Week 5 was filled with huge performances from Will Fuller and D.J. Chark to Aaron Jones and Christian McCaffrey. Chances are, you saw their highlights, but my goal today is to tell you about some tidbits you may have missed. I went back through and watched every play of every game. I saw the Thursday night game and three Sunday games live then used NFL Game Pass to see the other 9 contests this morning. Let’s do this!

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Kyler Murray is finally being let loose
In weeks 1 and 2, Murray rushed just 6 times for 17 yards versus the Lions and Ravens, who just so happen to have been the two top defenses last year against scramble-happy quarterbacks. The next two weeks were a lite version of the conversative approach Kingsbury applied with Murray in Week 2, which makes sense with Carolina and Seattle also being among the toughest quartile for running QBs. This week was an entirely different story, however, as Murray ran the ball 10 times, and more importantly, was looking to create the run for himself much earlier in his progression that I’ve seen this season. With a much easier rest of season schedule than he opened the season with, I’d expect this trend to continue so I’ve moved him into my top 5 rest of season fantasy QBs behind only Mahomes, Watson, Ryan and Wilson in that order.

Gerald Everett may be in the middle of a legitimate breakout
You can find great two-game sample-sizes in a lot of a mediocre pass catchers, so this could very well be the case for Everett, but it certainly seems like more than that. When Chris Herndon blew up towards the end of last season or Jared Cook last season, it had much more to do with middle funnel defenses and the lack of quality pass-catchers competing with them for targets. In Everett’s case, he has seen 19 targets the last two weeks despite the presence of Todd Gurley, Cooper Kupp, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods and specifically because Sean McVay is designing more plays focused on Everett than any other weapon in their offense. That has me encouraged enough to move into my top 12 rest of season tight ends merely because of the upside if it is indeed a new norm.

The Colts copied Belichick’s blueprint against Mahomes
It is impossible to stop Patrick Mahomes, but we’ve now seen three teams slow him down and they all employed the same exact tactic. New England accomplished it first in the AFC Championship Game then Detroit in Week 4 and now Indy Sunday. They played a man to man defense which appears to be an area for Mahomes to improve upon. Chiefs fans shouldn’t worry, however, as Tyreek Hill‘s imminent return will rid teams of the opportunity to employ this unless they bracket Hill all day long which would then open up big gaps in coverage for Travis Kelce and company. To put it plainly, Hill’s return can’t come fast enough for the Chiefs and especially Kelce and Watkins owners who will benefit greatly.

Marshon Lattimore appears to be a shadowing corner worth avoiding again
This time last year, we were wondering if the Saints were a defense to be reckoned with as they had an elite run defense and what appeared to be one of the top cornerbacks in football. Lattimore proceeded to hit a wall in his development and continued into 2019 giving up huge games to opposing wide receivers. Amari Cooper looked like a lock to post a huge game in Week 4 but Lattimore shut him down and this week he further validated the idea that he has returned to one of the top shadow corners in football. Chris Godwin may have had himself a day in the slot, but that wasn’t Lattimore’s doing. His assignment was on Mike Evans and in case you didn’t hear, Evans put up a goose egg.

Other notes

• Marshon Lattimore was extraordinary in coverage for the Saints
• Don’t worry about Marquez Valdes-Scantling–he still looked fine, but in an awful matchup
• Josh Jacobs looked like a top 10 NFL running back
• Anthony Miller looked healthy for the first time this season and may be primed to finally breakout
• Believe it or not, the Bucs had O.J. Howard run more routes than any other game this season
• Kirk Cousins looked terrific under limited pressure
• Demaryius Thomas looked better than I’ve seen from him since 2017
• Sony Michel may have run for 91 yards, but he still didn’t look elusive at all
• Don’t panic on Melvin Gordon, he was the primary early down back once again
• Mo Alie-Cox led the Colts in tight end snaps

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