2021 Dynasty/Fantasy Game Analysis Week 9: Dolphins 17, Texans 9
You've got to be kidding me with this one. I've watched several boring games this year, but this one was quite possibly the worst. The score was 17-6 at halftime...
There's not much to say about this one. 5 INT's between them. 4 Fumbles. Just a bit over 500 yards total offense combined. Two of the worst offensive lines in the league. Two of the worst QB's. Probably the absolute worst two groups of skill position players. If you didn't see this one you aren't missing anything.
The only real note I have to mention about this game is that this is the 2nd week in a row that the Miami defense has shown up. They were getting smacked pretty hard early in the year, but it looks like things might finally be coming together. They really fought the Bills hard and completely shut down the Texans here. (Spoiler alert: they crushed the Ravens during their Thursday night game. This trend is real). This might suddenly be a defense that you have to think twice about.
Miami has quite an easy schedule the rest of the year, and if they can get Tua back healthy I could see them finishing up strong with 3 or 4, maybe 5 wins if they get lucky and pulling close to .500.
Houston...well, we all knew this was coming. They were projected to be the worst team in the league during the preseason and they are living up to the low expectations. Only the Lions are possibly worse. This team will be extremely lucky if they can get to 3 or 4 wins.
Fantasy Notes
--How is Myles Gaskin (20-34-1, 6-23-0/6) still a thing? Seriously. You wish your RB's coach loved him as much as Flores loves Gaskin. This guy gets 20 carries while Jordan Howard, David Johnson, and Tyson Williams are lucky to get the time of day. It's borderline criminal. There is 0% chance Gaskin is still starting for Miami in 2022.
*RC NOTE: 0% only if Brian Flores is fired. It’s 100% if Flores is retained.
--How good has Mike Gesicki (4-54-0/8) become? If he had an elite QB this guy could be putting up numbers to match the best Travis Kelce years. Some of the catches he made in this game were unreal. It's been an amazing transformation from the soft, shaky hands TE we saw coming out of college. He's going to finish as a top 5 TE in fantasy this year despite getting so few TD's. Just a QB away in dynasty and he's still quite cheap…
*RC NOTE: I’ve been on the same vibe with Gesicki, but I’m going to make Ross write up/explain Gesicki’s (0-0-0/7) game against Baltimore. Perhaps the most bizarre stat line of the 2021 season.
--The other Dolphin I want for dynasty and redraft is Jaylen Waddle (8-83-0/10). It doesn't matter that he's not the Tyreek clone he was hyped up as during the draft. He's still plenty fast, is a quality receiver, and most importantly his team loves him. Never thought we'd be talking about Waddle as a ppr monster, but that's exactly what he's become.
--I theorized that Phillip Lindsay (8-28-0) would be the primary 1st and 2nd down back after the Ingram trade and that's exactly what we've got here. You'd think that would be good for fantasy, but Houston's line sucks so badly that there's just nowhere to run. Also the team is constantly trailing which forces them to throw more and Lindsay never gets passing game work for some reason. The only weeks where Lindsay might be worth playing in deep weeks is when Houston plays an equally as bad opponent where they can keep the score close.
--David Johnson still looks like one of the better 10 or 12 RB's in the league, but he's splitting too much on this garbage team to matter.
--The only player that should be rostered in normal leagues from Houston is Brandin Cooks (6-56-0/14). He is the engine of the offense, and even though he's drawing top coverage and everyone knows he's getting the ball, he's still been a solid ppr this year even with Tyrod and Mills throwing him the ball.
--3rd string TE Antony Auclair (2-23-0/2) randomly played more snaps than Akins and Jordan here. Not sure what's going on with that. I don't see any reason to think this is an emerging trend or something to jump on.
IDP Notes
--It doesn't always show up on the stat sheet, but Emmanuel Ogbah (4 tackles, 2.5 sacks) has been playing fantastic football this year. It showed up here as he decimated a bad Houston offensive line.
--I love watching Roy Lopez (3 tackles, 1 sack). He is already a load for most interior lineman to handle and he just never stops coming. He's only playing about 30 snaps a game right now, but he's still putting up good numbers despite it. What can he do when he's a starter?
*RC NOTE: See our CFM scouting report on him where we discovered him ahead of the all scouts, and may have been the source that tipped off someone in the Texans personnel department.
Snap Counts of Interest
67 = Brandin Cooks
48 = Nico Collins
34 = Danny Amendola
34 = Antony Auclair
25 = Jordan Akins
20 = Brevin Jordan
31 = David Johnson
21 = Rex Burkhead
14 = Phillip Lindsay
65 = Jaylen Waddle
60 = Mack Hollins
17 = Albert Wilson
59 = Mike Gesicki
45 = Durham Smythe
36 = Adam Shaheen
54 = Myles Gaskin
14 = Salvon Ahmed
