You broke my heart Week 3

Week 3 took what I “thought” I knew about the NFL and threw it out the window. I am now left with more questions than answers and I imagine, much like the show “Lost” it’s only going to get worse from here on out.

1. Blake Bortles look at his 2017 stats below and tell me, can the real Blake Bortles please stand up? All indications from London say he is a high caliber certifiable fantasy starting QB but all other indications in his career tell me to stay far far away. Do I buy in now before he steps up for a legit fantasy season or was it just a blip against a team (Ravens) has been a defensive power thus far this year. Last year he had one week of 337 yards and 3TDs against the Tennessee Titans before regressing to his 200-250 yard 2TD 1Int area for the rest of the season (I’m inclined to think of this as his sweet spot).

Week 1: 125 yards, 1TD, 0 Int
Week 2: 224 yards, 1TD, 2 Int
Week 3: 244 yards, 4TDs, 0 Int

2. Sam Bradford. I expected big things out of you. You were supposed to play, you were supposed to throw for 300 yards and score 3 TDs and then you were out but I didn’t check (my own fault) and a QB with more Interceptions than TDs last year (Case Keenum) stepped in and threw for 300 yards and 3 TDs. I don’t know what to trust, is the system built for QB success, was it the opponent (TB allows a lot of points to opposing QBs) or is Case Keenum good?

3. NY Jets and Chicago Bears, ignoring the fact that you knocked me out of my survivor pool, what was this? Usually I see a push like this from a perennial bad team to come around weeks 7-9 when the injuries and byes take their tolls. Was I wrong? Are you “5-6 win” good or did your opponents fall asleep at the wheel thinking they could breeze through the matchup (cough cough Pittsburgh and Miami). I suppose some part of this is the nature of the NFL, on any given week any team can win but I didn’t expect you to have better records than the NY Giants and Cincinatti Bengals nor did I expect you to have the same record as the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins through 3 weeks of the NFL season.

4. Taking point 3 a step further, current NFL Standings: the below records have me a bit surprised and leave me wondering if the following teams can turn the ship around or if this is a glimpse into their 2017 NFL expected record

Sell:

• Seattle Seahawks (1-2), seeing some life but not enough for a team that had a fair amount of Super Bowl picks.
• NY Giants (0-3), they look better with Odell Beckham Jr back but their flat offense is still a glaring issue.
• New Orleans Saints (1-2), they beat a 2-0 Panthers but their offense was always about to outscore their weak defense and this looks to have changed this year.
• Houston Texans (1-2). They have a point differential that is worse than the: New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and LA Chargers.

Buy:

• Washington Redskins (2-1). They more or less man handled the Oakland Raiders and appear to be improving each week. Their only loss is to the inner division Philadelphia Eagles. Is the NFC East T.H.E. division to be watching out for?
• Detroit Lions (2-1), They are 6 inches from being 3-0 having lost their only game to the NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons. Their defense isn’t too shabby either. Perhaps the NFC North is T.H.E. Division to watch?
• Kansas City Chiefs (3-0), Is it crazy to say they look like the strongest team in the NFL right now? The season is long but man are they firing on all sides of the ball.
• Buffalo Bills (2-1), 2-0 at home and 0-1 on the road, is that what we can expect from this team?

5. Chris Thompson. I’m all in but now I’m hearing Washington discuss keeping your carries in check and I’m wondering if I shouldn’t. If I end up benching you again will I regret it as you go off for another 150 yard, 1-2 TD effort? Kareem Hunt, same question goes to you. It’s rare to see a RB have back to back efforts like this so I’m cautiously optimistic. Taking this further Brandin Cooks, TY Hilton and Stefon Diggs, all highly touted with HUGE week 3’s, should you be regular starts for the next few weeks?

All of these will percolate until week 4 when i get answers to half of these questioms but see twice as many new questions arise.

Until then,

Cheers.