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Philip Rivers exploited new starting CBs Ashton Youboty and rookie free agent Kevin Rutland after Lowery went down with the injury in the second quarter. Even with Lowery returning, this secondary is still going to be one to exploit for fantasy purposes going forward.

Vidal played well behind lead back J.K. Dobbins in this one, with the lead back’s 17 opportunities trumping the four of the rookie’s. Vidal has a chance to carve out a greater workload when the Chargers face a Saints defense allowing the most yards before contact per attempt in the league in Week 8.

The Chargers managed just 2.7 yards per carry as a team against a Cardinals defense that had allowed 153 yards on the ground per game during the first six weeks of the 2024 regular season. With Dobbins struggling to find running room, the Chargers turned to the air as quarterback Justin Herbert attempted a season-high 39 passes. Even so, Dobbins remained the clear and away top running back with Gus Edwards on injured reserve, meaning we should see better fantasy days ahead for the oft injured veteran. Dobbins and the Chargers get a beautiful on-paper matchup against a Saints defense allowing the most yards before contact per rush attempt in the league in Week 8.

He added a 19-yard carry. Really helped you out, didn’t he? Flowers also had a fumble clank off his helmet when he was in motion in the second quarter. This was largely about Rashod Bateman winning deep routes and Lamar Jackson rewarding Bateman rather than anything Flowers did wrong. Flowers falls back into the WR3 ranks with Bateman’s recent emergence, even if he is the more consistently-targeted player.

The Chargers clearly struggled in the red zone after managing just five field goals and no touchdowns, but the bigger story was an ineffective run game that averaged only 2.7 yards per carry against a Cardinals defense that had allowed 153 yards on the ground per game during the first six weeks. Herbert turned to his tight ends against the zone-heavy Cardinals defense, feeding Will Dissly 11 targets on the evening. The 3-3 Chargers fall another half game behind the Chiefs in the AFC West and need to turn things around after starting the season with two consecutive wins as they fight to stay alive in the AFC wildcard race nearing the halfway point of the season. Up next for Herbert and the Chargers are the injury-riddled Saints at home in Week 8.

Likely has been targeted four times in each of the last two games, but has largely remained a hard-to-trust, touchdown-or-bust option since Week 1’s 9/111/1 line.

Of course he did. Andrews was left free to roam in a zone hole on his first score, a nine-yarder. He added a four-yarder in the third quarter where Jordan Whitehead completely lost track of him. Perhaps we all should have listened when the Ravens said he’d have big games. He’s back on the TE1 radar against the Browns, though this year should tell you he’ll be hard to trust until we see more volume.

Bateman reeled in a 49-yard deep shot touchdown to help the Ravens (mostly) put Tampa Bay away in the third quarter. He added another field-flipper in the second quarter for 59 yards. It’s going to be hard to predict when Bateman will explode and his target volume has remained fairly low, but this is three games over 58 yards in a row and two touchdowns over those games. Perhaps this is finally the year Bateman fulfills some long-forgotten fantasy promise.

Hill’s 18-yard touchdown scamper came as Tampa sent a full blitz at Lamar Jackson, leaving Hill and four offensive linemen alone to truck ahead the rest of the way through the red zone. Hill continues to be dynamic when targeted in the screen game, but he’ll remain a what-the-heck FLEX at best behind Derrick Henry.

Second half Derrick Henry is inevitable, and after the Ravens jumped out to a 27-10 lead, he went to work with an 81-yard run down the left sideline, a 39-yarder over the left tackle, and an easy touchdown catch where Jordan Whitehead decided that funneling Henry inside instead of trying to tackle him was a smart business decision. Henry will remain a locked-in RB1 again next week against the Browns.

He added nine carries for 52 yards. Four of his touchdowns were fairly elementary — Mark Andrews found himself wide open in (or near) the end zone twice, and a screen to Justice Hill with four blockers in front of him after a failed blitz was an easy walk-in. To formally conclude the game’s competitive section, he dumped it off to Derrick Henry in the red zone for another score. Jackson also mixed in a 59-yard bomb touchdown to Rashod Bateman over Zyon McCollum. He’s playing better than he did last year and he won the MVP last year. Jackson merely threw for 223/1/2 and 186/2/0 against the Browns last year, but he remains a likely QB1 overall rank next week.