https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/article/week-7-booms-and-busts-patrick-mahomes-return-to-fantasy-football-glory-punctuated-by-another-stellar-performance-225841068.html
Success in fantasy football takes more than instincts — it takes insight. Just like SurveyMonkey AI helps you transform insights into action, these Booms & Busts give you fantasy intel and help you adjust your lineup and strategy to take control of your season.
Fantasy football managers are always looking for the hot new thing. The buzzy rookie. The snappy new scheme. Give me something fresh.
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And now let’s take a look at the Week 7 fantasy leaderboard. Four of the quarterbacks at the top are all old guys: Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers. Maybe this experience thing isn’t so bad.
Of course, it’s a modest stretch to link Mahomes with those other geezer QBs, but it is Season 9 for him. Mahomes is a sneaky 30-year-old. And he hasn’t been that much fun in fantasy football the last couple of years, finishing QB12 and QB8 in cumulative points the last two seasons. That will do for some QBs, but not for a signature star like Mahomes.
No worries. Mahomes is back in his groove, sitting at QB1 overall entering the week and smashing again Sunday. He authored a near-perfect game against Las Vegas, throwing for 286 yards and three touchdowns on the hapless Raiders. Mahomes was sacked just once and didn’t turn the ball over, posting an 8.2 YPA and a 126.6 rating.
Do you even launder his jersey after a game like this?
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Mahomes also scrambled for 28 yards, a new bag in his club this year. In prior seasons, he’d wait until January to break out the proactive running. This year, he’s done it from Day 1. Mahomes has more outs for his fantasy managers now.
It helps to have Rashee Rice back, of course. Rice was his usual uncoverable self on those signature short routes, turning in seven catches for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Nothing downfield, but no matter. Rice absorbed 10 targets, immediately the alpha in this passing game. Rice was probably in for a monster breakout year last season before his torn ACL in September. Maybe this year, he can pay it off.
The rest of the Kansas City passing tree was especially wide. No one drew more than five targets. Travis Kelce only saw three looks, though he caught them all (3-54-0). Xavier Worthy had to settle for 3-35-0 on four targets. It would have helped if the Raiders offense fought back in this game — the Chiefs basically took the foot off the gas in the fourth quarter. If the Chiefs needed Mahomes to throw all day, he would have approached 400 yards.
In more competitive games, the Chiefs might junk the running game. In Sunday’s blowout, Isiah Pacheco (15-57-1) and Brashard Smith (14-39-0) were asked to keep the clock moving. The entire offense averaged just 3.7 a pop. Andy Reid’s laminated play sheet (are we sure it’s not a Denny’s menu?) is more fun with the passing game.
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On the other side, man, the Raiders look broken. Las Vegas had just three first downs, the first time in 17 years an offense has been that inept. The Raiders ran 30 piddly plays and managed a crummy 95 yards. Is it possible Pete Carroll could be a one-year coach in Vegas? Can the Raiders just surrender the season, like a bad blackjack hand?
How did these guys ever beat the Patriots in Week 1? Just one of those fluky opening-week things, I guess.
Ashton Jeanty needs more involvement in the passing game. His lone target went for 13 yards, while his six carries netted just 21 yards. Jeanty had 66 catches in his final two college years. He’s capable; figure it out, Chip Kelly.
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To be fair to the Raiders, playing without Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers is not ideal. But this was also the fourth time Geno Smith has played poorly this year (4.2 YPA, 71.6 rating). The Raiders get their bye at a good time, next week. Jacksonville is a reasonable Week 9 matchup, and the Cowboys wait in Week 11.
The wide receiver leaderboard is all about comebacks. Ja’Marr Chase has popped since Flacco made it to Cincinnati. Rice, we already mentioned. CeeDee Lamb was a smash in his return. And then there was the Philadelphia passing game on a binge, carrying the offense for the third straight week.
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A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith were uncertain fantasy starters into Week 7, and I get it. But sometimes you just have to bet on talent. Smith exploded for a 9-182-1 party at Minnesota, and Brown came through with 4-121-2. Jalen Hurts threw for over 300 yards for the first time in over a year, and ended the early window as the QB5, despite doing nothing on the ground (minus-10 yards).
Philly needs to air things out these days, because Saquon Barkley can’t get going. Barkley had 18 carries at Minnesota but they netted a paltry 44 yards. His one catch went for negative yardage. Barkley hasn’t topped 90 yards rushing in a game this year, and only touchdown deodorant (four spikes) has made his season somewhat tolerable.
The Eagles have a revenge game next week against the Giants — the plucky upstart team that embarrassed them on national television last week. Given the current frame of the Philly offense and the shape of the New York defense, Hurts’ right arm might need to carry the load again.
https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/article/week-7-booms-and-busts-patrick-mahomes-return-to-fantasy-football-glory-punctuated-by-another-stellar-performance-225841068.html
