The Gronk Renaissance is here
Matt Harmon and Liz Loza give credit where it's due: in this case it's to the Buccaneers offense in their 48-25 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
Hear the full conversation on the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
LIZ LOZA: If you were speaking of awesome plays in DFS, Mike Evans crushed it, converting 5-9 for 75 and two of Tom Brady's five touchdowns. I just had a feeling that this is what the Tampa Bay offense is going to look like. Like who's involved this week? I think Chris Godwin probably has the safest floor. If you look at his usage, he can be deployed from a numerous amount of places.
We know that Mike Evans usually, speaking volume wise, has a smaller volume, but most of those high value looks. And Antonio Brown, if you're chasing-- like some week it's going to be Antonio Brown, some week it's going to be Mike Evans, and you're always going to see some Chris Godwin. I don't think I anticipated this, to quote our colleague Scott Pianowski, this Gronk Renaissance happening though.
MATT HARMON: This is exactly what I think you're going to get out of the Bucs. Like, it's a bit of a receiver roulette here with these guys, but like you've got to spin the wheel man, because this ceiling and this offense is so high. Nine touchdowns for Brady over the first two weeks.
Like, this-- I think we as a community were definitely way too far out on Gronk. I mean, he was on some waiver wires heading into week one. And maybe it really is a great case for employers, like you should let your employees take a year away. Like just take a-- what do they call them?
LIZ LOZA: A sabbatical.
MATT HARMON: This offense is just going to be too good to not spin that wheel. Obviously, AB is kind of the guy that has a slower game after crushing it in week one. Like, you're right though that probably was why I had Gronk ranked the highest of these three coming into the year, that I think he has the steadiest role, the most secure role. Like, we know what we're going to get out of Gronk and Chris Godwin in their particular roles every single week.
I do think there will be some flipping between Mike Evans and Antonio Brown, but that still will probably point us to that Antonio Brown was a pretty big value in drafts. Like, if he's going to be that close to a guy who was going multiple rounds ahead of him in Mike Evans, like that's just really good news. And it all just comes back to Brady too, who was like the only non-rushing quarterback that I was excited to draft in the single digit rounds. And this is exactly why.
Because this collection of weapons is stupid, it's stupid good what they have there right now. I mean, if Gronk is going to play like 2011 Gronk, and then you're going to get Antonio Brown, not quite playing at like peak of his powers Antonio Brown when he was like a top five receiver to ever play Pro Football, but he's still an excellent starting receiver that's always open. You've got Mike Evans still square in the prime of his career. Chris Godwin, I think, is still an ascending player.
LIZ LOZA: Amen, yeah.
MATT HARMON: That's ridiculous. I mean, that's unbelievable.
LIZ LOZA: Well, next week-- next week, the Bucs play the Rams. And so you know that the presumptive thought, the like plug and play analysis is going to be Mike Evans was hot in week two. He's going to come down, because of Jalen Ramsey in week three. I just looked it up so that all of our listeners have a jump on next week's game.
Last year when the Bucs played the Rams, Evans with Jalen Ramsey on him for most of his coverage converted five of nine for a touchdown with 120 air yards by the way. And that was a game in which Chris Godwin was on the field and also drew 10 targets. So that was with Jared Goff under center, right, so like I can't wait to see what Vegas puts on this game. It is going to be a good one.
Do we want to talk about Atlanta at all? Because I got to be honest--
MATT HARMON: Pfft.
LIZ LOZA: Tank Williams and I were texting for a lot of this-- for a lot of this match. And I was like, so about that Kyle Pitts take that I had. I think you were right about Gronk. And Tank has just been like throwing a lot of cold water all over Matty Ice. And there were moments where Matt Ryan, like he scrambled for a touchdown like after he didn't convert on a quarterback sneak, but like it was still-- it was a very up and down effort.
I think what's most concerning to me, like you see Calvin Ridley get his finally. It took 10 targets, but he's going to see that kind of volume, because like that's what this defense is going to give you. And you see Kyle Pitts go for over-- just over 70 yards on five catches. But like there's just no-- there's just no juice here outside of Cordarrelle Patterson tilting everyone.
MATT HARMON: If you drafted Mike Davis in like round five or round six, you got to just feel like puking your whole-- all of your organs out whenever you see CP out there doing stuff. But hey, you know what? Like, you mentioned it, this offense, when you looked at it on paper, it's like, OK, yeah, we love Calvin Ridley, we love the potential of Kyle Pitts, but like gross.
All these psychos out there that were like, oh, yeah, Russell Gage, that'll be a great pick of the late rounds. Russell Gage, give me a break. Like, what are we talking about here?
This offense needed juice. And even Mike Davis, as good as Mike Davis was last year, they needed something else there. It's like, of course, they got to turn to Cordarrelle Patterson, who for all of his flaws as a true receiver or whatever, has always brought some electricity. Like I mean, Arthur Smith's a good coach and he's just going to have to do something here to get some more juice out of this offense. Like I don't think Cordarrelle Patterson is going away.
LIZ LOZA: No.
MATT HARMON: I think he was a feature-- a featured piece in week one. He's going to be-- he was a piece obviously in this week too. I think he's going to continue to get a lot of passes thrown his way. He's going to get some rush attempts. I don't need to see him in the Wildcat again though. That was the moment when I was like, OK, let's-- we don't need to do this.
