Quick Change NFL

Week 7 in the NFL provided some short bursts of crazy action. The Bills again hung around with their defense long enough for their offense to wake up and provide another white-knuckle winner. Kyle Orton sure does start slow (maybe residual Jay Cutler dust landed on him when he was traded to Denver) but gets it kicked in just in time for the heroic finish. The Redskins finally threw the towel in on Kirk Cousins, while simultaneously kicking themselves in the a$$ for not trading him last off-season, and let Colt McCoy take the reins. McCoy thanked them by throwing a 70-yard TD on his first play. While his overall play was pedestrian, he is riding high right now. That will end Monday night versus Dallas.

There were a few colossal implosions in Week 7 as well. The Saints dominated Detroit for 57 minutes and then let it all slip away by opting not to tackle Golden Tate or run the ball and eat clock – and avoid an INT, which was uncharacteristic for Drew Brees. The Saints have lost seven consecutive regular season road games and really needed this one, though 8 wins should win the NFC South this season. Anyone who decided that Pittsburgh was done and changed the channel after Houston jumped out to a dominating 13-0 lead Monday night had to be in shock when they saw the Steelers comfortably ahead at halftime. I don’t recalling seeing that many points in such a short time on MNF since Peyton and the Colts erased a huge deficit in 2003 to beat Tampa. Houston had to be relieved that the seconds finally clicked off the clock for the half before they found more ways to set the Steelers up for more easy scores.

Other thoughts from week 7:

• St Louis is getting props this week for their brave fake punt and their inventive mis-direction punt return. After being outgained 2-1 on the day, the fake punt was the best idea for stopping Seattle from coming back and winning. As for the punt return, former Bear, Jeff Fisher, was channeling his former team as the Bears pulled this off 3 years ago, though the play was negated on a horrible penalty that was called by an official who had no idea where the ball was.
• Russell Wilson did all he could in that game to get Seattle a win; becoming the first player ever to post 300+ passing yards and 100+ rushing yards in the same game. He has been a one-man wrecking crew this season…unlike their defense.
• Speaking of defenses falling apart, Carolina didn’t give up more than 31 points in a game all of last season. They have given up 37 or more in 4 games already this year and we are just approaching the midpoint of the season.
• No one is happier about Kyle Orton quarterbacking the Bills than Sammy Watkins. They hooked up for 9 catches for 122 yards and 2 scores last week. E.J. Manuel may have provided Watkins with those numbers by the end of the season.
• All Randall Cobb does is score TDs. He is on a pace to score 21 TDs this season.
• The Chiefs have ZERO TD receptions by their WRs this season.
• I didn’t like the Bears giving all that money in the off-season to Jay Cutler. I thought Josh McCown could run the team in that offense as their starting QB and put the extra millions towards improving their linebacking corp. I believe Alshon Jeffrey (9 yards last week) and Brandon Marshall (48 yards) agree. At least Marshall is trying to jump-start a team that is winless at home. With their next two games on the road versus New England and Green Bay, there is no better time than the present to play up to their potential.
• Hey Cincy, 7 carries for Giovani Bernard is a horrible gameplan.
• As expected, one bad game by Brian Hoyer and the Manziel pleas return. Just wait until they lose to the Raiders this weekend!

Another week in the NFL and the injuries continue to mount, even to the point that teams are falling to their third-stringers while the game is still being played. (See Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller both going out on big injuries in the first half). So, the waiver wire is active again this week:

QB: Kyle Orton (BUF) - Orton is averaging just under 300 passing yards in his first three games as the Bills' starter, with 5 touchdown passes and 3 picks. If you need a fill-in for the week, the Bills play at the Jets this week. The Jets secondary is a Welcome mat, giving up 2 TDs in every game and 3 TDs in each of their last 3 games.

RB: Tre Mason (STL) – The Rams have moved past Zac Stacy and should try to trade him at this point. They only put him on the field for one snap last week. They are splitting the reps between Tre Mason for running the ball and Benny Cunningham for receiving. I would pick up Mason as he will get more overall Touches and should see some action catching the ball as the Rams try to round out his game a bit, but Cunningham is a worthy second choice if Mason is gone.

RB: Bryce Brown (BUF) – I was surprised when the Eagles traded Brown to the Bills since he put up great numbers when LeSean McCoy was hurt. Anywhoo, Buffalo has let him sit on the bench all year since they had too many RBs to begin with. However, injuries to Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller have changed that. While Anthony Dixon gets the first crack at being the #1 RB, I don’t see him as a long-term solution. He is a bit too slow and will be stuffed this weekend against a solid Jets’ run defense. I expect Brown to get worked in a little this weekend, but this situation should play out like the Vikings’ backfield of Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon, with Brown assuming McKinnon’s role.

RB/WR: Denard Robinson (JAX) – Robinson took the Browns by Storm last weekend to the tune of 127 rushing yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. The Jags have had designs on making the former Michigan QB a running back, but never truly made the effort until last week. Unfortunately, they are still listing him on their roster as a WR so he is not available as a RB yet. I do expect that designation to change but I don’t believe that they see him as more than a 10-12 carries per game guy anyway so I wouldn’t give up the farm for him. However, you could stick him in this week if you have a chance to add him and see where it goes if you have no better options.

WR: Doug Baldwin (SEA) – Even though the Seahawks gave Baldwin a healthy contract in the off-season, it took a Percy Harvin trade to finally work him fully into the passing game. Since it was so successful last week (7/126/1), I would feel comfortable starting him with confidence going forward.

WR: Allen Robinson (JAX) – It has been difficult to count on the Jaguars’ offense this season, especially at WR due to loads of injuries. However, Robinson does have at least 4 catches in six straight games and QB Blake Bortles is becoming more comfortable under center, so I believe that I can start trusting Robinson when I don’t have a better option due to Bye weeks.

TE: ​Charles Clay (MIA) – Clay was a surprise last season with 7 TDs, but he had been MIA this season until Sunday. With the improved play of QB Ryan Tannehill, I expect more production for the remainder of the season. With Knowshon Moreno out for the rest of the season and a lack of consistent WRs behind Mike Wallace, Clay should be a bigger part of the weekly gameplan going forward. Plus, he gets Jacksonville this week.