What You Need to Know From Week 8

Photo: Jay Biggerstaff, USA Today Sports

GB @ ARI

• The Packers were without their top two wide receivers so they smartly ran at the soft underbelly of the Cardinals defense. Look for teams to try to copy this strategy.
• Robert Tonyan Jr went down with a torn ACL, which leaves Randall Cobb as the top middle of the field target, increasing his potential value going forward.
• Kyler Murray had a chance to win the game in the waning seconds but A.J. Green kept blocking (!?) instead of looking for the ball and it was picked, denying the Cardinals a chance to at least tie the game with a chipshot field goal. Murray suffered an ankle injury in the game and may not be ready or be 100% for the Week 9 game vs San Francisco. His down fantasy result was mostly because all three touchdowns went to running backs on rush attempts.
• DeAndre Hopkins aggravated a hamstring injury and was in and out of the game. Watch his practice status closely.

CAR @ ATL

• The Panthers offense mainly ran through the backfield despite playing a weak pass defense in a bad sign for D.J. Moore’s weekly ceiling going forward.
• Sam Darnold suffered a concussion and might miss Week 9 vs. New England. P.J. Walker would start if he can’t go.
• Calvin Ridley left the Falcons to take care of his mental health. Tajae Sharpe is the #1 wide receiver now, but everything looked harder for the Falcons offense, so it could be that everyone else’s value is down in the wake of this development.

TEN @ IND

• Derrick Henry went down with a foot injury that will likely end his season. Adrian Peterson was signed the next day and will split work with Jeremy McNichols and possibly D’Onta Foreman, who was signed Tuesday. Peterson is the high ceiling pickup, McNichols the safer PPR depth pickup.
• A.J. Brown looked as good as he has all year, while Julio Jones still isn’t over his injury problems.
• Carson Wentz threw the game away with two bad interceptions late, but his value is still trending up because of the remaining schedule.
• T.Y. Hilton left with a concussion. Michael Pittman Jr is still the only player in this passing game worth rostering.

MIA @ BUF

• Tua Tagovailoa struggled in his first game against a decent defense since returning from a rib injury. He’s still just a matchup play.
• Devante Parker looked good in his return, but lower the weekly ceilings of Jaylen Waddle and Mike Gesicki.
• Emmanuel Sanders took his turn at having a dud and Cole Beasley at a ceiling game, although both could have been hits if the Bills didn’t have such a quiet first half with their defense giving up long drives to shorten the half for their offense.

CIN @ NYJ

• Ja’Marr Chase was contained, so Tyler Boyd had his first useful fantasy game in a while, but will likely continue to be inconsistent.
• Joe Mixon scored twice, keep starting your running backs against the Jets in DFS. Jonathan Taylor is up this week.
• Mike White ran the offense at a much higher level than Zach Wilson, unlocking the value of Jamison Crowder and Michael Carter II, and making Elijah Moore and Ty Johnson relevant.
• Denzel Mims led the receivers in snaps and the team refused to deal him at the trade deadline, so keep him on your dynasty watch list.

PIT @ CLE

• Pat Freiermuth caught the game-winning score on a tough contested ball. That should surely build trust from Ben Roethlisberger and give him a better shot at sustained fantasy relevance in his rookie year.
• Jarvis Landry is clearly the Browns #1 receiver, but he’s hurt and between a fumble and missed opportunities, the offense is very limited when Nick Chubb is contained like he was on this afternoon.

PHI @ DET

• Jalen Hurts was a fantasy bust for the first time this year because the Eagles cruised to a victory and the running backs scored four times on the ground.
• Kenneth Gainwell was marginalized with Miles Sanders out and can be dropped. Boston Scott’s result was great but may be hard to reproduce against teams other than the Lions.
• Dallas Goedert appeared to be Jalen Hurts favorite receiver and most weeks only one mouth in this pass offense can get fed at most.
• Jared Goff needs to be benched.
• D’Andre Swift had a floor game because the score was so out of hand that Jermar Jefferson got garbage time touchdown.
• T.J. Hockenson had a solid game because the Lions trailed big and had to throw for most of the second half.

LAR @ HOU

• Robert Woods had a strong game because of a rushing score, but don’t expect those to be frequent.
• David Johnson wasn’t even the lead back after the Mark Ingram II trade. Rex Burkhead led the Texans in running back snaps.

SF @ CHI

• Jimmy Garoppolo asserted himself with a strong game, including two rushing scores. It’s his team as long as he is healthy.
• Elijah Mitchell ran well against a tough run defense but emerged with a rib injury and Jeff Wilson should be practicing again soon.
• Brandon Aiyuk got starter snaps and targets and could have a much better second half.
• Justin Fields had a sensational, electrifying fourth down touchdown run, making his fantasy afternoon, but still struggled as a passer.

NE @ LAC

• Justin Herbert had trouble with Bill Belichick for the second straight year and the whole Chargers offense suffered with him.
• Mike Williams was a dud for the third time in the last four games. He’s tough to bench, but it will become easy to do that in Week 10 if he is dud against the Eagles this week.

JAX @ SEA

• Trevor Lawrence was worthless despite 54 attempts and only Jamal Agnew was a good play from the Jaguars passing game.
• James Robinson hurt his heel and missed a lot of this game. Watch the Week 9 practice reports closely.
• Tyler Lockett came back to life against a poor secondary. Congrats if you had the courage to start him after two duds with Geno Smith in.
• Alex Collins isn’t 100%, but hold him through the bye with no clear return date for Chris Carson.

TB @ NO

• Tom Brady had trouble with the Saints yet again and threw a game-deciding pick six to PJ Williams.
• Mike Evans was basically shut down by Marshon Lattimore, again, freeing up targets for Chris Godwin.
• Rob Gronkowski left with back spasms and you have to wonder if he’ll be healthy enough to be an impact player again this year.
• Jameis Winston left with a torn ACL. Trevor Siemian relieved him and it’s unsure whether Taysom Hill will be ready for Week 9 or any time soon.
• Mark Ingram II looked like he found the fountain of youth and he may have value going forward, especially against rush defense that aren’t top five in the league.

WAS @ DEN

• Antonio Gibson barely got any work as he heads into the bye to rest his leg injury.
• Taylor Heinicke looked like a quarterback that needs to be replaced (Hello Kyle Allen). No one had a good game for this offense outside of J.D. McKissic.
• The return of Jerry Jeudy meant no one had a good day in the Broncos passing game despite facing a weak pass defense.
• Noah Fant is losing ground to Albert Okwuegbunam and Fant is on the covid list.

DAL @ MIN

• Cooper Rush kept Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb’s value intact, maybe even improved it a little with Dak Prescott sidelined, but the team will be happy to get Prescott back, likely this week. Dalton Schultz wasn’t as featured, but should be fine for fantasy once Prescott is back.
• Tyler Conklin picked up the slack as Justin Jefferson had a rough game and got a little banged up. He could be a solid T.J. Hockenson bye week fill-in along with Okwuegbunam.

NYG @ KC

• Sterling Shepard went down with a quad injury that could open up opportunity for Kadarius Toney, who had a lackluster game including a thumb injury.
• Devontae Booker was a frequent pass target from an effective but conservative Daniel Jones. The whole offense could get better once all hands are back on deck with Kenny Golladay and Saquon Barkley still on the sidelines.
• The Chiefs offense pieced together longer drives in a relief for the defense. Darrel Williams caught enough passes to make him a viable play even while splitting with Derrick Gore, who looked good, scored, and is worth a waiver wire pickup.
• Travis Kelce was taken away and fumbled as teams are treating him like a wide receiver in coverage.
• The new approach by the Chiefs, which is welcomed by defenses, is going to lower his weekly ceiling and probably make him a fantasy disappointment in the second half of the season.
• Mecole Hardman has some value being deployed more as a Deebo Samuel type to stretch the defense horizontally. Check your waiver wire.