Was Taylor Swift at the game yesterday? READ ON TO FIND OUT…
In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by BetMGM:
- The TE position is back
- QUICK HITTER: Best Bet for MNF
- Pete’s Weekly Wrap-Up: A Bears RB out of nowhere
- What happened to Bijan yesterday?
- Overreaction Monday: A new MVP to consider
- It’s 10/23. Take it away, Peter Overzet…
Apparently, all it took to save the TE position was their very own national holiday.
Yesterday, we witnessed a handful of tight ends have their best game of the year and there were 8 total TEs with 50+ receiving yards and 7 more with 5+ receptions.
Grab a piece of leftover cake and let’s celebrate the guests of honor…
🎉 Travis Kelce: 12 catches, 179 yards, 1 TD
It’s only fitting that Kelce paced the position on National Tight End Day with a massive fantasy day.
His 35.9 PPR points in Week 7 is the third-highest-scoring game in his career.
Kelce and Patrick Mahomes are now fourth all-time among QB-TE touchdowns and don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
But let’s be real, the only statistics that matter are the ones that involve Taylor Swift….
🎉 Mark Andrews: 4 catches, 63 yards, 2 TDs
Not to be outdone by Kelce, the other TE who went in the top rounds of fantasy drafts delivered a signature performance yesterday.
The Ravens steam-rolled the Lions and Mark Andrews gave them fits in the Red Zone:
We had yet to see a blow-up game from the Ravens passing offense, so it’s reassuring to see them pop off against a very solid Detroit Lions squad.
🎉 Darren Waller: 7 catches, 98 yards, 1 TD
Even Darren Waller, who had been a big fantasy flop through the first five games of the year, was able to get in on the holiday celebration yesterday.
He’s now turned in two top-seven PPR performances over his last three games and is consistently earning a high percentage of the team’s targets.
The Big 3 stole the headlines, but Dallas Goedert balled out (5-77-1), Bills rookie TE Dalton Kincaid (8-75) turned in the best game of his young career and Patriots TE Mike Gesicki hauled in a game-winning TD (and hit us with the Griddy).
Read on from the other top fantasy performers at the other positions…
⛓️ Kirk-O Chainz in Primetime!!
You know what that means!!!
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The Fantasy Life FREE Bet Tracker is already loaded with a handful of plays for Monday Night Football, and Matthew Freedman is here to give you a peek behind the curtain with one of his best bets for the game…
Looking for more bets for the MNF showdown between the Vikings and 49ers? Join our betting team LIVE before kick-off at 6:30 pm ET for last-minute bets, tips, and more!
Peter is here to share his six big takeaways from Week 7. Take it away, Pete...
🐻 D’Onta Foreman eruption
Things change so quickly in the NFL. D’Onta Foreman wasn’t even active for the first part of the season and then he flopped in Week 6 as a starter in a tough matchup.
But none of that mattered yesterday as he put the Bears on his back with a massive day on both the ground (16-89-2) and through the air (3-31-1).
His 33 total PPR points place him as the highest-scoring RB on the week headed into MNF.
We just need to work on the TD celebrations…
🔥 Mahomes and Lamar en fuego
Kelce and Andrews stole the headlines on their special day, but their QBs were absolutely cooking as well:
- Lamar Jackson: 357 yards & 3 TDs passing + 36 yards rushing & 1 TD
- Patrick Mahomes: 424 yards & 4 TDs passing + 29 yards rushing
Mahomes got the ball to one of our favorite Week 7 sleeper picks, Rashee Rice, and even turned wind-sprinter Marquez Valdes-Scantling into a Top-12 WR on the week.
If either of these two gets any help beyond their TEs going forward, watch out.
🦁 Jahmyr Gibbs has arrived
We’ve all been begging for it and we finally got it in Week 7:
The Jahmyr Gibbs breakout game.
With David Montgomery out and Craig Reynolds banged up, Gibbs seized the backfield, earning 21 of the team’s 25 RB touches and scoring his first career TD.
His 9 receptions and 126 total yards resulted in a big 27.6 PPR fantasy day. We’re all very proud…
👋 AJB = GAM
A.J. Brown is currently the WR1 on the week after torching the Eagles secondary for 10 catches, 137 yards, and 1 TD.
He now has 5 straight games with 125+ yards, which puts him in rarefied air:
How do you cover this? I’ll answer that for you…you can’t.
🎉 Minshew Mania
The most insane game of the day took place in Indianapolis. There were a lot of moving pieces involving injuries, turnovers, and big plays.
And even though the Browns somehow pulled out the W, it was the Colts who delivered the mouth-watering fantasy performances:
- Gardner Minshew: 305 yards & 2 TDs passing + 29 yards & 2 TDs rushing (including this beauty)
- Josh Downs: 125 yards & 1 TD
- Jonathan Taylor: 120 total yards and 1 TD
- Michael Pittman Jr.: 83 yards & 1 TD
Downs is looking like a big-time hit for the Colts and Taylor is slowly but surely wrestling this backfield away from Zack Moss (who admittedly continues to impress).
🤫 This spot is permanently for Puka Nacua
I normally leave this spot to talk about Adam Thielen, but he’s mercifully on bye this week.
Instead, I’ll wax poetic about another fantasy mainstay in 2023: Rams rookie WR Puka Nacua, who totaled 8 catches for 154 yards, including this insane grab:
The Steelers managed to shut down Cooper Kupp but had no answer for Nacua.
This is why we told you not to panic about his slow Week 6.
🤔 What in the world happened to Bijan Robinson yesterday? Here’s the official report.
📺 Still wrapping your head around everything that happened on Sunday? Ian and Dwain have you covered.
🐬 Double coverage? No problem for Tyreek Hill.
📊 Two teams heading in opposite directions. Everything you need for MNF betting and the DFS showdown slate.
👽️ The most insane play from Week 7. Myles Garrett is not human.
🤝 Ugh, Brittany Mahomes and Taylor Swift have a secret handshake. Fine, here ya go.
🚑️ Key injuries to watch from Week 7. This Jerome Ford ankle roll-up didn’t look good.
😱 Fantasy football pain. In one single photo.
👷 The Patriots did their job yesterday. Tip of the cap.
👋 What a wild catch. Kyle Pitts is incredible.
We're humans who play fantasy football, which means we are prone to overreact. Today, Kendall overreacts to standout stats from Week 7…
WOW. What a wild NFL Sunday that was.
Did you have on your bingo card that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was going to get his 300th career regular season win against the Buffalo Bills?
Did you expect Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to absolutely destroy your fantasy week with weird Bijan Robinson management?
LOL… we have to love football.
We got a few big questions answered during Week 7 as well.
Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs returned after being sidelined for two games with a hamstring injury and had himself a day. While the Lions did NOT restore the roar (more on that below), Gibbs managed 168 total yards, one touchdown and 27.60 fantasy points, which is what we wanted to see since David Montgomery was out.
As Pete mentioned above, it was also National Tight Ends Day on Sunday, but thankfully we didn’t just get the chalky plays this year! Giants Tight End Darren Waller had a fantastic touchdown and made fantasy managers happy with 22.8 fantasy points. We also got a couple of touchdowns from Ravens tight end Mark Andrews and Taylor Swift was at Arrowhead, so of course Travis Kelce had A DAY.
🏆️ Lamar Jackson deserves all the MVP chatter
Before we talk about why Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson deserves to be in MVP conversations, let’s look at how we got here first.
There was a time during the offseason when we didn’t even know if Jackson would be returning to the Ravens, but eventually, he agreed to terms on a five-year, $260 million contract. We live in a world where multiple teams were vying to acquire a quarterback like Deshaun Watson but were openly passing on trying to acquire Jackson. This is now objectively funny.
On Sunday, Jackson went 21-of-27 for 357 yards and three touchdowns, good enough for a 155.8 passer rating and he also notched a rushing touchdown on the opening drive. He also became the 4th player in NFL history to record 350+ passing yards, 3+ touchdown passes, a rushing touchdown, and a passer rating of 150 or higher in a single game — joining Drew Brees, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Aaron Rodgers.
You all know I am firmly on the Lions bandwagon, trying to restore the roar all the way, but the Ravens sent a message. They won the coin toss, took the ball and then scored a touchdown on their first four possessions.
Jackson has a new offensive coordinator, a new receiving group and is evolving in front of our eyes. According to Conor Orr, Jackson is getting rid of the ball faster by about 0.02 seconds and is also throwing fewer bad passes.
It’s going to be hard to beat other quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa, but Jackson deserves to be on the radar.
😭 Should we give up on Quentin Johnston?
Here’s the thing, Quentin Johnston is going to have a good NFL career, but heading into Week 8 he should be nowhere near your fantasy lineups. It’s been somewhat frustrating with Johnston — on the season he has 13.4 TOTAL fantasy points (PPR) with only seven receptions and 64 yards.
If you look at other rookie wide receivers, it’s even more disappointing. Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers has been far more effective and went one pick after Johnston, the same can be said for Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison.
The reality is that those players hold different roles — Johnston is the No. 3 on his own team, behind Keenan Allen and Joshua Palmer. We could look at this and say quarterback Justin Herbert simply just has more trust in Allen and Palmer. Maybe it’s because the Chargers are utilizing him as a down-field threat.
It’s concerning. He could break out late in the season like we’ve seen other rookies do, but for now, the frustration is not worth the fantasy start.
I’m sure most have had him on the bench all season, but even in a high-scoring affair like we saw between the Chargers and Chiefs for him to be a non-factor is just disappointing. I’m holding out hope, but it looks bleak.
