Week 7 Studs/Duds
Some stars cashed in, some got buried, and a few lineups are still recovering. Here’s who carried you this week and who left you hanging.
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Now, on to the picks…
🔥 STUD QB: Joe Burrow (CIN)
Burrow spent the first half looking lost and the second half looking unstoppable, turning a 13-0 halftime hole into a 35-13 rout of Baltimore.
Flipped a switch: After a scoreless 55-yard first half, he went 16-of-18 after the break and finished with 292 yards and four touchdowns
Five straight scoring drives: Cincinnati found the end zone on five consecutive possessions to open the second half
Back-to-back four-TD games: He’s now tossed four scores in each of his last two outings, giving him four multi-touchdown games on the year
With the Titans coming to Cincinnati next week, Burrow is cemented as a QB1 you can set and forget.
🧊 DUD QB: Brock Purdy (SF)
San Francisco’s perfect start finally ended, and Purdy’s fantasy line went down with it in a 29-20 loss to Atlanta.
One score, two picks: He threw for 288 yards but managed just one touchdown against two interceptions
Bad luck on the turnovers: The first pick came on an attempted throwaway that safety Jesse Bates snared with a toe-tap grab
Running out of weapons: Injuries have gutted the receiver room, including Mike Evans re-aggravating his Achilles issue a week earlier
Purdy didn’t play poorly so much as he ran out of help. A bye week and a Week 9 date with the Raiders give the Niners time to get bodies back.
🔥 STUD RB: Tony Pollard (TEN)
Pollard has been stacking empty carries for weeks, and on Sunday the touchdowns finally showed up in bunches.
Monster line: 25 carries for 129 yards and three touchdowns, plus three catches for 26 more yards
Workload is locked in: With Tyjae Spears (knee) sidelined, Pollard is the clear lead back after pushing Spears into a breather role
Tempo helped: Tennessee leaned on a no-huddle attack that created extra plays, and Pollard soaked up the benefits against a Cleveland defense that struggled to wrap him up
Pollard had found the end zone just once all season before this game. As long as Spears stays out, he belongs in 12-team lineups against Cincinnati next week.
🧊 DUD RB: Derrick Henry (BAL)
Henry opened the season scoring in every game, but the Huntley-led Ravens have turned the King into a grinder with nowhere to run.
Running into walls: He managed just 45 yards on 17 carries and has gone for 93 scoreless yards on 34 totes over his last two games
Stuffed at the line: Ten of those 34 carries went for zero yards or a loss
Line keeps crumbling: Baltimore lost rookie RG Vega Ioane (knee) in the first quarter, piling onto an already banged-up front
The cavalry may be coming, though. Lamar Jackson (ankle) is expected back for the Bills game, which should reopen the scoring chances Henry has been starving for.
🔥 STUD WR: Zay Flowers (BAL)
While the rest of Baltimore’s offense sputtered against the Bengals, Flowers kept piling up production like nothing was wrong.
Big day: 8 catches on 11 targets for 137 yards and a touchdown
Instant offense: He took a third-and-9 screen 48 yards to the house on the opening drive, accounting for Baltimore’s only touchdown
Volume machine: He’s averaged more than 10 targets per game in Tyler Huntley’s three starts and has six-plus catches in four straight
Flowers has been a must-start with a backup throwing to him. With Lamar expected back against Buffalo, his ceiling only gets higher.
🧊 DUD WR: Nico Collins (HOU)
Collins’s managers expected a low-end WR1 against the Giants and instead got one of the ugliest box scores of his career.
Nearly invisible: Just 2 catches on 5 targets for six yards
Rare floor: It was his worst line since his rookie year and only the fourth time in his career he was targeted without reaching 13 yards
Smothered all day: New York kept defenders glued to him and made him pay on the catches he did make, though he drew a pass interference and a holding call
Collins has been quiet for three straight weeks, but he’s also shown he can explode, like his two-touchdown, 118-yard day against Dallas. Expect him back in the low-end WR1 mix after Houston’s bye.
🔥 STUD TE: Trey McBride (ARI)
McBride delivered his best game of the year in a losing effort against Denver, and made some history along the way.
Season highs across the board: 10 catches on 13 targets for 111 yards and a touchdown
Record book: He’s the first tight end ever with 400 regular-season catches in his first four seasons, now sitting at 406
Weekly reliability: He’s caught at least seven passes in all seven games and has four touchdowns
The floor never moves and the ceiling just showed up. Next week brings a Dallas pass defense that’s been easy to pick on.
🧊 DUD TE: Isaiah Likely (NYG)
Likely had been one of the most heavily fed tight ends in football, but the Giants simply didn’t need him against Houston.
Quiet day: Just 2 catches on 4 targets for 12 yards
Streak snapped: It was his first game all season with fewer than five targets after three straight weeks of double-digit looks
Game script worked against him: New York attacked Houston on the outside and ran the ball well enough to win without him
Likely entered the week averaging nearly 10 targets a game with five touchdowns on the year. Chalk this up to a one-off and fire him back up as a TE1 against the Eagles after the bye.
That’s your Week 7 Studs and Duds. Ride the hot hands, don’t panic on the cold ones, and we’ll see you next week.
-Joe
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