This new season-long mini-series is brought to you by the RotoUnderworld Game Analyst Team. The Game Analyst Team consists of over 75 individuals that chart and re-watch every snap from every game in the NFL between game end, and Monday afternoon. The guys you have generally not heard from before stop in to drop some tidbits from their weekly game charting process in hopes to give us a sneak peek into the depth of the games each Sunday. As the Head Game Analyst – I charted for two years and this idea was always in the back of my mind. People always share the broken-down, clean, processed reviews of games in the NFL. That’s not what this is. I asked everyone to gives me some Notes or Takeaways from their game this past week, and below are the raw responses I received.
Miami Dolphins
The Miami offense was ineffective to say the least in the 1st half with Jacoby Brissett behind center. Although Brissett threw for 147yds in the half, the Dolphins were only able to come up with two field goals. Beginning in the 2nd half when Tagovailoa replaced Brissett, the offense seemed to have a bit more spark to it than before. Tua only threw for 158yds in the 2nd half, but he seemed to bring that sense of urgency needed to help the Dolphins prevail.
Although Miami didn’t have the best night offensively, receivers Albert Wilson and Isaiah Ford were able to capitalize on blown coverages by the Ravens defense to put Miami in prime scoring positions. Both receiver’s contributions, Wilson with 4 catches for 87yds and Ford with 4 catches for 84yds, helped lead the Dolphins to the upset victory. Waddle continued to contribute with 4 catches for 61 yds. at 60 receptions on the year.
Waddle is projected to easily finish in the top 5 all-time for most receptions in a season by a rookie, possibly catching the record of 101 receptions set by Anquan Bolden in 2003.
Miami also received help from TE Adam Shaheen. Shaheen not only was effective in blocking the edge, he also logged is 2nd highest receiving total in his 2 yrs with the Dolphins with 34 yds. Unfortunately, the night wasn’t the same for Miami’s stud TE Mike Gesicki. Although he was targeted 7 times, Gesicki came up empty-handed with 0 receiving yards.
In the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see how the Dolphins will respond to a fairly easy schedule. In the next 4 game stretch, the Dolphins play the Jets twice, the Giants, and the Panthers. All 4 are very winnable games. Could the Dolphins be 7-7 heading into Monday Night Football against the Saints on Dec 27th? How will Flores handle the QB situation since he doesn’t seem to have supreme confidence in Tua? Will pass-catchers like Wilson and Ford consistently step up or will it continue to be the Jaylen Waddle show? As stated previously, it will be an interesting next few weeks for the Miami Dolphins. – James Brantley
Pittsburgh
If Diontae Johnson had a QB that could throw with some anticipation, he’d absolutely be lighting up the league. Too many times, I find him attempting contested catches when it doesn’t need to be. He had a tough game, but the future is so bright for him post-Big Ben era.
Other than that, nothing really crazy interesting about this game. Bad game conditions led to just a sloppy game overall. – Sam Bijou
Buffalo Bills
The New York Jets were incapable of stopping Stefon Diggs this game. He torched rookie cornerback Brandin Echols enough to make me feel bad for the young man. Echols eventually left the game with an injury and Diggs was basically free to do whatever he wanted, finishing with a stat-line of 8-162-1. The Bills were also able to get their running game going a little bit, which isn’t seen too often. Devin Singletary and Zack Moss had some nice power runs, Matt Breida reminded us he still exists after taking a toss to the house, and Isaiah McKenzie and Manny Sanders picked up big chunks on jet sweeps.
The Bills ran mostly out of heavy sets under center, utilizing multiple tight ends or a fullback. They certainly aren’t the most interesting offense, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The only negative for the Bills this game was their slow start, which has been a common occurrence over the past few weeks. The game flow made it look like the Jets just couldn’t hang and eventually quit, but the Bills could run into issues down the road against more tireless and purposeful defenses. Although that might not be a factor again as they face the so-so Indianapolis Colts defense next week. – James Peterman
Denver vs Philadelphia
Eagles:
1) Hurts continues to shine when called upon, but the game script is killing his upside. The Eagles’ Defense & running game (40 team rushing attempts) is keeping Hurts’ passing attempts (23 this week) down over the last few weeks. His first half against Denver was impressive, leading multiple touchdown drives, connecting on deep shots, and showing rapport, especially with Davonta Smith. With the Defense icing this game, Hurts was not asked to do much in the 2nd half.
2) Eagles’ Wrs: Smith is the guy (4 catches for 66 yards & 2 TDs), Watkins (4 for 33) dropped a beautiful deep touchdown, Reagor is an afterthought, Goedert looked to get concussed early in this game, leaving Jack Stohl as the TE of choice.
3) Eagles’ Rbs: Howard (12 for 83) & Scott (11 for 81) split carries & looked great, running behind a strong O-line, routinely finding themselves untouched into the 2nd level of the Denver defense. Hurts led the team in carries with 14, but Denver seemed to be running a spy all day, meeting Hurts at the line of scrimmage often. Gainwell is an afterthought, getting 3 total touches for 14 yards. Sad face emoji.
Broncos:
1) Teddy B managed the game, with a low aDOT and zero TDs or INTs. He looks near the line of scrimmage most of the time, capping the upside of his WRs
2) WRs: Jeaudy led the team in targets with 6 while Sutton & Patrick combined for 5 catches and 43 yards.
3) TEs: Albert O & Fant combined for 8 catches & 134 yards, with half of that total coming on 1 long catch and run but Albert O.
4) RBs – Gordon (9) & Williams (8) split carries and were not much used in the passing game (3 total catches) – Jack Sterling
Pittsburgh Steelers
New England vs Cleveland
Rhamondre Stevenson – he was given the bulk of the work and produced behind an offensive line that dominated the browns D-line.
Mac Jones – the Patriots ran and screen-passed down their throats, but when Jones threw the ball more than 10 yards he was making money throws all over the field. He showed incredible accuracy and great touch.
Jakobi Meyers – finally got his first TD, but it was in garbage time. Saved his fantasy day with that TD. He was only 3 for 38 prior to that. 4 targets for the game.
Hunter Henry – Jones loves throwing to him in the endzone.
Kendrick Bourne – making the most of limited opportunities. & touches for the game. He’s quietly putting up a relevant fantasy season. In full point PPR he’s scored double-digit fantasy points in 5 of 10 games.
D’Ernest Johnson – when given opportunities plays really well. He always seems to break and evade tackles and pick up a couple of extra yards even when hit behind the line of scrimmage.
Baker Mayfield – was terrible and got hurt late in the 3rd quarter. – Keiran Lanham
Kansas City vs Las Vegas
The boys are back!
The Chiefs started the game off with a 3 and out which had everyone thinking they were going to stay in their funk. But then the KC offense either scored a TD or attempted a FG on ever possession for the rest of the game excluding the Chad Henne‘s kneel downs. Mahomes played much better but still had some questionable throws that were deemed both dangerous and interceptable. Play action is a staple of the KC offense and Mahomes shinned going 9/14 for 99 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Tyreek Hill lived up to his nickname and was credit with 3 burns! One of which he stopped on a dime and broke an inside route outside, and left Desmond Trufant in his dust. Travis Kelce didn’t get into the end zone but was very involved and looked great. Kelce was tied with Tyreek for the team lead in targets (10). Kelce broke or evaded 4 tackles 3 of them on one play. Still nothing special on the ground for the Chiefs. Darrel Williams led the backfield with a team 11 for 43 yards. Williams made his impact in the passing game catching all 9 of his targets for 101 yards and a spectacular touchdown catch.
CEH is on his way back and will make an already murky backfield even more unclear.
The Raiders are just one of those teams that can’t get out of the way of themselves. Too many self-inflicted wounds to stay competitive with an offense like KC. 3rd and short and 4th and inches became unattainable because of penalties. Derek Carr was under constant pressure by Chris Jones who seemed to live in the backfield. Carr also had 3 passes deemed interceptable along with 2 batted balls. With pressure barreling down on him Carr’s fight or flight kicks in and he chooses option C. Which is to just chuck prayer balls high into the air with no intended target. One batted ball was a break for the Raiders because if the balls weren’t batted down it was going to be 6 the other way. Waller and Zay Jones ran routes in very close proximity and Sneed jumped off Jones and stepped right in front of Waller.
Another disappointing game for Darren Waller but he did have a touchdown taken off the board for offensive holding. Hunter Renfrow is going to be Derek Carr‘s dink and dunk delight and rack up a ton of receptions for very few yards. The only bright spot for the Raiders was Bryan Edwards who caught 3 of 4 targets for 88 yards and a touchdown. He also had a deep ball on which he was interfered with. With 4 targets in 4 straight games, it seems like Las Vegas is legally obligated to target Edwards exactly 4 times a game. Without an uptick in targets, Bryan Edwards isn’t going to happen with this offensive line and Derek Carr at QB. – Cody Wilhelm
Cleveland Browns
This week was my second look at Cleveland’s offense. Simply put, they got Belichick’d. But, there were a couple of positives from this game, if you can believe it. First off, this is the latest example to stash and start capable backup running backs. D’Ernest Johnson looked really strong all day. Any back that can be consistently efficient by turning 27 total opportunities into 157 yards from scrimmage against a solid defense, needs to be rostered in all leagues. Johnson has carved out flex value for the rest of the season when Chubb returns, depending on the matchup.
The other actionable piece of this offense is Donovan Peoples-Jones.
In his second game without Odell Beckham, DPJ recorded 48 of 59 snaps, leading all receivers and tight ends. He ran 32 routes on 38 dropbacks, tied for the team lead, 7 of which came out of the slot. He had the second-most targets on the day. What the box score won’t tell you is that he still put up 78 air yards and 15.6 ADOT. Even in a game when the entire offense was getting beaten to a pulp, DPJ stood out on film. The bottom line, he’s the best athlete they have in that receiver room and is the only pass catcher worth owning in this offense. Oh, and the Browns play Detroit next week, the perfect cupcake to feed this team’s bruised ego. DPJ is absolutely in play for a WR3 finish in all formats for week 11, with upside for plenty more. – Teddy Roth
Cleveland Browns
1) Usage and targets of Josh Palmer is something to note. He’s one Mike Williams injury away from being an add-in every format.
2) Chargers stopped the run against Minnesota. I wouldn’t feel as good starting RBs against Staley if he’s gonna use Derwin in the box as much as he did on Sunday.
3) Cousins looked fantastic, Jefferson looked even better.
4) Weird that the Chargers are giving so many carries to other backs, makes me think Ekeler might be a little banged up. – Tommy Vaughn
