Quite an upset, and quite a collapse the past eight days. Last Sunday the Rams were 7-1 and leading the undermanned Titans early in the second quarter, before things fell apart, giving up 13 points in about 30 seconds and never recovering. Then signing Odell Beckham, Jr., and on the same day losing the (arguably) better Robert Woods to a season-ending injury. Then getting crushed by a divisional rival that had only one win in its previous six contests.
The one constant was Matthew Stafford, who entered Week 9 enjoying easily the best campaign of his career. 2011 was great (5,000+ yards, 41 TDs). This year he had a legitimate shot at 5,500 and 50. But in these past two games he has as many interceptions (four) as he had the previous eight games. Granted, his pick-six last night went through Tyler Higbee's hands. Still, he did not look sharp against an often overmatched defense that, let's not forget, gave up 33 points to Jared Goff and the Lions in Week 1.
The question now is whether adding OBJ and losing Woods is a net gain or a net loss. If the former, the Rams will be fine. On a good day, they're one of the league's most complete teams on both sides of the ball. If the latter, the Rams are in trouble. I've been blunt in my assessments of OBJ on Pro Football Network's website and podcast. He's a gifted football player who has underperformed for three seasons. How much Baker Mayfield and the Browns were responsible for that is anyone's guess at the moment. But the OBJ of old is nowhere to be found. And in fantasy, I believe he'll be lucky to post consistent WR3 numbers.
Part of the reason is Van Jefferson, who remains one of the league's best #3 receivers. Whereas Woods was clearly ahead of him on the depth chart, I'm not so sure OBJ will earn the same positioning. Hard to tell from one game, especially with OBJ earning only a few snaps. Basically, I would have been surprised if Jefferson had overtaken a healthy Woods; I wouldn't be surprised if he overtook OBJ, who hasn't played consistently "great" football since 2018.
For San Francisco, Deebo Samuel finished the week as the surprising #1 fantasy WR, while Brandon Aiyuk faded to the background. I still really like Aiyuk in fantasy. Jimmy Garoppolo attempted a seaosn-low 19 passes. It's hard to feed more than one or two receivers with that volume level. And George Kittle did most of the rest of the damage. The good news is that while Aiyuk appears to be the third wheel, this is essentially a three-receiver offense. So he should be streamable most weeks going forward.
As for Eli Mitchell, his zero catches had to hurt fantasy managers. More than that, Jeff Wilson had 10 touches, and Deebo outperformed both of them on the ground with a shocking 5-36-1 rushing line. Mitchell was one of my sits of he week in my weekly start 'em / sit 'em PFN column. He is both talented and risky heading into Week 11. I'm very curious to see if Wilson cuts more into his usage. As we know, San Francisco backfields can change rapidly.
And only four of us picked the Niners to win, so we all deserve a little blog love. I predicted 23-17, Derek Anzalone went with 24-21, Yemi Onibokun gave us 24-20, and Duane Williams predicted 34-21. Congrats to Derek, Yemi, and Duane for going against the grain and achieving social media immortality.
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The one constant was Matthew Stafford, who entered Week 9 enjoying easily the best campaign of his career. 2011 was great (5,000+ yards, 41 TDs). This year he had a legitimate shot at 5,500 and 50. But in these past two games he has as many interceptions (four) as he had the previous eight games. Granted, his pick-six last night went through Tyler Higbee's hands. Still, he did not look sharp against an often overmatched defense that, let's not forget, gave up 33 points to Jared Goff and the Lions in Week 1.
The question now is whether adding OBJ and losing Woods is a net gain or a net loss. If the former, the Rams will be fine. On a good day, they're one of the league's most complete teams on both sides of the ball. If the latter, the Rams are in trouble. I've been blunt in my assessments of OBJ on Pro Football Network's website and podcast. He's a gifted football player who has underperformed for three seasons. How much Baker Mayfield and the Browns were responsible for that is anyone's guess at the moment. But the OBJ of old is nowhere to be found. And in fantasy, I believe he'll be lucky to post consistent WR3 numbers.
Part of the reason is Van Jefferson, who remains one of the league's best #3 receivers. Whereas Woods was clearly ahead of him on the depth chart, I'm not so sure OBJ will earn the same positioning. Hard to tell from one game, especially with OBJ earning only a few snaps. Basically, I would have been surprised if Jefferson had overtaken a healthy Woods; I wouldn't be surprised if he overtook OBJ, who hasn't played consistently "great" football since 2018.
For San Francisco, Deebo Samuel finished the week as the surprising #1 fantasy WR, while Brandon Aiyuk faded to the background. I still really like Aiyuk in fantasy. Jimmy Garoppolo attempted a seaosn-low 19 passes. It's hard to feed more than one or two receivers with that volume level. And George Kittle did most of the rest of the damage. The good news is that while Aiyuk appears to be the third wheel, this is essentially a three-receiver offense. So he should be streamable most weeks going forward.
As for Eli Mitchell, his zero catches had to hurt fantasy managers. More than that, Jeff Wilson had 10 touches, and Deebo outperformed both of them on the ground with a shocking 5-36-1 rushing line. Mitchell was one of my sits of he week in my weekly start 'em / sit 'em PFN column. He is both talented and risky heading into Week 11. I'm very curious to see if Wilson cuts more into his usage. As we know, San Francisco backfields can change rapidly.
And only four of us picked the Niners to win, so we all deserve a little blog love. I predicted 23-17, Derek Anzalone went with 24-21, Yemi Onibokun gave us 24-20, and Duane Williams predicted 34-21. Congrats to Derek, Yemi, and Duane for going against the grain and achieving social media immortality.
---
- PFN fantasy site -- www.profootballnetwork.com/fantasy-football/
- PFN fantasy podcast -- podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-mood-for-fantasy-football/id1580114372
- Free fantasy advice newsletter -- www.getrevue.co/profile/pfnfantasy