Stefanski: Pearce will be activated next week

The Eagles scored the first 10 points of the game as they looked to be in control early. Things quickly went south following numerous mental mistakes, penalties, and poor execution, eventually leading to the Commanders scoring 27 straight to send Philadelphia to their sixth consecutive loss. The Eagles continue to have no downfield ability while playing through mounting injuries, with their longest play of the game coming on the final play from scrimmage on a meaningless down. That leaves very little room for error with things like penalties, drops, and sacks, all of which were present in Week 8. McKee and the Eagles limp into another divisional matchup in Week 9 against the Giants, where McKee will carry negligible fantasy value.

According to Zrebiec, Fagnano “was hobbled by game’s end, after he took a low and penalized hit” from Bills DL Ed Oliver. Fagnano said he and the team will have to wait and “see” how he is feeling in the coming days, noting that “you’re always going to have bumps and bruises” after a football game. Lamar Jackson (thumb) is already headed to injured reserve and Tyler Huntley will undergo an MRI tomorrow to assess a potential turf toe injury. Zrebiec rightly writes that the Ravens “will almost certainly have to bring in at least one quarterback, if not two,” this week. He lists Anthony Richardson and Tua Tagovailoa as potential trade targets. At this point, it is unclear who will start for the Ravens on Thursday night.

Tomorrow’s MRI should clarify whether Huntley will miss time. In the meantime, Lamar Jackson will be placed on injured reserve with what could be a season-ending thumb injury. This leaves rookie Joe Fagnano as the team’s potential starter for the Ravens’ Week 9 Thursday Night Football game against the Jaguars, though Fagnano reportedly got a little banged up today, too. Stay tuned.

This is the first time this season that Steichen has left open the possibility of replacing Daniel Jones as the team’s official starter. Anthony Richardson replaced him in-game today, with just under 12 minutes remaining. It seems as though Richardson, or even fellow backup Riley Leonard, could end up playing next week against the Cowboys’ fantasy-friendly defense.

Fittingly, Nix’s longest completion of the day was a dump-off to Jonah Coleman that the rookie turned into a 51-yard gain. Nix has two completions of 50+ yards this year. Both have gone to running backs on throws near or behind the line of scrimmage. On the other hand, when Nix did push the ball downfield versus Kansas City, he was largely effective. He completed 4-of-6 throws farther than nine yards downfield. It was a small step in the right direction after weeks of middling production on intermediate and downfield shots. Nix will look to build on this performance versus a beatable Carolina defense in Week 9. He will sit somewhere near the top of the QB2 ranks.

Engram was not a meaningful part of the Broncos’ offense, per usual. He has three catches for 15 yards over his past three appearances. It goes without saying, but Engram isn’t even on the TE2 radar for Week 9.

Sutton’s 53 yards today are now a season-high, as are his four receptions. That, however, largely speaks to how unproductive he has been this year. Sutton has more games under 20 yards than over 40. He also has just one touchdown through eight games. His signs of life versus the Chiefs will keep him in the WR5 ranks for Week 9, but the ceiling remains nonexistent.

Stevens said that this trade “could happen at any moment,” telling Broncos Country that they “might not want to go to sleep.” While this could be hyperbole, it sounds like Stevens is saying the trade could go down tonight. Stevens said he’s had conversations with multiple people on the matter, and the Broncos “know that this is not the time to wait and develop” young running backs. Stevens closed by reminding viewers that the Broncos were very interested in Breece Hall at one point, and added that there are likely other backup plans that the Broncos could be considering.

Sean Payton talked earlier this week about getting the ball in Mims’ hands more. Mims had two catches in each of his previous three games. He had two catches today. Maybe you can point to Mims’ two catches as a reason to believe Payton was telling the truth, but the role itself was almost completely unchanged. There’s nothing for fantasy managers to see here.

Starting with the positive, Waddle found the end zone for the second time this year and got going over the middle of the field with a 35-yard missile from Nix early in the second quarter. It’s his longest catch since Week 2, when he erupted for 138 yards on eight receptions, including a 49-yarder. On the downside, Waddle managed a pedestrian 19 percent target share and finished third on the team in receiving. He found the end zone and still scored a grand total of 12.9 PPR points. The Broncos’ offense is still a work in progress, even if today was a step in the right direction. Waddle will get another week in the WR3 mix when the Broncos take on the Panthers.