Every week of a fantasy football season is unique and this one was
no different, but some of the common themes from the season were
maintained in the midst of that uniqueness. Let’s consider
Week 7 from all angles…
It’s Not How You Start…
I know I am starting to sound like a broken record but never was
a Sunday more reinforcing of the notion that yardage obtained
when the outcome is no longer in doubt matters. Consider the dreadful
( and I do mean dreadful) first half performances of Andrew
Luck, Philip
Rivers, Brian
Hoyer and Kirk
Cousins on Sunday. That quartet of QBs had combined for ZERO
touchdowns and five interceptions entering the second half of
their games only to emerge from the locker room with TWELVE second
half touchdowns combined. So, what happened at halftime to make
things so much different? Apparently, defenses are relaxing once
big leads are obtained and it’s becoming a nightmare if you’re
playing against one of these “garbage time” quarterbacks. At least
Cousins led his team to a win in the process of playing catch
up. And, coming along for the ride were guys like T.Y.
Hilton, Danny
Woodhead, Nate
Washington and Jordan
Reed. When you’re tracking your players on Sundays moving
forward, be fully aware also of game flow. You want to start RBs
on teams that get ahead and try to preserve leads, and WRs on
teams that play catch up. It’s that simple. It’s becoming a weekly
thing and it’s easily the story of the season so far.
Lamar Miller won a lot of fantasy games
on Sunday with 236 combined yards and 2 touchdowns.
Miami Vice
We touched last week on how different things looked in Miami in
Week 6 with a new coach in charge. Consider that a mild appetizer
to what we saw this week as Miami stormed out to 41 points in
the first half and took their foot off the gas early. Lamar
Miller’s first-half points alone (he didn’t carry the ball
after halftime) won many a fantasy contest for owners that seized
the opportunity to get him into their lineups as he totaled 236
yards to go along with 2 TDs. Ryan
Tannehill looked like the second coming of Dan Marino, tossing
TDs to Jarvis
Landry (two in fact), Rishard
Matthews, and the previously noted Miller. So, what can we
expect moving forward from this team? I think it’s safe to say
that Miller and Landry are every-week starts in season-long formats
and Tannehill and Matthews are worth consideration if the matchups
are favorable. The only Dolphin not trending up is Jordan
Cameron and I expect that to change soon. Sometimes, transformation
isn’t subtle. Consider the Dolphins Exhibit A.
Todd Is Here To Stay
It’s been several years since you could truly get excited about
a player for the St. Louis Rams, but Todd
Gurley has everyone’s attention now. Sunday was Gurley’s third
consecutive game with 125-plus yards and now he’s mixing in touchdowns
as well with his first two NFL scores coming against the Browns.
Players break out all the time with a big game and then vanish
back into obscurity. For all we know, Darren
McFadden’s 150-yard day for Dallas Sunday may be his only
big game of the season. But, players don’t put up 125-plus in
three consecutive games and then fade. If you drafted Gurley on
the hunch that he’d be a special player right off the bat, you
were right. Just as a rookie (Beckham Jr.) led a lot of guys to
fantasy championships last season, Gurley looks poised to do the
same. Just goes to prove that drafting a promising young rookie
is always worth it in the middle rounds versus taking the likes
of Rashad
Jennings or C.J.
Spiller.
But, There’s More to the Rookie Class
Than Just Gurley…
Specifically, I’m referring to a couple of wide receivers as both
Amari
Cooper and Stefon
Diggs topped 100 yards on Sunday and added a long touchdown
to boot. Anyone with half a brain knew Cooper was going to be
a special receiver right away, but Diggs has come out of nowhere
when you consider the former Maryland Terrapin wasn’t even drafted
until the fifth round last Spring. Cooper will be tested severely
in Week 8 as Darrelle
Revis shadows him, but if he can pass that test, he becomes
truly matchup-proof moving forward. As for Diggs, neither Mike
Wallace or Charles
Johnson have what it takes to be a true No.1 NFL receiver
for a franchise. So, the void is waiting to be filled. Diggs looks
the part after averaging over 100 yards a game these past three
weeks. Remember, three weeks is a trend beginning to morph into
a norm. Finally, T.J.
Yeldon’s solid effort in London should not be excluded from
this recollection of Sunday’s rookie performances. 115-plus yards
and a TD will keep you in both NFL and fantasy lineups for the
foreseeable future.
Running Back Wastelands
There’s an old expression that sometimes you’ve got to fish or
cut bait. For seven weeks now, fantasy owners have been putting
their poles in the water in places like Cleveland, Tennessee,
Washington, New York (Giants), and Detroit hoping that someone
will emerge as fantasy relevant and reliable from week to week.
It’s time to find another fishing hole. Unless you are in a PPR
league where a guy like Duke
Johnson or Theo
Riddick holds some value, these offenses appear incapable
of providing you much benefit. Please don’t continue to place
hope where hope is not warranted. At this point, alternatives
to one of the above team’s runners are hard to find, so if you
play in the league that allows for lineup flexibility, start going
WR-heavy. Or, start a second tight end. Whatever you do, don’t
look to the likes of Antonio
Andrews, Ameer
Abdullah, Rashad Jennings (I guess we’re picking on him today),
Alfred
Morris or Isaiah
Crowell to get you anyplace this season. That ship has sailed.
They Are Who We Thought They Were
Coach Dennis Green once uttered these famous words after a crushing
defeat, but they carry much more optimism and hope in this context.
Last week, we witnessed the birth of Alshon
Jeffery for the purposes of the 2015 season and this time
around, it was Mike
Evans who finally emerged as the player many were excited
about this summer. Normally, we know by Week 7 who the have and
have-nots are in the fantasy football world, but this year has
been a little different due to nagging injuries disrupting the
first six weeks of the season. WRs like Evans and Jeffery don’t
grow on trees and when healthy, both remain very strong options
moving forward. As far as running backs are concerned, you can
put LeSean
McCoy and Jonathan
Stewart in this category as well. Both are also supremely
talented and play on offenses that need to run in order to be
successful. I don’t think any new stars will suddenly appear in
the weeks to come, but there’s always a chance when a talented
player finally gets healthy or a change in offensive philosophy
occurs (Lamar Miller).
Arian’s Agony
Sometimes, you wonder what a player might have done in his career
if he had been able to stay healthy. Arian
Foster has been just such a player as his career has been
defined by both brilliance and absence. Foster's season-ending
injury is not only a blow to 2015 leagues but casts doubt on his
value in dynasty leagues. I would expect that neither Alfred
Blue nor Chris
Polk will produce numbers moving forward that make them anything
more than a flex play. Let's hope no more top shelf backs go down
in the weeks to come. The loss of Charles and now Foster has been
a real bummer.
Monday Night Musings
Last night's Cardinals-Ravens game caught my attention. First,
I am amazed that a player most thought was complete toast (including
me) is having such an insurgent year. Sure, half of Chris
Johnson's 122 yards came on a play that most of the defense
thought he was already down, but that doesn't take away from the
fact that he's no longer dancing in the backfield. Instead, he’s
hitting holes decisively. My second take has to do with Larry
Fitzgerald. There are a ton of mouths to feed in Arizona and
John
Brown is simply getting better and better each and every week
and Michael
Floyd is becoming a bigger part of the offense as his 59 yards
and a TD demonstrated. Fitzgerald is a Hall of Fame wide receiver
and he's had a great start to the 2015 season, but as a fantasy
performer, I think his best games of the year may be behind him.
At the very least, he'll have more games (quiet) like he did on
Monday night moving forward. There are simply too many options
for Palmer.
That'll do it for the Buzz this week. Next week, in addition to
the usual review, we'll be including some Mid-Season Awards. I
look forward to your feedback on that and thanks for stopping
by this morning. Buzz out.
