What We Learned in Fantasy Football from Week 7
October 27, 2010 by Alex Reside
Filed under Featured, Football
I am the guy in your league that benched Kenny Britt, but I guess it could have been worse–I could have been the guy who benched Darren McFadden. There were so many big performances this week and I hope you didn’t have all those points wasted on your bench. (I had more on my bench than in my lineup. Kill me.)
Cincinnati Bengals at Atlanta Falcons
Finally, Michael Turner has a huge game. It seemed like he could never get yards and TDs in the same week, but I guess it was only a matter of time. Turner slashed the Bengals for 121 yards and 2 TDs. Even more, Roddy White racked up 201 yards and 2 TDs. White is quickly becoming the most consistent WR in fantasy football. I send my apologies to your fantasy team, because he is on Byethis week.
For the Bengals, their passing attack has been looking great these last few weeks. T.O. is settling in nicely and has a combined total of 58 points in his last 3 games. I know they aren’t Kenny Britt numbers, but I’m impressed.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Miami Dolphins
Big Ben has been excellent since his return to the NFL. However, when his numbers go up, Rashard Mendenhall’s numbers go down. It’s almost like he is sexually assaulting Mendenhall’s numbers. Too soon??
Buffalo Bills at Baltimore Ravens
If you would have told me that Ryan Fitzpatrick was going to have this good of a season, I would have told you that the Bills were doomed to be horrible. Not the case. The Bills are still horrible when you look at their record, but just take some time to glance down the stat sheet. Fitzpatrick has been distributing the ball well and threw 4 TDs last week, 3 of which were to Lee Evans and the other was too his favorite target: Steve Johnson.
Now, I could go on and on about the Ravens offense, but the key to this game was the defense. One of the most underrated injuries was Ed Reed, who missed the entire season until this week. If you can look past the 34 points that the Ravens Defense allowed, you can see Ed Reed’s stat line: 4 tackles, 2 interceptions and a forced fumble. You can now go back to starting the Ravens D/ST feeling safe that Reed is back. If you are confused on who Ed Reed is, then stop reading this now and spend hours watching You Tube highlights. I’m serious.
Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs
If you’ve been waiting for a bounce-back game from Maurice Jones-Drew, here it is. Unfortunately, you drafted him as 3rd overall. He hasn’t quite lived up to it, and I doubt he will with the rookie Deji Karim nipping at his heels.
Last week, I wrote about Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles and how only one of them can be fantasy relevant during each week. Well, the Chiefs proved me wrong. Both Jones and Charles had decent yardage and a TD. Though, imagine if Jones got Charles carries. He would have had 200 yards and 2 TDs. Stop fantasizing, I know this is fantasy football, but the Chiefs seem content splitting carries. Sorry.
Cleveland Browns at New Orleans Saints
Hey, don't look at us, Drew. We don't know why you suddenly suck, either.
Washington Redskins at Chicago Bears
If you actually listen to Scott Rogers (I try not to), you can learn some excellent bits of fantasy wisdom. I have the privilege of knowing this guy, and he is a lot like Yoda. He sits in his fantasy swamp resurrecting X-Wings from the murky water, eating ration sticks. Somehow, he knew that the force was strong with Ryan Torain. I thought he was crazy, but now Torian is the feature back in Washington.
The big news from this game was Redskins DB DeAngelo Hall’s 4 interceptions. Hall was clearly Jay Cutler’s favorite receiver, notching over 100 yards receiving and a TD. Too bad he is a corner for the opposing team. Great job.
San Francisco 49ers at Carolina Panthers
I can’t really recommend picking up Carolina’s WR David Gettis, but there are worse options out there, right? 2 TDs and 125 yards in pretty enticing, but Carolina has Matt Moore under center and much better options to pass to like Steve Smith and Brandon LaFell. How lucky do you feel?
St. Louis Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Things haven’t been the same since the days of Mark Clayton in St. Louis. I’m sure Sam Bradford misses him most. He doesn’t have anyone to play catch with anymore. There’s nobody there to hold the door open for him as they walk out of the Edward Jones Dome. He has nobody to whip with his towel after a long day of practice. Things are tough for Bradford, who began the season well. The good news is that he still averages 10.6 fantasy points per game; the bad news is that that’s not good enough to stay on your fantasy roster.
Philadelphia Eagles at Tennessee Titans
I’ve been dreading writing about this game. Why? Because I benched Kenny Britt. I know, I know. It’s awful. It’s downright shameful. As soon as I scrolled down on my computer and saw 40 points sitting there as I lost against a sub par team, I knew I had made a huge mistake. My guess is that you, too, could have made that mistake. The Eagles defense isn’t amazing, but with Kerry Collins under center, I thought this would be a terrible game for both Collins and Britt. I was completely wrong. Collins had 276 yards passing, and 225 of those yards went to Britt. The thing about Britt is that he always finds ways to get open, plus he has 7 TDs in the past 5 games. He’ll have a great long career ahead of him. I wont even bench him on his bye week as a just in case. I got burned once, but never again!
Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks
One play from this game sticks out to me. Early in the first half, Cardinals QB Max Hall had a wide open Larry Fitzgerald running a post about 30 yards down the field from him. Hall read the defense perfectly, realized that Fitzgerald was going to be open, and lofted a pass in his…general…direction. Or, to be more specific, 10 yards ahead of him. Fitzgerald then threw his hands up in the air in frustration/disgust. So did most of his owners. 3 catches for 30 yards is not going to get it done for THE most talented WR in the NFL. Other things to take away from this game: Beanie Wells is NOT going to have a breakout season, Mike Williams has become a certified fantasy starter and both Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett are solid flex plays.
New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers
After two weeks, I’m ready to proclaim that the new-look Patriots offense, though they may continue to win football games, will not win you many–if any–fantasy matchups. Brady is back to being the dreaded “game manager,” Wes Welker is being shut down and Deion Branch is still Deion Branch. The Chargers once again shot themselves in the foot with stupid penalties, turnovers and some of the most ridiculously easy dropped passes you’ll see all year. It looks like Ryan Mathews is going to go down as one of the top fantasy disappointments of the season (8 carries for 15 yards, only 63 carries for 297 yards and 1 TD on the year). Philip Rivers still managed to pass for over 300 yards and a score, though, and it doesn’t really seem to matter who the Chargers line up at the skill positions–Rivers is still going to get his numbers.
Oakland Raiders at Denver Broncos
What’s the bigger story, that the Broncos allowed the Raiders to hang a 59 horseshoe (it’s a food, look it up, it’s the next step up from a burger in terms of unhealthiness) on them, or that the Raiders were able to put that many points up? I’ll go with the latter. A while ago, I wrote about Run DMC and his breakout season, and well whaddaya know. He had his best game of the season and his career as he accounted for close to 200 yards of offense and scored a whopping 4 TDs. On the other side, it’s becoming clear that unless the Broncos get a running game or play at least some defense, Kyle Orton will not come anywhere close to that 5,000 yard barrier. He’s thrown TDs in his recent two game slide–that keeps him in the discussion as a viable fantasy starter–but his yards are dropping fast. Zach Miller, the TE for the Raiders, has become one of the best TEs in fantasy as well.
Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers
Brett Favre sucks, Aaron Rodgers is underwhelming, and Percy Harvin/Adrian Peterson are both beasts. Nothing really changed.
New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
First off, sorry Romo owners. Secondly, sorry to everyone who owns a Dallas skill position player. With the possible exception of Jason Witten, who put up his best numbers of the season with Jon Kitna under center, everyone else underperformed. Well, Dez Bryant did have a 3 TD (1 return and 2 receiving) game, but Miles Austin and Roy Williams were basically shut out. Making matters worse for Austin, he dropped a couple easy passes in the early portions of the game WITH Romo under center, including one that would have gone for a sure TD. Before you go and unload your Dallas guys, I’d give it one week to see how Kitna will play when he knows he’s going to be the starter. He’s put up good numbers for WRs before (Ochocinco, Roy Williams). On the other side of the field, the Giants have fantasy studs at basically every position. Manning makes mistakes but throws enough TDs to be a solid starter, Nicks is an early candidate for breakout fantasy player of the year and Ahmad Bradshaw is on pace for a 1,500 yard season. Brandon Jacobs even gets enough goal line carries to make him a flex starter. Even their 3rd WR, Mario Manningham, puts up enough points to be considered a low end No. 2/solid flex play. Life is good for the G-Men.
