Week 6 in the NFL started with a loss for Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu, Mr. Fantasy and I as we all had the Atlanta Falcons to beat the New Orleans Saints 31-21 on Thursday night football. The Saints knocked the Falcons out of the undefeated ranks and we’ll all go into Sunday at 0-1.
A match up like this always looks good to fantasy owners; so hopefully you had your Saints and Falcons in your line ups. Drew Brees went 30 of 39 for 312 yards and 1 touchdown. Matt Ryan was 30 of 44 for 295 yards ans 2 touchdown. If sacks are a negative in our league Ryan was sacked 5 times for 32 yards. Brees did run 2 times for 2 yards and Ryan had 4 carries for 10 yards and while it’s not huge rushing yards they weren’t in the negatives. Ryan did fumble the football 3 times on the night, but only lost 1 of them.
On the ground Mark Ingram carried the football 20 times for the Saints, but only picked up 46 yards. Luckily for Ingram owners he scored 2 touchdowns.Ingram did add 3 catches for 10 yards. If you’re using a secondary Saints running back they weren’t much help for you. Khiry Robinson had 7 carries for 23 yards while C.J. Spiller had 3 carries for 10 yards. Robinson also had 2 catches for 24 yards and Spiller added 4 catches for 17 yards, but neither player scored. Devonta Freeman continued to run the ball well for the Falcons. He only ran the football 13 times, but got to 100 yards even and scored a touchdown. Freeman also caught more passes (8) than any other Falcons on Thursday night for 56 yards and added a receiving touchdowns as well. Even in a losing effort Freeman put up a 2 touchdown night for his fantasy owners. Tevin Coleman returned from injury to run the football 4 times for the Falcons gaining 40 yards, but he did fumble 1 time.
Tigh and t End Benjamin Watson was the big target for Brees in the New Orleans passing game as he caught 10 balls for 127 yards and 1 touchdown. Willie Snead and Brandin Cooks each had 4 catches; Snead went for 55 yards while Cooks had 41 receiving yards..The Saints other tight end Josh Hill also had 3 catches for 38 yards. While Freeman led Atlanta with his 8 catches Julio Jones led the team in yardage with 93 on 6 receptions. Leonard Hankerson seems to be the Falcons #2 wide receiver now had 4 catches for 37 yards. Tight end Jacob Tamme had 3 catches for 32 yards, but it was Roddy White who had the Falcons other touchdown catch. White had a total of 3 receptions for 23 yards, but had that touchdown catch. If you’re in a deep league or you have to start a fullback Patrick DiMarco had 2 catches for 18 and if you’re in a league where you have to start two tight ends Levine Toilolo had 2 catches for 18 yards as well. Nick Williams (11 yards) and Terron Ward (7 yards) each had 1 reception in the game for Atlanta.
The Saints kicking game struggled in this game as Zach Hocker made just 1 of 3 field goals he attempted on the night, but he did all 4 of his extra points. Atlanta’s kicker Matt Ryan had a pretty quite night for his fantasy owners as he just had 3 extra points in the game.
If your league scores for defense Dannell Ellerbe led the Saints in tackles with 14 and recovered a fumble. Cameron Jordan had 6 tackles, 3 sacks and recovered a fumble. Hau’oli Kikaha and Kasim Edebali each had a sack for New Orleans and Brandon Browner had the other fumble recovery for New Orleans. Paul Worrilow was the Falcons team leader in tackles with 9 and Adrian Clayborn had the Falcons lone sack on the night.
The ALCS kicked off last night with the Kansas City Royals beating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0. Edinson Volquez was the Royals Game 1 starter and he pitched 6 innings giving up 2 hits and while he did walk four betters he struck out 5. Kelvin Herrera was the first pitcher out of the Kansas City bullpen pitching 1 inning and striking out 2. He was followed by Ryan Madson who gave up a hit and a walk in the 1 inning he pitched. Luke Hochevar finished the game off for the Royals pitching the 9th. Marco Estrada got the start for the Blue Jays and he pitched 5 1/3rd innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 6. Alex Gordon led off the bottom of the 3rd with a double off Estrada. After a strikeout Alcides Escobar doubled to right field to score Gordon. A ground out moved Escobar to 3rd base where a single by Lorenzo Cain drove him home to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead. Estrada struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the 4th, but with 2 outs Salvador Perez its a solo home run to left field giving the Royals a 3-0 lead. Aaron Loup relieved Estrada in the bottom of the 6th and got the final 2 outs of the inning. Mark Lowe worked the bottom of the 7th for the Blue Jays. Lowe struck out 1 batter in his inning of work. LaTroy Hawkins took over on the mound in the bottom of the 8th inning for Toronto. Hawkins hit Escobar to start the inning. Ben Zobrist followed that with an infield single moving Escobar to 2nd. After a fly out for the 1st out of the inning Eric Hosmer doubled to right field scoring Escobar and moving Zobrist to 3rd. Kendrys Morales hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Zobrist with the Royals final run of the night.
I’m not sure Game 1 played out anywhere close to how people thought it would. I’m not sure that anyone had the Blue Jays being shutout. Toronto only managed 3 hits on the night; all singles. One each by Josh Donaldson, Chris Colabello and Ryan Goins; Jose Bautista was 0 for 1 on the night, but did walk 3 times. Kansas City ended up with 8 hits on the night, but Escobar was the only Royal with more than 1 hit.
Game 2 of the ALCS is this afternoon. The Blue Jays are going with David Price on the mound while Kansas City is starting Yordano Ventura. Price has pitched 10 innings this post season; 1 start and 1 relief appearance. He’s given up 8 runs on 11 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7; his post season ERA is 7.20. Ventura has made 2 starts this post season, but it only covers 7 innings. He’s giving up 6 runs on 8 hits while walking 4 and striking out 10; his post season ERA is 7.71. Pitching may not be the key to Game 2; it may be the injury to Toronto’s DH Edwin Encarnacion. Encarnacion suffered a ligament sprain to his left middle finger in Friday night’s 5-0 loss. Encarnacion is listed as day-to-day for the Blue Jays. If Encarnacion can’t go today look for Justin Smoak to take his place in the Toronto line up. Smoak had a .226 batting average with 18 home runs and 59 RBI this season.
The NLCS kicks off tonight in New York. Jon Lester gets the Game 1 start for the Chicago Cubs while Matt Harvey will start for the New York Mets. Lester’s last start was 7 days ago against the St. Louis Cardinals. Lester went 7 1/3rd against St. Louis and it happened to be the only game the Cubs lost to the cardinals in that series. Harvey’s last start was a 5 inning outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers 5 days ago where he got the win. Who needs a Game 1 win more; the Cubs or the Mets?
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