Miami's four best fantasy performers last night were two primarily backup receivers, their DST, and the quarterback who didn't enter until the third quarter.
Oh, and in their last three meetings, the Ravens had outscored the Dolphins 137 to 16.
So quite an evening in Miami. What can we take away from it? For starters, an injured Tua Tagovailoa is apparently better than an injured Jacoby Brissett. It remains unclear why the Fins didn't start their "franchise" QB, especially since Brissett appeared fine after apparently getting hurt. He was ready to return to the field when head coach Brian Flores waved in Tua instead. I guess Tua's finger just needed an extra two hours to heal.
Of course, Tua didn't look right while throwing. Had Miami lost, there could have been a sizable uproar over Flores' seemingly schizophrenic decision making, especially for a non-playoff team that has nothing to gain by risking further damage to their starting QB. But a win is a win, and now Tua has 10 days to get more healthy and return to his customary QB2/3 production.
If you take away Myles Gaskin's receptions, he has no business being the starting RB. Maybe that's not fair. So on a more positive note, if Gaskin were utilized as a change-of-pace back in the mold of Nyheim Hines, it could be a win-win for the Fins and for fantasy managers. But they're not willing to commit to Salvon Ahmed, and there's no one else to turn to. In dynasty, Gaskin is a bigger sell than just about any other starting RB. Assuredly the Dolphins will upgrade in the offseason.
Jaylen Waddle's floor remains impressive. Mike Gesicki's floor is lower than I realized. Catchless on seven targets? Hard to imagine. That said, my opponent this week started Gesicki, and I started Mark Andrews. So no complains. I just feel bad for those who started the generously targeted Gesicki in a plus matchup and came away with nothing. Truly a fantasy oddity.
For Baltimore, I've pushed Rashod Bateman for weeks as the better bet over Marquise Brown later this season. However, I cautioned several folks to hold off this week until we saw what impact Sammy Watkins might have. Not much of an impact, as we saw last night. Watkins actually finished with negative 0.3 points, which is quiet a feat. Bateman is the real deal.
Lamar Jackson struggled, to put it mildly. He's had only one TD in six of nine games. Imagine how elite he would be if J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards were helping to move the chains. No knock on Devonta Freeman, who's revived his career in a perfect landing spot. But as I've said with all Raven RBs, they're almost entirely TD dependent. That's fine if you start Freeman as an RB3. Not so good if you're banking on him keeping pace with an opponent's bellcow.
As for final-score predictions, it was easy to find the winner amidst the sea of comments, because almost all of you (and me) picked Baltimore to win. So a huge congratulations to Brett Skye Thomaswick for picking the Dolphins to win, 27-25. A gutsy prediction, and I know you'll enjoy your prize of reading the words I'm typing right now on my laptop at 12:30am.
Finally, as I've mentioned before, you might start seeing some commenting from other PFN fantasy analysts now and then: Tommy Garrett, Jason "Katz" Katz, and Jon Helmcamp. They're a fantastic team to work with, and I'm thrilled they can be part of this community.
And speaking of great teams, my longtime commenters will always be embedded in the fabric of this page: Aaron Weaver, Tommy Barnett, Robbie Lange, Joel Verzosa, and Matt Weavil. Collectively they've addressed thousands of fantasy questions over the years. I praised them six weeks ago when I started at PFN, and they deserve continued praise in perpetuity.
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- 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
Oh, and in their last three meetings, the Ravens had outscored the Dolphins 137 to 16.
So quite an evening in Miami. What can we take away from it? For starters, an injured Tua Tagovailoa is apparently better than an injured Jacoby Brissett. It remains unclear why the Fins didn't start their "franchise" QB, especially since Brissett appeared fine after apparently getting hurt. He was ready to return to the field when head coach Brian Flores waved in Tua instead. I guess Tua's finger just needed an extra two hours to heal.
Of course, Tua didn't look right while throwing. Had Miami lost, there could have been a sizable uproar over Flores' seemingly schizophrenic decision making, especially for a non-playoff team that has nothing to gain by risking further damage to their starting QB. But a win is a win, and now Tua has 10 days to get more healthy and return to his customary QB2/3 production.
If you take away Myles Gaskin's receptions, he has no business being the starting RB. Maybe that's not fair. So on a more positive note, if Gaskin were utilized as a change-of-pace back in the mold of Nyheim Hines, it could be a win-win for the Fins and for fantasy managers. But they're not willing to commit to Salvon Ahmed, and there's no one else to turn to. In dynasty, Gaskin is a bigger sell than just about any other starting RB. Assuredly the Dolphins will upgrade in the offseason.
Jaylen Waddle's floor remains impressive. Mike Gesicki's floor is lower than I realized. Catchless on seven targets? Hard to imagine. That said, my opponent this week started Gesicki, and I started Mark Andrews. So no complains. I just feel bad for those who started the generously targeted Gesicki in a plus matchup and came away with nothing. Truly a fantasy oddity.
For Baltimore, I've pushed Rashod Bateman for weeks as the better bet over Marquise Brown later this season. However, I cautioned several folks to hold off this week until we saw what impact Sammy Watkins might have. Not much of an impact, as we saw last night. Watkins actually finished with negative 0.3 points, which is quiet a feat. Bateman is the real deal.
Lamar Jackson struggled, to put it mildly. He's had only one TD in six of nine games. Imagine how elite he would be if J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards were helping to move the chains. No knock on Devonta Freeman, who's revived his career in a perfect landing spot. But as I've said with all Raven RBs, they're almost entirely TD dependent. That's fine if you start Freeman as an RB3. Not so good if you're banking on him keeping pace with an opponent's bellcow.
As for final-score predictions, it was easy to find the winner amidst the sea of comments, because almost all of you (and me) picked Baltimore to win. So a huge congratulations to Brett Skye Thomaswick for picking the Dolphins to win, 27-25. A gutsy prediction, and I know you'll enjoy your prize of reading the words I'm typing right now on my laptop at 12:30am.
Finally, as I've mentioned before, you might start seeing some commenting from other PFN fantasy analysts now and then: Tommy Garrett, Jason "Katz" Katz, and Jon Helmcamp. They're a fantastic team to work with, and I'm thrilled they can be part of this community.
And speaking of great teams, my longtime commenters will always be embedded in the fabric of this page: Aaron Weaver, Tommy Barnett, Robbie Lange, Joel Verzosa, and Matt Weavil. Collectively they've addressed thousands of fantasy questions over the years. I praised them six weeks ago when I started at PFN, and they deserve continued praise in perpetuity.
---
- 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