Fantasy football Week 3 kicked off Thursday night with an emotional battle between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles which marked the return of Andy Reid to the city that booed Santa Claus. As always let's get right to all the notable fantasy football action.
- It was not a night for the quarterbacks, in particular Michael Vick Thursday night. Taking a page out of his inconsistent and turnover-prone past, Vick completed only 13-of-30 for 201 yards and 1 TD with 2 big interceptions. Vick also lost a fumble which gave him three turnovers on the night. If not for the 95 yards rushing, it would have been one big disaster for Vick and his fantasy football owners. A few things on Vick: one is that Andy Reid clearly has a firm book on his former QB so the struggles were not a surprise to some degree. However this also was a look back at how poorly Vick can play at times and this is not what his to this point excited fantasy football owners wanted to see. Clearly these owners are feeling a bit skittish having Vick as their starter right now but if you took my advice, you drafted him as your backup only.
Another thing on Vick. The book on Vick is that once he starts to get hit, whether it is early in a game or early in the season, he loses his mechanics, gets skittish in the pocket, and the turnovers start to flow. It will be interesting to see next week if this pattern continues as Vick as hit all night long.
As far as Alex Smith was concerned, it was a typical Alex Smith night as he threw for 273 yards with no scores or picks while rushing for 33. Again he should be only used in two-QB formats.
-Now for the running backs . With Reid coaching the Chiefs and having coached the Eagles for years, the one thing he emphasized on offense was putting the ball in the running backs' hands both in the running and receiving game. We saw that in both runners last night in a major way. First Kansas City's Jamaal Charles continued his big start to the season with 92 rushing yards on 20 carries and 1 TD. Charles has still yet to rush for 100 yards in the first three games but as you know that is never the whole story when it comes to his dynamic game. Charles also chipped in a PPR-busting 7 receptions for another 80 yards. Charles now has caught 6, 7, and 8 passes in the first three games as he cements his status as PPR gold. With Ray Rice and Arian Foster off to slow starts, Charles is right there with this next guy behind Adrian Peterson in the updated running back rankings which will be released later.
Getting over to LeSean McCoy, his terrific start continued as well as he rushed for a ridiculous 158 yards and 1 TD. McCoy is looking like he will lead the NFL in rushing in this offense but unlike Charles, he is not catching passes which bears watching. McCoy has only 6 catches in the three games which calls into questions whether Chip Kelly emphasizes throwing to the running back. No matter, McCoy has been a monster as he has rushed for 184, 53, and 158 yards in his three outings. Wow. The only concern I have is in December when the fantasy football playoffs begin. Could McCoy be worn down than? McCoy hinted at concern for this when he ran 31 times in the team's opener. He did a sprain an ankle in the second quarter but returned later. With so much time off before the next game, McCoy will be all right. Stay tuned.
-Not much to speak of in the receiving games outside of the on again/off again performance of Donni Avery of Kansas City. Avery came out of hibernation to catch 7 passes for 144 yards. In fact the Eagles had no answers for Avery who was constantly openly all night and who added major yardage after the reception. We have seen this song and dance out of Avery before, especially last season in Indy. He will have his big games and than follow them up with duds. Call him the newer version of Lance Moore. Pick him up if you want to but Avery has a lot more to prove to be an every week option. DeSean Jackson caught only 3 passes for 62 yards to start his fantasy football owners on a bad note. Jason Avant chipped in 5 catches for 87 yards and a touchdown but no one owns him anyway. Dwayne Bowe meanwhile continued to be quiet with 1 whole catch for 4 yards. In fact to put it accurately, Bowe has been a dog. Alex Smith does not throw the football down the field which kind of neuters Bowe's fantasy football impact. Not good. WR 3 is looking like his status right now which is a major downgrade in his ability.
There you have it. Post comments below.
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