Seth Vigdor
Another week of NFL football is in the books. From a Cowboys choke to the continued dominance from the Patriots and Cardinals, the action was superb. It’s time to catch our breath and take one last look at NFL week 3 before we focus on the week ahead. Let’s get into it right now.
Five Key Storylines from Week 3
1. Last Season no longer matters
Forget everything about last year because we have now completed 3 weeks of Fantasy Football. Now, I’m not saying to go start making irrational decisions, but perhaps players like Jeremy Hill and Justin Forsett aren’t players that we thought that they were going to be. Sometimes in life when we hold onto people and moments, it prevents us from moving in the right direction. We’re starting to get a good sample size of how players are performing, so if you’re one of the people that like to hold onto fond memories of Fantasy Football year’s past and your team is 1-2 or 0-3, this may be the time to start moving forward before you dig yourself a hole that you cannot get out of.
2. Big Ben goes down
I’ve talked about the crazy amount of injuries to star players this season and Week 3 saw Ben Roethlisberger fall victim to the bug. Roethlisberger suffered a MCL sprain against the Rams and his timetable for return is 4-6 weeks. That’s a tough blow for the Steelers as they just saw Le’Veon Bell return this week and were about to be at full strength. The Steelers signed Michael Vick a few weeks back and that signing may be huge for them. While I don’t think that the Steelers could win a Super Bowl with Vick, he certainly could lead them to a few wins, while Roethlisberger is out. Time will tell how this plays out, but the Steelers certainly dodged a bullet here with the injury not being a torn ACL.
3. Atlanta Falcons – new coach, new mentality, new results
Nobody could’ve guessed this would happen. The Atlanta Falcons have started the season 3-0 and had a big comeback win against the Cowboys on Sunday. This team has been playing with a new found energy since new Head Coach, Dan Quinn came on the scene. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones are leading the charge on offense and while their defense isn’t playing perfect football, they’re playing with a passion that the team has lacked over the years. The competition will only get fiercer, but if you’re a Falcons fan, you have to love what this team is doing right now.
4. Signs of life
Take a deep breath, Colts and Eagles fans. Your teams survived week 3 by getting must needed wins. Each team showed both a little of both promise and more bad play. The Colts held off the Titans with a 35-33 victory, while the Eagles escaped out of the Meadowlands with a 24-17 win. It doesn’t always have to look pretty, but sometimes the sloppiest of wins can turn a season around for a team. We’ll find out if these teams can keep the momentum going, as the Colts host Jacksonville this weekend, while the Eagles travel to Washington.
5. The Final Four… winless teams
There are four teams that are still winless after Week 3. The Ravens, Saints, Bears and Lions are all in a world of trouble. Out of the four winless teams, only the Lions have looked somewhat okay this year. Unfortunately, all of these teams have major QB issues right now. It’s very tough to win games if you don’t have solid QB play. Only the Ravens don’t have an injured QB at this point, but they don’t have a running game, so that’s just as bad. These four teams are playing super sloppy football right now and if they don’t start to turn things around soon, they’ll all be competing for the first pick in next year’s NFL draft.
Waiver Wire Watch (*Keep an eye on, **Time to consider it, *** MUST Grab)
Each week, I will supply you with a list of players that you should consider adding from the waiver wire. Above, I list the three tiers of players they are. So let’s take a look at the guys that you should be paying attention to. To qualify as a Waiver Wire guy, I’ll only consider those players that are owned in less than 60% of Yahoo leagues at the time of this writing.
***Karlos Williams (BUF – RB) – 23% owned – LeSean McCoy who? Williams has a touchdown in each of his first 3 games this season. With McCoy’s lingering injury, grab him now!
***Tyrod Taylor (BUF – QB) – 38% owned – Taylor is straight ballin’ right now. If you’re stuck with an awful QB like Colin Kaepernick, you’d be wise to take a run at Taylor.
**Rishard Matthews (MIA – RB) – 31% owned – Two big weeks in a row for Mathews now. This week he had 6 receptions for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns. It may be time to make a move on him.
**Derek Carr (OAK – QB) – 24% owned – Carr is turning out to be a solid player on the 2-1 Raiders. Much like Taylor above, I’d take him over Kaepernick at this point.
*Rueben Randle (NYG – WR) – 28% owned – Victor Cruz has been dealing with an injured calf and while Cruz is set to return in week 4, Randle is a player to keep an eye on.
Here are Week 3’s Studs:
Quarterbacks
Tyrod Taylor (BUF) – 21/29 for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns – Taylor is killin’ it right now and though I question how long he can keep this up for, he shouldn’t be riding any benches right now.
Andy Dalton (CIN) – 20/32 for 383 yards and 3 touchdowns – I have to give credit where credit is due. Andy Dalton is playing great ball right now. Can he keep this play up for long? Only time will tell.
Aaron Rodgers (GB) – 24/35 for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns. It’s unreal how this guy performs at such a high level each year.
Running Backs
DeVonta Freeman (ATL) – 30 carries for 141 yards and 3 touchdowns – Freeman had a career day in the come from behind win against the Cowboys. Was this game the boost that this kid needs to take it to the next level? Maybe so…
LeGarrette Blount (NE) – 18 carries for 78 yards and 3 touchdowns – Blount helped the Patriots steamroll the Jaguars 51-17. This won’t be the norm, but you can’t deny the man the day he had.
Joseph Randle (DAL) – 14 carries, 87 yards and 3 touchdowns – There it is! That’s the Randle most people were expecting when they drafted him. It’s up to the Cowboys to keep feeding this young fella now.
Wide Receivers
Steve Smith Sr. (BAL) – 13 receptions, 186 yards and 2 touchdowns – Love this man’s intensity and he was rewarded with a monster game, albeit in a losing effort this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sx_lLz2Dug
Julio Jones (ATL) – 12 receptions, 164 yards and 2 touchdowns – Are you surprised? I’m not. He’s the illest WR in the game right now and he’s proving it.
A.J. Green (CIN) – 10 receptions, 227 yards and 2 touchdowns – Hey now!!! (In my Howard Stern voice)
**Bonus**
Randall Cobb (GB) – 7 receptions, 91 yards and 3 touchdowns – Once Jordy Nelson was lost for the season, I had a feeling the year would turn out to be special for Cobb. He should only get better as the season progresses.
Tight Ends
Greg Olsen (CAR) – 8 receptions for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns – Here’s the game that I’ve been waiting on from Greg Olsen. I see a few more of these games coming from Olsen this season.
Rob Gronkowski (NE) – 4 receptions for 101 yards – This was a bad game for him… lol!
Jimmy Graham (SEA) – 7 receptions, 83 yards and 1 touchdown – Look what happens when you throw the ball to Jimmy Graham. It’s a fascinating concept.
Defense
Seattle (vs CHI) – This was a combination of an awful Bears offense versus a mighty Seahawks D. The Bears got shut out and may as well hibernate until next season.
Kickers
Stephen Gostkowski (NE) – Made 3 FG’s and 6 XP’s for 17 Fantasy points. The Patriots put up 51 points, so it’s tough to imagine their Kicker not getting in on the action as well.
Here are Week 3’s Duds:
Quarterbacks
Colin Kaepernick (SF) – 9/19 for 67 yards, 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions – Can’t say I didn’t see this dreadful season coming, but even this game had me amazed.
Jimmy Claussen (CHI) – 9/17 for 63 yards and 0 touchdowns – The Bears may as well forfeit the rest of their games. This season is only going to get uglier.
Alex Smith (KC) – 24/39 for 290 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Those numbers don’t do Smith’s performance justice. The Chiefs got slaughtered and were forced to pass the whole second half.
But on the bright side:
https://vine.co/v/eQzpD7lvVhb
A Chief’s WR finally caught a touchdown.
Running Backs
Jeremy Hill (CIN) – 12 carries for 21 yards and 0 touchdowns. This is the second week in a row that he finds himself on this list. He’s making me look bad and it’s making me very angry!
Justin Forsett (BAL) – 10 carries for 13 yards and 0 touchdowns – Good grief he looks brutal this year.
C.J. Anderson (DEN) – 8 carries for 18 yards and 0 touchdowns – The fact that he’s commenting publicly about not being concerned with our Fantasy teams is disturbing enough. His performance was just as disgusting, so maybe it’s time that he gets his head out of the gutter and gets back to playing respectable football.
Wide Receivers
Nelson Agholor (PHI) – 0 catches – A doughnut, seriously?
Roddy White (ATL) – 0 catches – Roddy doing Roddy things with the big goose egg.
Andre Johnson (IND) – 0 catches – No one told me that the Colts signed the Invisible Man in the offseason.
Tight Ends
Tyler Eiffert (CIN) – 0 catches – I’m not sure what happened here, but I don’t expect this from him again.
Defense
Miami Dolphins (vs BUF) – Gave up 41 points to the Buffalo Bills. The arrival of Ndamukong Suh was supposed to improve this defense, not make it worse. Shame on the Dolphins!
Kickers
Matt Prater (DET) – 0 FG’s and 1 missed extra point. Enough said.
…
Here’s a brief look at the results of Week 3 in the PhillyInfluencer.com Fantasy Football league.
Another week, another loss for me. I’m now the lone winless team in the league. I killed myself in the draft with my QB selections, so I deserve this for not following my own advice. Congrats are in order to 215 Sean (@Sean_Brace) for representing the PhillyInfluencer.com team well by getting our lone W of the weekend. In a stunning turn of events, Minitron’s Juice Stand (@Anthony_DiBona) took a hard loss to FeelMyBalls, SqueezeMyBalls… smh, while our Editor, Cunning Stunts (@nickpiccone), is apparently inspired by my amazing start and has now dropped two in a row with his loss to one of the two remaining unbeaten teams, Chip Kelly Rejects. Clearly, he intends to be the NY Knicks to my 76ers of the league [Ed. note: You watch. You’ll see]. The other unbeaten team in the league is Team Marino.
You can stay up to date with everything Fantasy Football related by following me on Twitter (@ViggieSmalls765) and Instagram. I’ll be available on Twitter for upcoming Twitter Chats and to give out advice to help guide you through your fantasy season.