2020 Dynasty/Fantasy Week 6: Game Analysis: Giants 20, Football Team 19

 

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.

 

This was a chore to watch.

How, in 2020, are these two QBs starting on purpose for NFL teams?

Daniel Jones has been exposed as even more of a fraud since Saquon Barkley went out…Allen is so bad he makes Kyle Allen look ‘not so bad’. In reality, these are bad QBs and watching them play each other was embarrassing…an offense to my football sensibilities.

The only way to recap this game is – both QBs suck. Their O-Lines are terrible. They have no run games, and their QBs cannot complete the most basic of passes consistently…but both teams have promising, decent defenses. They played a game, and the one team that got a late strip sack fumble scoop-and-score won the game after the other failed to convert a two pointer at the buzzer.

The Football Team scored late and decided to go for two and the win versus taking a tie. We’re seeing a lot of teams fail in these gutsy ‘go for two’ situations – to me, it shows the utter lack of coaching sense and prowess in the NFL. Not that it was a bad decision – I’d go for a win right in front of me 100 times out of 100. I’m sick of teams playing to tie, kicking short field goals all game (and worse when they do it facing Mahomes or Rodgers or Wilson, etc.), punting for field position instead of going for it on 4th & 1s at midfield.

Football players are so coached, so conditioned to risk aversion their entire football lives that they don’t feel comfortable going for two in a tight spot. If they did go for things all the time, they’d have the mental reps/advantage over the unpracticed/un-used to it defenses. Instead, the unpracticed/inexperienced in these situations offense goes for two and chokes a lot.

Practicing a ‘go for two play’ the final two minutes of your Friday practices is not ‘prep’ enough for the real battle.

NFL teams ‘going for two’ are like a person who has never spoken in public, and knows that they are introverts, but then suddenly they decide to give a speech in front of 50,000-to-16M people watching them next week and their prep in the week going into the big speech is watching a quick YouTube video on ‘Public Speaking’ on Friday night.

Never-ending books could be written on how not to conduct business just by studying and reporting on how poorly NFL teams run and coached.

So, Washington went for two…and failed. Big shock.

The Giants now play for first place against the Eagles Thursday. Washington plays for first place vs. Dallas Sunday. If either NYG or WSH had a decent QB…they could win this division. Washington in more of a position to because Kyle Allen is the 2nd-best QB in the NFC East now. Daniel Jones is the worst QB in the NFL or CFL right now. Those Manning’s sure know football, right? Let’s listen to them more on Daniel Jones and Adam GasePeyton Manning will be an NFL analyst and a GM in no time, mark my words.

 

 

Fantasy Player Notes…

 

 -- Just to further the QB discussion…

Both these QBs are so bad it’s killing their WRs/TEs for Fantasy. You have to run from Daniel Jones/Kyle Allen and run to where offense is, hidden preferably to buy in cheap today (which is LAC and BUF primarily).

1) You trade Darius Slayton (3-41-1/4) off this TD event. Two good games in a row – must sell hot now. Not his issue, it’s the worry that Dan Demise will not throw 10 TD passes this year the rest of the way.

2) Evan Engram (2-30-0/3) cannot be trusted. He’s awesome, but Jones + Jason Garrett = a joke. Engram opened this game up with a sweet 21-yard pass play. He had one more touch the rest of 43 plays for NYG. He’s their best player and they barely try and use him now.

He’s a TE flyer that you hope you find the game they finally decide to use him or he just breaks a big play off one of his two catches…a good situation like this week vs. a bad-v-TE defense of Philly, for the division lead. I wish I could count on it…if Jason Garrett wasn’t such a dolt.

3) Terry McLaurin (7-74-0/12), like Slayton, is a fine player…but he's a slave to the QB and Allen is a short passer/dumper not a medium/deep specialist. McLaurin’s upside is limited to this type of game.

4) Steve Sims would be an interesting fit, but I don’t know if Sims is now benched, or was just hurt and held back or what is going on.

 

 -- The DSTs in this game were/are the most interesting things…because they have decent defenses BUT they also play the other awful NFC East teams a lot ahead – and that’s of supreme FF-interest.

The problem with trying to sit on both together is their schedules don’t mesh well. They are both not bad/looks good Weeks 7-12 but then both their schedules turn dark (out of division) Weeks 13-16.

The Giants have the better all-around defense, but worse offense to support it.

Washington has a good fantasy defense because they get a lot of pressure/sacks for upside scoring, but they also give up big plays and have downside risk.

Pick your poison.

I like Washington by a hair the next six weeks except the Week 8 BYE. Like, not love. You got a six-week window with them facing…Dalton, BYE, Dan Jones, Stafford, Burrow, Dalton.

 

 -- The one thing that’s been working for weeks on the Washington offense, is a player no one believes in, but should for PPR…J.D. McKissic (8-41-0, 6-43-0/6).

Think about it…if Washington is still in this thing/FNC East, a win away, they are going with their best players/options – and McKissic is Washington’s best back, mainly because he’s so great in the Kyle Allen short passing game. He’s their low rent Christian McCaffrey. He’s like a slot WR playing RB.

PPR points the past three weeks, Gibson v. McKissic:

Week 4 = 22.8 to 10.6 Gibson

Week 5 = 10.9 to 10.1 McKissic

Week 6 = 14.4 to 9.5 McKissic

 

PPR points the past three weeks, James Robinson v. McKissic:

Week 4 = 14.7 to 10.6 JRob

Week 5 = 11.0 to 10.9 JRob

Week 6 = 15.3 to 14.4 JRob

Not much difference, no?

You could do worse than McKissic as a PPR fill-in during BYE weeks, and he has upside. He’s really very good.

 

 -- Two Washington defenders to note that I’m pretty much ready to fold on for IDP, because I’m tired of waiting/I should just trust what the coaching staffs are saying…

1) Troy Apke went to the bench this week for Deshazor Everett (6 tackles). Apke played special teams. He’s likely dead now.

2) I was excited to see Cole Holcomb (6 tackles, 1.0 TFLs) starting, but that was for one play…then 5-6 plays later back in. Mostly he was rotating in and out. He looked fine but he’s not a desired piece for Washington. I loosely hold him in deep roster IDPs. It may pay off someday, but probably not. He has all the signs of a defender I like that the NFL coaches do not, at linebacker.

 

 

Snap Counts of Interest:

 

35 = Devonta

04 = Gallman

 

40 = Slayton

36 = Austin Mack

30 = Tate

 

39 = McKissic

27 = Gibson

08 = Barber

 

48 = Bostic

34 = Pierre-Louis

31 = Holcomb