Immediate fantasy football takeaways from NFL Week 5 Thursday Night Football

The Los Angeles Rams defeated the Seattle Seahawks 26-17 to kick off Week 5.

It was largely a defensive struggle where both Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford suffered hand injuries. Stafford played through his injury while Wilson eventually needed to be replaced by Geno Smith. The Rams ended up victorious in part thanks to a 68-yard pass to DeSean Jackson that led to a touchdown shortly thereafter. Once Los Angeles got the lead in the third quarter, it maintained it for the rest of the game.

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Table notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties like offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.

Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks

• Robert Woods: 12 receptions, 150 yards (5 explosive plays)
• D.K. Metcalf: 5 receptions, 98 yards, 2 TD (4 explosive plays)

Hold on to Alex Collins: Chris Carson missed this game with a neck injury. Collins took over Carson's role as the first- and second-down back. DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer played in the two-minute drill as well as the rare third-and-long plays. 

There hasn’t been much of a dropoff in play from Collins to Carson, so Seattle might give Carson some time to heal while seeing what it has in Collins. He ran 15 times for 47 yards but should have more success against defenses that don’t have Aaron Donald.

Don’t worry about Darrell Henderson or Tyler Higbee: Neither player saw as much playing time as usual, but that’s because both players suffered injuries in the second quarter. The Rams ran a lot of plays in the last few minutes of the half, leading to their backups playing significant snaps. Both players were back by the start of the third quarter, and both scored touchdowns. 

When Henderson was out in the second quarter, Sony Michel carried the ball nine times. Henderson played every first-quarter snap, all but one in the third, and Michel happened to be in for a few plays in the fourth, which led to Michel’s touchdown. Both Henderson and Higbee’s playing time should be back to normal by next week, leading to more carries and targets.

Sell high on Robert Woods: Anytime a player can nearly double his receptions and yards total in Week 5, it’s a fine time to sell high. Woods will probably continue to play better than he did in the first month of the season, but not this good. The Rams have too much talent at other positions for Woods to have a lot of production each week unless Cooper Kupp takes a step back.

Pick up Gerald Everett: The Seahawks tight end missed his second straight game due to COVID-19. There was hope he could play, but he should be back before the Seahawks' next game. When he last played, he caught all five passes thrown his way for 54 yards. Will Dissly took his place in this game, but only caught 2 passes for 29 yards.