Tate just missed his second six-pointer of the season when he
failed to nose the pigskin across the goal line after a highlight
reel snag v. Dallas last Monday night. Had he done it, he’d
have more points in full PPR leagues over the last five weeks
than any of the following folks: Amari Cooper, D.K. Metcalf, Kenny
Golladay, Courtland Sutton, and Julio Jones. Coulda, shoulda,
woulda, yes, but it was REALLY close, as in close enough to be
reviewed. What I especially like about Tate’s stock right
now is that he’s getting targeted a lot despite being in
the feeling out process with his new QB. This looks like a terrific
matchup for Danny Dimes and his pass-catchers and Tate looks like
the pass-catcher with the most upside. Start him without hesitation
against Adam Gase’s reeling Jets.
The Falcons played their first game without Mohamed Sanu, recently
traded to New England, two weeks ago, but it’s still hard
to get a read on how this deal affects Calvin Ridley’s stock
going forward. Atlanta was also without Matt Ryan in that game,
for the first time since the 2009 season, and had to lean on Matt
Schaub instead. Others have made this joke already, but it’s
not actually a joke in my case: I was floored to discover Matt
Schaub is still in the NFL. As in, genuinely surprised. If that
was Schaub’s swan song, it sure was a doozy (39 of 52 for
460 yards and a touch). He greatly benefited from positive game
flow but Ridley, unfortunately, did not. Atlanta’s WR2 caught
four of seven targets for just 70 of those 460 yards. I’m
expecting a much bigger contribution at the Superdome Sunday,
where he excelled in 2018.
Jared Goff can’t throw EVERY ball to Cooper Kupp, can he?
It’s been a disappointing 2019 for Mr. Woods, one of Kupp’s
running mates, but now that the duo’s other running mate is
out indefinitely (Brandin Cooks), there’s reason to be optimistic
about Woods’ contributions the rest of the way. Though he’s
only WR38 through nine weeks and has hit double digit fantasy points
just a single time, he did that eight times in 2018, Translation:
The upside is there and the added opportunities could make for a
pretty sweet close to this season, especially if Cooks remains out
for the duration. Woods has performed like a low-end WR3 this year
(barely), but I’m expecting WR2 or better numbers this week
and maybe even on into the near future. Lose the recency bias and
plug him back into your lineups. He could be sneaky super on Sunday.
This isn’t the season anyone envisioned for OBJ, least of
all me, who had him as a no-brainer Top 10 Riser back in August.
We’re past the halfway point now, however, and Beckham would
have to make a pretty significant turnaround to end up in the
Top 10 by season’s end. Yes, I still actually believe he
can do that, especially since the Browns’ schedule starts
to look a lot sunnier starting next week (Steelers x2, Bengals
x2, Dolphins, Cardinals, and Ravens). This week, though, they
face a tough Buffalo crew and Beckham draws an even tougher individual
assignment, Tre’Davious White. It’s not that the all-world
receiver can’t shine against all comers. It’s that
I don’t trust his quarterback against one of the league’s
premier shutdown corners. He’s going to be useful come fantasy
playoff time, but we’re not there yet.
Anderson v. the Giants secondary definitely qualifies as weakness
on weakness. He’s a scroll-down also-ran (WR64) facing a
bottom three secondary (28.4 FPts/G surrendered to the position)
in a game that means absolutely jack squat in New Jersey this
weekend. I wouldn’t probably mention him, but he was part
of a trading deadline deal in my big money league, meaning somebody
out there considered him valuable enough to include in a swap.
Anderson’s got some big play potential, sure, as evidenced
by his 92-yard house call in the Week 6 upset over Dallas. Take
that rather fortunate bomb away, however, and he’s suddenly
WR86, sandwiched between Myles Boykin and Trey Quinn. Boykin has
exactly nine receptions this season for the Ravens. Don’t
be enticed by the matchup. The Jets are absolutely rotten and
Adam Gase looks like the wrong hire with every passing week.
Brown’s was one of the more scintillating NFL debuts (147
yards, and two scores in the opener at Miami), but he hasn’t
been anywhere near those totals since, averaging 5.7 FPts/G in
Weeks 2 through 9. The Baltimore offense simply isn’t designed
to feature perimeter pass-grabbers, even ones with electrifying
speed. The Ravens’ WRs are averaging just 16.3 FPts/G as
a positional group and that’s only better than Robby Anderson’s
Jets on the season. Lamar Jackson is more inclined to target a
bevy of tight ends, hand off to Mark Ingram, or freelance with
his feet than hit up Brown and Co. down the field. The matchup
entices, but not in a way that seems to benefit Brown. Baltimore’s
No.1 ranked rushing offense (204.9 yds/game) v. Cincy’s
No.32 ranked rushing defense (177.6 yds/game) is where it’s
at. Sit Hollywood.
