Jahnke: Fantasy football reactions from the Seahawks' MNF win over the Eagles

The Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles faced off in a Monday Night Football game where both teams were fighting for the lead in their respective divisions, even though one team has three wins and the other just three losses.

The Seahawks made this game interesting from a fantasy football perspective, as it was their first game in over a month with Chris Carson as well as their first game of the season without Greg Olsen.

As always, this collection of fantasy reactions will include snap counts for skill players on each team, along with notes on players who saw their fantasy stocks rise or fall during the action. 

Seattle Seahawks @ Philadelphia Eagles

Winner: WR D.K. Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks

Metcalf is no stranger to big receiving games, but tonight was a game to remember. The Eagles were shadowing Metcalf with their top cornerback, Darius Slay, throughout the game. That didn’t stop Seattle from targeting their second-year wide receiver 13 times on their 31 pass attempts. Metcalf caught 10 of those passes for a career-high 177 receiving yards, though he unfortunately didn’t end up with a touchdown. Metcalf has plenty of other good outside cornerbacks remaining on his schedule, but it won’t matter who is across from him if he plays like this.

Loser: WR Travis Fulgham, Philadelphia Eagles

Fulgham seemed unstoppable after his first five games. He gained an average of 87 yards per game and found the end zone four times. He's followed this up with four catches for 32 yards total over his last three games.

The Eagles have started rotating their receivers more frequently, and it's not only hurting Fulgham; it's also having an impact on Jalen Reagor. A week ago, Alshon Jeffery was held to five offensive snaps while John Hightower had one, but both Jeffery and Hightower hit those totals within the first six offensive plays tonight. When Jeffery first came back from injury, he was mostly taking snaps away from Greg Ward in the slot. Tonight both he and Hightower were only taking snaps away from Fulgham and Reagor on the outside.

As a result, the Eagles' tight ends led the team in receptions tonight, while no wide receiver ended up with more than 16 receiving yards. Throw in Zach Ertz‘s likely return next week, and it makes it near-impossible to start any of the Eagles' wide receivers going forward.

Returning From Injury: RB Chris Carson, Seattle Seahawks

Carson last played for the Seahawks in Week 7 due to a mid-foot sprain. Both his injury as well as Carlos Hyde’s led to a number of backup running backs seeing playing time for Seattle throughout November. Tonight, it was just Carson and Hyde seeing playing time.

Carson only ran eight times but looked good with 41 yards and a touchdown. Carson was also their third-leading receiver with two catches for 18 yards.

The two backs split playing time on first and second down while Hyde was the clear third-down back. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Carson’s playing time on early downs see a slight increase while Hyde’s is given a slight decline in future weeks. This would give the backs roughly the same amount of playing time but give Carson more fantasy value. 

Injury Replacement: TE Jacob Hollister, Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks likely lost Greg Olsen for the season last week. The team was already using Will Dissly and Hollister, but now both were given more playing time. Dissly played more on early downs, while Hollister played more on third downs. This led to Hollister running more pass routes, despite playing fewer total snaps.

Hollister earned the second-most targets for the Seahawks with five, while Dissly wasn’t targeted. Hollister only caught two of the passes thrown his way for 11 yards, and the incompletions had more to do with the throws than the intended receiver. Hollister can be a decent tight end option in two-TE leagues over the rest of the season, as the remaining schedule features favorable to indifferent matchups for the Seahawks tight end.