The Weekly Wipe Up – Week 3: Sept 23rd – Sept 27th

Keep an eye out for this article every Tuesday bringing you a brief overview for NFL and fantasy impact, both redraft and dynasty.   Thanks for reading!

Carolina Panthers 24 @ Houston Texans 9

NRG Stadium – Houston, TX

The Carolina Panthers defense shut down the Houston Texans, on Thursday, in a game that didn’t even look as close as the final score.  Texans rookie QB Davis Mills was forced into action due to the hamstring injury suffered by Tyrod Taylor in week 2 and found himself suffocated by the Panthers, who generated four sacks on the day.  Mills was only able to generate 168 yards of passing and looked like the game was moving too fast for him.  The running game was nearly non-existent for Houston and the passing game suffered due to the one dimensional nature of the offense.  The only notable performer for the Texans was Brandin Cooks who continued his blistering pace with 112 more yards on 9 catches bringing him to 23 catches for 322 yards and a touchdown on the season.  Cooks, as of writing this, is currently WR1 in PPR fantasy leagues.

Could Adam Gase be the worst head coach in the history of football?  Most bad coaches can’t win games.  Gase has a proven history of not only losing games, but making his players considerably worse than they prove to be over the length of their career.  Ryan Tannehill, DeVante Parker, Jordan Phillips and now, Sam Darnold.  Darnold is thriving so far in Carolina averaging 24 completions at a 68.2% completion rate for 296 yards and a touchdown per game.  For comparison, Darnold was completing 59.7% of his passes for 212 yards per game on average over his first three seasons, two of which were under Gase and the other was his rookie season.  His favorite target in this one, and for the young season thus far, was D.J. Moore.  He was targeted 12 times catching 8 balls for 126 yards.  The story with the biggest impact in this game was Christian McCaffrey injuring his hamstring.  McCaffrey has already been reported to be missing “a few weeks” and the Panthers have brought in free agent RB Duke Johnson for a try out.  These are ominous signs as to how serious this injury is.  For as much as I’ve enjoyed the Matt Rhule era in Carolina and the Joe Brady play calling; I question McCaffrey’s usage so far.  McCaffrey was on pace for 90 touches in the first three games.  I find it hard to believe that rate was ever going to be sustainable.  Chuba Hubbard is the next man up and was actually more efficient with his touches (4.9 yards per touch vs. McCaffrey’s 4.4 yard average).  Hubbard had a fantastic sophomore season with Oklahoma St. leading the FBS with 21 rushing touchdowns and had 2094 yards on the ground before his shortened Covid opt-out junior season knocked him down draft boards.  He logged 53 receptions in college and has a lot of “poorman” Christian McCaffrey abilities.  It’s very possible that Hubbard steps in and earns more touches going forward even after McCaffrey returns to action.

Los Angeles Chargers 30 @ Kansas City Chiefs 24

GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City, MO

Game Reviewed by Andrew you can find him at @AndrewCampey on Twitter

In a battle between two of the premier young Quarterbacks in the NFL you’d expect a fair few points and we did see 7 passing touchdowns however at the end of the day both teams probably walked away wanting from this game. To understand the talent of Justin Herbert he ended up with 281 yards and 4 touchdowns but similar to last week seemed to not really be in a great rhythm. When this Chargers offense really starts to click they will be scary (well scarier than they are now!).

The Chargers won the game after a gutsy call on 4th & 9 late in the fourth to go for it rather than hand the ball back to Mahomes and Mike Williams (7 receptions, 122 yards, 2 touchdowns, 9 targets, and a two point conversion), Keenan Allen (9 receptions, 50 yards on 12 targets) and Austin Ekeler (11 carries for 55 yards, 6 receptions for 52 yards on 6 targets) all had solid games.

They will walk away happy with the win against the Chiefs and know if they put it all together there is no team that can stop them. For the Chiefs it was a what could have been game. The first interception thrown by Mahomes was a pass behind Marcus Kemp however Kemp should have done a better job at the very least stop the ball from going past him. However all day the 50/50 things just didn’t go the Chiefs way Tyreek Hill (5 for 56 yards) fumbled and the Chiefs followed the Ravens lead by blanketing Hill with two players all day. Clyde Edwards-Helaire had another fumble however did have 100 yards, and Travis Kelce was Travis Kelce (7 receptions 104 yards on 11 targets)

At the end of the day this was two teams who should make serious noise come playoff times showing that they aren’t in peak condition yet but both should be able to improve on some minor issues.

Arizona Cardinals 31 @ Jacksonville Jaguars 19

TIAA Bank Field – Jacksonville, FL

Kyler Murray is having a special season so far.  In this game, he was 28/34 for 316 and an INT but added a touchdown on the ground in the Cardinals victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.  A.J. Green and Christian Kirk both went over 100 yards receiving.  Chase Edmonds handled 19 touches for 75 yards but it was James Connor who was able to run the ball into the end zone for a pair of touchdowns.  Arizona’s defense, specifically CB Byron Murphy played well on the day, with Murphy stealing 2 INTs from Trevor Lawrence.  It’s worth noting that the Cardinals had two offensive linemen go down with back injuries during this game and they host the Rams and Aaron Donald in week 4.  Not ideal.

James Robinson had a nice little day rushing for 88 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown and catching all six of his targets for 46 yards.  To go along with Trevor Lawrence’s 2 INTs, he also fumbled the ball twice and continues to struggle in the NFL.  You do see the talent shine though from time to time. I still believe that if TLaw cleans up the rookie mistakes and if he figures out how to overcome the coaching, he’s going to be an above average NFL signal caller.  Marvin Jones has been a rock in this offense like he’s been his whole career.  He had 8 targets on the day which puts him at 28 on the season, so far.  He reigned in 6 of those for 62 yards.  Jax gets Cincinnati on Thursday, who despite coming off a win over the Steelers and being 2-1 on the season, offer a chance for the Jags to notch their first win of the season.

Chicago Bears 6 @ Cleveland Browns 26

FirstEnergy Stadium – Cleveland, OH

If you love bad football and single team domination, give this game a watch ASAP!  The question of the pregame was how will rookie QB Justin Fields look for the Bears?  When the game was over, the question was, how quick can we get Andy Dalton back?  Fields was a complete disaster in this one.  He produced 1 total passing yard.  1 yard.  The offense as a whole was only able to muster 47 total yards on the day.  The strange part is, it’s tough to figure out exactly how much blame Fields should warrant in this one.  Cleveland’s defense was phenomenal and can easily explain some of the troubles the Bears had.  Coaching was the other big part of it.  Matt Nagy called a horrendous game.  The scheme looked like it was custom made for his early season starter Andy Dalton who is a statue in the packet and will never look to move from it.   The play usage did not allow Fields to use his skill set effectively or even serve to protect him from harm.  The game script prompted former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky on the Get Up program on ESPN to say, “The Chicago Bears should fire Matt Nagy today because yesterday’s game plan, which was the worst I’ve ever seen in my life, was either negligence or intentional.”  The Bears defense played alright and registered 5 sacks on the day.  The Bears head home to host the Detroit Lions, but if they play anywhere near this level, the Lions will log their first win of the season.

The Browns dominated all phases of this game, but the defense jumped off the screen for most of the day.  Myles Garrett was a monster sacking Justin Fields for a franchise record 4 ½ times.  In total, the Browns sacked Fields 9 times and hit him 15 times.  As you can imagine, in a blow out of this magnitude, the running backs were called on to milk the clock for a good chunk of the game.  Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt combined for 39 touches on the day for 239 yards.  We had an Odell Beckham Jr. sighting in this game as the veteran was on the field for the first time since October 25 of last season when he suffered a knee injury.  He caught 5 passes for 77 yards and looked pretty good doing it.  This Browns team earns my trust more and more with every game I watch and I fully expect them to win the AFC North.

Washington Football Team 21 @ Buffalo Bills 43

Highmark Stadium – Orchard Park, NY

When you do this many game write ups every weekend, you really like it when you get a game that is completely lopsided and doesn’t require much brain power.  Josh Allen did me a solid by completely destroying the Washington Football Team.  Allen completed 32 of 43 for 358 and 4 TDs while adding another touchdown on the ground.  Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders both fell just short of 100 yards with Sanders finding the end zone twice.  Zack Moss put together a nice game as well rushing for 60 yards on 13 carries and 3 catches for 31 and a touchdown.  

On the Washington side of things, Antonio Gibson posted a nice stat line with 13 touches for 104 yards with 73 of those yards coming on his one pass completion which he took for a touchdown.  Overall, Taylor Heinicke struggled in this one and the receiving options were held back because of it.   On paper and in fantasy, he looked ok due to his 2 touchdown passes and his 1 rushing touchdown, but his 2 INTs and below average 58% completion rate kept the WFT from being competitive.  The Football Team gets the Falcons next and a chance to get Heinicke back on track.

Indianapolis Colts 16 @ Tennessee Titans 25

Nissan Stadium – Nashville, TN

This was a mess of a game that someone had to win.  The Titans prevailed despite turning the ball over three times in the contest.  Derrick Henry did Derrick Henry type things shouldering 31 touches for 144 yards and helped salt this thing away.  Ryan Tannehill had a bit of a rollercoaster day completing 18 of 27 passes for 197 yards with 3 TDs and 2 INTs while spreading the ball around to 11 pass catchers on the day.  He also rushed for 56 yards on 5 attempts.  Aside from Henry, if you had any Titans for fantasy, you were disappointed.  A.J. Brown was injured early in this game and did not return. Which is something to watch for before setting your fantasy roster next week.  Julio Jones had a quiet day netting 3 grabs for 47 yards.  The leading receiver on the stat sheet for the Titans was Nick Westbrook-Ikhine who I’m not entirely sure is a real human being. 

Carson Wentz and his injured ankles are a problem and it showed in this one.  He did not record a single rush on the day.  Instead opting to throw the ball away even when rushing lanes existed.  I have serious doubts that he should have been starting this game even if that meant Jacob Eason would have seen the field.  Jonathan Taylor had a decent day, but it was backfield mate Nyheim Hines who had the most total yardage between the two rushing 6/25/1 TD and catching 5 passes for 54 yards.  The whole receiving core had subpar days due to Wentz’s limitations but it’s worth noting that Michael Pittman Jr. saw another 12 targets on the day.  He led the team in targets and receiving yardage, and is looking like the true WR1 on this team.

New Orleans Saints 28 @ New England Patriots 13

Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA

This is not your fathers New England Patriots team.  They stink now!  Mac Jones could not figure out the stout Saints defense and threw 3 INTs to go along with his 30/51 for 270 and 1 TD.  The Pats running game was catatonic and only managed to record 3 more rushing yards than the Bears did.  Kendrick Bourne and Jakobi Meyers led the way for the NE receivers with both falling just shy of the 100 yard mark.  Bourne did manage a touchdown.  Jonnu Smith, Hunter Henry, and Nelson Agholor were noticeably quiet again, leading Pats fans to wonder if all the offseason free agent money has been wasted on guys that are not going to live up to their contract

The New Orleans Saints are taking on Jameis Winston’s personna without Jameis leading the charge.  The QB, now somewhat infamous for his 30 touchdown & 30 interception season, has cleaned up some of those turnovers so far in the young season.  He’s currently on pace for a much more respectable 40 TDs & 11 INTs if you extrapolate out over 17 games.  That being said, the team as a whole, is a bit of a rollercoaster and you’re not sure who is going to show up come opening kick off.  So far this season, they have won 38-3, lost 26-7, and won 28-13.  This appearance might be skewed a bit since their lopsided loss was against the Panthers, who might be much better than we expected going into the season, but good teams stay competitive in those types of games.  Alvin Kamara carried a heavy load again this week with 27 touches for 188 yards and 1 touchdown bringing him up to 64 touches on the year.  Get this man some help!  This type of workload will more than likely lead to injury if permitted to continue through the season.

Atlanta Falcons 17 @ New York Giants 14

MetLife Stadium – E. Rutherford, NJ

Game Reviewed by Joe you can find him at @JoeJ_Clark on Twitter

No really eye-popping performances by any player from either team. So let’s get to the story lines regarding the Giants.  Ugliness lives at The Meadowlands, NJ right now.  I’m a 50 year old patient Giants fan who is usually one to tell others to calm down because after all it’s only a game and yet, I’m telling you this ugliness almost has the feel of a physical presence to it — like something tangible that you could touch, taste, or smell — and that something really crazy may happen at any of the remaining six home games for the Giants.  

Eli Manning’s number was retired into the Giants Ring of Honor yesterday, and his former team honored him by playing like they played throughout the second half of his career.  Bad coaching decisions, few explosive plays, injuries to key players, no timely plays but there were timely mistakes/penalties, and mediocrity/underwhelming performances littered everywhere.  CB Adoree’ Jackson dropped a gift of an INT that would have essentially sealed the victory.  WRs Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton went down early with hamstring injuries, as did ILB Blake Martinez with a torn ACL, which ended his season.  TE Evan Engram was greeted with boos when he made it onto the field for the first time in 2021, and was greeted with cheers whenever he was pulled from it.  Owner John Mara was lustily booed as well during Eli’s halftime ceremony.  I’ve been a Giants fan for 40 years, and there is a very nasty and ugly vibe that has brewed up in this fed-up fan base that I can’t ever recall appearing this quickly in a season.  The honeymoon period where the fan base would have run through a wall for Judge abruptly ended after that very poor performance against the Broncos in week 1.  Saquon Barkley did put up his best game so far in 2021 with 43 yards receiving and 51 yards rushing (including a TD), but he looks pedestrian out there.  And rookie Edge, Azeez Ojulari, put up his 3rd sack in as many games and is now on pace for 17 sacks in his rookie season.  No, it’s not gonna happen but it’s fun to point out.

The Falcons, on the other hand, earned themselves their first victory of the year with a nice late comeback victory led by their veteran QB Matt Ryan who wound up with two passing TDs.  Fairly quiet games by their superstars in the making, WR Calvin Ridley and TE Kyle Pitts, but another notable performance by RB/WR Cordarrelle Patterson who seems to be one of the Falcons’ top 3 playmakers now and whose impact is getting more significant each subsequent week.  In yesterday’s game, Patterson put up a total of 102 yards (82 receiving and 20 rushing).  Keep an eye on young, Mr. Patterson.   

Cincinnati Bengals 24 @ Pittsburgh Steelers 10

Heinz Field – Pittsburgh, PA

The Steelers should be sounding the alarms after an ugly loss at home to the Bengals.  Ben Roethlisberger had a decent day throwing for 318 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs, but threw the ball 38 times for an average of 8.36 yards per completion.  This was due to a lack of run game as Najee Harris averaged 2.85 yards per rush.  Woof.  But wait, take that woof back and stuff it back in that dog’s mouth!  He caught an additional 14 passes on 19 targets for 102 yards!  Ay chihuahua!  My favorite Steeler, Chase Claypool, was awesome, catching 9 for 96 yards.  Pittsburgh needs to get healthy on defense and quick!    

Efficiency was the theme of the day for the Bengals.  Burrow completed 77.7% of his passes.  Joe Mixon ran for 90 yards on 18 rushes averaging a solid 5 yards per carry.  Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd turned a meager 8 catches into a combined 101 yards and 3 touchdowns.  This team was rolling and found little resistance against a Steelers defense missing several key pieces.

Baltimore Ravens 19 @ Detroit Lions 17

Ford Field – Detroit, MI

The Lions lost a heartbreaker against the Ravens that was decided, in dramatic fashion, by an NFL record 66 yard field goal by Justin Tucker that bounced off the crossbar and through with :00 on the clock.  The play before the kick, Lamar Jackson snapped the ball two seconds after the play clock had expired but it was the Lions so that didn’t get called.  Also because it’s the Lions, the coaching staff doesn’t notice.  It’s frustrating being a Lions fan.

    The Lions weren’t able to do much in the first half offensively, but the defense was able to keep the game close at half.  In the second half, Detroit woke up and was able to move the ball effectively.  The running backs were heavily involved with D’Andre Swift handling 21 touches for 107 yards and a touchdown and Jamaal Williams recording 14 touches for 67 yards and a touchdown.  The leading receiver for the Lions was Kalif Raymond.  T.J. Hockenson was surprisingly quiet catching both of his two targets for just ten yards.

The Ravens looked like the injuries to the running game were catching up to them in this one.  Although, they still posted 116 yards on the ground.   When you compare that to the 220 yards they had on the ground in weeks 1 and 2, it made them a bit one dimensional.  Lamar Jackson wasn’t exactly helped out by his receivers, as they collectively registered a handful of costly drops, but Jackson was still able to produce 287 passing yards on 16 of 31 receptions with a TD and an INT and rushed 7 times for 58 yards.  Latavius Murray also ran the ball 7 times, but only managed 28 yards in the effort.  TE Mark Andrews caught 5 of his 7 passes for 105 yards.  The Ravens travel to Denver in what should be a fun week 4 matchup.

New York Jets 0 @ Denver Broncos 26

Empower Field at Mile High – Denver, CO

Game Reviewed by Andrew you can find him at @AndrewCampey on Twitter

As one of the announcers said during the game (I’m paraphrasing) “If you’re the Jets you need to get small wins in this game”. They got that “win” which was a goal line stand forcing the Broncos into a field goal during their 26 to 0 victory.

For the third week in a row the Broncos beat an inferior opponent however you can only beat you who play and keeping your opponent scoreless is about the best you can do in this type of game. The Broncos didn’t really seem to do anything at an “excellent” level however every facet of their game in this one was very good. Bridgewater was 19/25 for 235 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions and didn’t have to do too much but made some excellent throws. The running back tandem of Gordon (18 carries 61 yards 1 touchdown) and Javonte Williams (12 carries 29 yards 1 touchdown) seemed to play better than their stats suggest although Williams had a goal line fumble. Tim Patrick was magnificent in his 5 receptions for 98 yards and if he is by some stupid chance available in your league get him NOW. Sadly K.J Hamler has torn his ACL and won’t be back again this season, hopefully he can come back bigger and better.

For the Jets its hard to find too many positives. The offense seemed to be dulled down for Zach Wilson and they still couldn’t get anything going. His stats (19/35 160 yards 2 interceptions) show you he struggled. The ground game couldn’t get anything going 13 carries and 43 yards for the whole team and Corey Davis had 5 receptions for 41 yards on 10 targets however didn’t look dangerous due to a swarming Broncos defense.

C.J. Mosely looked good for the Jets defense, while the Denver defense got 5 sacks lead by Alexander Johnson with two.

For the Broncos they go into next week against the Ravens with a confidence built on the back of three solid wins against poor competition, the Jets will face Tennesee and hope to get a few more of those small wins on what looks like a very difficult season.

Miami Dolphins 28 @ Las Vegas Raiders 31

Allegiant Stadium – Paradise, NV

The Raiders came away with the victory despite needing 167 more total yards and a FG in overtime to do it.  They find themselves with a 3-0 record and playing good, physical, confident football.  Peyton Barber was a workhorse in this one with 26 touches for 142 yards and a touchdown.  Combine that with Derek Carr having a nice day throwing. He was just shy of 400 yards (386) and had too much for the Dolphins to overcome.  Bryan Edwards and Henry Ruggs lll are turning into solid every week options for this team and if there is a chance you can still buy low on them somewhere, it might be worth the gamble.  

Miami is failing so far to live up to some fairly heavy off season expectations.  That being said, their two losses thus far have come from the Raiders this week and the Bills last week, two teams that are showing some juice so far this season.  The Dolphins have beat the Patriots in Foxborough and still have a very realistic chance at finishing second in the AFC East.  This team has a quarterback problem.  That’s not to say that Jacoby Brissett is a big step back from the injured Tua Tagovailoa, but more a statement that neither have shown to be franchise QBs.  Brissett did back up QB type things in this one and the offense was not all that fun to watch.  I should note that Mike Gesicki turned 12 targets into 10 catches for 86 yards in this one.  If that volume continues with Brissett under center, Gesicki could be a valuable streaming tight end option for fantasy, at least for the next couple of weeks.  The Dolphins host Indy next week, in a game that I sincerely hope someone else volunteers to write up.  

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 @ Los Angeles Rams 34

SoFi Stadium – Inglewood, CA

As a Detroit Lions fan, I hated when they traded Matthew Stafford.  I understood it from the business and NFL angle but it makes all the sense in the world as something that should have happened, but I hated losing the player.  Stafford is as tough a player as there is.  He’s gritty, with a cannon of an arm, with a desire to win over-shadowed only by his sense of loyalty to his team.  When I’m not rooting for the Lions, I am rooting for Stafford.  No, I don’t care if it messes with some of the draft capitol that the Lions acquired in the trade that sent him away.  Detroit will mess those picks up anyway.  The rest of the world got to see how special Stafford is as a player against the defending Super Bowl champs on Sunday.  Stafford completed 27 of his 38 attempts for 343 yards and 4 TDs.  His offensive line gave him all day to throw and did not allow a sack.  Cooper Kupp continued his streak of big games and leads all other Rams WRs in targets by double digits.  Also noteworthy, Sony Michel getting his first start for the Rams.  He carried 20 times for 67 yards.

Tom Brady put up big numbers but they kind of cover up another theme of the night.  The Rams defense was making life very uncomfortable for Brady sacking him 3 times in the contest.  Another symptom of the LA defense was the complete absence of a run game. Letting just 35 yards on the day with Tom Brady leading all TB rushers(!) with 14 yards.  The team became entirely one dimensional.  Brady was forced to throw 55 times completing 41 passes for 432 and a TD.  Mike Evans and Chris Godwin were heavily involved in the passing game as well as running back Giovani Bernard who received 10 targets on the day catching 9 of those for 51 yards and a TD.  Tom Brady and the Buccs find themselves angry over a tough loss heading to New England in the ultimate revenge game to face Bill Belichick and the Pats.

Seattle Seahawks 17 @ Minnesota Vikings 30

U.S. Bank Stadium – Minneapolis, MN

Defense was not exactly the name of this game as the two teams combined to put up 842 combined yards.  The Vikings were without running back Dalvin Cook due to injury but it didn’t matter.  Alexander Mattison balled out to the tune of 26 carries for 112 yards and caught 6 passes for 59 yards.  Kirk Cousins played his normal consistent game as well, tossing 30 completions on 38 attempts for 323 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Justin Jefferson had a big game in this one (9/118/1 TD) along with tight end Tyler Conklin (7/70/1 TD).

The Seahawks defense is starting to look like a big problem.  They have surrendered an average of 30 points per game to opponents and have yet to play any juggernauts.  No big takeaways on offense as Russell Wilson, Chris Carson, and D.K. Metcalf were all dudes.  I guess the biggest bummer, at least for fantasy is that Tyler Lockett was quiet in this one immediately following him being the guy that I said has impressed the most so far in this article:

Camp’s Questions

The Seahawks travel to San Francisco in week 4 for a division tilt against the 49ers.

Green Bay Packers 30 @ San Francisco 49ers 28

Levi’s Stadium – Santa Clara, CA

Game Reviewed by Alex you can find him at @Alexo_ff on Twitter

After all was said and done, the 49ers simply left too much time on the clock, 37 seconds to be exact, for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.  Jimmy G and 49ers were able to drive down the field in the 4th quarter and score a touchdown to go up 28-27. But Rodgers only needed Adams twice over the middle of the field on the final drive. Spiking the ball to stop the clock between those two throws.  Easily maneuvering the Packers within Crosby’s range.  Crosby finished off the 49ers with the game-winning FG.  

In the beginning of the game, the Packers used WR screens and the run game, with Aaron Jones, to take the impact out of the 49ers defensive line.  They were able to move the ball efficiently and got up by 17 in the first half.  Aaron Rodgers, who went 23/33 for 261 yards and 2 TDs, fed his favorite receiver, Davante Adams, 12 catches on 18 targets for 132 yards and a TD.  But was also able to make it up to MVS hitting him on 3 of his 4 targets, finishing the night with 3 catches for 59 yards and touchdown.  The one target that got away was a deep shot that drew a defensive pass interference call to convert a 3rd down.  Aaron Jones had his way with the 49ers defense, for the most part, racking up 96 yards on 21 touches and a touchdown.

The 49ers fought hard for all 28 points they scored Sunday night.  Jimmy G ended up 25/40 with 257 passing yards and two touchdowns.  On one trip to the goal line, Jimmy G was unable to punch it in and we saw the only meaningful play of Trey Lance, who was able to rush in for a TD in the 3rd quarter.  Kyle Shanahan did everything in his power to not give the ball to Trey Sermon.  Sermon did have a few flashes in his limited touches and ended up in the end zone, diving over the pile on the goal line.  Sermon finished with 10 carries for 31 yards, a touchdown, and 2 catches for 3 yards.  I believe this is Mitchell’s backfield when he returns from a shoulder stinger.  Kyle Juszczyk seemed to be Shanahan’s preferred receiving option out of the backfield.  Juszczyk even took a dump off in the red zone for a TD.  Aiyuk finally saw some real reps, tying Deebo Samuel with 29 routes ran.  Aiyuk was also to hit pay dirt and scored in the second half. Kittle cashed in the most receiving yards, 92, most of it coming on one big play over the middle of the field.   

Philadelphia Eagles 21 @ Dallas Cowboys 41

AT&T Stadium – Arlington, TX

Game Reviewed by Andrew you can find him at @AndrewCampey on Twitter

From the first drive where the Cowboys marched all the way down the field, this game was all Cowboys. The score probably flatters Philadelphia a bit as their first touchdown was their defense when Prescott got a little to confident in the pocket while in his own end zone and fumbled, while their final touchdown came in the last quarter when the game was basically over (the next time the Cowboys touched the ball on offense all their backups entered the game)

Hurts finished 25/39 for 326 yards 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and his stats probably flattered him to a certain extent (his QBR was 8.9) he looked flustered all day and didn’t appear to help his receivers while the Eagles running game was non existent (12 carries for the day with Hurts accounting for 9 of these).

Meanwhile Ezekiel Elliot (17 carries 95 yards and 2 touchdowns and 3 catches for 21 yards and got stopped at the 1 yard line preventing touchdown number 3) and Tony Pollard (11 carries 60 yards and 1 catch for 5 yards) did what they wanted against the Eagles all day. Apart from his fumble Prescott did as he wished (22/26 238 yards and 3 touchdowns) using his Tight End Dalton Schultz (6 receptions for 80 yards and two touchdowns) to devastating effect. The only real downside for the Cowboys was Cee Dee Lamb (66 yards) and Amari Cooper (26 yards) not doing much because they simply weren’t needed.

In a 41 point win while weird to say the Cowboys defense should really be the talking point. A historically bad defence last year has transformed into an average if not good defense. Trevon Diggs had a pick 6 (he now has the same amount of touchdowns this year as brother Stefon!) and looks to be a pro bowler, Micah Parsons terrorises people no matter where he plays and looks like a veteran, and Osa Odighizuwa is looking like a steal as a 3rd round pick. Dan Quinn should be in the running for assistant of the year after the job he’s done on that defense.

With the Eagles appearing to get worse every week, the Washington Football Team disappointing, and the Giants not doing much of anything the Cowboys look like the odds on favourite in the NFC East at this point of the year.