Monday Night Observations
That was low-key a very satisfying game. Not only did it clinch my weekly home picking pool — only $60, but the first money I’ve won this year — but Davante Adams somehow caught only four passes for 45 yards against his old team.
It’s so interesting when a defense takes away a team’s best weapon, and you wonder why every team doesn’t just do that. Reminds me of the NFC title game between the Seahawks and Panthers in 2006 when Seattle held triple-crown-winning WR Steve Smith to an 11-5-33-0 line, one week after Smith had torched the Bears for 218 yards and two TDs. It’s as though an ingenious defense got together and decided maybe they should dedicate some resources to covering that guy!
Instead the Raiders looked to TD-machine Jakobi Meyers 10 times, hopefully on people’s benches, though with the byes you never know.
The shine has come off Jordan Love’s star. He’s more in the Kenny Pickett probably-just-a-guy bucket rather than in the CJ Stroud (maybe a future star) one.
AJ Dillon ran hard and showed his usefulness, but Derrick Henry he is not.
Christian Watson looked all the way back from the hamstring injury and saw targets down the field. He should get his. Romeo Doubs also did nothing, hopefully in other people’s lineups. In life you shouldn’t be a hater and root for other people’s failures, but fantasy football is a zero-sum game, so you absolutely should be doing that, especially if due to your own mismanagement it’s all you have.
Jimmy G is just a guy, as his initials indicate. (Any QB with initials JG is just a guy.)
Josh Jacobs had nowhere to run for much of the game, but broke free late. He still looks more or less like the guy who led the NFL in rushing a year ago, no worse for the wear.
Josh McDaniels settling for a 52-yard field goal on 4th-and-2 up four when a first down wins the game was malpractice. Even if the field goal make was slightly more likely than the first down (it’s close), the reward for making the first down is game over, while making the field goal gives the Packers get the ball back down seven with two minutes left. Less importantly, but still true, the miss costs you seven yards vs the stuff. Luckily for him, he got bailed out on a forced throw by Love and a great play by his DB.