The game of the day was in Seattle. The Buccaneers are the new Kardiac Kids, winning game after game on their last play. This is not a sustainable business model. Besides both quarterbacks, the star of the game was Emeka Egbuka.

Everything has broken right for Egbuka since the moment he was drafted, with Chris Godwin having a setback from his 2024 injury, Jalen McMillan severely injuring his neck and then Mike Evans succumbing to his annual hamstring injury. But carpe diem for Egbuka, who is a massive enough talent to step into this void and withstand extra defensive attention. He’s arguably the No. 2 WR in fantasy right now.

Baker Mayfield finally was good for nearly the entire game. Sam Darnold outplayed him until a throw bounced off a lineman’s helmet and into the arms of a Tampa Bay defender in the final minute. That was the ball game. I wonder what Todd Bowles was thinking watching his former quarterback with the Jets go up and down the field against him. Somewhere in the multiverse, they’ve shared a Super Bowl championship by now. Darnold is a great player. Deal with it.

Early games: Carson Wentz and Justin Jefferson connect; Derrick Henry struggles again

Minnesota vs. Cleveland (London): Carson Wentz and the Vikings’ offense performed admirably in London. They gained almost two yards more per play than the Browns typically yield. They may have won more easily if Jordan Addison didn’t have the “soft suspension” — he sat for much of the first half. Addison had the winning TD late.

Justin Jefferson managers have to hope J.J. McCarthy stays benched after the bye. McCarthy’s ankle injury is reportedly not healing as expected. Jefferson is averaging over 100 yards per game with Wentz.

A missed FG by the Vikings hit the Spiderman camera wire and was no good as a result. It would have been a disaster for the NFL if that had cost the Vikings the game (it came with them trailing by three in the fourth quarter). But I’m sure a lot of people lost a fantasy game because of it.

Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel looked way better than I expected, better than Jaxson Dart has looked in either of his two starts. But Gabriel is so short. The handshake between him and Wentz after the game was comical. I’m an avowed heightist and I can’t tolerate short QBs. It’s a lack of imagination by me, I know.

Las Vegas at Indianapolis: There wasn’t much going on in this contest for fantasy. Jonathan Taylor got the three touchdowns but was hardly explosive on a down-to-down basis. Ashton Jeanty was finally unveiled as a receiver, a role he thrived at for Boise St. in 2023 . But Geno Smith is just bad. He’s like Russell Wilson after Wilson left Seattle. Smith has completely collapsed.

The Brock Bowers knee injury/bone bruise is a big problem. If it’s too painful to play through, this is a 6-to-8-week injury, historically. There’s little blood supply in that area to aid the healing process. Remember, this ended Lamar Jackson’s season a few years ago and everyone kept thinking he’d be back the next game, and that “next game” never came.

NY Giants at New Orleans: Jaxson Dart was bad again. But his receivers are being blamed by the faithful along with the coaching/play-calling. Dart is remarkably inefficient, even for a rookie, and he can’t throw a deep ball, contributing to Malik Nabers’ injury with a really bad throw to him last week. He also under-threw a wide open Darius Slayton on a gadget play on Sunday. Plus, Dart had a careless fumble. This is one of the worst offenses in the NFL if not the worst.

The Saints basically made one play on offense, the 87-yard bomb to Rashid Shaheed. It was perfectly thrown. Spencer Rattler converted his big play and Dart flagged his. That was the game, as is often the case.

Dallas at NY Jets: Justin Fields is masking early game-losing performance with a bunch of garbage-time nonsense. I continue to maintain rookie Mason Taylor (nine catches, 67 yards) is a top 12 TE. Breece Hall was in the doghouse for a fumble in the red zone for a series or two. Head coach Aaron Glenn cost the Jets a TD on the first drive by accepting a penalty to make it 2nd-and-goal at the 3-yard line instead of declining and taking 3rd-and-goal at the 1-yard line. The difference is you can’t just slam it in twice from three yards out, as they proved.

Ryan Flournoy’s 6-for-114 receiving line is not something I saw coming. Sauce Gardner was solid in covering George Pickens but did give up the long TD with all the stupid hand-fighting and grabbing on the play. If you’re close enough to grab and slap the guy, just stick with him and play the ball.

Javonte Williams is just good again. My information was that guys don’t come back strong from his injury history. And while I don’t doubt that’s generally true (the Broncos sure thought that was the case), every individual is different. Yet fantasy is still excited about Jaydon Blue and sending me questions about him. Stop it!

Denver at Philadelphia: Once again, Jalen Hurts had A.J. Brown wide open (by at least five yards) for a long TD and missed him (overthrow). That turned out to be the ball game. Bill Walsh used to yell at Joe Montana if the bomb wasn’t one yard out from the body and chest high to a receiver on the dead run at the catch point. He’d say, “RUN IT AGAIN!!!” I don’t remember Montana missing Jerry Rice deep downfield at all, though I’m sure it happened.

The Eagles’ receivers complained about a lack of involvement, as receivers are prone to do, and Brown and DeVonta Smith combined for 18 targets. But Saquon Barkley had six carries. Womp, womp… It’s not complicated to run an offense through three players. The Rams have been doing it for years. Figure it out, Philly. The Eagles have yet to have a good offensive game.

Miami at Carolina: I’m flabbergasted Bryce Young got off the mat in this game. Sure, Rico Dowdle deserves props for his 206 rushing yards and a TD. But Young’s throw to Xavier Leggette for the winning score was No. 1 overall pick stuff. On the other side of the field, we have to take Darren Waller seriously. Going 5-for-5 on targets for 78 yards and a TD is big time. De’Von Achane is going to find it a lot harder to run without Tyreek Hill around, but it shouldn’t be 10 carries for 16 yards hard.

Houston at Baltimore: I thought Nick Chubb was going to have a half share of the backfield role but the juicy stuff would go to rookie Woody Marks. Instead, Marks was almost worthless in fantasy while Chubb salvaged his day with a long TD jaunt. Neither caught a pass. I still think this is how it’s going to play out, but what a disappointing day for Marks’ managers.

I’m not going to throw flowers at C.J. Stroud given the Ravens were taking applications at the ticket booth to play defense Sunday.

Zay Flowers, who finished with a receiving line of 5-for-72, fell a yard short of a long TD on a 56-yard gain.

Derrick Henry is nearly 32. My level of concern was about a 1-2 in August. This week, with three-straight meh games, it was in the 3-4 range. Now it’s about a 5. He’s at the crossroads right now. I can’t say with confidence which way Henry is going to go.

Late games: Hope for Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals; Jacory Croskey-Merritt busts out

Tennessee at Arizona: I thought I saw everything until I was told Kyler Murray was in concussion protocol after taking a snap to the face. It turned out he injured his foot trying in vain to recover the fumble (he later returned to the game). Murray is the fastest player in the NFL when fully powered up in September and October. But then he loses his juice and becomes just another short quarterback.

We also had another player, Emari Demercado, get called for a fumble/touchback while crossing the goal line. Did he or didn’t he? This is two weeks in a row. Carry the ball all the way in, guys! This isn’t complicated.

For the victorious (somehow) Titans, Calvin Ridley finally looked like a No. 1 receiver. Trade him! The offense seemed remotely functional but remember the game-deciding play was falling on a fumble in the end zone after throwing a pick that the receiver left on the ground when he tried to get up.

Detroit at Cincinnati: There is officially hope for the Bengals’ offense. Jake Browning was good in 2023, even very good. This collapse has made no sense unless, obviously, the Bengals are so much worse overall now than they were then. Some of their struggles can be blamed on a tough slate of defenses. But a main reason is that they are so Joe Burrow dependent. Burrow gets them out of bad looks and into good ones. He usually can outthink the defense. It’s not the offensive scheme that’s winning, it’s Burrow. But Browning just threw one up to Ja’Marr Chase for the ice-breaker then hit him on a bomb and then snuck another one in on a simple flag route to Tee Higgins. This all is repeatable going forward. Browning can make throws — let him make them like backyard football to these top receivers and stop expecting him to read out the defense.

Just a sickening day for Jameson Williams’ managers. This probably isn’t going to work out. The passing offense is not robust enough to support him reliably.

Washington at LA Chargers: This game turned on a Quentin Johnston fumble when he was hit helmet-to-helmet. The refs missed it, as they do seemingly half the time. I don’t understand why this isn’t part of the turnover review process. Everyone in New York saw the illegal hit, so why just ignore that part of the play? It’s madness.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt has fully arrived. There is no committee now. It doesn’t matter where he was drafted in reality anymore or that he’s a rookie. He’s somewhere in the RB1 bucket now, maybe the bottom of it, but who cares. He looks good and shows amazing balance. The TDs were easy runs, but he had impressive ones, too. He is very quick and fast.

Omarion Hampton injured his ankle, knocking him out of the game. You’ll definitely want to monitor his situation this week. As for the Chargers, they sure are “Chargering” right now.

(Photo of Emeka Egbuka: Steven Bisig / Imagn Images)