And, of course, more injuries. This week, the injury of choice, was the hamstring. Jerome Ford, Travis Etienne, Dallas Goedert, Tyjae Spears hurt their hammy. Meanwhile, Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave and Patrick Surtain II suffered concussions and will have to pass their tests before returning.

Byes – Chicago, Dallas

Truths

“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” - Bob Marley

1) Before the season began Brandon Aiyuk was thought to be the future star at wideout for the 49ers. Now… not so much.

His slow start can be blamed on his holdout, but we are a month and a half into the season and he’s scored double-digits one time in six games. He’s seen five-or-fewer targets in four games. He can’t help his fantasy value with that level of opportunities. There is just too much balance in the San Francisco offense. That’s good for the 49ers, but not so good for fantasy totals. Aiyuk has 41 targets, Jauan Jennings 36, Deebo Samuel 32 and tight end George Kittle has seen 35 balls. Kittle leads all tight ends averaging 17.3 FPts/G, but none of the 49ers receivers have cracked the top-25 based on FPts/G.

2) When Caleb Williams arrived in Chicago everyone talked about his great trio of receivers, but glossed over his top-quality tight end - Cole Kmet.

True. All the talk was D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen and rookie Rome Odunze and they are a good trio, but Kmet ranks third among all tight ends averaging 12.2 FPts/G after his monster game in London Sunday morning. He produced 24 points, the second time he’s been at that level or higher and he’s caught 26-of 29 targets this season (89.7%). No TE with at least 15 targets this season has caught a higher percentage. Kmet has gotten better every single season. Did you know he’s only rostered in 72% of all leagues?

3) What we thought would be a fairly even split of touches in Tennessee has turned into the Tony Pollard show with Tyjae Spears fading.

Correct. Pollard is seeing 68% of the workload to 32% for Spears. Spears has seen double-digit touches one time while Pollard is averaging 19 touches. Pollard is averaging 4.3 ypc to 3.5 for Spears. One is start-worthy and the other is not.

4) The reason Mike Evans fantasy rank has suffered is because Chris Godwin has been playing at an elite level, not anything Evans is doing wrong.

True. Evans’ production is similar to last season, it’s just that Godwin is playing at a much higher level. Godwin has caught 81.1% of his targets this season versus 63.8 last season and 70.9% for his career. Evans has caught 59.5% of his targets versus 58.1 in 2023 and 57.7 for his career. Also, Godwin has five touchdowns on 53 targets versus two in 130 targets last season. Check a comparison of the last two seasons below. If ever there was a time to “sell high” on Godwin, now is the time.

5) Derrick Henry is a bad man.

This is 100% true. Henry current ranks second among running backs averaging 22.6 FPts/G. Only Alvin Kamara is ahead of him. But Henry does have his Kryptonite. He’s not as involved when the team is behind on the scoreboard. When the Ravens are tied or ahead this season, Henry leads the league in rushing attempts (108), rushing yards (661) and rushing touchdowns (8). But when the Ravens are behind, Henry ranks 71st in rushing yards (43) on just 11 attempts and zero touchdowns. Baltimore lost their first two games of the season and Henry averaged 13.6 FPts/G. Since then, in four consecutive wins he’s averaging 27 FPts/G.

Lies

“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” - Stephen King

1) “I think Deshaun Watson gives us the best chance to win,” Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski said at Monday’s press conference.

Hey Kevin, blink twice if you are being coerced to give this answer. The Browns on offense are a mess. They are averaging just 13.5 points per game when you take out the 14 points the defense and special teams have scored. And that was before management sent Amari Cooper, their leader in targets, yards and receiving touchdowns to the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday. They might get Nick Chubb back soon, but the offense is going nowhere with a quarterback who holds the ball too long. Forty-eight sacks in the last 12 games? Best chance to win… unlikely. Best chance to help management be less embarrassed by the Watson contract… more likely. How inept is this offense? Rodney McLeod is tied for the team lead in touchdowns. He plays safety.

2) “We’re saving Zeke,” said Jerry Jones last week.

For what? They are currently third in the division at 3-3 and 19th in scoring, producing 21 ppg. The Cowboys are last in rushing yards (463) and last in yards-per-attempt (3.5). After this week’s bye, they face a gauntlet of; San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston and Washington. All of those teams are over .500 except for the 49ers, who always beat them… particularly in the playoffs. What little they have produced from their ground game has come from Rico Dowdle (4.2 ypc), not Ezekiel Elliott (3.0). Sorry Jerry, Zeke is toast.

3) European fans are going to love the next matchup on Sunday.

Nope, it’s the New England Patriots (1-5) versus the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5). Serves the British right for burning down the White House, Capitol building and the Library of Congress in 1812. OK, I’ll be interested to see if rookie quarterback Drake Maye can produce in his second start as well as he did against Houston when he put up 28 fantasy points (20-of-33 for 243 yards, three TDs and two INTs). He’ll be facing the Jaguars’ pass defense which has allowed opposing QBs the most fantasy points this season (27.5 FPts/G). If Dak Prescott is your normal starting QB or your QB is facing the Dolphins, Jets or Broncos, you might want to consider this option.

4) The following five quarterbacks have been playing great over the past three weeks: Sam Darnold, Kyler Murray, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and Josh Allen.

Actually, each ranks from 20th to 25th over the past three weeks based on FPts/G. None is averaging more than 18.7 FPts/G. The top five from Weeks 4-6 are: Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, Jordan Love, Maye and Joe Burrow. It’s a funny, quirky, crazy fantasy world out there. No wonder it makes us laugh and cry at the same time and gives us migraine headaches trying to figure out who to roster and who to start.

5) Rookie quarterbacks should sit for a while before starting. Look at how well it worked for Aaron Rodgers and Love.

That’s old school thinking. That’s “get off my lawn” thinking. In Week 6, rookie quarterbacks showed their talents for all to see. Caleb Williams produced 32.9 fantasy points, behind only Baker Mayfield in the entire league. As I already posted, Maye put 28 fantasy points on the board. Bo Nix produced 24.9 fantasy points and Jayden Daniels 23.7 fantasy points. Combined they are 11-8 this season. I only wish we could have seen what JJ McCarthy could have done too, though Darnold has the Minnesota Vikings undefeated at 5-0.