2020 Dynasty/Fantasy Week 8 Game Analysis: Chiefs 35, Jets 9

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 must move fast to get to all of them through the week…so, please forgive any typos/grammar.

Hopefully, for my fingers/typing, this will be the shortest game recap/report in history…because what is there to say/report on? The best team in football played the absolute worst team in football and the final score reflected just that. I got a couple notes to share, but there is not much on-field reality or trend to glean here…I mean, Chad Henne played a chunk of the game.

The Jets actually put up a fight…they scored three times (all FGs) on their first three drives and played hard, but they’re so undermanned they couldn’t hold off the KC offensive tidal wave. This Jets team from Week 8…they can win a game before years end. They’ve played two very good teams the last two weeks (BUF and KC) and the Jets have fought in those game. I wouldn’t be totally shocked if they didn’t upset the Patriots on MNF this week. I also wouldn’t be shocked if they lost by 20+.

The Chiefs cruised to victory. They toyed with the Jets defense. They are now (7-1) and all eyes turn to Weeks 11-12…at LV for their revenge game but with Week 12 at Tampa Bay lurking, which will be a potential Super Bowl preview, which I’m sure will be mentioned no less than 2.7 billion times that game week and in the Sunday pregame shows.

Fantasy Player Notes…

 -- One of the things I wanted to see/track here was the Chiefs backfield rotation early, before the game got out of hand. Was Clyde Edwards-Helaire (6-21-0, 3-10-0/3) the clear lead or splitting with Le’Veon Bell (6-7-0, 3-31-0/3) 50/50 or were there signs of Bell taking over?

The first four series, before it was out of hand…here’s who was in at RB by count each series…

1st series: CEH 4, Bell 3…first 4 for CEH, then Bell finished it.

2nd series: CEH 5…all 5.

3rd series: Bell 5, D. Williams 2

4th series: CEH 5, D. Williams 1

Total tally, CEH 14, Bell 8, D. Williams 3

My observation notes…

1) This still looks like a 65/35 split for CEH as the lead. There is no evidence Bell is being pushed but indicators that Reid wants to keep CEH starting, and Bell getting respect/touches as a support option.

2) One or the other could get hot and have the better game at any time.

3) Le’Veon Bell doesn’t look good to my eye. That old spark with Le’Veon, I haven’t seen it. He doesn’t have the juice he used to. Can’t hop around/past tacklers like the old days. His shiftiness is 50% of what it used to be. He’s a ‘C’ grade RB…useful, not embarrassing but I see no signs of old Le’Veon.

4) Darrell Williams (3-19-0, 1-7-0/1) slipped in and out in a minor role and looked better than either CEH or Bell. Not saying that Williams is taking over or anything, just he is playing with urgency while Bell, especially, looks ‘meh’.  

I see no reason, so far, to get excited about much with Le’Veon here…it feels like LeSean McCoy 2019 in KC. It sounded good, but the trailers were better than the movie.

 -- The Jets RB situation was differently disappointing…

If you predicted Samaje Perine would out rush and out fantasy score his relative La’Mical Perine (8-27-0, 2-6-0/2) in Week 8, then you’re a prophet…because it was true. After L.Perine played heavy last week and looked solid, he was just a rotational option with Frank Gore (10-30-0) this game.

Both lead RBs for the Jets are ineffective for a variety of reasons. You hoped Perine was going to get a more serious workload here and maybe rise a bit from there…not so fast. Who knows when or if it will happen? I really don’t care because Perine is a weak talent on a weak offense.

Ty Johnson (3-15-0, 1-6-0/1) is their best spark at RB, but I know this…the Jets have zero interest in seeing something like Ty through in an (0-8) season. They need to see more Gore, to see if that kid will work out to be their back of the future.

Johnson took most of his work at the very end in the merciful end of game series to get the game over with.

 -- Denzel Mims (2-42-0/3) showed some tiny baby steps forward in this game. He still looks like a freshman in the first week of high school, lost/tentative (but so did Justin Jefferson early on), but early in this game Darnold was tossing jump balls his way and Mims got one, master of high point catches that he is. Mims had two catches pretty quickly into the game…and then none the rest of the way…thus, the problem with getting too excited about Mims or any non-Crowder here.

 -- Another solid performance for the Chiefs-DST, as expected. You hoped for a bit more FF scoring, but in 2020…this was good enough.

The Chiefs-DST is #6 in FF PPG so far this season (FPros scoring).

When I pitched them as a savior DST after people started quitting them after Week 2 when Justin Herbert did well against them in his debut (none of us knew Herbert was ‘that guy’ yet) and seeing them dropped due to having to face the Ravens Week 3 – I wanted everyone to try and claim them and pair with the Dolphins-DST ahead as a great DST combo.

Since Week 3, when several of us started the KC-MIA plan, the Dolphins are the #1 PPG DST in fantasy…and the Chiefs #3.

Let’s check in on the plan going forward...

Week 9 KC v. CAR is solid…better than MIA at ARI.

Week 10 is still an issue due to the COVID schedule change. KC is on a BYE. MIA now faces LAC. You need another DST, I think.

You could drop KC-DST after this week if desired/urgent because Weeks 10-12 you have BYE, at LV, at TB. Not great for three weeks. Meanwhile, Miami has at DEN, at NYJ Weeks 11-12…so that is worth holding for if you can.

The perfect scenario is to find a 3rd DST for Week 10 and keep holding KC-MIA if you can pull off three DST for a moment. Here’s the perfect scenario…

Week 9 = KC v. CAR

Week 10 = ‘other’…DET hosting WSH? GB hosting JAX? PHI v NYG, either one? LV v. DEN? OR…just roll MIA v. LAC, and pray…and then have the following the next 6 weeks…

Week 11 = MIA at DEN

Week 12 = MIA at NYJ

Week 13 = KC v. DEN

Week 14 = KC at MIA

Week 15 = MIA v. NE

Week 16 = KC v. ATL (if this game matters for KC)

Snap Counts of Interest:

33 = CEH

17 = Bell

08 = D. Williams

55 = Mims

48 = Berrios

48 = J Smith

13 = V Smith

28 = Perine

20 = Gore

06 = Ty Johnson