San Francisco 49ers starter Blaine Gabbert finished with more fantasy points than Matt Ryan, Tyrod Taylor, Eli Manning and Ryan Tannehill on Sunday.
More than recommending you pick Gabbert up off the waiver wire (please don't), this is an indictment on the Atlanta Falcons defense as whole. How in the world did this defense make the league's worst passing game look halfway decent in the game that saw it move on from Colin Kaepernick as the starter? Dan Quinn may be sleepless outside of Seattle during Atlanta's bye week attempting to figure out what's happening here.
Marcus Mariota put up four touchdowns and zero picks for the second time this season on Sunday. He did so against a New Orleans Saints defense that has now allowed 83 points, 53 first downs and 900 total yards over the past three games. Maybe Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan can join Quinn in a newly-formed support group for teams with atrocious defenses. Yeah, it's bad in New Orleans right now.
Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert put up three touchdowns against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night. Like everyone predicted, that wouldn't be enough for him to finish as the week's top tight end.
Instead, that accomplishment went to Delanie Walker of the Tennessee Titans, who racked up seven receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns with a two-point conversion mixed in. This has Walker as the sixth-best fantasy tight end through Week 9.
Rob Gronkowski was going up against a joke of a cover safety in Dashon Goldson on Sunday. This led to some ridiculous projections for an elite fantasy performance from the tight end. Gronkowski, probably just trolling us all, caught just four passes for 47 yards without recording a touchdown. That performance saw him finish the week just ahead of Michael Hoomanawanui (who?) in fantasy points from the tight end position. In fact, San Francisco 49ers tight end Garrett Celek doubled up Gronk's fantasy output.
Face meet palm.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown caught 17 of the 23 passes thrown in his direction for 284 yards against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. Yeah, those stats are from ONE four quarter football game. Oddly enough, Brown didn't record a touchdown in the game. He was still able to put up 10 more fantasy points than any other receiver on the day. Heck, Brown's 284 receiving yards were more than all but 12 quarterbacks passed for on Sunday.
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Cole Beasley finished Sunday as the second-best fantasy receiver with 27.70 fantasy points. This comes on the heels of him recording a total of NEGATIVE two fantasy points in his previous two games.
In a sign that the fantasy football community may be in need of its own support group, Beasley recorded more fantasy points than Demaryius Thomas, A.J. Green and Julian Edelman combined.
Both Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper finished Sunday's action as top-10 fantasy receivers. This has the Oakland Raiders two top receivers with a combined 92 receptions for 1,244 yards and nine touchdowns in eight games.
It sure doesn't hurt that Derek Carr is doing his own mini Tom Brady impersonation, going for 923 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception over the past three games. Then again, some of us saw Carr's talent level at Fresno State. Don't worry, we still have room on that bandwagon. The only requirement is that you eat some crow upon entry.
Devonta Freeman entered Sunday's action with 60 more fantasy points than any other running back. He exited Atlanta's baffling loss to San Francisco with 20 less rushing yards than Blaine Gabbert. Overall, Freeman went for 12 yards on 12 attempts. Though, the touchdown whisperer was able to finish the day as a top-11 fantasy running back due to a receiving touchdown.
So you know. Freeman can be outgained on the ground by a quarterback that's claim to fame is throwing with his eyes closed and still finish as a RB1.
I got nothing here.
We told anyone that would listen that the Steelers rushing attack wouldn't see much of a decline with DeAngelo Williams replacing an injured Le'Veon Bell. After putting up 225 total yards and two touchdowns en route to the top overall fantasy performance among running backs, it appears Williams gained confidence by reading our articles. Okay, that probably didn't happen.
New York Jets running back Chris Ivory finished Sunday with 26 yards on 23 attempts. He also scored two touchdowns en route to the 10th-best fantasy performance among running backs. There's a certain level of ridiculous, and then there's this.
Green Bay Packers running back James Starks put up 21.20 fantasy points in the team loss to the Carolina Panthers. He did so after an ineffective Eddie Lacy exited the game with a groin injury. In a stat that might piss some of you off, Starks now has 20 more fantasy points than Lacy on the season.