“Bulls, Bears, people from Connecticut.” Jerry Seinfeld sure nailed it with that line in the first season of his sitcom. What that has to do with this week’s column, I have no idea. Hey, it’s week 10; we’re in a lull opening paragraph-wise.
I thought about including Alex Smith this week, but I want to see a little more from him before putting in a buy order.
With that, we present this week’s stock reports and the three players moving to the upside.
WR Cam Sims:
The stat sheet tells the tape—career-high 110 yards receiving, three catches, and an average of 36.7 yards per haul. Don’t get used to it but, wow, what a breakout! Both the old and new coaching staff’s thought the 6’5″ third-year pro from Alabama could be explosive, so the question now is, what comes next?
The big picture is this, Washington needs more weapons on the outside. Sims has the size and speed; it’s just been a question of getting on the field long enough to make some plays. Sunday, that happened. I doubt the Lions defense will change its game plan and say, “we’re going to make someone besides Cam Simms beat us,” so if last week wasn’t a one-off, Simms could become an intriguing second option.
WR Terry McLaurin:
Captain Obvious? Yes, really. I know McLaurin is one of the two best players on the team. If I know that, you can bet the league knows it too. Despite that, Scary Terry still led all receivers in targets, catches, yards, and general overall awesomeness. McLaurin’s 68-yard catch-and-run touchdown was next-level stuff. Not only did he beat a New York defensive back to the ball, but he also outran half the Giants defense to get to the end zone. You can’t stop him, and right now, you can’t even contain him. He’ll probably face rookie cornerback Jeff Okudah a lot on Sunday. It should be fun to watch.
RB J.D. McKissic:
The player who benefited the most from Alex Smith under center? You could make a strong case for McKissic. He had the ball in his hands more times than anyone not named Smith. Although he only carried the ball three times for 17 yards, he had nine catches on 14 targets for another 65. Granted, he fell on Smith’s first interception, but turnover monsters don’t generally get blamed on the player.
Smith likes the check down, so it will be interesting to see if McKissic gets more time this Sunday in what is shaping up to be yet another must-win for Washington.