Week 6 Roundup

A-Z FFB
Oct 20, 2020
14 min read

Updated: Dec 3, 2020

Can y'all believe we are already SIX WEEKS through the 2020 NFL season? Wild times. This season has been a roller coaster ride so far, let's take a look at all things week 6.

Injuries:

Another week, another pile of injuries. There were a few notable injuries that I want to touch on. For a full rundown of injuries, I would recommend following Matthew Betz & Edwin Porras on Twitter for some more injury analysis.

- Miles Sanders - Knee *

- Zach Ertz - Ankle *

- Jonnu Smith - Ankle

- Baker Mayfield - Ribs *

- Diontae Johnson - Back (sustained week 5, DNP week 6) *

- Raheem Mostert - Ankle

Miles Sanders & Zach Ertz could both miss significant time due to injuries they sustained. Both underwent MRI's Monday. Ertz is expected to miss 2-4 weeks, Sanders is expected to miss 1-2 weeks.

Baker Mayfield was benched late in the game, he claims it was not injury related, but if it wasn't his ribs that were hurting, it was definitely his pride (ZING!!!). The Browns were taken to the woodshed by the Steelers, losing the week 6 contest 38-7. Mayfield has a knack for beating up on "inferior" opponents, despite a surprise win vs. the Colts in week 5. The Steelers were simply too much for the Browns in week 6. If Baker happens to miss any time, we will still get our fill of Mayfield via his Progressive Insurance commercials... yay.

Diontae Johnson was a surprise inactive on Sunday after practicing in a limited fashion later in the week. I am a massive Diontae Johnson truther, one of the biggest. In Johnson's absence, rookie, Chase Claypool continued to impress. I am not particularly worried about Diontae's target share when he does return to action. Claypool is here to stay, but I believe this impacts JuJu Smith-Schuster, evident by his 2 catches for 6 yards vs. CLE. Diontae is expected to suit up in week 7 to face off against the Titans, this matchup was postponed due to the TEN COVID outbreak.

Photo: Philip G. Pavely / USA TODAY Sports

What I Learned from Week 6:

- Packers, what you doin?

Let's get this one out of the way... The Packers got schmacked by Tampa Bay this weekend. Things were going great, then they weren't. Aaron Rodgers broke out the 'Key & Peele' Hingle McCringleberry TD celebration, and it was all downhill from there. Shoutout to the Tampa Bay defensive unit & Ronald Jones. TB's defense is elite. Lavonte David is a game wrecker. I have been talking up TB's defense since April, and they shut DOWN the NFL's top scoring offense. Ronald Jones recorded his third consecutive 100 yd. game, and looked damn good doing it. The Packers are 0-3 in the past three seasons in the week following their bye, so I am not too worried, just a little salty.

- New York Giants grab their first W of the year

It was only by a point, but a win is a win! The Giants defeated the Washington Football Team by a score of 20-19. I want to give a quick shoutout to Darius Slayton. Daniel Jones only attempted 19 passes during this game. On the podcast, I mentioned Slayton as a player I liked in this game, thank you, Darius for finding the end zone and making that call almost good, Slayton finished as a top 30 WR on the week. That'll do.

- Atlanta notches a win, Julio Jones: Not Washed

In the first week following Dan Quinn's firing, the Atlanta Falcons "upset" the Vikings in week 6. Matt Ryan threw the ball 40 times, completing 30 of those passing attempts. Julio Jones was the story of this game. In his first game back from a hamstring injury, Jones saw 10 targets, catching 8 of them for 137 yds. & 2 TD's. TWO TOUCHDOWNS!!! Calvin Ridley & Hayden Hurst also found the end zone in this matchup. The Falcons face the Lions in week 7.

Photo: sportscasting.com

- Da Bears, 5-1

In last week's article I raised the question, should we even care about the then 4-1 Bears? The Bears scored another victory, improving to 5-1. They now sit atop of the NFC North. Maybe it is time to start taking the Bears seriously? One thing is for sure, that Bears defense is legit.

- Eagles nearly complete the comeback vs. the Ravens

I have not watched this game yet, but NFL Twitter dug up some footage of Carson Wentz dropping some DIMES that his receivers just... dropped. Wentz has been under fire a lot this season, rightfully so, but there is more than meets the eye when evaluating Carson Wentz. The Eagles still lost this game, their record drops to 1-4-1. On a positive note, this was a gutsy comeback attempt, they were a bungled 2 pt. conversion away from another potential tie! Shifting to the Ravens... Lamar Jackson had a DAY on the ground (108 yds. / 1 TD), but Jackson has been extremely underwhelming through the air through 6 weeks, averaging less than 190 passing yards per game. Nonetheless, the Ravens are 5-1, so we can't be too critical while they continue racking up wins.

- Tennessee Titans remain undefeated

This was a CRAZY game. It started slow, but the second half was incredible. Ryan Tannehill went jab for jab with Deshaun Watson, both QB's threw for over 300 yards & 4 TD's. Derrick, nay, KING Henry recorded is 3rd career 200+ yard rushing game, Henry also found pay-dirt twice, including a 94 yard TD run that just makes you wonder, "How can someone that big move that fast?!" The WR's from both teams put on spectacular performances, I will touch on some of those names in the Popped Off | Dropped Off segment. So good, we needed extra an overtime period to declare a winner. Game of the weekend by a MILE. If you can go back and watch it, just do it.

Photo: Kevin C. Cox, wsmv.com

- The Dallas Cowboys, wasting talent since... forever.

The Dallas Cowboys completely flopped vs. the Arizona Cardinals. Andy Dalton's highly anticipated debut did NOT live up to the hype. Dalton completed 34 out of 54 passing attempts for just 266 yards and 1 TD. Additionally he threw 2 INT's. Zeke fumbled the ball, twice... Rookie sensation, CeeDee Lamb recorded another game with double digit targets, but just 64 yards to show for it. He also lost a fumble in the game. The Cowboys can't get out of their own way. They fall to 2-4 on the year. Silver lining? They are in first place in the NFC East... what a freaking joke.

Report Card:

It's exhausting just dunking on yourself week after week after week after week. Fact of the matter is, everyone misses, I'm sure we all have our own whiffs each and every weekend. I put a lot of time and effort into who I select as starts and sits of the week. Every ounce of my being wanted to pick Derrick Henry as my start of the week vs. the 32nd ranked rushing defense in the league... but that is too chalky... I try to dig a little deeper and advocate for a guy who I really believe can over deliver on their expectation. Ya win some, ya lose some. Going forward, I am going to emphasize not getting "too cute" with these calls, while also not giving "obvious" starts/sits. One thing I have noticed throughout this season is my process for evaluating matchups has improved each week. I have found new resources that help me gain a better understanding about who is actually in a plus matchup vs. who could actually be setup to disappoint. Always learning, always growing... Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED talk. Here is my week 6 report card:

Starts:

- QB - Kirk Cousins: I definitely had a mid-game tilt. At half time, Cousins was scoring NEGATIVE fantasy points. I declared that Cousins would never grace my "starts of the week" ever again... so congratulations Kirk, you pulled this one out for me. Despite a disgusting first half, Cousins rallied back in the second half and posted a QB 1 week.

-RB - Jonathan Taylor: Taylor's usage in this Colts offense continues to baffle me. The second round pick out of Wisconsin has only ONE game this year with over 20 total touches... I don't understand. That being said, Taylor's efficiency was on display vs. the Bengals. The game did not go how I had expected it, but Taylor amassed 115 yards from scrimmage, 60 on the ground, 55 through the air. Trey Burton stole a goal line carry from JT that would have resulted in a TD, but that's fantasy football in 2020 for ya. Overall, it was a down week for RB's, so Taylor's week 6 performance was good enough for a top 12 finish on the week.

Photo: www.alphastoxlikes.com

- WR- Laviska Shenault Jr.: More like, La-whif-ska Shenault Jr., am I right? For more content like this, hop over to my Twitter page, @ZackFFB. This was a huge miss for me. Viska was limited to 3 catches for just 10 yards (7 targets). Despite the poor stat line, if you watched this game Viska had one of the best 3 yard gains I have seen in my life, catching a pass out of the backfield (lined up as the RB) and working his way through 5 would be tacklers before being brought down. Again, a 3 yard gain, but that play highlights the kind of problem that Viska is with the ball in his hands.

- TE - Jonnu Smith: It's hard to call it a total miss because Smith did miss a significant chunk of this game, but even while playing, Smith only caught 1 pass for 13 yards. It was the other TE, Anthony Firkser, who really popped off catching 8 of 9 targets for 113 yards and a score. Smith did not help your team win, given Firkser's performance it's hard to determine if his injury impacted that outcome or not in week 6.

Sits:

- QB - Teddy Bridgewater: Coming off of a QB 1 week, Bridgewater ran into a stellar Bears defense, especially vs. the pass. Teddy only completed 16/29 passes for 216 yards. No TD's, 2 picks. It is worth noting that he did rush the ball 8 times for nearly 50 yards. This effort resulted in a low end QB 2 finish from Bridgewater, and the Panthers lost the game, breaking their winning streak.

- RB - Miles Sanders: If you caught the podcast, which you should totally listen to if you don't already, you will know that I merely said "temper your expectations" for Miles Sanders. Welp, Sanders did it again. His second straight game vs. a great defense. His second straight game with a 74 yard run. No TD's in this one, but Sanders did post 118 rushing yards before exiting this game with a knee injury. Miles Sanders is #Good. Now let's hope that his knee injury is not serious. (Oh, catch the podcast right here! --> Podcast links)

Photo: Yong Kim / www.inquirer.com

- WR - D.J. Moore: In some ways this game could be viewed as a success for D.J. Moore. It was one of the rare games this year that Moore out-targeted teammate Robby Anderson. Moore caught 5 of his 11 targets for 93 yards. Moore has now posted back to back games with 93 receiving yards, this one coming against one of the NFL's best passing defenses. Moore finished the week as a low end WR 2.

Photo: panthers.com

- TE - Austin Hooper: Hooper finished outside of the top 12 TE's, but still gave you a "serviceable" 7.7 points in 0.5 PPR scoring. There were obviously better options ahead of him, but Hooper did not submarine your team, and his involvement in this offense has become more consistent over the past two weeks.

My Score:

I'll go ahead and count Jonnu as a miss, I was 50% on my starts of the week. Viska was a huge surprise to me, as he was leading the team in targets & receptions heading into week 6. He just couldn't get going. That being said, I still believe in the talent of Laviska Shenault, he will likely appear in a future 'Starts of the Week' segment. As far as my misses, I might be done betting against Miles Sanders, BUT I stand by my calls, both this week and last week, of saying that Sanders could have easily been a bust. Good players make plays, but in week 5, 92.5% of Sanders's 80 yards came on a single play, & in week 6 62.7% of Sanders's yards came on a single play. Once he returns from injury, we will see if Sanders can fool me thrice. D.J. Moore did disappoint relative to his draft capital, but it is encouraging to see Moore getting double digit targets for just the second time this year.

Final Grade: C

Popped Off | Dropped Off

Popped Off:

- QB - Deshaun Watson - QB 1 | 32 pts.

28/37 passing / 335 yds. / 4 TD | 4 rush att. / 26 yds.

- QB - Ryan Tannehill - QB 5 | 28.6

30/41 passing / 364 yds. / 4 TD / 1 INT

- RB - Derrick Henry - RB 1 | 39.4 pts.

Rushing - 22 att. / 212 yds. / 2 TD | Receiving - 2 rec. / 52 yds.

- RB - Kenyan Drake - RB 2 | 28.4 pts.

Rushing - 20 att. / 164 yds. / 2 TD

- RB - D'Andre Swift - RB 3 | 25.8 pts.

Rushing - 14 att. / 116 yds. / 2 TD | Receiving - 3 rec. / 7 yds.

- WR - Justin Jefferson - WR 1 | 35.1 pts.

11 tgt. / 9 rec. / 166 yds. / 2 TD

- WR - Julio Jones - WR 2 | 29.7 pts.

10 tgt. / 8 rec. / 137 yds. / 2 TD

- WR - Keelan Cole - WR 7 | 17.3 pts.

9 tgt. / 6 rec. / 143 yds. / 0 TD

- TE - Anthony Firkser - TE 1 | 21.3 pts.

9 tgt. / 8 rec. / 113 yds. / 1 TD

- TE - Trey Burton - TE 3 | 19.9

5 tgt. / 4 rec. / 80 yds. / 1 TD | 1 rush att. / 1 yd. / 1 TD

***

Dropped Off:

- QB - Andy Dalton - QB 22 | 11 pts.

34/54 passing / 266 yds. / 1 TD / 1 INT | 2 rush att. / 4 yds.

- QB - Aaron Rodgers - QB 27 | 3.8 pts.

16/35 passing / 160 yds. / 0 TD / 2 INT | 2 rush att. / 14 yds.

- RB - Ezekiel Elliot - RB 28 | 8 pts.

Rushing - 12 att. / 49 yds. / 0 TD / 2 FUM | Receiving - 8 rec. / 31 yds.

- RB - Kareem Hunt - RB 31 | 6.7 pts.

Rushing - 13 att. / 40 yds. / 0 TD | Receiving - 2 rec. / 17 yds.

- WR - Davante Adams - WR 34 | 9.1 pts.

10 tgt. / 6 rec. / 61 yds. / 0 TD

- WR - DeAndre Hopkins - WR 38 | 8.3 pts.

8 tgt. / 2 rec. / 73 yds. / 0 TD

- WR - Allen Robinson - WR 44 | 7.8 pts.

9 tgt. / 5 rec. / 53 yds. / 0 TD

- TE - Evan Engram - TE 26 | 4 pts.

3 tgt. / 2 rec. / 30 yds. / 0 TD

- TE - Mark Andrews - TE 30 | 3.1 pts.

4 tgt. / 2 rec. / 21 yds. / 0 TD

The Waiver Wire:

Quarterback:

Jimmy Garoppolo - QB, 49ers - 27% Rostered

I was struggling to find a QB worth writing about this week. If you are in desperate need of a QB streamer, Jimmy G. is the best available according to Yahoo Fantasy at the moment. Garoppolo followed up his benching vs. Miami with a solid game vs. the Rams. Unfortunately he gets New England in week 7. Ideally you have a better option, but if you are heading to the waiver wire for a QB, Jimmy G. is the best available option given his plethora of weapons.

Running Back:

Boston Scott - RB, Eagles - 15% Rostered

With Miles Sanders expected to miss 1-2 weeks with a knee injury, Boston Scott should be a serviceable fill in. Please note, back-ups are back-ups for a reason. Boston Scott was the starter in week 1 while Miles Sanders was on the mend, Scott only recorded 54 yards from scrimmage. Ideally you already have depth on your bench, but if you are in a pinch, Scott should provide FLEX worthy numbers while filling in for Sanders.

Joshua Kelley - RB, Chargers - 46% Rostered

Joshua Kelley found himself on the wrong side of a RB timeshare with Justin Jackson in week 5. Now add in that the Chargers were on bye in week 6, there is a chance that Joshua Kelley ended up back on your waiver wire. Kelley has recorded double digit carries 3 times this year, including a 23 carry week 2 vs. Kansas City. Kelley also has at least 1 target in four out of five games so far this year. With the absence of Austin Ekeler, the Chargers will likely be taking a 'hot hand' approach to their backfield. Kelley has been the hot hand before, and he can do it again.

Photo: Emilee Chinn / Associated Press

Jerrick McKinnon - RB, 49ers - 67% Rostered

McKinnon is in line for another dose of work after Raheem Mostert sustained a high ankle sprain. The latest report is that Mostert could end up on the IR while nursing this injury. McKinnon still has a high roster %, so he may not be available in your leagues, but definitely take a look. During his time as the starter, McKinnon accounted for 38 total touches and 2 TD's over a two week span.

Jamycal Hasty - RB. 49ers - 1% Rostered

If McKinnon is NOT available, another deep name to keep an eye on is Jamycal Hasty. The rookie RB out of Baylor generated a lot of buzz in camp, during Mostert's first absence due to injury, Hasty was called up to the active roster. In week 6 vs. the Rams Hasty registered 9 carries for 37 yards.

Wide Receiver:

Travis Fulgham - WR, Eagles - 46% Rostered

Travis Fulgham saw his second consecutive week with double digit targets, and scored in his third straight game. With TE, Zach Ertz now out for 2-4 weeks, there is no reason to believe that Fulgham will fall out of favor with QB Carson Wentz. Expect him to be involved moving forward. Here is another pic of Travis Fulgham in case you still don't know who he is.

Photo: sports.yahoo.com

Corey Davis & Adam Humphries - WRs, Titans - (AH) 9% Rostered - (CD) 25% Rostered

Humphries made a splash in his first week back from the COVID/IR list. Humphries caught all 6 of his targets for 64 yards & a TD vs. Houston. Additionally WR Corey Davis was activated from the COVID/IR list following week 6's matchup. QB, Ryan Tannehill now has three games this season with at least 37 passing attempts, and somehow he remains efficient. I would prioritize Davis over Humphries, but both are worth a look if you are in need of a spot start.

Tim Patrick - WR, Broncos - 18% Rostered

Tim Patrick has now recorded back-to-back 100+ yard games for the Broncos. Denver also got their starting QB, Drew Lock, back last week. Denver's WR core is very depleted, but Tim Patrick has certainly risen to the occasion. I think Patrick is worth a look if you are desperate for a starter due to a bye week or injuries on your roster.

Tight End:

Dallas Goedert - TE, Eagles - 41% Rostered

Dallas Goedert has been on IR since week 3. In the first three weeks of the season, Goedert amassed 18 targets (this includes his 1 target / 1 reception game vs. Cincinnati where he was injured). It has not been made clear whether or not Goedert will be activated this week, but the expected prognosis was that he would miss around three weeks. If his recovery is on schedule, he should be back very soon. Goedert is worth a look, and if you are able to stash him on your bench I would advise that you do so, as Carson Wentz is desperate for reliable pass catchers.

Rob Gronkowski - TE, Buccaneers - 62% Rostered

Gronk is beginning to look like his old self down there in the Tampa Bay heat. Sunday vs. the Packers, Gronk scored his first TD as a Buc. He was also targeted 8 times, catching 5 passes for 78 yards. While Gronk's receiving totals have not been incredible, what is worth noting is his snap %. Through 6 weeks, Gronk is playing an average of 81.6% of the team's offensive snaps. He is already out there a ton, and now it looks like the targets may be coming his way.

Photo: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images

Jimmy Graham - TE, Bears - 59% Rostered

Ole Jimmy Graham has quietly been very reliable this year. He currently ranks as the TE 7 (0.5 PPR) on the year. Graham has seen 36 targets on the season, a 15% market share of the team's total targets. Graham has also already scored 4 TD's this year, surpassing his TD totals from his two seasons in Green Bay (2018, 2 & 2019, 3) in just 6 games with the Bears. Graham may already be rostered in your league, but with 41% availability, he is worth a look.

Anthony Firkser - TE, Titans - 1% Rostered

I wanted to include Firkser here just in case TE, Jonnu Smith's injury is more serious than initially believed. Firkser filled in admirably for Smith while he was injured during week 6's game vs. the Texans. Keep an eye on the health of Jonnue Smith heading into week 7. If he is hurt and there is a threat of him missing time, Firkser certainly proved that he is capable of assuming starting TE duties in the interim.

I'm already late posting this... Here's the GIF.