If you are reading this I presume that you, the diehard football fan, have been in a coma since Sunday and have just awoken and that is the only reason you are looking at the Old Gold & Black’s recap of the games (the ones that happened almost a whole week ago). Or maybe like me, you were too upset to watch any games after your beloved Tennessee Titans lost to the Indianapolis Colts yet again because our punter, Ryan Allen, who had a strong showing the previous week against the Chicago Bears, was replaced by some other punter whose name I will not type after “a good week of practice.” The future free agent proceeded to punt a 17-yarder and have another punt blocked and returned for a touchdown. So Thursday night was a great night. 

The good news is that two of my three fantasy teams won their matchup this weekend. The bad news, I lost to my Colts-crazed cousins. So I’m assuming that Stefon Diggs and JuJu Smith-Schuster are elated. Back to the good news; I had Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins playing on my other teams. The two connected for a 43-yd TD as time expired to catapult the Arizona Cardinals over the Buffalo Bills, winning 32-30. I received a combined 17.02 fantasy points from that play alone, so I would say Murray made the right decision in picking football over baseball. 

You know who’s bad at decision making? Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans. That man traded away arguably the best wide receiver in the entire NFL and a fourth round pick for a second round pick and David Johnson, who left Sunday’s game with a concussion and will be out for the next three weeks on the short term Injured Reserve list. This now leaves the 7-3 ’s short on running backs and entirely reliant on Ezekiel Elliott and James Conner to secure a certain someone a strong seed in the fantasy playoffs. 

The Browns are good this year, or so it seems. I mean, again, they’re the Browns, so this 6-3 season could easily turn into 6-10. While the city of Cleveland is ecstatic, Las Vegas bettors and fantasy owners are not. RB Nick Chubb broke loose late in the fourth, sprinting up the sideline for 59 yards, no defenders in sight. Those whose fantasy teams were down by six points or less or placed the house on the Browns (-4) point differential were likely jumping around in excitement until he purposely stepped out of bounds at the one-yard line to ice their 10-7 victory over Houston. Very inconsiderate of Chubb to not take everyone else into account.

Miami may have found their franchise quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa as the Dolphins won their fifth straight over the promising but disappointing Los Angeles Chargers. Possible Offensive Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert had a solid showing, throwing for 187 yds, two TDs and an interception, but the Chargers defense were not able to slow down Brian Flores’ hot team. Fortunately, the defense stayed in the black and was able to give me 3.0 fantasy points, though I will probably be shopping around for a new defense to take their spot for next week’s fantasy matchup.

Shoutout to Ronald Jones and the Buccaneers for giving us a unique historical moment against the Carolina Panthers. The 46-23 outcome was the first of its kind in NFL history and the seventh unique score this season. Jones was responsible for 198 total yards, including a 98 yard TD run, the longest of the season and good for 24.8 fantasy points for yours truly. Bucs kicker and Sunday morning roster addition Ryan Succop and was my second highest scoring player on one team (17.0 points). But hey, a win is a win.