2020 Dynasty/Fantasy Week 7: Game Analysis: Eagles, 22, Giants 21
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.
It looked like, for a moment, the NY football Giants would be in 1st-place (tied) after Week 7 with a big win over the Eagles…it was minutes away, but then it was gone. The Eagles scored on their final drive with seconds remaining and it was Philly that took a commanding lead in the NFC East.
All I kept thinking Thursday night watching these two turds play each other – man, I liked Thursday Night’s prior week game so much better (there was none).
The Eagles win to go to (2-4-1) and if they beat Dallas next week…they will almost put away the division, in a sense. If Dallas wins that Week 8 battle -- then the much-maligned Cowboys will take the NFC East upper hand.
If the Eagles win Week 8…we still only see them finishing with 6 wins, but 6-9-1 would likely win this division.
A loss to Dallas Week 8, with such a tough schedule ahead for Philly (@CLE-SEA-@GB-NO-@ARI-@DAL Weeks 11-16)…the Eagles might all be but finished for the NFC East. But the division is so awful, you can’t count anyone out. If Washington beats Dallas this week…all hell will break loose in a three-team race all the sudden. Three bad teams…and the Giants still, technically, in it.
The Giants have fallen way behind now. They could’ve had some real long-shot hope to win the NFC East, but this loss really pierced that bubble. Losing here, knowing Daniel Jones is not ‘it’, and no Saquon Barkley in 2020…the Giants are ‘folding’. They traded DE Markus Golden to Arizona Friday, to send the signal that they realize they have little chance to compete, even in this mess of an NFC East.
Fantasy Player Notes…
-- I’m dead serious here… Carson Wentz (25-43 for 359 yards, 2 TDs/1 INT, 7-14-1) should be in the league MVP discussion.
He’s not playing very good football, but you shouldn’t lay it at his feet -- consider he has had no offensive line all year…they’ve lost virtually every OL starter from the jump. They’ve lost all their starting WRs and TEs in-season…and now they’re missing their starting RB for a week or two. Wentz has had nothing to work with and he’s getting crap kicked out of him in the numbers of hits he’s taking – but he’s giving his body over to the game taking a league leading amount of hits (including his increased running), winning this game and near wins vs. BAL and PIT the prior two weeks – doing it with Travis Fulgham and Richard Rodgers. To that end, Doug Pederson is in the Coach of the Year discussion…not ‘to be fired’ mocking.
I’m not a Wentz guy, but he’s giving every ounce of everything he has to try and win games for the Eagles. You have to give him a lot of credit.
He’s also becoming a top QB1 FF play by attrition because he is the offense…he’s rushing for a TD almost every game, and now starting to toss 2 TDs a game the past three weeks. He’s likely to have worked his way to the top 10-12 QBs in PPG for the entire season once this week closes. Considering how bad it started – that’s a credit to him, and it pushes the Jalen Hurts takeover story almost off the table for 2020 (unless injury hits…which the way Wentz is taking hits, might happen sooner than we think).
-- Daniel Jones (20-30 for 187 yards, 2 TDs/1 INT, 4-92-0)…not an MVP performance. He’s getting painful to watch play QB. He’s functionally illiterate playing the position.
My guess is NYG plays out the season with Jones starting all the way to give the world a whole year to see how bad he is and then they’ll be able draft a new QB in 2021.
May I remind the class…this was the #6 pick in the NFL Draft.
The next pick after Jones…Jacksonville promising edge pass rusher Josh Allen.
After Jones was taken #6, three more QBs went top 100 overall. Dwayne Haskins (#15), Drew Lock (#42), Will Grier (#100). Jones-Haskins-Lock-Grier…four mega-busts. And I defy you to find ANY football scout or analysts alive who called these four QBs scouting, pre-Draft, better than I did at College Football Metrics?
-- Boston Scott (12-46-0, 3-46-1/5) saved a fantasy disaster (of his scoring) with an alley-oop throw off a poorly executed wheel route turned stunning, game winning TD catch for Scott.
With this O-Line and all the WR/TE issues, Scott had nowhere to run…neither does Miles Sanders. It’s too much to ask/to overcome.
Jason Huntley (2-13-0, 0-0-0/1) is not an answer either…if he were forced in as a starter, he’d be stuffed like the others guys. This is as much an O-Line downer story as it is anything else.
I’d sell Scott to the Sanders’ owner this week if you could pull off a sweet trade. I’d sell Sanders hot if he is cleared for return Week 8 (but I think it will be 50/50 all week).
-- Wayne Gallman (10-34-1, 5-20-0/5) might be the better FF play than any RB on either of these two teams. Devonta Freeman (3-8-0, 0-0-0/1) got hurt and Gallman filled in and provided a spark in this game – and we’ve seen glimpses of that for weeks.
I’m not saying Gallman is a future star, but I have been hinting for weeks that he could end up mattering/stealing this job. I gave up on it last week, and then, of course, now he might be their new starter.
I like the heart and passion and elusiveness Gallman runs with despite limited athleticism. He’s a very good receiver as well. We’ll evaluate his value in waivers Monday-Tuesday this week.
-- Evan Engram (6-46-0/9) had a chance to really get his FF numbers back on track, or at least give a good+ week…but he dropped that critical 30+ yard bomb right into his hands on the run and he gaffed it.
Because Engram dropped two passes on a solo night game, he’s going to get labeled a ‘drops’ guy. Not that he doesn’t deserve it. He’s one of the league leaders in dropped passes % this season, but it’s going to be magnified with this game…that bad drop at a crucial time.
The negativity is so bad, it might do two things this week:
1) His fantasy owners might give him away/drop him if they find any viable alternative. In Dynasty, if you wanted to sit on him and see what happens ahead (2020-21+)…he’s a throw in to deals now. He’s damaged his rep big-time.
2) There’s a chance he’ll be traded after another loss next week. Teams were already inquiring, now this game will be used to drop the price. I think the market is NOW if NYG is going to do it – trade him before Minnesota pushes Kyler Rudolph into the market (but he already is out in it) and before Zach Ertz returns from injury to get traded.
I think Buffalo and New England have to have an interest in TE upgrades for the stretch run. The Rams should trade for Engram and put him in Gerald Everett’s role, to amp of the weapons for LAR.
Engram would be OK in New England. He's a bad fit with Josh Allen, but not terrible…Allen throws rockets and Engram does not have soft hands. My nickel bet is Engram to San Francisco.
-- Sterling Shepard (6-59-1/8) returned…and you can’t deny he’s Jones’s ‘guy’. Two full games played by SS this season (Weeks 1 and 7), his averages per game in his two games in 2020: 6.0 rec. (7.0 targets), 51.5 yards, 0.50 TDs per game). He’s going to be a nice WR2.5 with Jones. Which is a continuation of what he did last season with Jones.
-- Shepard is no Travis Fulgham (5-73-0/11)…the guy has become a literal star for Philly, a go-to WR. He’s a solid talent, not a future star…but he’s been so reliable it’s stunning this guy couldn’t get the time of day in the NFL for the past two years.
Just when you think DJax-Jeffrey-Ertz-Goedert are going to crowd him out…DJax is done, Jeffrey will likely never play another snap for Philly, Ertz either, and Goedert is a week/weeks away.
The Eagles are going to acquire WRs this next week in the trade market, and that’s Fulgham’s new threat…but Fulgham has already established himself with Wentz. He can be a real WR2 the rest of the way.
Who might the Eagles acquire?
Dante Pettis, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Jamison Crowder, Keelan Cole, Will Fuller, A.J. Green, Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, are a couple names to watch for.
-- Because the Eagles have no other options, Richard Rodgers (6-85-0/8) has his best game since 2015. Hey, right now…any TE port in this fantasy TE storm. He looked really slimmed down and mobile. He used to be a brick with legs.
Rodgers i0s a bridge to Goedert if you’re waiting for Goedert to ride in on a white horse and save your TE issues.
-- At a critical juncture of this game, a 4th & goal play…the Eagles went to their other TE. Converted WR they picked up off a practice squad weeks ago…Hakeem Butler (0-0-0/1). Such a critical spot/play and the Eagles draw up a play to isolate Butler, who joined the team a few weeks ago, hasn’t ever seen an NFL target – that’s the guy they throw an off-kilter alley oop to in a HUGE spot in the game? I appreciate their attempt at Butler usage, but maybe that wasn’t the best spot for his first NFL target in two seasons?
-- These two DSTs both held their opponents to reasonable (in 2020) points allowed. They also each got 3 sacks and 1 INT in the game.
The NFC East DSTs are of interest because they play each other a lot the next few weeks.
NYG has incompetent Daniel Jones and no run game, and Jason Garrett as O-C.
PHI has no O-Line and all WRs/TEs hurt right now.
DAL has Andy Dalton and no O-Line and Fumbles Magee Zeke Elliott, and empty headset Mike McCarthy.
WAS has Kyle Allen, no O-Line, and a college WR as lead RB.
What DSTs face these four NFC East teams or the Jets and Broncos the most the rest of the season?
Seattle = gets one of them for four consecutive weeks…Weeks 12-13-14-15.
A bunch of teams, including the NFC East teams, have three matchups with this group the rest of the way.
How about the next 4 weeks, who has matchups with them the most?
LAC, NYG and PHI = two each
Snap Counts of Interest:
56 = B Scott
18 = Clement
08 = Huntley
05 = Hurts
69 = R Rodgers
09 = Croom
50 = Engram
36 = Kaden Smith
