Shawn Siegele marvels at Cordarrelle Patterson finding yet another way to win, breaks down the stunning James Conner situation in Arizona, and praises the entire Browns franchise for their statement win. Want a WR value? Shawn previews the bounceback performances coming from WR stars.
November 7, 2021 qualifies as the most shocking day of reality football in quite some time. The Bills, Cowboys, Chiefs, and Rams scored only a single touchdown before the fourth quarter. If not for a TD pass to Sony Michel with 30 seconds remaining, Buffalo and Los Angeles would have been held out of the end zone entirely.
The NFL’s biggest juggernauts went down in flames as defenses continue to counteract the vertical passing game – and increase in fourth-down attempts – by forcing quarterbacks to execute almost interminable drives. Sometimes this still works, of course. Lamar Jackson executed an 18-play drive, capped off by a physics-defying, one-handed end zone grab by Devin Duvernay. The drive also required a fourth-and-1 conversion and an 18-yard strike to Marquise Brown on third-and-15. All of that for a single TD drive.
If contemporary NFL teams like the Chiefs and Bills won’t incorporate value-destroying running plays, then defenses will look to turn their passes into the equivalent. Last week Patrick Mahomes peppered his main targets with short passes. Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, and Travis Kelce combined for 184 receiving yards – 141 came after the catch. This week it was Josh Allen and the Cole Beasley Show. Beasley turned his 11 targets into 33 receiving yards. At a target depth of 5.8, he still added only 10 yards after the catch. You might as well hand off to Devin Singletary.
As we wait for the next move in the league’s ongoing evolution, let’s jump into the biggest fantasy developments from Week 9.
