Lance's 2021 Week 7 Recap and Week 8 Waiver Priorities
RECAP
-Denver and Carolina are disasters. Had it not been for their 3-0 starts we’d look at what’s happening right now and say, “they’re bad teams that are still rebuilding.” But we can’t unsee the 3-0 starts and we just watched Denver lose to backups on Thursday night, and Carolina get throttled by a bad Giants team, so they are disasters.
-Tennessee helped further prove that Kansas City’s week 6 defensive performance was a product of who they were playing (Washington), so now those analysts that were trying to be slick in claiming that Kansas City is once again a contender in the AFC can go ahead and eat that crow sitting in front of them.
-How bout them Bengals? That was the dominant coming out party they needed to put the league on notice. Don’t read too much into it with Baltimore, beyond the fact that they’re no longer the top team in the AFC North. The Bengals are for real, the Ravens just happened to be the wood on the table as the buzzsaw was coming down.
-Atlanta won a game in the final seconds instead of blowing it. It might not seem like much, a two point win over a one win team, but that burden of being known as the team that chokes at the end was lifted up. It’s not guaranteed to stay away, that’s something they’ll have to continue to work at, but they can enjoy this one all they want. Bonus, Kyle Pitts has gone from slowly learning, to the freak of nature we knew he was going into the draft in just four weeks (it started in week 5 for him and carried over post-bye week).
-I genuinely don’t know what to make of the Raiders right now. Are they really this good? Should we be talking about them as a potential playoff team? Or is Philly just THAT bad and everything is going to unravel in a week or two? They are one of the more intriguing teams to watch over the next few weeks.
-Shout out to the Lions for giving it everything they had against one of the best teams in the league. They made it the most exciting game to watch this weekend (no offense to Atlanta and Miami).
-Indy proved that their defense and run game is good enough to carry them when they need them to. Sunday night was an ugly, rainy mess and the Colts won the battle of who could force their opponent to make more mistakes, even though Wentz had one of the worst turnovers we’ve ever seen.
-That was an ugly win by the Saints on Monday night. I get it, you gotta be able to win ugly and all that fun stuff, but based on how the Saints have played this season I don’t see them making the playoffs (sorry Bryar). They’re definitely not better than Dallas, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Arizona and the Rams. I also don’t think they’re better than Minnesota, and I’m having a tough time giving them the edge over Atlanta, who has found their footing offensively in recent weeks, and San Fran, who has the better roster but needs better play out of their Quarterbacks. Still plenty of time to turn it around though, perhaps Michael Thomas’ return will help open things up for them.
FANTASY WAIVER WIRE TARGETS
QB: Jameis Winston (New Orleans)
Bye weeks, injuries and recent poor play at a position is enough to force you into needing to make a move when the wire opens this time of year. If that position is QB you should see if Winston is available for week 8. He’s got his opportunity at a REVENGE GAME!! Plus, Tampa’s pass defense hasn’t been good this year. I chalk up their week 7 performance to Chicago’s abysmal O-Line and Fields making rookie mistakes.
RB: Kenny Gainwell/Boston Scott (Philadelphia)
Grab one of them if you can, but keep an eye on Miles Sanders’ status as he did hurt his ankle in week 7. If Sanders gets the green light to play in week 8, then you should probably leave these guys on the bench, but if Sanders is unable to go, then play them both. Scott hadn’t seen a touch up until Sanders went down, but I think Philly would go to a timeshare between Gainwell and Scott. Gainwell should be higher than Scott on your priority list. Also, their matchup with Detroit in week 8 is a juicy one for any RB this year.
WR: Jerry Jeudy (Denver)/Michael Thomas (New Orleans)
There really aren’t any Receivers that are heavily available that I’d recommend targeting. But I would recommend checking your wires for the likes of Jeudy and Thomas who have been hurt for most (Jeudy), or all (Thomas) of this season. Jeudy is expected back this week, Thomas is still a couple weeks away.
TE: Tyler Conklin (Minnesota)
He’s seeing a decent amount of work in Minnesota’s explosive offense, and with a matchup against Dallas (currently allowing the 13th most fantasy points to Tight Ends on the road) in week 8 he could be a good spot start.
K: Evan McPherson (Cincinnati)
I was wrong to suggest dropping him, Cincy’s offense is red hot and because of that so is McPherson, pick him up and keep him until his bye, then get him back after his bye and hang onto him until Cincy cools down or the season ends for you.
D: LA Chargers
Kind of a tough call cause they face the Pats in week 8 and Mac Jones has been playing better. But, Jones is still a rookie, the Chargers have been playing good defense (with the exception of that Cleveland game) and they’ll be fresh off their bye.
