Week 7 Thoughts & Observations

[Tom Kessenich]

Here are some random thoughts and observations about Week 7 as I wonder if it’s time we just accept the fact Cooper Kupp is the greatest wide receiver in NFL history, Calvin Ridley is the worst wide receiver on his team and Julio Jones and Allen Robinson are Waiver Wire fodder.

So basically, after watching the Browns-Broncos game the only conclusions we can draw are that it was all Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and Baker Mayfield’s fault.

Oh, and D’Ernest Johnson = Jim Brown.

Oh, and Vic Fangio really needs to go, and the Broncos really need to give Drew Lock a shot at quarterback.

Not quite sure how the Packers’ defense is doing it without their two best players, but they’ve been much better than expected since being humiliated in Week 1. Of course, the test will get MUCH more difficult in the land of the sun on Thursday night.

Just when everyone in the world had given up on Bob Tonyan …

Just give Terry McLaurin a good quarterback. We ask for so little.

The Chiefs didn’t just lose a Super Bowl to Tampa Bay, they lost their entire identity. And quite probably their soul. I feel like they went to Vormir, met Red Skull and Mahomes jumped off that cliff and someone else came back.

Yeah, they’ll probably beat up on the Giants next Monday night but that’s only going to be a mild tonic for what ails them. That’s a team in a world of hurt right now.

If you’re the Titans and you’re putting an ass whoopin on teams and Derrick Henry is barely breakin a sweat, how good are you feeling today?

The answer is really good.

Make that REALLY good.

Derrick Henry threw more touchdown passes on Sunday than Patrick Mahomes, Sam Darnold, Justin Fields and Davis Mills combined. Just like everyone predicted.

OK it was probably a reasonable assumption he could’ve thrown more TD passes than Fields and Mills on Sunday. Don’t wanna shade Henry like that. Sorry man.

The Falcons came out of their Week 6 bye with a game plan that featured the following receivers all finishing with longer receptions than Calvin Ridley:

Russell Gage
Kyle Pitts
Hayden Hurst
Olamide Zaccheaus
Tajae Sharpe

Pitts is certainly understandable. But Hayden Hurst? And every other active WR on the roster? Seriously? Folks, we have a gigantic Calvin Ridley problem in fantasy football right now.

This should’ve been a course correction game for Ridley. Miami’s secondary is horrible. The Falcons had two weeks to game plan for them and get Ridley going. Instead, they focused on everyone else in their passing game while featuring Pitts as the focal point. Ridley did score which is good and he got 10 targets which is also good but there is a major disconnect with him, Matt Ryan and Arthur Smith’s offense and we’re seven weeks into the season with no signs of improvement. Ryan has no such problems with anyone else in this offense. The fact it continues with Ridley is a huge red flag.

The good news is Ridley has had double-digit points in every game, so he has a very solid floor. The bad news is he hasn’t come anywhere near realizing his second-round ADP and there’s no indication he will anytime soon. So basically, you’re stuck starting him while realizing he’s not going to get you the type of production you invested in him on Draft Day. I’d basically view him as a low-end WR2 right now, albeit with weekly upside because he hasn’t lost any of his considerable talent.

Meanwhile, you remember all the excitement people had when they drafted Darren Woller in the second round this year? That’s Kyle Pitts now. Pitts is everything we thought Ridley was going to be as the focal point of the Atlanta offense.

Speaking of TEs, don’t sleep on Mike Gesicki either. Dude is quietly making noise as a Top 5 option.

All Hunter Henry does is catch touchdowns.

Rhamondre Stevenson Week 6.

Brandon Bolden Week 7.

Kevin Faulk Week 8.

Belichick.

Michael Carter caught eight passes on Sunday.

I’m tryin Jets’ fans. I’m tryin.

September seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it Panthers fans?

The Giants lined up Darius Slayton and I think it was me at one point at WR on Sunday and it still blasted the hell out of Carolina. Just in case Panthers fans weren’t already feeling like things weren’t about as bad as they could already be.

If you’re the Chargers sitting at home watching the Baltimore defense, aren’t you wondering what in the absolute hell happened to you last week? Because that’s what I was thinking.

So, Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase are gonna break like every QB-WR passing record on the planet by the time they’re done, aren’t they?

On behalf of the industry, I’d like to apologize to Hollywood Brown for all of us getting a little too overzealous about Rashod Bateman this week. I’d say 14 targets to 6 made it pretty damn clear who the No. 1 WR still is on the Ravens.

Of course, on the day Miles Sanders FINALLY begins to see the kind of usage he should’ve been receiving all season long he gets hurt.

OF F’NG COURSE.

Not that we needed Sunday’s pathetic display against the Raiders to tell us this was the case, but it’s obvious Nick Sirianni is in way over his head as an NFL head coach. He’s a terrible play caller and he’s incapable of making necessary in-game adjustments.

It was clear his game plan on Sunday was to (finally) heavily feature Sanders which was smart. But when Sanders got hurt, it became abundantly clear Sirianni had no idea what to do next and his team floundered. It doesn’t help that Jalen Hurts is a one read QB who is still learning the position and how to play it at the NFL level. Hurts needs a more experienced play caller who can guide him through difficult times and scale back the pressure on him so that he doesn’t feel the need to carry an entire offense as has been the case this entire season.

The Eagles absolutely need to fire Doug Pederson after last season, and they definitely need to fire Nick Sirianni.

In case you were wondering how less dependent Derek Carr has become on Darren Woller, Carr dropped 323 and 2 TDs on the Eagles on Sunday with Woller out of the lineup and barely broke a sweat. It’s safe to say Woller is one of this season’s biggest fantasy disappointments.

If you were watching Kenyan Drake look good again on Sunday, just remember Jon Gruden thought it was a really good idea in September not to use Drake all that much and play Peyton Barber instead.

Cooper Kupp went all King Kong again on Sunday while Bob Trees quietly put up 15 points. That has become our 2021 norm and it outside of a game or two here and there I don’t think it’s gonna change.

Kupp is the first WR in the Super Bowl era with 800 yards and 9 TDs in his first seven games. He is on a 17-game pace to catch 136 passes for 1,965 yards and 22 touchdowns. At this point is there anyone who thinks he won’t get those numbers barring injury?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Bueller?

The 136 receptions would be the third-most in NFL history. The 1,965 receiving yards would be an NFL record. The 22 TDs would be second most in league history. Think he can’t do it? Here’s a look at the Rams’ upcoming schedule:

Week 8: at Houston
Week 9: Tennessee
Week 10: at SF
Week 12: at Green Bay
Week 13: Jacksonville
Week 14: at Arizona
Week 15: Seattle
Week 16: at Minnesota
Week 17: Baltimore
Week 18: SF

There’s not a single imposing matchup on the schedule. Sure, the Ravens shut down the Chargers, but they just got their asses whipped by Joe Burrow and the Bengals on Sunday. Right now, the only ones stopping the Rams’ offense looks to be the Rams’ offense.

We’re seven weeks into the season and defenses are still leaving Kupp wide-ass open on nearly every route he runs. It’s very possible he’s going to have the greatest WR season in fantasy football history.

Not too shabby for the 16th WR taken this year in the Primetime.

If you’re playing in a Houston Texans-only league this week you got a safety on Sunday. C’mon man, take some pride in that.

If you think the Cardinals weren’t gonna show off their new Zach Ertz toy on Sunday, you really weren’t payin attention.

Tom Brady another 4-TD game ho-hum.

Len Fournette another TD ho-hum.

At this point I’m just gonna toss out this season for Justin Fields. I have no clue if he’s an NFL QB or not. That entire team is a mess. It’s so poorly coached and the play calling is a joke. Put Fields in a competent situation and then I’ll let you know if he can play or not. Until then it’s pointless to even evaluate him.

I will continue to say this though – NFL GMs NEED to stop de-valuing the RB position. It is ridiculous someone like Khalil Herbert falls to the sixth round of the draft while other players of far lesser talent get selected much earlier. The only reason that happens is because of the groupthink going on when it comes to the RB position. This needs to stop. Start drafting talent where it deserves to be drafted.

Herbert rushed for more than 100 yards on Sunday against the NFL’s most dominant run defense while stuck in the NFL’s most pathetic offense. You know how impressive that is? That’s three straight games now where Herbert has clearly shown he should’ve gone a helluva lot higher in the draft then he did. Every NFL GM who let him fall to the sixth round should be embarrassed by that. Pure incompetence.

You’re not gonna ever stop Carson Wentz from doing Carson Wentz things (case in point his first-half fumble Sunday night), but he is back to playing like the Carson Wentz who made an MVP run in 2017. Way too many people in the industry have been sleeping on him and I saw that reflected in many rankings this week. He’s playing with confidence and Jon Taylor allows him to feast off play action. High upside QB2. Congrats if you hung onto him after the camp injuries or scooped him up off the Waiver Wire.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, as someone heavily invested in Deebo Samuel this season I’m very worried about what will happen to the 49ers’ passing game if Trey Lance takes over at QB, but I don’t know if Kyle Shanahan (who had an absolutely miserable night at the office Sunday night) has any other choice at this point but to give Lance a shot. Much like Ted Bridgewater in Denver, the Niners simply aren’t going anywhere with Jim Garoppolo. It’s time to get an extended look at Lance for the remainder of the season.

And finally, I had two teams on Sunday where I had to start pure crap lineups due to bye week hell that won convincingly (including one where I was forced to start Woller) and another with A plus matchups up and down the lineup where several star players soiled the bed badly. I’m gonna live to be 300 and I’ll never be able to figure this game out.

But yet, I keep coming back for more. So, let’s go Al Kamara tonight.