pain for Smith's interests, but I'm now of the opinion that he's the kind of talent who will dictate accommodation where other players wouldn't.
-Although Matt Moore wasn't great (25-of-35 for 275 yards and one touchdown), he played well enough to win and did a good job of getting his best targets involved, with all of Tyreek Hill (six catches for 140 yards and one touchdown on eight targets), Sammy Watkins (seven catches for 63 yards on 10 targets), and Travis Kelce (seven catches for 62 yards on nine targets) getting major workloads. Andy Reid's decision to marginalize Damien Williams the past six weeks will age poorly, but at least he seems to be reaching the same conclusion. Damien saw 12 carries to LeSean McCoy's three and Darrel Williams' one, and with that modest workload he made arguably the most important play of the game for the Chiefs, scoring on an impressive 91-yard touchdown run. Damien's numbers look poor on the year, and I might be biased, but I think the quality of his touches obviously lagged behind those of McCoy and especially Darrel. McCoy and Darrel are both capable, but Damien's combination of size, speed, and pass-catching ability is the most potent combination of traits between the three.
-Sam Darnold started well against the Dolphins but struggled with consistency and boneheaded plays afterward. It's a big missed opportunity and one with no real excuse, even if you remain a long-term optimist with Darnold (I certainly still am). Darnold failed to capitalize on a great matchup for Robby Anderson, throwing his way just four times (two catches for 33 yards). Jamison Crowder had a great day at least, catching eight of nine targets for 83 yards and a score.
-In contrast to Darnold, Ryan Fitzpatrick fully capitalized on his favorable matchup, throwing for 288 yards and three touchdowns. Fitzpatrick jumpstarted not only wideouts Preston Williams (five catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns on nine targets) and DeVante Parker (four catches for 57 yards and one touchdown on six targets), but even presumed bust tight end Mike Gesicki (six catches for 95 yards on six targets). If Gesicki could get going, Fitzpatrick just might keep rolling. There's still a lot that can go wrong here in tougher matchups, though.
-In a game where the Bears produced just 187 yards on offense, David Montgomery was lucky to score twice on 14 carries, producing 76 of those yards from scrimmage. Mitch Trubisky is bad and broken in a way that words can't really express, but as far as an illustrative perspective goes, consider that Allen Robinson finished with just a six-yard catch on five targets against Philadelphia's trash secondary.
-Jacoby Brissett left Sunday's game against Pittsburgh early with what's suspected to be an MCL sprain of undetermined severity, forcing the Colts to turn to QB3 Brian Hoyer. Hoyer turned it over twice and struggled to throw efficiently (6.5 YPA), but he threw three touchdowns too. Playing off the bench and against a tough pass rush on the road, it could have gone worse. Zach Pascal (five catches for 76 yards and one touchdown on six targets) and Parris Campbell (five catches for 53 yards on five targets) are the best Colts wideouts after T.Y. Hilton. Deon Cain is badly trending downward, dropping a third-down pass and finishing with no catches on two targets.
-The Eagles almost managed to blow it despite Chicago's insanely bad offense, letting the Bears make it close in the second half. Carson Wentz struggled, completing 26-of-39 passes for 239 yards and one touchdown while taking four sacks, but it's encouraging that he finally got Zach Ertz going, with the tight end catching nine passes for 103 yards and one touchdown on 11 targets. Miles Sanders contributed 73 yards from scrimmage, but Jordan Howard did the heaviest lifting with 82 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
-Mason Rudolph is just awful, tanking JuJu Smith-Schuster (three catches for 16 yards on five targets) and leaning too heavily on Jaylen Samuels in the passing game (13 catches for 73 yards on 13 targets). Samuels struggled as a runner, finishing with 10 yards on eight carries while Trey Edmunds led the team with 12 carries for 73 yards. Edmunds is a toolsy player, but his box score was propelled by a 45-yard run -- the 28 yards on his other 11 carries might be a fairer reflection of his skill level.
-Kyle Allen bounced back from last week with an acceptable box score against the Titans, throwing for 232 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. You'd like to see him complete more than 17-of-32 passes, but he put both of his wideouts in playmaking position, completing seven of 10 targets to D.J. Moore for 101 yards and three of six targets for 64 yards and a touchdown to Curtis Samuel, who evidently was not too badly limited by the shoulder issue that kept him out of practice all week. If those two are doing well, everything else should work itself out.
-Matthew Stafford continues to be one of the top fantasy values of 2019 to this point, throwing for 406 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception against Oakland. Both Marvin Jones (eight catches for 126 yards and one touchdown on 10 targets) and Kenny Golladay (four catches for 132 yards and one touchdown on seven targets) got hot. Early into the second half of the season, Golladay is poised to safely hit for his draft investors, while Jones is looking like one of the biggest steals at wideout. The backfield is in a flux in Kerryon Johnson's absence, with Ty Johnson getting the start but finishing with just 29 yards on nine carries. Paul Perkins saw three carries, and J.D. McKissic led the team with 32 rushing yards on four carries. McKissic might have further closed the gap on Johnson by catching three of four targets for 40 yards and a score.
-Tyrell Williams finally failed to score a touchdown and Darren Waller (two catches for 52 yards on two targets) had a quiet day, but the Raiders offense as a whole was humming against Detroit, with Derek Carr throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns while Josh Jacobs ground out big production with big usage, taking 28 carries for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Hunter Renfrow had his most impressive game yet, winning against formidable slot corner Justin Coleman to catch six passes for 54 yards and a score on seven targets.
-Hopefully it's not the start of a new trend, but the Packers offense went off the rails against the previously beatable Chargers defense, with Aaron Rodgers posting a brutal 23-of-35 line with 161 yards and one touchdown in the 26-11 loss. Davante Adams returned from his turf toe issue but struggled, catching seven of 11 targets for only 41 yards. The Packers ground game never stuck, with Aaron Jones running for just 30 yards on eight carries while Jamaal Williams ran for 10 yards on two carries. Williams had a great game as a pass catcher, securing all six targets for 39 yards and Green Bay's only touchdown, while Jones caught just one pass for a one-yard loss on four targets. The rotation isn't going anywhere, but I think it's generally true to say Jones will always get a chance to produce before Williams does.
-Melvin Gordon finally had a strong game, taking 20 carries for 80 yards and two touchdowns while catching three of four targets for 29 yards. The touchdowns made his big day, of course, and the Packers' weak showing afforded a highly favorable game script, so Gordon still hasn't shown real explosiveness. Austin Ekeler did with ease on Sunday, missing out on the end zone but taking 12 carries for 70 yards and catching all four targets for 23 yards.
