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Buffalo 📈

My actual biggest move up is the assumption that Jordan Love plays for the Packers on Sunday. Still, Buffalo is more interesting based on what we just saw from a team that not only has non-trivial defensive injuries but was completely lampooned in the offseason (and then into the draft) about their WR room. Myself included:

Finding the correct OC to go with a quarterback is getting plenty of buzz right now, considering what Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, and even some of the rookies are doing, but I wonder why Joe Brady isn’t getting more love. I was concerned about his run rates when he took over last year, but so far, he’s been great. He’s getting the most out of Josh Allen; they’re finding early down success and checking all the boxes for what a successful offense needs to do in today’s NFL.

Other upgrades: GB, DEN, CIN, NYJ

• Green Bay is me assuming we get Jordan Love back, although the difference between him and Willis got smaller over the past two weeks.

• Denver having any sort of a pulse at the QB spot is an instant upgrade. I think Payton still has enough play calling acumen to build off of this for Nix.

• Cincy lost to a terrible team but…. the offense was thrashing a bad defense after a sputtering start to the season. I downgraded the defense as well, but offensive weighting still brought them up a bit

• The Jets are in the same boat: they beat up a team they were supposed to, a rookie head coach on a short week. Still, both sides of the ball are showing signs of life and with Miami reeling they need to keep that rolling to keep pace with Josh.

Chargers 📉

My pricing, for now, will reflect Herbert is sitting out. I don’t have information that you missed; I’m just looking at how quickly they gave him the hook last week when he hobbled and the fact that they have a bye week coming in week five and are going to be missing some offensive linemen as well.  

It's a decent-sized downgrade at QB, even for a team that wants to run first. I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I’m enjoying the fact that those who are get some fodder with all of this back injury luck coming ahead of the Kansas City game.

Other downgrades: TB, CLE, IND, MIA

• Tampa Bay injuries are just a bit much at this point; losing your best secondary piece and your best run-stopper, along with a handful of other players, sucks. Baker wasn’t as sharp, and he’ll need to be if they want to overcome the defense looking like this

• Cleveland may need to go to Jameis. The offensive line injuries certainly aren’t making this any easier for Watson though.

• Indy could be in for a long season if Richardson can’t improve his accuracy a bit. Guys are getting schemed open, but he’s not seeing them/not hitting them. The defensive injuries stink too, but not much matters if the QB play falls off a cliff.

• Miami was not low enough last week apparently. If it’s Snoop Huntley this week, I think that’s the best situation for them. Skylar looked lost.

Injuries

Jordan Love’s status is being guarded like a state secret by the Packers’ coaching staff, but with him looking to be close this week, I’m sitting at 80/20 that he plays.

Justin Herbert, as I said earlier, seems less likely, but you never know. We’ll keep an eye on the Chargers practice reports later today.

The Steelers, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, and Chargers have extensive injury lists that will need to be monitored throughout the week as well.

I’ve turned my NFL injury notes document into an article that I’ll update a couple of times a day. I should be able to keep this going throughout the season if people want a nice full-league round-up list. It’s the same process I was already doing, except I’m putting it in WordPress instead of a Google Doc.

🚨Podcast Tonight🚨

LIVE show tonight at 7pm ET, going over each and every NFL game this week. As always, podcast form tomorrow morning.