Many Happy Returns: Rams Upset Vikings
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Knockaround, we recap TNF, hit on Week 8 start/sits, and more.
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Knockaround:
All Matthew Stafford needed was his wide receivers back. The return of Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp helped the host Rams defeat the Vikings, 30-20, Thursday night. The Rams improved to 3-4 and pulled within one game of first-place Seattle in the NFC West. Stafford had 3 touchdown passes in the first six games, but had 4 against Minnesota. Here is the Friday FAQ.
How did Puka Nacua look?
Considering he has barely practiced and made a return quicker than anticipated, he was great. Many fantasy players were unsure whether to play Nacua since the news dropped in the afternoon that Nacua would likely play. After dropping his first pass, Nacua bounced back to finish strong. Nacua led the Rams with 9 targets, caught 7 passes for 106 yards, and had 2 carries for 5 yards.
Cooper Kupp returned from injury, too. Did it go as well for him?
While the stats weren’t as good compared to Nacua, Kupp got the job done for those who started him. Kupp was second on the team with 8 targets and caught 5 passes for 51 yards with a touchdown. He had 15 yards at halftime, but caught a 27-yard pass late to extend a drive.
Does the return of the two receivers make Matthew Stafford more appealing in fantasy?
It definitely does. The offense moved the ball well and getting Nacua and Kupp back makes it difficult on the defense. It enabled Demarcus Robinson to score 2 touchdowns. With Kyren Williams continuing to be a top running back, the pieces are in place for Stafford to be a start in many matchups. Williams had 23 carries for 97 yards and caught 5 passes for 19 yards with a touchdown.
What stood out for the Vikings?
It’s what we expected. Sam Darnold had another good game, but left tackle Christian Darrisaw left the game with a knee injury and Darnold was under more pressure in the second half. Darnold passed for 240 yards with 2 touchdowns. Aaron Jones continued to get a big workload, as he had 19 carries for 58 yards and caught 2 passes for 37 yards. Justin Jefferson was upset he didn’t have a 100-yard game yet this season and finally got it with 8 catches for 115 yards on 9 targets.
What else is in today’s newsletter?
- Start/Sit Decisions for Week 8: Sneaky starts to target
- Watercooler: Buy/Sell/Hold
- Throwing Shade: Everyone knows this fantasy football manager …
An Unlikely Source of Fantasy Production
By Gene Clemons and John Laghezza
John Laghezza and Gene Clemons dig deep with non-obvious, outside-the-box lineup advice. John's a numbers guy, Gene is a literal football coach — what more could you ask for?
Good luck! Enjoy the column! And to fill in any players we didn't cover here, check out our premium set of expert fantasy football rankings.
Laghezza's Week 8 QBs/WRs/TEs To Start: An Unlikely Source
Packers (at JAX) — When Jaguar is on the menu, everyone’s eating good. Jacksonville is this year’s preeminent secondary to attack, ranking dead last in defensive EPA/dropback (-0.30), opposer passer rating (113.7), and passing touchdowns (16). The Jaguars will be doing their best to stop Green Bay, led by Jordan Love, this year’s QB4 in fantasy points/game. Even target distribution among the several skilled GB pass catchers spells fantasy frustration at times—but not this week. Start Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, and Tucker Kraft everywhere. With no teams on bye you may have better options than Christian Watson and Dontayvion Wicks, but they likely earn a nod in most 14-team formats.
Browns (at BAL) — Cleveland fans finally get their wish granted for an aggressive offense with QB Jameis Winston taking signals from new playcaller Ken Dorsey. The 2024 Ravens are a massive pass funnel. BAL not only stops the run (3.3 YPC) and can be beaten deep in the secondary (dead last in +20-yard completions), but they’re also a top-scoring offense pushing every game script deep into negative territory. Start Cedric Tillman and Elijah Moore with confidence, ready to hold your nose for garbage-time production.
Gene’s Bold Prediction: Sit Russell Wilson QB, Steelers
Amidst a lot of uncertainty and doubt from the fantasy community, Russell Wilson was inserted into the Steelers’ starting lineup and the offense produced its best statistical output of the season in their 37-15 beatdown of the Jets on Sunday Night Football. Wilson left a lot of naysayers seemingly looking foolish as he finished the week as fantasy's No. 3 QB in points scored.
I'm more than willing to admit to being wrong—after all, I like Wilson and have always believed that he needed more credit than he was given, especially during those Seahawks years. My problem is that his game was far too fluky for my taste. It was not precision passing or a well-constructed game plan that made him a fantasy standout.
There were incredible catches by receivers that made it a great day. Is that sustainable? Absolutely not. Unless I'm not aware of the aliens that came from Moron Mountain and turned these receivers into the Monstars, you can expect a regression. My suggestion is to wait another week and get a bigger sample size before you really let Russ cook in your fantasy lineup.
More Start/Sit Answers for Week 8
RELATED CONTENT:
- Week 8 Guillotine Leagues Game Plan: David Njoku helps avoid the chop?
- NFL Pigskin Pick’em: Picking every winner for Week 8.
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The latest analysis and insights from our merry band of football nerds:
❤️ Your Glorious Purpose today? Read this week’s Love/Hate.
✍️ Who can bounce back from goose eggs? Here’s cooterdoodle with some buy, sell, hold.
🚑 After setting notifications on Washington practice reports, check out our rankings updates.
☘️ So you’re saying there’s a chance, that DHop makes a splash with the Chiefs.
🏈 Has there been a flippening in the Giants’ backfield?
Throwing Shade … At The GM Who Tries to Trade You Someone They Just Picked Up
Throughout this season, we’ll be “throwing shade” at elements of fantasy that we could do without. Today’s topic: The Fantasy Player Who Tries to Trade You Someone They Just Picked Up.
And shoutout to Knockaround Sunglasses for the inspiration—this week we’re rocking the New York Giants frames—they need all the fans they can get after getting rid of Possibly the World’s Greatest Teammate.
Subject: The Fantasy Player Who Tries to Trade You Someone They Just Picked Up
Identifying Traits: The FPWTTTYSTJPU is easily identifiable—if you receive an offer of his/her three players for one of your studs, run. It is a guarantee at least one of those players offered will have been the 5th or 6th player picked off waivers this week, who has some kind of buzz but will have a ceiling of 6-8 fantasy points. Most of the time, one of the players in the deal will also be injured and accompanied with a note that “he’s coming back soon!” with a link to the Rotoworld player page.
Brief Synopsis: The problem with FPWTTTYSTJPU is a lack of awareness — this person assumes you don’t read the news or you didn’t put in waiver bids yourself. There are “hot” names every week on the wire—if you really wanted Sterling Shepard, you likely would have offered a trade for him on your own. Instead, he’s thrown into a deal with Diontae Johnson and Kimani Vidal for your Derrick Henry (“You have plenty of RB depth!”).
What to do if you see The FPWTTTYSTJPU in the wild: The funny thing about the FPWTTTYSTJPU is you’re likely best friends—she was probably in your wedding party. Be prepared to answer texts like “Why didn’t you respond to my trade offer?” An easy answer is “You dropped Shepard two days later,” which will be followed by something like “Yeah, I had to activate Cooper Kupp.” And then you move past it and make plans to walk around together on Halloween with your kids—and they will bring the vodka poured into Poland Spring bottles. Still, we throw shade, despite the strong bonds, because it is a silly tactic that always ends in either a rejected or ignored trade offer.
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