We love all football. I would not be writing approximately 20,000 words weekly, and you would not be reading this if we did not love football.
That said, there is some bad football being played. It is affecting our fantasy production.
The Chiefs took a knee with 2:36 remaining in Week 7. The Raiders, with three timeouts, did not bother to take one. With 95 combined offensive yards and a 31-0 deficit, the Raiders had enough.
In Week 6, the Jets posted negative ten passing yards: the Jets, Raiders, and Dolphins combined for 12 points and seven turnovers. At least Geno Smith did not add to his league-leading 10 interceptions. Tua Tagovailoa must have felt for Smith, as he threw three picks to join him at the top of the list.
Bad football has existed as long as football has existed.
Why do we care?
The Raiders rank in the middle of the league in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks. The Titans rank in the Top 10 for fewest given up to the position. The Jets are 12th. The Dolphins are in the Top 10 for fewest wide receiver points allowed. The Jets are just behind them.
These are not good defenses. Instead, opponents are taking pity on the offensive ineptitude and treating teams as if Indiana University were given free rein to schedule a homecoming game.
Ordinarily, I would sarcastically say, "You want to sit a player because you are worried their team will score too many points?" But we are not even getting too many points. Instead, we have kickers who are routinely hitting field goals from 60 yards and ultra-conservative coaches who get an opportunity to do what the Broncos did in Week 6, playing ball control offense and presenting a four-point lead as an insurmountable obstacle.
This past week on Sunday Morning Live, my good friend Joey Wright asked me about Tetairoa McMillan. I expressed pessimism, which Joey attributed to Sauce Gardner. It was not Gardner, but instead a game plan the Panthers could design with the question of "why risk it?" in mind. The result was a useless three-reception and 33-yard stat line.
The Chiefs could have scored 56 points on the Raiders. They called it off with half a game of football to play. The Titans already fired Brian Callahan. The Dolphins may not wait much longer for Mike McDaniel. Vultures are circling in the trade market for the few good offensive pieces these teams have.
I do not know how this gets better.
The Titans play the Chiefs and 49ers in the fantasy playoffs. The Raiders have the Eagles, Texans, and Giants. The Jets see the Patriots. The Dolphins have the Bengals, Steelers, and Buccaneers.
Unless these teams take a page out of the Saints' playbook and figure out how to lose in a fun way quickly, we may need to consider avoiding the passing options on these teams in those crucial weeks.
I am sure we are all thrilled about the idea of Isiah Pacheco, Nick Chubb, and Rhamondre Stevenson grinding out 23 fantasy points deciding our league champions.
And now, The Roundup.
Blind Resume
| Player | Receptions | Yards | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 7 | 62 | 0 |
| B | 5 | 111 | 2 |
| C | 3 | 88 | 1 |
| D | 7 | 164 | 1 |
| E | 4 | 69 | 1 |
| F | 3 | 66 | 1 |
| G | 7 | 29 | 2 |
| H | 10 | 74 | 2 |
| I | 5 | 58 | 1 |
That is a lot of random stats. Do you know what they have in common?
Stats Of The Week
Matthew Stafford, LA Rams - 182 Passing Yards, 5 Touchdown Passes
Davante Adams, LA Rams - 5 Receptions, 35 Receiving Yards, 3 Receiving Touchdowns
Stafford broke a tie with Jared Goff, moving into sole ownership of fifth on the Rams franchise passing touchdown list. He is six touchdowns from passing Norm Van Brocklin and ten behind Marc Bulger. It was Stafford's fifth career game with five passing touchdowns and his first since 2015. He moved into a tie with George Blanda, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson for the eighth most games with five touchdowns.
Adams had the first three-touchdown receiving game for the Rams since Tyler Higbee in 2020. Higbee is the only other Ram with a three-touchdown game since Torry Holt in 2006. It was the third three-touchdown game of Adams' career. Adams has scored in all five of his career games against Jacksonville, with at least two in each of the last three meetings. Adams now sits two touchdowns behind Tony Gonzalez's 111 career touchdowns for eighth on the all-time list. Adams now has his tenth season with five receiving touchdowns, pulling him into an eight-player tie for the 12th most in NFL history.
Joe Flacco, Cincinnati - 342 Passing Yards, 3 Touchdown Passes
Ja'Marr Chase, Cincinnati - 16 Receptions, 161 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdowns
Flacco pulled past Dave Krieg for 21st on the career passing touchdown list. He is nine touchdowns from passing Joe Montana for the Top 20 and 11 away from Vinny Testaverde at 19. He is 14th on the career passing yardage list, needing 2,252 to catch Warren Moon. Somewhat surprisingly, it has not been that long since he had a 340+ yard game with three touchdowns, doing it in Week 5 of 2024 with the Colts.
Flacco connected with Noah Fant for a touchdown, their first connection since 2019. As a rookie, Fant's first reception and touchdown came from Flacco. The six-year gap between competitions is nowhere near the NFL record, which Brett Favre holds at 17 years. Favre's receiver: Brett Favre.
There have been 17 games with 16+ receptions in NFL history. Chase's was the first since Keenan Allen had 18 in Week 3 of 2023. Allen is the only other player since 2018 to have a game at this volume, and he has two, hitting 16 in Week 11, 2020. It sets a new Bengals team record. Chase is on pace for 141 receptions, 1,528 receiving yards, and 12.1 touchdowns. The narrative is that Flacco saved Chase's season, but the reality is that Chase was WR2 overall in Week 5, with Jake Browning. Chase is playing at such a level that it may not matter who is playing quarterback, though we are thrilled with the early results with Flacco.
Quinshon Judkins, Cleveland - 84 Rushing Yards, 3 Rushing Touchdowns
Judkins became the first Brown since Nick Chubb in 2022 to record a three-touchdown rushing game, the 28th in franchise history. He is the fourth Browns rookie to hit the marks, joining Travis Prentice, Jim Brown, and Chet Hanulak. In Week 6, Cam Skattebo became the first rookie to have three rushing touchdowns in a game since Antonio Gibson in 2020. Judkins did it just one week later. The last time two rookies did it in two weeks was 2012, when Doug Martin and Mikel Leshoure did it on the same day, Week 9.
Judkins is the 16th rookie in NFL history to have 450+ rushing yards and 5+ rushing touchdowns through his first six career games. De'Von Achane in 2023 was the only other rookie since 2017 to hit those marks.
Drake Maye, New England - 21/23 Passing, 91% Completion, 222 Passing Yards, 2 Passing Touchdowns, 62 Rushing Yards
Maye set a franchise completion percentage record in the comfortable win. On the season, he sits at 75.2%. Tom Brady's career high was 68.9% in 2007. He has had above a 135.9 passer rating in four of seven games, throwing multiple touchdown passes in five of seven. Maye's 17-game pace is 4,235 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns, 486 rushing yards, and 4.85 rushing touchdowns. Josh Allen is the only player with a 4,200-29 / 500-5 season. The Patriots currently sit with the AFC #2 seed at 5-2.
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia - 326 Passing yards, 3 Passing Touchdowns, -10 Rushing Yards
DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia - 9 Receptions, 183 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdown
A.J. Brown, Philadelphia - 4 Receptions, 121 Receiving Yards, 2 Receiving Touchdowns
The Eagles clearly used their bye week to dig into their ailing offense. A.J. Dillon had served as the backup running back, but he was benched in favor of Tank Bigsby, who had hardly played following his acquisition on September 8th. Instead of resembling a rugby scrum, their offense opened up wide. 2022 was the last time Hurts posted lines resembling this, when he finished as the overall QB1 in points per game.
Hurts had his tenth career game of three or more touchdown passes. He has done it twice in 2025, after not doing it at all in 2024's regular season. The last time he hit 300 passing yards with three touchdowns was Week 8 of 2023.
Smith posted a career high with 183 yards, the 19th highest total in Eagles' team history. He had 158 yards total over his first four games, but now has his second 100-yard game out of the last three.
Brown had his first multiple-touchdown game since Week 8 of 2023 and the eighth of his career. That Week 8 game against Washington was also the last time he hit 120 receiving yards. That was the final game of a six-game run over 125 receiving yards.
There have been 106 instances of teammates hitting 120+ yards with a receiving touchdown in NFL history. This was the sixth time the Eagles have done it; the last was Riley Cooper and DeSean Jackson in 2013.
Bo Nix, Denver - 174 Passing Yards, 2 Passing Touchdowns, 46 Rushing Yards, 2 Rushing Touchdowns
Nix's numbers do not seem particularly overwhelming until you know this was just his fourth quarter. Nix led five scoring drives in the fourth quarter (I hear you, most of the work on the first drive was done in the third quarter) and had the highest fantasy score of any quarterback in 2025. He accumulated 90% of those points in the final stanza, entering the quarter with 105 passing yards and two rushing yards. Nix may be the spiritual successor to Russell Wilson as the fantasy quarterback who frustrates for three quarters before going off. This game was not all that different than the 18 fourth-quarter points he orchestrated to come back from down 17-3 in Week 5 against Philadelphia.
Oronde Gadsden, LA Chargers - 7 Receptions, 164 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdown
Gadsden recorded the fourth 7-160-1 game by a rookie tight end, joining Pete Mitchell, Jackie Smith, and Mike Ditka. Mitchell did it in 1995 while Ditka and Smith were in the early 1960s. Removing the rookie filter, Travis Kelce in 2023 was the last tight end to hit those numbers, and 26 tight ends in total have done it. Removing the tight end filter, Gadsden is the 43rd rookie to hit those marks; Malik Nabers in Week 17 of 2024 was the last.
Gadsden broke John Jefferson's team rookie record of 155 yards. The seven receptions are tied with multiple players for the tenth most by a rookie. He has 14 receptions and 232 yards in his last two games. Kyle Pitts Sr. is the only other rookie to record 14+ receptions and 230+ yards over a two-game span.
Travis Hunter, Jacksonville - 101 Receiving Yards, 1 Pass Breakup
Hat tip to the excellent beat writer John Shipley. Hunter is the sixth player in NFL history to record 100+ receiving yards and a pass breakup. The other five were wide receivers who broke up Hail Mary attempts.
The Running Back Trinity of Awesomeness Section
Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, and Bijan Robinson have separated themselves at the top of the fantasy leaderboard. Taylor leads at 24 fantasy points per game, while the third-place Robinson is 2.5 points ahead of fourth-place Josh Jacobs. Fourth-place Jacobs is having a great season of his own; he sits two full points ahead of fifth-place De'Von Achane. For context, 2.7 points is the same difference as Achane to 12th place Quinshon Judkins.
The Trinity is accomplishing weekly statistical milestones worth their own section.
Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis - 94 Rushing Yards, 3 Rushing Touchdowns, 3 Receptions, 38 Receiving Yards
Taylor recorded his fifth career three rushing touchdown game, moving into a tie with Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, Edgerrin James, and Adrian Peterson for the 13th most in NFL history. It is the third time in the last five games that Taylor has done it. Three games in one season put Taylor into a large group of players tied for the fourth most in a season. LaDanian Tomlinson holds the record, hitting the mark five times in a mythical 2006 season. Joe Morris and Priest Holmes did it four times each. Worth noting, it is Week 7.
Taylor has ten touchdowns in his last five games. Sixteen different backs have hit that mark. Taylor was already on that list from his 2021 season. He joins Dickerson as the only player to have two separate instances spaced multiple seasons apart.
Taylor needs three touchdowns to catch Edgerrin James for the Colts' career rushing touchdown record, given his recent run, that could happen in Week 8.
Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco - 129 Rushing Yards, 2 Rushing Touchdowns, 7 Receptions, 72 Receiving Yards
McCaffrey kept his 50-yard receiving streak alive, hitting seven straight. That ties his own streak from 2019 and Lydell Mitchell for the second-longest in history by a running back. Herschel Walker holds the record at 10.
McCaffrey moved to 4,982 career receiving yards, moving past Roger Craig for the seventh most by a running back. With 18 more receiving yards, he can join Marshall Faulk, Marcus Allen, and Tiki Barber as the only backs with 5,000 career rushing and 5,000 career receiving yards.
His 129 rushing yards were a season high. He is one of four backs to record a 120-2 / 7-70 game, the others being Priest Holmes, Chris Johnson, and Franco Harris. Johnson and McCaffrey are the only to do it twice.
McCaffrey has 465 rushing yards and 516 receiving yards. He is the first player in NFL history with 450+ rushing yards and 500+ receiving yards through the first seven games of a season. Alvin Kamara had 431 rushing yards and 556 receiving yards to start 2020. Faulk had 688 rushing and 494 receiving to start 2000. McCaffrey has 53 receptions. Kamara had 55 through seven games in that 2020 season. Austin Ekeler and Le'Veon Bell had seasons with 53 through seven games.
Bijan Robinson, Atlanta - 40 Rushing Yards, 6 Receptions, 52 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdown, 92 Scrimmage Yards
Robinson extended his 90 scrimmage yards streak to 12 games. It brings him into a tie for the 42nd-longest streak in NFL history. Former Falcon William Andrews has the longest streak, at 25 games from late 1980 to the end of the 1981 season. McCaffrey had a 12-game streak that ended in 2024. Cooper Kupp and Jonathan Taylor had 15-game streaks that ended during the 2022 season. No other player has hit 12 games since Saquon Barkley in 2018.
Robinson has played one fewer game than McCaffrey. He stands at 524 rushing yards, 30 receptions, and 390 receiving yards. Faulk's 2000 season is the only other time a back has had 500+ rushing and 390+ receiving yards through a season's first six games. If the receiving threshold is dropped to 380, Matt Forte joins the list.