Gibbs and Montgomery tear through the Chargers
It looks like these Lions RBs can in fact co-exist! Now, this was a back-and-forth, fast-paced, high-scoring game, and there was a lot of production to go around. So keep that in mind… but this is what we envisioned going into this season. Gibbs had 19 opportunities in a game where Montgomery was healthy - he got them down to the 1-yard line, got the goal-line carry, and got another goal-line carry later on which was awesome.
Now, I still expect Montgomery to get most of that goal line work going forward, but the fact that they’re open to giving some of that to Gibbs is really good for Gibbs… both of these guys have shown some of that big play ability though. Look at the usage - Gibbs with 58% of the snaps and Monty with 38%… this backfield might have just shifted in Gibbs' direction! We’ll see if this becomes a trend, but 19 opportunities for Gibbs with goal-line looks compared to Monty’s 12 opportunities is definitely noteworthy moving forward. If this continues, Gibbs is a high-end RB2/borderline RB1 especially when you consider his 64% route participation, and Monty is a solid RB2 with upside. Let’s see what happens in Week 11.
The Saints offense was all over the place… again
Derek Carr left the game with a concussion and a shoulder injury. We’ll need to get more info on that, so the best we can do is just wait for the MRIs… we’ll probably get some more info later on today. The Saints do have a bye this week, so he has some extra time to get right. If he can’t make it back by Week 12, Jameis Winston would be fantasy-relevant, and would continue to make all of their playmakers fantasy-relevant… maybe even MORE fantasy-relevant.
On that note, Chris Olave had 1 catch for 15 yards with Derek Carr under center… he leaves the game in the middle of the 3rd quarter, and then Jameis Winston comes in and propels Chris Olave to 7 catches for 79 yards with a TD on 9 targets in only 20 minutes of game-time. And that TD was miraculous, by the way.
Taysom Hill got only 1 carry this week after leading the Saints in carries last week, and got only 2 catches on 4 targets - this was going to come crashing down at some point, and it looks like it just did. Jamaal Williams ended up getting 4 carries to Alvin Kamara’s 9 carries but didn’t get anything going at all.
Michael Thomas also suffered a knee injury - it doesn’t seem overly serious because he was standing on the sideline for the rest of the game, but it’s possible he misses time. It could mean we see more targets for Rashid Shaheed - he definitely got more playing time this week because of it - but the rookie AT Perry also was a beneficiary. Perry’s not a must-pick-up or anything, but he’s someone to pay attention to as the obvious replacement as the X receiver in this offense.
The Texans offense is shining bright with Stroud
CJ Stroud was doing CJ Stroud things - a great game between the Texans and Bengals - Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase were getting it done, and Tyler Boyd had a big game - 8 for 117. Trenton Irwin even came through with a TD… but Tank Dell was someone we were all starting, he got it done, and a lot of us were starting Noah Brown - but damn, 7 catches for 172 yards? Dude went off. This was a good matchup coming in, but just remember who was on Noah Brown before he got hot, alright?
I hate to say it though, I’d be looking to sell… but I’d only be looking to sell once I know Nico Collins is back. He’s got a soft tissue injury, and you never know, he can miss another game. And guess what? The Texans have the Cardinals next week.
By the way, Noah Brown transitioned a bit to the outside in this game - about 70% of his routes were run from there, and coming into Week 10, Arizona has been bottom 10 against perimeter WRs… he should be in lineups next week if Nico Collins misses. But if Collins is back, we should probably be selling Brown - 20% target share in this game, 18% last week according to Fantasy Life’s utilization report, so nothing to rave about lying underneath the production. By the way, he’s still available in a ton of leagues so he should be picked up if he’s still available in yours.
We also talked about Devin Singletary coming into the week - I said not to overvalue the production he had last week and to value the utilization he had, and it worked out this week if you started him - 30 carries for 150 yards and a TD. That is a huge workload, no other RB got a carry, and he capitalized on that volume with awesome production. Now you have to wonder what happens when Dameon Pierce comes back - he hasn’t practiced at all for two weeks, and my guess is that it’s a high ankle… and the Texans now have Arizona this upcoming week, so Singletary can definitely be in lineups in that matchup. We’ll see Pierce’s status in practice this week…. Singletary was already eating into that workload, so it’ll be interesting to see if there’s a change here at all.