One of the early disappoints of the 2018 has been Chris Hogan who’s
been non-existent in the Patriots passing game. He’s totaled
8 catches in four games on 15 targets. He bailed out his owners
in Week 2 with two touchdowns but with Julian Edelman set to return
from suspension and the recent signing of Josh Gordon, it’s
going to difficult to feel good about inserting Hogan into your
lineup moving forward. He’s currently the WR60 in PPR leagues.
2. Throw, throw and throw some more
With 47 more attempts last night, Ben Roethlisberger has 186
pass attempts through four games. Keeping the pace, he’ll
finish with 744 pass attempts for the season. The Steelers aren’t
alone in their pass-happy ways. Also on pace for the 700 pass
attempt club are the Vikings and Colts with the Ravens not far
behind. For reference, Tom Brady led the league with 581 pass
attempts last season. We’ve seen a number of teams adjust
their offensive philosophy, realizing that running the ball is
a losing play in most situations. These gameplan changes along
with more and more rules favoring the offense are going to lead
to record offensive stats in 2018.
3. Julio will never score another
TD
Alright, I might be exaggerating a bit, but the last time Julio
Jones scored a touchdown in a regular season game was Week
12 of 2017 when he blew up for 253 yards 2 TDs against the Buccaneers.
Dripping salt into the wound is the fact the Julio’s running mate,
Calvin
Ridley, leads the league in receiving touchdowns (6) and fantasy
points (63.7) among wide receivers in standard scoring leagues.
Julio owners can take solace in the fact that he leads the league
with 502 yards which includes a meaningless 50-yard reception
in the final seconds against the Bengals this week. Wouldn't it
might be fun to see Julio end the season with 1800 receiving yards
and a goose egg in the TD column?
4. I thought the tight end position
was dead?
We saw resurgence from the tight end position this week with
Jared
Cook, George
Kittle and Zach
Ertz all topping the 100-yard mark and 13 different tight
ends scoring touchdowns. Admittedly, some finding the endzone
were not fantasy options (Geoff
Swaim, Logan
Paulsen, Jordan
Leggett, Darren
Fells) but Kelce, Burton, Ebron, Eifert (ouch!), Brate, Gates
and Graham were all serviceable plays this week.
5. Surprise scratch
Week 4 saw eight running backs top the 100-yard mark which is
the most 100-yard rushers in any week this season. One of those
was Seattle’s Mike
Davis who got the start when Chris
Carson was a surprise inactive against the Cardinals. Davis
proceeded to rack up 21 carries and 4 catches while first round
pick Rashaad
Penny played on special teams and occasionally took a handoff
from Russell
Wilson. Head coach Pete Carroll stated after the game that
Davis has earned a spot in the rotation moving forward. OK, sure
thing Pete. I mentioned in this space back
in Week 2 we shouldn’t be taking any hints from Pete Carroll
regarding player usage. I’m not rushing out to pick up Davis off
the waiver wire.
6. Brutal ending for Eifert
The Bengals tight end has had rough NFL career, missing 22 games
the last two years due to various injuries. He’ll miss another
12 games this season after suffering a broken ankle in Week 4.
Eifert’s usage appeared to be ramping up with 8 targets
in Week 3 and four catches for 38 yards on 4 targets against Atlanta.
The Bengals will move forward with Tyler Kroft and C.J. Uzomah
at tight end. Kroft led the tight end group last season with 404
yards and 7 TDs.
At least my end zone celebration was fun! Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I’m all fixed, Dr. Anderson is the best. I’ll be back! pic.twitter.com/DVs7D2fapn
The Green Bay receiving corps is dealing with injuries to a couple
of its starters. Randall Cobb wasn’t close to playing this
week (his words, not mine) and Geronimo Allison left in the third
quarter with a concussion. If Allison isn’t able to get
cleared for Week 5, we could see rookie Marquez Valdes-Scantling
with an increased role in the passing game. Before you jump on
your waiver wire, don’t be surprised if Ty Montgomery gets
more looks in the passing game if Cobb and Allison are scratched.
He’s played the position in the past and fits into the trend
of coaches using their running backs as receivers.
