Tyler Eifert makes Bengals offense dangerous as fantasy owners swoon

[Arkansas Bengal]

Tyler Eifert makes Bengals offense dangerous as fantasy owners swoon

 

Coley Harvey, ESPN Staff Writer
 

OAKLAND -- Are you a fantasy player who had Tyler Eifert in your lineup Sunday?

Congratulations, you just earned yourself a lot of points. Who knows? Maybe after Monday night's games, you'll earn a Week 1 fantasy victory because of him, too.

After I tweeted Sunday night about the impact Eifert's two-touchdown effort in the Cincinnati Bengals' 33-13 victory over the Oakland Raiders had on fantasy football, my mentions turned into this unique mix of proud papas and embarrassed second-guessers.

The chest-beaters naturally were glad Eifert was the third-most productive tight end from a fantasy standpoint over the weekend. The angry ones were upset they kept him on the bench. It's OK. It was easy to be skeptical about Eifert considering this was his first action since last year's season opener.

Beyond Eifert's fantasy impact, he also had a real and tangible impact on the field for the Bengals. A tough-to-solve pass-catcher in Cincinnati's multithreat scheme, Eifert showed just how much of a matchup nightmare he can be.

"He makes the things go," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "If they rotate coverage one way or another, you've got guys who can win matchups. A big, tall guy is what football comes to. We have big, long guys, and big, long guys have opportunities to make plays and put the ball where it belongs."

On Sunday, that meant Eifert putting it in the hands of officials after his two touchdown receptions. In his first action since a dislocated elbow in last year's opener turned into a season-ending injury, Eifert went on to catch a game-high nine passes for 104 yards against the Raiders.

Quarterback Andy Dalton, who was a sharp 25-for-34 while connecting with six different receivers, benefited from the mismatches he saw when he targeted his various receivers. Sometimes other receivers would peel open when the Raiders committed more attention toward Eifert. Most times, though, defenders were paying more attention to Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Green, committing themselves to preventing him from hurting them.

"It's one of those things where it's like, what are they going to do to A.J.?" Dalton said. "When Tyler was able to get going, then it's like, are they going to do anything different? Are they going to change? We were still able to take advantage of some of the looks that we had."

San Diego will start trying to answer some of those questions Monday ahead of next Sunday's game at Paul Brown Stadium.

If the Chargers' opener were any indication, they could have some difficulty with Eifert, too. The Chargers allowed Lions tight end Eric Ebron to have four receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown Sunday. Ebron's four catches tied running back Ameer Abdullah for the most among Lions players. Ebron drew a team-high five targets from Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Eifert might have been a hidden secret to some fantasy owners, and he might have slid under the Raiders' radar. But you can bet none of that will be happening anymore.

"Tyler, I don't think he's going to surprise anybody anymore," Dalton said. "He's a good player."

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/18986/bengals-tyler-eifert-fantasy-owners-swoon-nightmarish-matchup

 

[membengal]

People here who refused to admit how big a loss he was to the offense last year ready to admit it yet? In hindsight, that was pretty good coaching from Hue to cover for losing Eifert when the waste of human football flesh that was Gresham as the fall back.

[B.A.B.]

I have Eifert and Kelce both on my fantasy squad lolololol

[scharm]

On the NFL Network pregame they did a little segment on Jimmy Graham jump balls in the endzone and basically unstoppable.     Eifert's two TDs were exactly like it.

 

[membengal]

Eifert's day was everything one could have reasonably suspected it might be given even a cursory glance at how much Andy was going to him in even the training camp practices. It was impossible to miss in the two sessions I attended. Frankly, having that kind of outlet and threat is something that we really have not had as a franchise at that position. At least since Rodney Holman's heydey, or Dan Ross before him. It has been awhile. And Eifert is a different physical type than those guys. 

[HairOnFire]

People here who refused to admit how big a loss he was to the offense last year ready to admit it yet? In hindsight, that was pretty good coaching from Hue to cover for losing Eifert when the waste of human football flesh that was Gresham as the fall back.

When the Bengals drafted Eifert, putting paint on his wall, Gresham said he heard the message loud and clear.

Then he went out and had his worst season.

Last year Eifert gets hurt immediately and Gresham has the TE job for himself all season.

To call the results underwhelming would be kind.

This season Gresham is thankfully long gone and it takes Eifert a single week to produce the type of game Jermaine Gresham couldn't manage even once.

So yeah, props to Hue and big kudos to Eifert.

But mostly, fuck you Gresham.

My favorite football team is a lot less crazy without you.

 

 

 

[|Elflocko|]

   But mostly, fuck you Gresham.

My favorite football team is a lot less crazy without you.

 

 

 

Indeed. I even pointed out to Sois "Hey, lookit that! So Andy can hit a TE down the field!"

Amazing what happens when your TE doesn't have the mental fortitude of a premenstrual 13-year-old girl...

[Gary]

Not to mention those false start penalties are gone... But the clock management still sucks. 

[|Elflocko|]

Not to mention those false start penalties are gone... But the clock management still sucks. 

Right. Did we even have a false start?