Fantasy football recap -- What we learned from Week 8

Each week, SportsLine's Fantasy expert Jacob Gibbs will provide an analytical deep-dive into Sunday's games to help provide a better understanding of what we learned and how it will impact the Fantasy outlook of specific teams and players. If you have questions about any stats, players, or situations covered or not covered in this article, feel free to reach out to Gibbs on Twitter.

Offensive pace and scheme notes:

• Neutral pass-to-rush rate standouts:

*Neutral = when the score was within six points*

Season Long:

Seahawks -- 64% (Meaning they passed the ball on 64 percent of offensive plays when the score of the game was within six points)
Bucs -- 64%
Bengals -- 64%
Steelers -- 64%
Texans -- 63%
Eagles -- 62%
Panthers -- 61%
Falcons -- 61%
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Cardinals -- 54%
Rams -- 54%
Chargers -- 54%
Raiders -- 52%
Patriots -- 51%
Ravens -- 45%
Vikings -- 44%

• Average drive distance standouts:

Average drive distance = the amount of yards gained per offensive drive
(Points per drive in parentheses to offer some insight as to which offenses underperformed relative to the amount of yardage they gained on each drive. There's more context -- the average starting field position per drive, for example -- that should be considered, but this is definitely a good starting point for highlighting some outliers.)
*Outliers in bold*

Season Long:

Raiders -- 41.6 (2.75)
Chiefs -- 41.4 (2.9)
Panthers -- 40.1 (2.39)
Titans -- 40.1 (2.89)
Packers -- 39.5 (3)
Falcons -- 37.9 (2.43)
-------------------------------------
Dolphins -- 29.8 (2.20)
Bears -- 29.1 (1.71)
Giants -- 28.8 (1.54)
Broncos -- 27.6 (1.73)
Washington -- 26.7 (1.64)
Jets -- 24.3 (1)

This Week:

Titans -- 50.7 (2.22)
Bengals -- 50.6 (3.88)
Chiefs -- 49.7 (3.5)
Raiders -- 48 (2.29)
Vikings -- 47.7 (4)
Falcons -- 46.8 (2.78)
Packers -- 45.1 (2.75)
-------------------------------------
Rams -- 29.1 (1.06)
Bears -- 27.9 (2.09)
Broncos -- 27.2 (2.38)
Lions -- 27.1 (1.75)
Jets -- 20.6 (0.82)
Dolphins -- 9.6 (1.00)

• Red zone efficiency standouts:

Red zone efficiency = Red zone touchdowns/red zone drives

Season Long:
(This is an easy way of illustrating which teams are over or underperforming when it comes to scoring touchdowns, and thus should be expected to see that rate correct as the season goes on.)

For reference: The league average rate in 2019 was 55.3 percent. The league-high rate was 71.4 percent, and the league-low was 31.3 percent. Four teams were above 70 percent and four were below 40 percent.

88% -- Seahawks (Meaning they scored a touchdown on 88 percent of their drives that reached the red zone)
79.3% -- Titans
78.6% -- Buccaneers
77.3% -- Vikings
76% -- Browns
76% -- Cardinals
75% -- Packers
-------------------------------------
53.8% -- Panthers
53.3% -- Falcons
52.2% -- Patriots
50% -- Broncos
47.8% -- Bears
33.3% -- Giants
25% -- Jets

This Week:
*Only had one red zone drive

100 percent club -- *Panthers*, Dolphins, 49ers, Seahawks, Packers, Vikings, Steelers, Colts
-------------------------------------
33.3% -- Falcons, Patriots
25% -- Saints, Raiders
0% -- Browns, Jets

I'll be updating this on a game-by-game basis throughout the night on Sunday and into the morning on Monday.

Arizona Cardinals

BYE

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons actually had a pretty solid day offensively, ranking sixth in the league in yards per drive and piling up over 400 yards of offense. They have perennially been one of the league's worst red zone offenses, though, and those issues reared their head again in Week 8. Matt Ryan didn't throw for a single touchdown against Carolina, which left everyone other than Julio Jones (7-137) with somewhat disappointing stat lines.

There's nothing official on Calvin Ridley, but the initial MRI's suggested that he may avoided a serious injury. Matt Ryan was peppering Ridley with targets before the injury, and his absence will be felt in a big way. We saw Atlanta's offense fall apart with Julio Jones out earlier in the season, so let's hope that Ridley's offense doesn't have the same type of impact.

Christian Blake saw the biggest boost in playing time with Ridley out. He and Julio were both on the field for 79 percent of the offensive snaps in the second half, while Russell Gage only played 45.5 percent of the second half snaps and ran almost exclusively from the slot.

Julio Jones saw a 33 percent target share, and Hayden Hurst (23.3 percent) was the only other Falcon with more targets than Ridley, who played just a quarter and a half. Hurst ran a route on 31 of 36 dropbacks, which marked his highest rate in any game this season.

Todd Gurley played a season-high 71 percent of the snaps in Week 7, but his snap rate was down to just 51.4 percent in this game. He handled 18 of 32 RB touches, but Brian Hill out-gained him 64-to-46 on five fewer touches. I'd guess that this was just a product of playing a quick turnaround on Thursday night, and would expect Gurley's snap count and share of the backfield work to increase in Week 9. 

Baltimore Ravens

It's possible that this had something to do with Gus Edwards getting a bit banged-up, but J.K. Dobbins played 65.9 percent of the snaps in this one. That's huge!  His season-high up to this point was 43 percent, and he'd only topped 40 percent in two games. Gus the Bus dominated the usage in the opening drives, but the Ravens ended up entrusting both Dobbins and Edwards with 16 touches. Edwards rushed for 87 yards and a score on his, but it was Baltimore's massively talented rookie who stole the show with 121 scrimmage yards.

The upcoming schedule for Baltimore is far from friendly, but we saw Dobbins put in work against the NFL's best run defense in Week 8. If this performance is enough to finally get the Ravens to prioritize getting Dobbins the ball on a regular basis, we saw the framework for him to be a top-10 Fantasy RB from this point on. Don't overreact to that statement -- I am just laying that out as his ceiling if Ingram is relegated to a relief role, similar to what we saw from Dobbins through the first half of the season. We saw Baltimore entrust Dobbins with the oh-so-Fantasy friendly two-minute and third-down role, while also featuring him in the red zone. Receiving work and red zone work for one of the NFL's best offenses was enough to make a player like Mark Ingram a top-12 Fantasy RB in 2019. If the Ravens give that type of role to a player with Dobbins' talent, we could be looking at an Aaron Jones type of Fantasy breakout.

The Ravens continue to do everything they can to elevate Marquise Brown into stardom, and if it weren't for a number of Lamar Jackson just-misses on deep passes, Brown might have achieved that level of notoriety already. His 86 percent snap rate in Week 5 was the highest of Brown's career, and Baltimore allowed him to play a massive 77 of 82 snaps (94 percent) in this game. Brown ran a route on every Lamar Jackson dropback, but Lamar found the time to throw his way just twice on a day where he was under pressure on 47 percent of his dropbacks. Both targets came in the end zone. Lamar placed one just out of reach for a wide open Brown in the back corner, but he then found him for a score on the ensuing play. Obviously, the catch and yardage total are disappointing, but I believe the underlying numbers suggest that better days are ahead for Brown.

Buffalo Bills

Zack Moss hasn't been able to build much momentum this season because of tough luck on a lingering toe issue, but we're seeing him take over lead back duties from Devin Singletary with each passing week. Here's the backfield usage breakdown for Week 8:

Snap rate -- Moss (53.4%), Singletary (48.3%)
Third down snap rate -- Moss (55%), Singletary (45%)
Inside the 10-yard line snaps: Moss (6), Singletary (1)
Inside the 10-yard line touches: Moss (4), Singletary (0)

Singletary still played all of the two-minute offense, but the two ended up with an identical number of routes run on the day. Moss showed more as a pass-catcher and blocker in college than Singletary ever did, so it wouldn't shock me to see him take that role at some point if he continues to play well. Either way, the fact that Moss has complete control over the red zone opportunities leaves Singletary as a low ceiling flex play on most weeks. There's really not much Fantasy value for him barring an injury to Moss. I'd value him similarly to guys like Malcolm Brown, James White, and Devonta Freeman going forward -- just a step below the tier of Justin Jackson, Phillip Lindsay, Leonard Fournette, and J.D. McKissic types.

Stefon Diggs only caught six passes for 92 yards, but his absurd 50 percent target share is noteworthy. It's mostly just the result of poor weather and a weird overall game environment, I'd guess.

Those factors contributed to yet another subpar Fantasy performance from Josh Allen, but to be fair, he only dropped back to pass 22 times in a super weird game. He should fare much better against the Seahawks in Week 9.

Carolina Panthers

For the second-straight week, Carolina was dominated in time of possession and ran an unusually low amount of plays. They at least were above the 50 play mark after ranking dead last in offensive plays last week, but still, they were just 20th in plays overall in Week 8. Mike Davis played 84 percent of the snaps, but that only resulted in 14 touches with Carolina's overall offensive opportunities down once again. He turned those 14 touches into 77 yards, but he was ultimately a massive Fantasy letdown in what was likely his last opportunity at a starring role. Christian McCaffrey is set to return for Carolina's Week 9 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.

D.J. Moore ended up leading the Panthers in receiving (55 yards), but it came on just two fourth quarter catches. His 21.4 percent target share on the day isn't horrible, but it was almost impossible to be productive on a day where the Panthers passed just 27 times for 179 yards.

Robby Anderson only had 48 yards, but his 35.7 percent target share was his highest mark of the season. The remaining schedule is far from ideal, and the Panthers have really only performed well offensively when facing weak opponents, but I'd still consider both Anderson and Moore mid-to-low-end WR2 types.

Chicago Bears

Anthony Miller's 76 percent snap rate was a season-high, but I think it had more to do with the game script than anything else. Chicago fell behind early and ended up dropping back to pass on 67 percent of their offensive plays, which resulted in more three-receiver sets than usual. Miller still played 91 percent of his snaps from the slot, and until Chicago shows a willingness to use him on the perimeter, it is going to be difficult for Miller to play more than 50-60 percent of the snaps on most weeks. It was great to see Miller lead the way with 11 targets -- Week 8 marked just his fourth career game with double-digit targets. I think it was a product of the game script and the fact that Marshon Lattimore looked the best that we have seen in some time and made life difficult for Allen Robinson. The upcoming schedule is pretty juicy, though, and Miller is a young player who has shown the ability to be productive in the past, so he's worth a speculative add.

David Montgomery piled up 105 scrimmage yards on 23 touches against a stingy Saints defense. This was a great showing from him after a couple discouraging outings. He may yet be able to salvage his Fantasy season with 80-plus percent of the snaps available to him for upcoming games against the Titans, Vikings, Packers, Lions, and Texans.

Cincinnati Bengals

Whether it was due to weather or the lead they played this game with from the get-go, Cincy only dropped back to pass on 55 percent of offensive plays against Tennessee. As a result, A.J. Green (seven) and Tyler Boyd (six) both saw their targets lower than what Fantasy owners had grown accustomed to over the past couple weeks. The weird game flow didn't stop Tee Higgins from seeing 10 targets funneled his way, and the rookie's 26.3 percent target share was a welcome sight after he posted his first sub-20 percent share last week since becoming a starter.

Gio Bernard's snap rate (64.4 percent) was down a bit in this one, but I think that was a result of Cincy going with a more run-first approach than their usual pass-heavy gameplan. Bernard isn't someone that the team likely wants to hand the ball off to more than 12-15 times in a game, so Samaje Perine got more involved while milking the clock in this one. Bernard still ended with 78 scrimmage yards and two scores on 18 touches and is a low-end Fantasy RB when he has the backfield to himself.

Cleveland Browns

Kareem Hunt played 86 percent of the snaps, ran a route on 22 of 29 dropbacks, handled 16 of 19 RB touches, and averaged nearly five yards per carry. He just was burned by Cleveland's offense ranking dead last in the NFL in plays. Hunt owners, I know this doesn't make you feel any better, but you deserved better in these past two matchups. The process was absolutely right. He is a massively talented back playing almost all of the snaps behind the best run blocking line in the NFL. You just got a bottom range of outcomes result. It looks as if Nick Chubb could return after Cleveland's Week 9 Bye, but if he doesn't, Hunt will get one more go at it in a dope spot against a Texans team that shouldn't have any answer for Cleveland's run game.

Harrison Bryant played 80 percent of the snaps and ran a route on 24 of 29 dropbacks, but the result was just three catches on three targets for 25 yards. Again, on a day where the Browns only had 47 offensive plays and Baker Mayfield threw for just 122 yards, there wasn't much Fantasy goodness to go around for Cleveland's players.

Jarvis Landry's 10 targets made him the only Brown with more than three targets on the day, but he finished with just 52 yards on four catches. Rashard Higgins caught one of three targets for 14 yards, but he did play 71 percent of the snaps. There's just nothing to see here -- the wind certainly didn't help, but Mayfield really dropped the ball in one of the best matchups this offense will see all season.

Dallas Cowboys

That tweet is from this time last week. I was curious to see how the snaps and touches would be divvied up in a more competitive game environment, as each of the games before Week 8 were Dallas blowout losses.

Well, Zeke played 78 percent of the snaps and handled 20 of 29 RB touches in this game, which is definitely an improvement from what we saw in the past two games. But, if we would have seen the same type of distribution from the past two games in this one, it would have truly been time to sound the panic alarm. It was expected that his workload would increase somewhat from the past two weeks, I just wasn't sure if we'd see his baseline return to the near 90 percent snap rate we saw earlier in the season, or if the days of force-feeding Zeke the ball are behind the now 2-6 Cowboys. It appears that the latter is true; Zeke's snap rate was down nine percent from what he saw in the first four weeks, and his share of the team's RB touches was down by 16 percent. I don't view Zeke as a top-10 Fantasy RB going forward. The touchdown upside is severely capped, and he's at risk of seeing his snaps reduced in blowout losses on any given week. On top of that, he still has matchups against the Steelers, Ravens, 49ers, and Eagles remaining in his Fantasy schedule. If the Cowboys' season gets much more out of hand, there's also a possibility that we see Zeke's snaps scaled back even further than they already have been.

In the first game with Ben DiNucci under center, we saw CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper finish with a target rate below 15 percent. Instead, 55 percent of the targets were funneled to Michael Gallup and Dalton Schultz, just to add one final 'lol, okay' moment to what was a pretty ridiculous Week 8. Since DiNucci is unlikely to remain the starter, there's really nothing to be taken away here, except for the fact that Lamb's snap rate was a season-low 46.3 percent. He topped 80 percent of the snaps in each of his first two pro games, but here's his game-by-gam since then: 60% > 76% > 55% > 67% > 55% > 46%. 

Denver Broncos

Jerry Jeudy's snap rate hadn't been above 75 percent yet this season, but he played 89 percent of the snaps in this game. It's worth pointing out that Tim Patrick missed the game, but still, it was great to see Jeudy's snaps and targets (10) up in this spot. His 26.3 percent target share led the way, but Noah Fant wasn't far behind with a 23.7 percent rate. Fant's snap rate was up from 70 percent in his first game back last week to 79 percent in this spot. He gets matchups against the Falcons, Raiders, Dolphins, and Saints next.

Melvin Gordon played 55 percent of the snaps to Phillip Lindsay's 45 percent mark, but it was again Lindsay who was far more efficient with his touches. Lindsay turned seven touches into 86 yards and a score, averaging 13.8 yards per carry to Gordon's 3.3. Gordon finished with eight carries for 26 yards, but his Fantasy day was somewhat salvaged by six catches on six targets for 21 yards. He was on the field for 64 percent of third downs and 58 percent of the two-minute drill offense. That type of usage may make Gordon the better projected play next week against a Falcons defense that has done a great job of stopping the run but strugglges against pass-catching backs, but overall, I'd rather own Lindsay than Gordon. I think it's only a matter of time before he starts to take more work from Gordon.

K.J. Hamler and Drew Lock's boy Albert O each caught a touchdown, but neither saw more than three targets on the day. Hamler at least played 80 percent of the snaps, but Okwuegbunam was on the field for just 25 percent of plays. They're tough to own outside of deep leagues, even with the juicy matchups on the horizon. 

Detroit Lions

Kenny Golladay played just 29.5 percent of the snaps before leaving the game with a hip injury, and it's unclear how long he'll be sidelined. In his absence, Marvin Hall went for 113 yards on four catches, but those were his only targets on the day. He's an okay speculative add with a soft upcoming schedule for the Lions, but Hall isn't someone I'd spend much FAAB on.

T.J. Hockenson's 23 percent target share was nice to see, but it's worth noting that most of that came after Golladay's injury. He finished with 65 catches on seven targets, as Marvin Jones and Kerryon Johnson ended up accounting for Matt Stafford's three passing touchdowns.

D'Andre Swift's single rushing yard on six carries isn't what owners wanted to see, but he did play 62 percent of the snaps and handle just over half of the RB touches. The Lions were forced to drop back to pass on 78 percent of their plays while trying to dig out of an early deficit, which made it difficult for any RB to do much. He was on the field for one of Detroit's two plays from inside the 10-yard line, but of course, it was Kerryon who found the end zone. The usage suggests that better days should be ahead for Swift.

Green Bay Packers

We only have a three game sample of Davante Adams healthy and playing in a neutral game script, but the usage in those three games suggests that Adams could have put up record breaking numbers if he played 16 games this season. The yardage wasn't there in the same way it has been, but Adams still had a 27 percent target share and was targeted on four of Aaron Rodgers' six red zone passing attempts. He remains Fantasy's clear cut WR1, and given the spectacular Fantasy playoff schedule for the Packers, Adams is probably the most valuable Fantasy player at any position.

Jamaal Williams' role was outstanding once again -- he played 85 percent of the snaps, ran 38 routes on 43 dropbacks, was second on the team with seven targets, and handled 22 of 28 RB touches. He didn't find the end zone, but the overall dominant usage allowed Williams to pile up 102 scrimmage yards. As someone who ranked him as the RB6, I hoped for a bit better production from Williams in this matchup, but even in a "floor game," he still was far more productive than a number of 'RB1-types' that tanked in Week 8.

Robert Tonyan's snap rate (61.6 percent) was again just okay, but it was good to see him targeted six times. It's worth noting that he only ran a route on 26 of his 46 snaps, so the 79 yard outcome was probably a top range of outcomes result. He'll be a borderline top-12-to-15 Fantasy TE in a quick turnaround against the Niners.

Houston Texans

BYE

Indianapolis Colts

By far the most notably disappointing of the top-end RBs in Week 8 was Jonathan Taylor. There was hope that Taylor would take command of the backfield out of Indy's Week 7 Bye, but it did not play out that way. The Colts did give Taylor 64 percent of the snaps and 8 of 13 RB touches in the first quarter, but he ended the day with just 13 touches and a 34 percent snap rate. He was remarkably inefficient with his touches against a Detroit defense that has been dominated on the ground all season, rushing just 11 times for 22 yards. Meanwhile, teammate Jordan Wilkins turned 21 touches into 113 scrimmage yards and a score, while Nyheim Hines finished with 62 yards and two scores on eight touches. It's unclear if the difference in production between Taylor and Wilkins was enough to lose Taylor the starting job on a permanent basis, but that is what we saw unfold in this one. The Colts get the Baltimore Ravens next week, and Taylor will be hard to consider a top-24 Fantasy RB in that spot.

The Colts only needed to drop back to pass on 48 percent of their plays while running the clock out against a hapless Lions squad, but that was enough for Philip Rivers to finish with 262 passing yards and three touchdowns. He spread the wealth, with no receiver topping Zach Pascal's 17.6 percent target share. Pascal played 76 percent of the snaps and Marcus Johnson was in for 62 percent of the plays, but even with T.Y. Hilton potentially set to miss time, neither will be players you're going to want to use against the Ravens in Week 9.

Michael Pittman played 58 percent of the snaps in his first game back and caught his only target for six yards. Pittman was showing signs of emerging prior to his injury, and the Colts are in desperate need of a playmaker at the WR position. I'd own Pittman ahead of both Pascal and Johnson. The schedule sets up quite nicely after the Ravens in Week 9, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Pittman in a Fantasy relevant role from that point on.

Jacksonville Jaguars

BYE

Kansas City Chiefs

For the second-straight week, we saw Patrick Mahomes pulled with almost 10 minutes remaining in a blowout win. This time around, all the production came from the passing game, as Mahomes passed for 416 yards and five touchdowns against New York's sieve of a secondary.

Travis Kelce led the team with a 24.4 percent target share, and Mecole Hardman surprisingly saw 20 percent of the targets go his way. Hardman caught seven of nine targets for 96 yards and a touchdown, and he ran three more routes than Demarcus Robinson. It is worth noting that Hardman stayed in for six additional pass routes and saw two targets from Chad Henne after the rest of the starting unit had hit the bench. Still, 86 of his 96 yards came from Mahomes, and Hardman is going to be in consideration as a low-end WR3 with upside if Sammy Watkins misses Week 9's game against Carolina.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire played just 49.3 percent of the snaps, but that was partially impacted by the blowout. In the first half, 55.6 percent of the snaps went to CEH and 29.6 percent went to Bell. Bell touched the ball six times on his eight first half snaps, so it sure seemed as if Kansas City wanted to oblige in letting him get his 'revenge' against his former team. That never came to fruition for Bell, who rushed six times for seven yards on the day. He added three catches for 31 yards to salvage his Fantasy day, which was enough for him to out-produce CEH on the same amount of touches in the end. It's tough to take much away from the last two games, since Kansas City has slept walk to easy victories both times.

It's definitely not good news for CEH owners that he hasn't appeared to clearly separate himself from Bell, but we always knew that the Chiefs were going to get Bell involved in the first few games after signing him. It's natural for the team to want to see what they have in him, and so far, Bell really hasn't shown anything that clearly signals that he needs to be a part of Kansas City's offensive gameplan going forward. I'd try not to overreact as a CEH owner, but be willing to adapt based on what we see in a more competitive game script. The matchup sets up quite well for CEH in Week 9.

Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders only dropped back to pass on 41 percent of their offensive plays, which is an absurd number that definitely had to do with the weather conditions. Josh Jacobs' snap rate was back up to 67 percent, which is right in line with what we've seen in other positive game scripts. That's his third-highest mark on the season. He ran just 11 routes and was not targeted on the day, but that doesn't matter when your team has an absurd 40 RB touches up for grabs. Jacobs rushed 31 times for 128 yards and no scores. It's impressive that he can handle that type of workload, but it goes to show how touchdown dependent he is as a back with such a limited passing downs role. In a perfect game script that afforded him 31 freaking touches, Jacobs only outscored David Montgomery (21-89 and 2-16 with zero scores) by 0.3 PPR points.

In anything but non PPR formats, I'd be selling Jacobs to anyone who values him like a top-10 Fantasy RB. I was willing to wait it out with him when it looked like the team might force him into a larger role as a pass-catcher, but it sure has seemed like that ship has sailed in recent weeks, as Jacobs has been on the field for zero third downs or obvious passing situations.

There's really not much to say about the passing game options for the Raiders on a day where Derek Carr threw for just 112 yards. Darren Waller's six targets gave him a 29 percent target share, but not a single Raiders player topped 30 receiving yards on the day.

Los Angeles Chargers

As if it wasn't hard enough trying to understand how the volume would be split between Justin Jackson and Joshua Kelley, the Chargers decided to further complicate things by adding Troymaine Pope to the equation. Justin Jackson led the way with a 47.1 percent snap rate, but Pope (28.7 percent), and Joshua Kelley (24.1 percent) were both involved as well. Jackson led the way with 16 routes run, but Pope was just behind him with 15 and was targeted seven times on those 15 routes. Jackson turned 20 touches into 142 yards against a Broncos defense that has been pretty stout this season, and Pope finished with 95 yards on 15 touches. Kelley rushed for 32 yards on seven carries, and he on the field for two of three plays inside the 10-yard line.

Jackson and Pope were both able to have Fantasy relevancy in a game where the Chargers somehow ran 84 offensive plays, but that number is well above what we can expect on a regular basis. At this point, with L.A. getting three backs involved, I'd probably look to sell Jackson to someone in need of RB depth. His upcoming schedule is nice, so you might be able to get good value for him after this game. Austin Ekeler is going to be back at some point in the season, and even in the meantime, it will be tough for anyone from this backfield to be consistently viable for Fantasy if the Chargers are mixing three backs in. Jackson isn't a must-sell or anything, but barring any unforeseen injuries, this is probably the highest his perceived value will be at any point going forward.

Keenan Allen with nine catches and a score on 11 targets feels like a walk in the park at this point. He's seen target totals of 10, 19, 11, 13, and 11 in the games he's started with Justin Herbert. No player has gone more than three games consecutively with double digit targets this season. If not for injuries, Allen would have a five streak. The volume is as good as any player in the league, and while Herbert is playing at such a high level, Allen should be viewed as a weekly top-eight Fantasy WR.

Hunter Henry played 97 percent of the snaps, but his four catches on four targets for 33 yards is a massive disappointment when you consider that Herbert chucked it 43 times in this one. Four players saw more targets than Henry, who finished with a 9.8 percent target share.

Man, I hope Week 7 was just a weird game and Herbert will keep chucking it to Mike Williams. Those two are fun to watch throw and catch the long ball. Williams finished with 100 yards and a score on the back of a healthy 22 percent target share. You love to see it.

Los Angeles Rams

Thanks to a scoop and score and punt return touchdown, the Rams found themselves in a large hole early in this game. Hilariously, rather than let Jared Goff attempt to attack downfield, Sean McVay just had him attempt 61 passes with an average depth of target (aDOT) of 6.2 yards. The Rams were able to string together successful drives, which resulted in 471 yards and a league-high 92 offensive plays, which in turn yielded a wild stat line of 11 catches on 22 targets for 110 yards for Cooper Kupp. That wasn't enough to make Kupp the highest scoring Ram, though, as Robert Woods nearly matched Kupp's yardage total on 14 fewer targets. Woods also scored his fifth and sixth touchdowns of the season, after he scored just two touchdowns in all of 2019. He has that many rushing scores already in 2020.

Darrell Henderson played just 19 percent of the snaps before leaving with a thigh injury. This paved the way for Cam Akers to finally see the field, and he turned his 10 touches into 54 scrimmage yards. Malcolm Brown registered a 60 percent snap rate to Akers' 21 percent, but he saw just two more touches.

On a day where the Rams were in as negative of a game script as they could possibly be facing, in a game where Goff threw the ball 61 freaking times, Tyler Higbee ran just 24 routes. He caught two of four targets for 14 yards. It's over. It's been over for a month or so, but this game absolutely hammered the nail into the coffin. If he can't catch even a semblance of Fantasy relevancy on a day like today, how can Higbee be justifiably owned in Fantasy? He's been outside of my top-20 Fantasy TE's for multiple weeks now -- there's just no way to feel any confidence in him when he's being used as a blocker so frequently.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins dropped back to pass on 50 percent of offensive plays while playing with a big lead, so this is yet another game where we should avoid overreacting to anything. Their gameplan was incredibly vanilla from the time they built the big lead. 15 of 26 second-half plays were rushing attempts. This isn't what the offense will look like in a neutral situation, and they aren't going to be a defense that surpasses offenses in the way the Rams do every week.

With that said, the Dolphins just put up one of the worst offensive games we've seen all season. Tua didn't even top 100 yards in his first start. There's no way to be anything but disappointed after that. And while the schedule gets easier towards the Fantasy playoffs, matchups against the Cardinals and Chargers in the next two weeks could pose difficult challenges for the rookie QB.

Myles Gaskin led the Dolphins with six targets, and his 88 percent snap rate was by far his highest mark of the season. He wasn't very efficient with his touches -- just 63 scrimmage yards on 18 carries and three catches -- but Gaskin was on the field for all four plays from inside the 10-yard line and punched one of his two attempts from that range into the end zone. There just aren't many backs who have the potential to play 90ish percent of the snaps, lead their team in receiving, and be in for all of the goal line work. All this volume might not result in huge Fantasy value if Miami's offense continues to sputter, but the framework for top-10 Fantasy RB type of production is there for Gaskin if Tua can bounce back from this performance.

Minnesota Vikings

Oh look, another game where it's almost impossible to draw any meaningful takeaways. In a week full of bizarre outcomes, the Vikings essentially steamrolling the Packers has to rank near the very top of the list. The Packers converted a touchdown and two-point conversion with under three minutes remaining in the game to make it look close, but Minnesota was in control for the entire second half. Kirk Cousins dropped back to pass just 15 times on 49 offensive plays (30.6 percent), and he averaged an unbelievable 1.79 air yards per attempt. 70 percent of the offensive yardage came from Dalvin Cook. Cook handled 32 of 35 RB touches, which resulted in 226 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns against a Packers defense that has been by far the worst in the NFL against the RB position.

Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson had almost identical stat lines. Thielen ran one more route and had one more yard, and each receiver caught three of five targets, which gave them each a 29 percent target share. It is interesting that Jaire Alexander opened up the game shadowing Justin Jefferson. I wonder if that was specific to Alexander, who has struggled historically against Thielen, or if it is specific to Jefferson, who has reached a point of commanding the attention of opposing defenses already with three 100-yard performances to his name this early in his career. The Vikings face some top notch corners down the stretch, and if this becomes a trend, we could see Jefferson shadowed by Carlton Davis and Marshon Lattimore during the Fantasy playoffs.

One last noteworthy takeaway -- Irv Smith played 79 percent of the snaps (just above Rudolph's 75 percent rate) even in a game where Minnesota leaned super run heavy. That's enough to suggest to me that he's legitimately being prioritized as a bigger part of the offense at this point. I had wondered if he'd play less in a game where the Vikings were playing with a lead and more in need of blocking. What we've seen from Smith over the past month is enough to put him in the weekly top-15 Fantasy TE conversation.

New England Patriots

Cam Newton only threw for 174 yards, but he at least got back to what we want from him in Fantasy and rushed for 54 yards on nine carries. Newton also found the end zone from two yards out, which was enough to place him at the QB10 spot on the week prior to Monday's action.

Damien Harris also saw two carries from inside the 10-yard line, but his touchdown came from 22 yards out. He rushed 16 times for 102 yards on the day, but it's worth noting that he played just 31.3 percent of the snaps. Harris will be worth consideration when in matchups like next week's against the Jets, but in games where it is more likely that New England's anemic offense will fall behind early, Harris is going to be super hard to start with any confidence.

N'Keal Harry and Julian Edelman were both sidelined for this one. As a result, Jakobi Meyers and Damiere Byrd each ran a route on all of Cam's dropbacks, and Meyers saw 11 targets to Byrd's three. He ended this game with a massive 48 percent target share, which amounted to just 58 receiving yards and zero touchdowns. Meyers was already on the deep league radar, and this type of volume puts him into consideration for any PPR formatted league with 12 or more teams. The upside is capped by his offense, but there aren't many waiver wire receivers who have a clear path to a 25-plus percent target share on a regular basis.

Rex Burkhead led the RBs with a 50 percent snap share, and James White played 47 percent of the snaps. Neither back topped 40 yards, and White only touched the ball four times. We've seen both of these guys show the ability to randomly pop off if the offensive gameplan happens to become focused on them, but predicting when that will happen is near impossible. They're droppable.

New Orleans Saints

Drew Brees' ultra conservative style of play was exacerbated even further by the weather conditions in this one. His 5.71 air yards per attempt coming into Week 8's game was by far the lowest in the NFL, and it was down to 4.63 in this spot. Alvin Kamara led the way with 11 targets, followed by Tre'Quan Smith's eight and Jared Cook's seven. Kamara turned his 21 touches into 163 scrimmage yards, and Taysom Hill was second on the team with 65 scrimmage yards. It was just that kind of week in the NFL.

New York Giants

Playing on MNF

New York Jets

After playing 70 percent of the snaps in Week 7, La'Mical Perine's snap rate was down to just 49 percent in this spot. Frank Gore played 39 percent of the snaps, and each back had 10 carries. Gross.

Denzel Mims played 79 percent of the snaps in his first game back, and his snap rate was all the way up to 97 percent in this spot. It is disappointing that he was targeted just three times, but the was all Mims needed to lead this sorry Jets squad in receiving with 42 yards. Meanwhile, Jeff Smith and Braxton Berrios each were targeted 10 times, but neither topped 35 receiving yards. Chris Herndon ran 17 routes and caught one target for three yards. Nothing to see here.

Philadelphia Eagles

It was super discouraging to see Carson Wentz only able to muster up 123 passing yards against Dallas on a day where he got Jalen Reagor and Dallas Goedert back in the lineup. That's crazy. The Cowboys haven't been able to stop anyone, and a showing like this makes it difficult to trust that Philly's skill position players are going to be able to capitalize on the favorable upcoming schedule.

It was great to see Travis Fulgham (28.6 percent) and Jalen Reagor (25 percent) both post huge target shares, but it came at the expense of Boston Scott and Dallas Goedert, who each saw only two targets. Fulgham caught six of his seven targets for 78 yards and a score, while Reagor also found the end zone.

Dallas Goedert played 86 percent of the snaps and ran a route on 28 of 37 dropbacks, while Richard Rodgers played just 26 percent of the snaps and was used as a blocker on 15 of 18 offensive plays. Rodgers is safely droppable, while Goedert should soon return to top-eight Fantasy TE status as he gets his legs under him.

Boston Scott's game paralleled Gio Bernard's pretty closely, except that he didn't find the end zone. Both backs' teams ran more than usual while playing with a lead, and since neither back is really a typical 20-plus touch kind of RB, their snaps were down a bit. The ideal game script for Scott would be playing from behind or in a neutral situation, where he can maximize on his ability as a receiver. Still, owners can't complain about 17 touches and 79 scrimmage yards in today's Fantasy RB economy. The Eagles have a Bye in Week 9, but Scott will remain a high-end RB2 if Sanders is out for a Week 10 matchup with the Giants.

Pittsburgh Steelers

A week after Diontae Johnson dominated the target share and Chase Claypool was invisible, we saw the two flip roles. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with an early hamstring issue, but Diontae saw just three targets on the day and didn't record a catch until late in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Claypool led the team with a 26.5 percent target share and caught one of Ben Roethlisberger's two touchdowns. And, weirdly enough, it was JuJu Smith-Schuster who led the team in receiving yards with 67 in a difficult matchup against Marlon Humphrey.

This game obviously was what Claypool owners wanted to see, and it provided a second-straight look at JuJu as a steady source of short-to-intermediate targets after a brutal start to the season. It wouldn't surprise me if either receiver was far less involved next week, as this is appearing likely to be an unpredictable situation on a weekly basis. Diontae Johnson owners have nothing to do but hold at this point. What we saw prior to Week 8 was too enticing to overreact to one week.

James Conner's snap rate was down to 59 percent after reaching a season-high 84 percent last week, but he still handled 18 of 19 RB touches and scored a short rushing touchdown. He should enjoy much better efficiency with matchups against the Cowboys, Bengals, and Jaguars up next.

San Francisco 49ers

What a meltdown. Jimmy Garoppolo played 59 percent of the snaps before exiting with an ankle injury, and George Kittle left shortly after him with a foot injury. Even before the injuries, the offense wasn't able to get anything going against one of the NFL's worst defensive units.

And to make matters worse for Garoppolo owners, Nick Mullens came in and immediately went to work in dissecting Seattle's secondary. He threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns in Jimmy G's absence, and both Brandon Aiyuk (8-91-1) and Kendrick Bourne (8-91) were able to salvage their Fanrtasy day without Garoppolo under center.

Jerick McKinnon's 49 percent snap rate was his highest since he played 92 percent of the snaps in Week 4, so it's possible that after nearly a month of rest, his legs are feeling less tired. He caught four passes for 40 yards and scored a goal line touchdown. JaMycal Hasty also plunged in a short yardage score, but it was disappointing to see him play only 42 percent of the snaps in a game that Tevin Coleman was only able to play nine percent of the snaps before leaving with an injury.

Seattle Seahawks

Russell Wilson continued his annoying trend of favoring one receiver heavily over the other, as DK Metcalf out-targeted Tyler Lockett 16-to-5 in this spot. This type of target distribution makes it difficult to predict with any confidence how the targets will shake out, and it's caused the 'non favored' WR to be a true liability in Fantasy. Over the past four games, the 'non favored' receiver has averaged just three catches for 34.7 yards. One possible explanation is that Metcalf is beginning to surpass Lockett, as we've seen him as the favored receiver in three of the four games. The only game he wasn't favored was in the matchup against Patrick Peterson. So, one could hypothesize that more often than not, Metcalf is the WR you want for Fantasy. Maybe the actionable takeaway is to fade Metcalf when facing shadow coverage and fade Lockett in all other spots. I think the answer most likely to be correct is that this is a random small sample size thing, and both receivers will get back to being simultaneously useful for Fantasy. Lockett had by far the best individual cornerback matchup in this spot, though, so it is frustrating to see him targeted just five times after the performance we saw from him in Week 7.

Will Dissly didn't post a 50 percent snap rate or higher in any of the first five games, but he played 58 percent of the snaps to Greg Olsen's 62 percent rate last week, in the first game out of the Bye. This week, we saw 63 percent of the snaps go to Dissly, while just 54 percent went Olsen's way. Dissly still saw just one target, and Olsen actually ran six more routes as Dissly was used as a blocker on 28 of his 44 snaps. Still, though, we've seen Dissly be a highly effective Fantasy TE when playing a regular role, so his recent spike in snaps is worth continuing to monitor.

Speaking of snaps, DeeJay Dallas played a lot of em. With Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde sidelined and Travis Homer banged-up entering the game, Dallas played 79 percent of the snaps and handled 23 of 26 RB touches. He turned those touches into just 58 scrimmage yards, but Dallas was on the field for all 11 of Seattle's plays from inside the 10-yard line and scored twice from that distance. He'll be a top-10 Fantasy RB for Week 9 in the unlikely scenario in which Carson and Hyde both remain sidelined.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Playing on MNF

Tennessee Titans

The Titans seemed set on playing this one through the ground game no matter what, as they dropped back on just 33 of 60 offensive plays in a game that they were playing from behind from the beginning. 33 percent of the targets went to Corey Davis, who has now out-targeted A.J. Brown in consecutive games. Brown was able to find the end zone to prevent his day from being a massive disappointment, but Davis' 128 yards was 104 above Brown's total.

For Fantasy purposes, Jonnu Smith is an imposter. He's an awesomely talented real life player, but touchdown variance in a small sample size early in the season caused people to overreact and assume that he is a top-eight Fantasy TE now. He has six targets over the past two games. Here are his game-by-game target shares in the three games that Davis and Brown have both been healthy for: 17.5%, 10.7%, 7.4%. He's extremely dependent on touchdowns or long plays, and with the recent resurgence of Corey Davis, the target floor on a weekly basis is super low for Jonnu. He should be viewed as a fringe top-12 Fantasy TE going forward.

Washington Football Team

BYE