After another entertaining week of football, I am back with another edition of Stock UP/DOWN.
STOCK UP
Deshaun Watson – Watson has been on a tear the last six weeks throwing for 1750 yards with 16 total touchdowns with a 71% completion percentage and 0 turnovers. He had his best game of the year against the Lions going 17/25 for 318 yards and 4 touchdowns. As of now, he has solidified himself as a top 5 quarterback this season, but Watson faces 4 top 5 pass defenses to end the year and he will be without top pass catcher Will Fuller V as well.
Kirk Cousins – Cousins led the Vikings on a comeback victory after they fumbled away an early halftime lead due to two early fumbles. Cousins led a game-winning drive which was capped off by a touchdown pass to Chad Beebe. Dalvin Cook was hurt and ineffective this game and Cousins was missing his best pass catcher in Adam Thielen so this win is all the more impressive as well. The Vikings are a game back from a playoff spot and if they win out, they could surely make the postseason.
Derrick Henry – Henry took charge in a must-win AFC South game with 140 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter. He ended the game with 178 yards, but due to the blowout, they didn’t run Henry much in the second half. Regardless, this was an impressive performance against a top5 run defense and he now put the Titans in the driver seat in the AFC South.
Tyreek Hill – Tyreek Hill had 200 yards receiving with 2 touchdowns in the first quarter and finished the game with 269 receiving yards. This game just showed that Hill truly is a top 5 receiver and can be an elite number one as well.
Atlanta Falcons – Ever since the firing of Dan Quinn, the Falcons are 4-1. They just completely obliterated the Raiders 43-6 and forced 4 turnovers. The Falcons for the first time this season, showcased a balanced offensive attack and won by their defense forcing turnovers. This a promising sign for the Falcons going forward.
STOCK DOWN
Los Angeles Rams – Performances like this is why I wonder a) Why is Goff the 5th highest-paid quarterback and b)are the Rams Super Bowl contenders. They went from dominating both the Seahawks and Buccaneers to losing to the 49ers, who had 17 players on IR. Goff needs to show more consistency if this team wants to make a deep postseason run.
Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins – Murray has been disappointing in his past two weeks as has Hopkins. Murray hasn’t been his usual self due to his shoulder injury, but his decision making in the Patriots game was questionable. Hopkins has taken a direct impact on this as well but he got completely shut down by Gilmore and has fallen off during the second half of the season.
Derek Carr – After the Chiefs game, everybody said Carr was underrated. So he showed up on Sunday throwing for over 200 yards with 1 interception and two fumbles. He did this all against a terrible pass defense that was giving up 27.5 points per game before the week.
Anthony Lynn – Lynn needs to be fired. He has lost too many close games this season and this Chargers team could easily be 7-4 to 9-2 with proper coaching. His clock management this past game was horrendous. With 0 timeouts and his team on the Bills’ one-yard line with 30 seconds left, he runs a halfback dive and quarterback draw. This is worse than what Matt Nagy could come up with. The Chargers need to fire Lynn and they become playoff contenders in my eyes.