Bye Weeks: Arizona, Chicago, Cincinnati,
Houston, New England, Washington
Diggs showed some signs of life late in
Week 8. A change in the offensive coordinator can't hurt either.
Grab a Helmet
Stefon
Diggs vs DET: The Minnesota offense is in utter shambles
after an absolutely pathetic performance against a one-win Bears
team on Monday night. Things got so bad that offensive coordinator
Norv Turner stepped down this week. What the means for the Vikings
offense is anyone’s guess, but I’m going to assume that they scrap
the deep passing game that Turner favored in favor of a quick release
passing attack. A quick passing offense plays off of Bradford’s
arm strength, and protects a pathetic offensive line. Diggs can
be dynamic with the ball in his hands, and is truly the Vikings
only playmaker at the moment. My guess is they also use the short
passing game as an extension of the run game, and this benefits
Diggs in PPR leagues. Either way, I look for Minnesota to get the
ball to Diggs as much as possible against an ugly Detroit secondary.
Jordy
Nelson vs IND: After disappearing against Chicago in
Week 7, Nelson surged back against Atlanta with one of his best
games of the season. It was encouraging to see him hit on a few
deep plays, as his 23.3 yards per catch average is more in line
with his pre-injury form, and easily a season high. With Green Bay
having to go pass heavy on a weekly basis, the targets should be
there, especially with Cobb and Montgomery on the way back from
injury/illness. The Colts defense has been decent against the pass,
but that’s mainly because of how poor their run defense has played.
Nelson has scored in all but two games this year, and is a great
bet to find pay dirt again. Fire him up as an upside WR2.
Jarvis
Landry vs NYJ: Landry is well on his way to a repeat
of last year’s 111-catch, 1200-yard performance. He continues to
see a ton of looks, racking up over 9 targets per game so far this
year. His yardage floors have generally been high even if his upside
is limited by so few trips to the end zone. The Fins will continue
to try to get Jay Ajayi going, but the Jets front is fearsome, so
game flow could make Miami go pass heavy. Landry should find plenty
of room against a very leaky Jets secondary that gave up Landry’s
best game of the 2015 season. Lock him in as a solid WR2.
Grab Some Pine
Marvin
Jones @ MIN: After an absolute torrid start to the
season, Jones has been quiet. He hasn’t topped 10 standard fantasy
points since Week 3, has seen a dip in targets, and gets a simply
terrible matchup on the road against what will be a very feisty
Viking defense. With the return of Theo Riddick and Eric Ebron,
and a renewed commitment to Golden Tate, Jones has gone from surefire
WR1 to shaky WR2. His outlook could be even bleaker on Sunday,
where he could struggle to even come up with WR3 numbers. Plan
accordingly.
Coby
Fleener @ SF: Fleener seems like he should be a no
brainer start this week against a pathetic 49ers defense, but
a closer look at the numbers seems to indicate that Fleener is
becoming less a part of this offense than more. He’s barely been
targeted the last two games, has lost a large percentage of snaps
to the better blocking Josh Hill, and other than a fluky long
touchdown against the Panthers, has had exactly one game of significance.
The Saints could be more ground heavy that usual this week, being
how bad San Fran is, and it’s a road game. It’s really tough to
sit Fleener because of the upside of this offense and less than
ideal options at the position, but I wouldn’t feel great about
him as my TE1.
T.Y.
Hilton @ GB: Hamstring injuries on small, fast twitch
guys like Hilton are almost always a disaster. Hilton missed practice
on Wednesday and is uncertain for the weekend tilt against Green
Bay. The Pack are still woefully thin in the secondary, but I’m
just not confident in Hilton being able to produce even if he
plays. It’s really hard to sit him, as he’s been the
one consistent player for this offense, but I have a sinking feeling
he could play decoy if he does suit up, much like he did in the
2nd half of the loss to the Chiefs. It hurts, but bite the bullet
and go in another direction.
