THURSDAY NIGHT OBSERVATIONS

That was annoying. First off NFL GamePass has switched to DAZN, and I’m having tons of problems with it, unable to stream multiple games, unable to watch the “Game in 40” using Apple TV, so I have to watch on my desktop, and today there was no edited version at all, so I watched only five minutes of highlights. I suppose it’s an even more efficient use of my time, but I’m missing a lot of what happened.

Secondly, I had a coin-flip call between Kirk Cousins and Anthony Richardson in the NFFC, and I went Richardson. Third, I have AJ Brown in that league too. And that was the only NFFC team that won last week. I also had Alexander Mattison going in another league. At least the Vikings covered in my picking pool, but let me double check that the picks actually saved.

I sat Cousins because it was a road game against a good defense, and I thought there was blowout/dud potential. He went 31-44-364-4 with no picks.

Mattison (8-28-0, 6-3-11-0, fumble) was obviously a bad matchup, but I played him because the Vikings have no one else. He’s the Mike Davis of this year, and I knew it, but like a donkey I drafted him anyway in the seventh round in one league.

I’m glad Justin Jefferson (13-11-159-0) hasn’t scored yet because he’s not on any of my teams. What a paragon of consistency.

TJ Hockenson (8-7-66-2) was the third tight end off the board for most of draft season (Darren Waller crept ahead of him late in some cases) and was the second most targeted player in the game. As I said, I didn’t watch, except for the two TD catches, so I have no idea what the other targets looked like.

Jalen Hurts had a modest day and threw a pick, but those easy QB-sneak TDs where the line gets behind him and pushes are going to add up and hurt the team’s running backs.

D’Andre Swift (28-175-1, 3-3-6-0) was a zero in Week 1, and his owners are lucky that (a) Kenneth Gainwell was hurt, so they had clarity; and (b) that the matchup was so good you would want to use Swift. I hope people in my leagues still kept him on their benches, but I haven’t checked yet. Rashaad Penny (3-9-0, 1-1-5-0) did almost nothing, but it would have been a major leap of faith (or desperation) to use him. The Eagles backs could be a headache all year, especially with Hurts stealing some many easy TDs, but Swift has major upside, especially if he gets more active as a receiver.

The only silver lining for me was my Primetime Devonta Smith (5-4-131-1) who didn’t see a lot of work, but made it count with a long TD. Brown (6-4-29-0) did little, but he just needs to stay healthy and will get his.

Jake Elliott nailed a line-drive 61-yard FG at the end of the first half. A lot of people want to get rid of kickers from fantasy football, but I love when they kick you a touchdown. Not that I have him anywhere.