Wondering where your Week 6 fantasy points are? You're not alone
Everything was set up perfectly in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Jets. The weather was crisp in the high 50s with hardly any wind, and it seemed like all the starting defensive backs were in street clothes. Surely Jalen Hurts was going to put up 350 yards, three touchdowns and run in another score as the Eagles would stay unbeaten en route to scoring 35 points.
Wrong.
Hurts did put up 280 yards with both passing and rushing touchdowns, but three picks by an inspired Jets defense saw the Eagles fall from the ranks of the unbeaten, 20-14. Still, his 47 rushing yards along with the score left him as the QB1 with 22.90 points.
Eight quarterbacks scored more than that in Week 5. It was that kind of week.
Lamar Jackson was set to go off across the pond, going against the Titans’ No. 26 defense that was allowing 256.7 passing yards per game. Wrong again.
While the Ravens won, 24-16, Jackson was limited to 223 yards passing and 62 rushing yards, with just a passing touchdown. Fantasy managers with Jackson on their rosters were hoping for more than a QB7 finish going into Sunday night.
Fantasy Points? What fantasy points?
Throughout the NFL, points were plenty scarce in Week 6. Yes, the Dolphins had their usual scoring fest by spotting the Panthers two touchdowns before going off for a 42-21 victory. And the Jaguars welcomed Gardner Minshew back to Jacksonville with a 37-20 drubbing. Those were the only two games on Sunday that went over the total, while nine games went under, according to BetMGM odds. The trend started with the Thursday night 19-8 clunker of a victory by the Chiefs over the Broncos.
Like their betting brethren wondering where the points were outside of the Sunshine State, fantasy managers were left in a quandary with where their fantasy points were on Sunday.
World-beaters to no longer unbeaten
Hadn’t Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey looked like they needed to play in a higher league after dismantling the Cowboys, 42-10? Hold off on the Super Bowl parade for now, after Purdy had Myles Garrett and Co. in his face mask all afternoon en route to passing for 125 yards with a touchdown and an interception. McCaffrey? Fantasy managers will be fretting his availability all week after he came out of the game with an abdominal injury. They’ll also be acquainting themselves with Jordan Mason on the waiver wire. Sending good injury recovery vibes McCaffrey’s way, as well as Deebo Samuel’s.
Cheers! #Undefeated #Perfect pic.twitter.com/32Nf3GSIOO
— Larry Csonka (@Larry_Csonka39) October 15, 2023
The Browns victory, and that of the Jets over the Eagles later, left a certain group of legendary Miami Dolphins popping champagne bottles.
Joe Cool, under pressure
Joe Burrow was supposed to be completely back after his surgical 317-yard, three-touchdown performance in Arizona in Week 5. It seems that the Seattle defense, coming off a bye but allowing 281.2 passing yards per game, had other ideas. All the Seahawks defense did was keep Burrow company in the backfield all afternoon, sacking him three times and limiting him to 185 yards and two touchdowns.
The big game we were all hoping for Ja’Marr Chase became six catches for 80 yards. On the other ledger, the Seahawks scored just a Kenneth Walker III touchdown. Geno Smith, though he did pass for 323 yards — with zero touchdowns — also had the Bengals defense in his grill at especially crucial points. The expected shootout turned into a 17-13 rock fight.
Unexpected NFC North defensive battle
Surely the Vikings and Bears would put up a back-and-forth game, with both defenses giving up yards and points in droves all year. Justin Fields was a good bet to add to the eight touchdowns he’d thrown the past two games, and Kirk Cousins would continue to pass often even while missing Justin Jefferson. Each team scored just one offensive touchdown, respectively, and Fields finished the game on the sideline with a dislocated thumb that appears will keep him out at least one week.
Bucs still on bye?
There was one game in Florida that left fantasy managers wanting. Yes, the Lions outside of Ford Field have been more mortal in recent memory, but beating the Chiefs in Kansas City had to change that. And the Buccaneers were looking so much better with Baker Mayfield at the helm. Jared Goff held up his end for the Lions, delivering 353 yards and a pair of touchdowns, one each to Jameson Williams (hooray!) and Amon-Ra St. Brown. The Sun God gave fantasy managers everywhere a big sigh of relief with 24.40 fantasy points on 124 yards on 12 receptions and a touchdown. Though those who loaded up on Buccaneers at home may start wondering if Mayfield’s good run might be coming to an end.
Emari, we hardly knew you
The Emari Demercado story sounded wonderful. He went to high school a short drive from SoFi Stadium, and he had a contingent of family in Cardinals gear being shown on TV during the early parts of the game. They got more screen time than Demercado, who saw just a pair of carries for 11 yards and caught one pass, with Keaontay Ingram and Damien Williams carrying most of the load for Arizona. So much for all those FAB dollars spent by fantasy managers last week. At least those who drafted Cooper Kupp were rewarded with a WR3 performance; seven catches for 148 yards and a score. Kyren Williams did answer some whispers about whether he might be losing touches with 20 carries for 158 yards and a score to be RB3. Unfortunately, it does look like Williams could miss time with an ankle sprain. Meanwhile, Puka Nacua saw his first "quiet" game, going 4/26/1. It will have to be another week where Nacua and Kupp are both top-10 wide receivers together.
Chalk it up and move on
This is just one of those weeks where if fantasy teams scored 100 points, they probably won. If you had one of the two 100-yard rushers — Raheem Mostert and Kyren Williams — you probably won. Heck, even the Bills were scoreless going into halftime of the Sunday night game and finished with just 14 points.
It’s a week where if you survived, chalk up the W emphatically and move on to Week 7. If you lost, look straight ahead to next week.
Speaking of Week 7, there’s that delicious Sunday Night Football game pitting the Dolphins and Eagles. Let’s all not anger the fantasy gods by expecting a big score, even with BetMGM setting the over/under at 52.5. Let’s all just hope for a big score, set our lineups with Eagles and Dolphins, and look for four-leaf clovers and every lucky charm that can be found so we don’t have a repeat.
We can’t have another week like this, right? Right?
