Thursday Night Football - Abandon Ship!

The Texans traveled to Cincinnati for first Thursday Night Football’s opening night. Mike Turico calling the game was the lone bright spot for football fans this night.

After wretched week 1’s from both the Texans and the Bengals, fans of each team hoped things weren’t as bad as they seemed. Unfortunately those hopes were crushed like that poor pigeon that couldn’t get out of the way of my car last Wednesday.

The big fantasy takeaway here is: abandon ship!

AJ Green and DeAndre Hopkins were the only game in town for fantasy owners. Hopkins hauled in 7 passes for 73 yards, Green handed in a 67 yard performance on 5 catches. Despite their obvious talent and unquestioned #1 status, each receiver had a rather pedestrian night. When they could make plays, they did. They looked like the hyper-talented receivers we took early in our drafts this year. The lack of scoring opportunities for both teams kills their upside, though.

Giovani Bernard again looked to be the best back for the Bengals. In an interesting development for the Texans, rookie D’Onta Foreman had 12 carries (40 yards) to Lamar Miller’s 18 (for 61 yards). Lamar Miller owners are left holding the bag here. This is the kind of performance we can expect to see all year with this bad Texans O-line. I’d tell Miller owners to trade him, but what are you going to get out of it at this point? Miller becomes a poor flex option, while, if you have the extra bench spot, Foreman owners can hold on in case Miller goes down.

Deshaun Watson’s lone shining moment was an end of the 1st half scramble where he broke the pocket and, rather causally, ran for a 50 yard TD. Watson looked hesitant all night, and he threw several passes to Cincy corners who showed why they played corner instead of wide receiver.

Andy Dalton played well enough for people to question whether or not his job was in jeopardy, only looking semi-competent when he was chucking it to AJ Green. Outside of Green, Dalton’s receivers didn’t do him any favors, dropping several well thrown balls.

Both of these teams’ offensive lines are going to be why neither team will be a contender this year. On the defensive side, Texans fans excited about seeing JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney finally get significant playing time together were also disappointed. The Texans failed to get much of a pass rush all night. The Bengals pass rushers, however, lived in the Texans backfield.

It’s going to be a rough, rough 2017 for both these teams. If you can get out of your position on any of the fantasy assets on either of these teams, do it.