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October

10 Things We Learned in Week 7 of the NFL

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Published in Fantasy Football / NFL

Week 7 featured all kinds of fun, a couple of broken records (the good kind), trick plays, last minute victories and Cecil Shorts and Barkevious Mingo on the field at the same time (a drinkfive wet dream).

 

- I would be remiss in my duties if I did not start this article without Peyton Manning's record breaking night. Brett Favre, the former record holder, threw 508 TD's in his career, spanning 302 games (1.68 per game). As of Sunday night, Peyton Manning now has 510 TD's in only 246 games (2.07 per game). If Manning continues at this clip and plays as many games as Favre, he will finish his career with 626 TD's. Absolutely crazy.

 

- The Jaguars can win, after all. With their victory over the up-and-down Browns came a glimmer of hope with their run game. Denard Robinson came to life when given a full workload. 22 attempts netted him 127 yards and 1 touchdown, but more importantly, it may have netted him the starting spot in Jacksonville. The Jags are desperate for stability anywhere, and look for them to go with the hot hand approach. Robinson will be a very popular waiver wire addition this week.

 

- Jerick McKinnon had another good showing, even if his team did not. McKinnon had 19 carries for 103 yards against Buffalo, a team with a tough run defense. McKinnon's match-ups coming up are against Tampa, Washington and Chicago. Buy low on him and take advantage of the weaker part of Minnesota's schedule.

 

- Ever since Aaron Rodgers told the good folks of Wisconsin to just "relax", they've done nothing but win games. Putting up 38 or more points in three of the last four games, Rodgers has thrown for 13 TD's during that span. Jordy Nelson has also catapulted to the top of the league in receiving yards (though Antonio Brown can pass him with a good game Monday night).

 

- The Bears continue to struggle at home and are now 0-3 there on the season. It's really the same story we always hear. Cutler struggled and Matt Forte put up numbers anyways. Forte does have two down games this year, but every other game he scored 17 or more points, going for over 20 in his last three games. This kind of consistency is very rewarding with all of the turmoil at the top of the RB draft board this year.

 

- The Bengals became the third team this season to be shut-out. After having none the first four weeks of the season, we've now seen one three weeks in a row. The Bengals are by far the best offense to be shut down during that stretch, but I think credit needs to be given to the Colts defense. The Colts limited the Bengals to 8 first downs, 135 total yards on offense and the Bengals didn't have a snap in Colts territory until well into the 4th quarter, on a drive that resulted in no points. They only sniffed it once more at the end of the game for just a moment.

 

- Jeff Fisher has a lot of special teams tricks, and he decided that the best time to showcase them was when the Super Bowl champs came to town. The Rams handed Seattle their second loss in a row, something that Russell Wilson has only experienced once before in his career. The fake punt deep in your own end at the end of the game probably took more balls than brains, but the play I'm in love with is the punt return. The punt return in the second quarter faked out nearly the entire Seahawks special teams unit, which is bizarre considering they ought to know what side of the field their punter is kicking it to.

 

- One thing from the other side of that game became apparent as well. Russell Wilson is shaping up to be an elite fantasy QB. Two games over 34 points this year and only one game with a low of 11 have him up to 142 points on the season, good for fifth overall. Keep in mind, he has already had his bye week and three of the guys ahead of him have not taken a break yet. Wilson is definitely on pace to finish this season as a top 5 guy.

 

- The Cowboys keep rolling and Demarco Murray is leading the way. With his record breaking seventh 100 yard game to start the season, he has an astounding 913 yards through 7 games. He has not scored below 17.1 points this season, making him one of the best weekly guarantee since Arian Foster in 2010, heck, maybe since LaDainian Tomlinson's golden years. Expect Murray to stay match-up proof and hope they keep riding him as much as they have, because hey, fantasy football only lasts a year at a time.

 

- Back to the Broncos, who had a stellar night which might have been overshadowed by Peyton's big record. Demaryius Thomas is living up to his draft position, maybe more than most first/early second rounders. He started slow, but after the bye has scored 34, 18 and 29 points over the last three weeks. In fact, he's the only thing keeping Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb from being the top two fantasy receivers by points.

Jason Evans

I am a co-founder and the editor of drinkfive.com. In order to stave off fantasy football insanity, Dave and I have branched out to cover a variety of interests. When I'm not knee deep in wikipedia pages, I like to hang out at breweries or a disc golf course (especially both in the same day). FSWA Member for 5+ years.

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