After every single PrimeTime game had been at the very least exciting so far, you knew something had to give and one game had to be boring. Enter Davis Mills and the "run, run, pass" Houston Texans who, despite showing some signs of life in the first half, ended up falling to the undefeated Carolina Panthers.
Wait, the undefeated Carolina Panthers?
Welcome to the first of my weekly recaps, where I'll be going over each game from prior weeks, one game at a time, and highlighting what I thought were the biggest takeaways, from overall gameplay to fantasy outlook and everything in between. Lets see what this game had to offer us and what we can look forward to in the future from these teams.
Carolina Panthers
The Good: If we're being completely honest, the best news of week 3 was the severity (or lack thereof) of Christian McCaffrey's injury. Hopefully he makes a complete recovery and is able to return to form, because aside from being a fantasy monster he is also incredibly fun to watch.
Speaking of fantasy, how about we give it up for QB5 Sam Darnold this week? Granted he did look much worse following the injury to McCaffrey, but ended up with a great statline. The connection between him and DJ Moore is blossoming and the latter could very likely end up as a WR1 by seasons end if this keeps up.
The Bad: Remember when Royce Freeman got cut and everybody with a Raven or a 49er was like "he better not go to the Ravens or 49ers"? And remember how everybody breathed a sign of relief once he went to Carolina? And now remember how everybody is hoping Chuba Hubbard can save their 0-3 team?
Hey its me, I'm everybody. While Chuba should still be one of the easiest waiver wire pickups in recent memory, one does have to be concerned about Freeman eating into his snaps a little bit. This offense loses a lot of its identity without CMC, and those are some pretty hefty shoes for Hubbard to fill, even without a veteran RB taking some snaps. I'd probably avoid starting Hubbard this week unless absolutely necessary, but very worthy of a waiver claim.
The Ugly: It appears Darnold truly has severed all ties to the Jets, and you know what? Good for him. Only one problem though: nobody told him Robby Anderson wasn't a Jet anymore.
At this point, Anderson has become an afterthought, getting less targets than Dan Arnold and less receiving yards than Alex Erickson. He's too talented to drop, so here's to hoping he finds his form again while riding your bench for the indeterminate future.
Houston Texans:
The Good: All hail PPR God, Brandin Cooks. We are not worthy, PPR God Brandin Cooks.
I mean, seriously. Who else is there to throw the ball to on this offense? Getting 20+ fantasy points with a rookie QB who they do NOT want throwing the ball (more on that later) is incredibly impressive, and he should honestly be a set-and-forget type of player in the future.
The Bad: Well, just about everything else? Lets focus on the playcalling.
I'm hesitant to put Davis Mills here, solely because the offense reminded me of something teams would run in the 1980s, or Bill O Brien would run in 2020. There's only so many times you can go run-run-pass against a solid defensive front before you end up scoring 1 TD the whole game (not to mention the only TD was in a very impressive 2 minute drill). Hopefully it loosens up and allows the kid to have a bit more fun in week 4, especially after they go down 35-0 in the 2nd quarter vs the Bills.
The Ugly: Mark Ingram: 6 carries, 21 yards. Phillip Lindsay: 7 carries, 5 yards. Not much else to say or add there. Avoid everyone in this backfield going forward.
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