Singletary was a popular sleeper heading into the season (I grabbed
him in multiple leagues) and his stock got even hotter when the
Bills surprisingly released Shady McCoy to get down to 53 players.
The move seemed to signal Buffalo had big plans for the rook,
though one could be excused for wondering just how big after an
odd but promising Week 1. On the one hand, the FAU product logged
the most snaps of any Buffalo back (48 to Frank Gore’s 19). On
the other, he garnered just 4 carries and 6 targets, one less
overall opportunity than his veteran counterpart (11 carries).
It’s what he did with those opportunities, though, that has me
giddy: 98 yards of total offense and a ridiculous 17.5 yds/carry.
So long as Sean McDermott doesn’t pull a Mike McCarthy (think
Aaron Jones), Singletary’s the man now-ish. Flex him.
Shady found a soft landing in KC, where he was reunited with
former boss Andy Reid. Sadly for the rest of us, this muddied
the running back picture significantly for the Chiefs and put
a damper on enthusiasm for presumed breakout candidate Williams.
Our fears were very much warranted, it turns out. The workload
was almost equally split between the two backs in Week 1—Williams
had 13 carries to McCoy’s 10—but the latter was much
more effective (81 yards to 26). On the bright side, Williams
scored the only six-pointer and, more importantly, was way more
active as a receiver (six receptions to Shady’s one). His
passing game chops are what actually intrigued me about Williams
heading into August drafts. With Tyreek Hill on the shelf for
several weeks, it seems very plausible he’ll become an even
more valuable pass-grabber short term, stabilizing his somewhat
shaky value.
Jay Gruden reportedly ticked off several of his older players
when he opted to designate AD a healthy scratch in the run-up
to last week’s season opener v. Philly. His reasoning was fairly
asinine (he needed punt coverage bodies to contain Darren Sproles,
who’s even older than Peterson) and he then doubled down on the
decision by joking Peterson would be utilized only if the team
had cause to employ an I-formation and run the ball 55 times a
game. Joke’s on you, Coach Gruden. Derrius Guice was ineffective
as the starter (10 carries for 18 yards) and now has a “meniscus
injury,” whatever that means. Enter Ol’ Reliable, Mr. Peterson,
who merely rushed for over 1,000 yards as a 33-year old last season.
He’s not as versatile or as spry but he’s likely to play with
a huge chip on his shoulder. Start AD.
NFL schedule-makers did Denver no favors, it seems, slotting
them in for the final game of Week 1 late Monday night and then
matching them up with a Bears team coming off 10 days rest in
Week 2. Think Chicago’s been spending that extra time stewing
over the opening night bed-soiling v. Green Bay? The Bears’ offense
may not have been ready for primetime but the defense had no trouble
stifling the Pack’s attack. The dynamic Aaron Jones found the
sledding very rough (13 carries for 39 yards) and his teammate,
Jamaal Williams, was shut out completely (5 carries for nada).
Royce Freeman is better than Williams, but Lindsay’s not appreciably
more dynamic than Jones, if he is at all. I fear for Joe Flacco’s
safety in this matchup and can’t recommend a play for either Denver
back v. Khalil Mack and Co.
Here’s a quick recap of Miami’s first 2019 effort:
It didn’t go well. The only good news for Fish fans? The
game didn’t last over 7 hours like last year’s opener.
That one ended up in the win column but it’s hard to see
how many (any?) of them will this season unless drastic changes
are made. The defense made Lamar Jackson look like Tom Brady.
The offensive line is AAF-worthy. Josh Rosen is, I promise, not
the savior anyone thinks he is for a franchise clearly tanking
but not copping to it. Oh, speaking of Tom Brady? He’s next
up in S. Florida and the oddsmakers have installed New England
as 18.5-point favorites. That’s an absurd line for an NFL
game, but it would take a lot of courage to grab those points.
You want nothing to do with this mess.
The outlook isn’t much rosier upstate in Jacksonville where
the Jags’ prized free agent acquisition, Nick Foles, got
hurt doing something his predecessor didn’t do often enough:
throwing a perfectly-placed TD strike. Foles will be back no sooner
than Week 11, meaning the show gets turned over to rookie Gardner
Minshew, ready or not. Minshew will be a hot waiver wire pickup
based on a sterling statistical effort v. Kansas City, but that
effort needs some perspective. Kansas City’s defense stinks,
for starters, and since its offense definitely doesn’t,
opponents are likely to rack up inflated, chasing-the-Chiefs numbers
all year long, a la Minshew. I could be underestimating the kid
(he did play the villainous QB for juco champ NW Mississippi on
the first season of Last Chance U) but he’s likely to struggle.
Expect defenses to focus on taking Fournette away, starting with
Houston this Sunday.
