2020 Dynasty/Fantasy Week 4: Game Analysis: Ravens 31, Football Team 17
I take notes during the live watch. I re-watch the game on tape looking for hidden clues to report on. Here are my notes/takes on what I saw and how it related to FF 2020. I write anywhere from 1,000-3,000+ words on each game, and I have to move fast to get to all of them through the week…so, please forgive any typos/grammar.
Is anyone surprised by this outcome? Did anyone learn anything new about these teams?
The Ravens cruised.
Dwayne Haskins sucks (and his career ended).
Everything that happened is mostly irrelevant because Washington will never play a game with Haskins starting on purpose again and Chase Young was out for TFC’s defense.
This is almost a waste of my time to re-watch.
…but we need to touch on the Kyle Allen affect ahead for FF.
Actually, I was surprised by the outcome here a little…despite Haskins…despite Chase Young out…Ravens coming off an embarrassment on MNF – Washington kinda put up a tiny fight. The Ravens didn’t totally steam roll them by 25+ like I thought they might/have done to many recent weaker opponents. And Haskins threw for 300+ yards.
Washington beat Philly opening day. Washington led Cleveland in the 4th-quarter Week 3 before Haskins gave it away. Washington, for a bad team, actually isn’t that bad (thus the Haskins change) and they played superior Baltimore not-so-awful.
The F-Team’s defense is made to give the Rams fits Week 5. The Rams are S-A-W-F-T and Washington is high pressure. I like the F-Team to cover and maybe outright win this week. If they do, they go to (2-3) with NYG-DAL-BYE-NYG-DET-CIN the next 6 weeks…all winnable games/weak opponents (which TFC is too). Washington could very well be (5-5) heading into a killer part of their schedule starting Week 12. They could also be (3-7) or (7-3). At least there is hope in D.C. for TFC.
Baltimore continues to destroy regular season opponents, except KC last week. They are (15-1) in their last 16 regular season games. CIN and at PHI the next two weeks before their BYE, so make it (17-1) in their last 18 games two weeks from now. I can’t wait for their showdown game with PIT in Week 8.
Fantasy Player Notes…
-- So, what happens to Washington with Kyler Allen now starting? Well, first things first…please note that Kyle Allen kinda sucks as well, just not as much as Dwayne Haskins (32-45 for 314 yards, 0 TD/0 INT). It’s not like a great QB is taking over. Things get a bit better, probably ‘safer’ for trying to win NFL games. It’s likely biding time to Alex Smith taking over.
What happens for FF purposes?
One thing I wanted to point out from this game, it’s why Washington kept it close and why Haskins passed for 300+ yards – what a great game of screen passes, tunnel screen passes, bubble screen passes by TFC. A very smart game plan by O-C Scott (Spawn of Norv) Turner. If they deploy that strategy ahead…it’s going to good for the short passing game winners (the RBs specially) from this week (and great for Joe Mixon in Week 5 v. BAL if Zac Taylor pays attention to this game tape).
Washington completed 32 passes here…11 to the RBs. Much of Isaiah Wright’s 4 catches were at/behind the LOS almost like he was an RB. Very smart when you’re under gunned in an NFL game.
Kyle Allen winners and losers for FF:
1) WINNER Terry McLaurin (10-118-0/14) – Allen wore out D.J. Moore last year, made him a star due to volume. You’d assume he’ll do the same for McLaurin.
Note – WAS has two games in the next 4 weeks with NYG…James Bradberry on McLaurin isn’t going to be that juicy for Terry for FF, potentially.
McLaurin as a WR1 the rest of the year is on the table now, at least.
2) WINNER J.D. McKissic (2-6-0, 7-40-0/8) – He can be a HUGE PPR winner here…from that standpoint that if you want a James White-type guy, here he is…could have anywhere from 3-10 catches per game as an easy throw out of the backfield – like this game. Kyle Allen is used to throwing to Christian McCaffrey a lot, so here would be his guy for that.
3) SMALL WINNER Antonio Gibson (13-46-1. 4-82-0/5) -- wins by just being in a little better offense. He was doing fine already.
4) UNKNOWN Steven Sims (DNP) v. Isaiah Wright (4-20-0/5) – I don’t know if Sims was benched Week 3 due to his toe injury, or by preference. I think Sims may be on ‘the outs’. If he’s not, he’d get in on these tunnel and bubble screens and be a WR3/flex excitement again. It’s unclear his future right now.
Wright, for his part, is solid but he’s nowhere near as exciting as Sims. But Sims may be toast with the staff here. I’m really not sure. I’m getting mixed signals.
5) NEUTRAL Logan Thomas (1-8-0/4) – No change. Haskins threw a lot to Thomas, blindly. Allen probably won’t. Lesser targets, better QB…net neutral. Greg Olsen nor Ian Thomas flourished with Allen in Carolina last year.
Note…this is the same QB, O-C, and head coach from Carolina 2019. Comparisons and assumptions of 2019 and 2020 are warranted and valid.
-- I thought the Ravens might give J.K. Dobbins (5-16-0, 1-1-0/1) as push here after they got embarrassed on MNF, maybe a refresh of the offense was needed/desired – nope. He got the opposite of a push. He got his least work all year. Barely played when it mattered. Back into a holding pattern.
-- Note, Marquise Brown (4-86-0/8) has no TDs this season, but he caught a pass here and turned it into a long play and near-TD – falling a yard short. He’s fallen a yard or so short of a TD 2-3x already this season. Don’t write him off for lack of TDs. He’s due for a 100+ yard game with multi-TDs.
This week against the Bengals lines up nicely.
-- We all respect the Ravens defense, especially their pass defense, but…
They are #26 in pass yards per game allowed this season.
Opposing QBs have completed 67.3% of their passes against them with 6 TDs/2 INTs. They are middle of the pack in sacks.
This pass defense may not be as great as we think.
Also, Mahomes makes up a chunk of the bad stats. Minus the KC game…they are more upper half of the league in pass D things. It will be interesting to see if rookie Joe Burrow is thrown for a loop…or works through them without much struggle.
The Ravens-DST has a nice schedule ahead…only a Week 7 BYE, Week 8 v. PIT, Week 12 at PIT, Week 13 v. DAL are real threats to them – and the PIT games are usually slogs/wars.
The Rams-DST is a good pairing, but more achievable…the Bills-DST picked up ahead is a step in the right direction. Bills v. Jets Week 7 when BAL is on a BYE.
Snap Counts of Interest:
39 = McKissic
31 = Gibson
22 = Edwards
21 = Dobbins
14 = Ingram
