Some weeks you’re the dog and some weeks you’re the hydrant. Some weeks you can score more points than anyone in your league except the person you’re playing and some weeks you can skate by with the second-lowest points total and still walk away with the win. So goes the crapshoot of fantasy football.
It’s how we react to the highs and lows each week that matters most. It’s real easy to let our emotions get the better of us and make rash decisions, but all too often, those decisions end up as regrets. That’s why we let it all out here. Shout those cries of frustration from the mountain top. Get it all out. A cathartic release is what you need so you can get back to work first thing Tuesday morning and fix whatever is broken.
So here’s what’s grinding my gears after most of Week 6 is in the books:
Eli Manning is Done
Not sure how much of a hot take this is given the fact that so many frustrated Giants fans have been clamoring for the two-time Super Bowl MVP’s head for some time, but nevertheless, what we saw on Thursday was downright aggravating. Listen…we get it…the offensive line stinks. Ereck Flowers is gone and unfortunately, we didn’t get our desired addition-by-subtraction results. If the offensive line isn’t going to be magically fixed overnight, then we need a quarterback with a little more mobility and a quicker release.
But it’s up to head coach Pat Shurmur and his staff to make the adjustments because a change at the position is not going to be the answer. Alex Tanney ? No thank you. If you switch to Tanney then Saquon Barkley ’s season is over. Defenses will stack the box and blitz the QB so heavily there won’t be any time to throw whatsoever. You can leave every receiver in one-on-one coverage because this 30-year old who’s thrown a total of 14 passes in the NFL isn’t going to cut it. At least with Eli, the defense needs to stay relatively honest and that frees up Barkley to do his thing. Yes, Giants fans, we hear you loud and clear. But for us fantasy folk, we don’t care how many games you lose this season, so long as Barkley is getting his touches and the receivers are still seeing their targets.
Jameis Winston Will Deliver You a Fantasy Championship
The Bucs may have lost to the Falcons on Sunday, but Winston gave everyone quite the show and reassured those who picked him up that he was worth the wait. Ryan Fitz-who? Exactly. Winston completed just over 73-percent of his passes and finished the day with almost 400 yards and four touchdowns. Yes, he threw a pair of interceptions, but one was on a deep ball downfield that looked more like a Hail Mary than a planned route and the other one was a deflected pass off the intended receiver caused by Winston putting a little too much mustard on the ball. What could be wrong with that?
Winston’s arm strength has never been in question. It’s his decision-making that has everyone freaked out. A game like this against a defense as bad as that of the Falcons only masks the issues. We expected this game to be a shootout because both defenses are atrocious. The Falcons are missing a number of defensive starters and they haven’t been able to stop anyone over the last three weeks. Did they hold the Bucs to under 40 points, the average points allowed over the three weeks headed into this game? Yes they did, but that doesn’t mean they’re getting better. Tougher defenses with better pass-rushes and strong coverage are going to eat Winston alive. Maybe he continues to rack up yardage in garbage-time moments, but be careful of the TD:INT ratio moving forward as that’s not likely to look good anytime soon.
The Dolphins are the Most Underrated 4-2 Team
“No one, and I mean no one, comes into our house and pushes us around.” That was the mantra we heard from Miami fans everywhere after they beat the big, bad Bears defense for 31 points during Sunday’s surprise win. Brock Osweiler threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns subbing in for the injured Ryan Tannehill while at 137 years old, Frank Gore becomes the oldest player to rush for over 100 yards in a game. How can we not possibly believe them to be a legitimate contender?
::cue the vomit noises::
I’m not really sure what kind of excuses we’re going to hear from the Bears on this one, but there is just no way to excuse this kind of a performance. Brock Osweiler remains one of the biggest jokes in football and had it not been for some of the world’s worst tackling we’ve EVER seen, Albert Wilson may not have saved the day. I say “may not” only because I did have Wilson in the DFS Dart Board and right up until I heard the switch to Osweiler, I had Wilson in every one of the lineups on Fantasy Alarm. Was I wrong for taking him out? Hindsight says yes, but folks…please…it’s Brock freakin’ Osweiler here. The Fins may have won the game, but you start good ol’ Brock 99 more times against the Bears and he loses every one of them. The Bears should be embarrassed. This was just as bad as the Vikings losing to the Bills at home.
Oh yeah…and the Drake sucks. Hate the Drake? Yes, hate the Drake. Who fumbles at the goal line in overtime? Who? You almost wished the Bears won this one right afterwards just so we could see Miami cut the Drake.
Tarik Cohen is a Better Running Back Than Jordan Howard
It’s like déjà vu all over again, right? New coach, same results, same cries from Jordan Howard owners. Imagine if Chicken Little played fantasy football. That’s probably who we’d need to write this column. Is the sky falling on the Bears backfield? No, it is not. Heading into this game, where Howard out-carried Tarik Cohen 14-5, Howard has out-snapped Cohen 177 to 108 (65% to 40%), has a higher rush percentage and a higher touch percentage. It just so happens that these gimmicky plays that Matt Nagy is using have worked. But did we ever take the time to look at who these plays are working against? Do we really need to put together the defensive numbers for the Dolphins, Buccaneers, Cardinals and Seahawks? Please, people. Let’s be patient and not do anything rash with Howard. He is getting the work and the results will follow. They did last season when we had this exact same discussion and they will again this season.
Baker Mayfield Isn’t Saving the Browns?
This is all just too confusing for me. Baker Mayfield comes in off the bench to lead the Browns past the Jets and he’s the savior. He shows off some inexperience the following week while the defense allows 45 points to the Raiders and we all start to hedge. The Browns then stifle the great Joe Flacco , beat the Ravens and we’re back to discussing the electricity Mayfield brings to the team. This week, he struggles early, the team falls behind and then he goes on to complete less than 50-percent of his passes and never gets the Browns close in this one. Interesting. You mean young, rookie quarterbacks can be inconsistent? They have their ups and downs? Mayfield is not an actual savior? The future of the Browns isn’t right now?
Oh, well don’t worry. Ask anyone in Cleveland and they’ll tell you it’s all the fault of that first-down marker. You know the one Mayfield slipped on and tweaked his leg as he was going out of bounds? He was never right after that moment, so of course that was the reason. You just keep riding that Mayfield train and see where your final destination ends up after Week 17. Seems like it’s pulling into the station at Nowheresville right now.
Adam Thielen is the No. 1 Wide Receiver in Football
Well this one might actually be true! For the sixth-straight game, Adam Thielen finished with more than 100 yards receiving and for the fourth time in his last five games, he was doing a little end zone dancing. He’s averaged just over 13 targets per game and has hauled in double-digit catches in three of the first six weeks of the season. He’s got eight catches of 20 yards or more with two of those going for over 40 yards and he is easily the most reliable target on the Vikings. Hell, he’d be the most reliable target on any team and yes, Michael Thomas , on the Saints as well. Not too shabby for a guy who was an undrafted free agent who spent a year on the Vikings practice squad before getting his big break. Anyone want to tell me why we spend all our time focusing on greedy douche bags like Le’Veon Bell, relapsing drug addicts like Josh Gordon and unsigned malcontents like Dez Bryant when we have what should be the face of the NFL right here in Minnesota? Someone get the CMO of the NFL on the phone here — I mean after he gets his head removed from his ass.
Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette are Why We Handcuff
It’s tough to not get angry about Dalvin Cook missing this week’s game, especially when we were led to believe he would play, even if it was on a limited snap count. Hell, I’d take any running back against the Cardinals, amirite? Did you see what Latavius Murray did to them? Yeesh! But I digress. The problem here is that, like me, most people drafting in the back end of the first round took both Cook and Leonard Fournette and are sitting on a bunch of 2-4 and 1-5 records as a result. Getting back into the playoff race may be a daunting task but it is certainly not impossible. Patching up the roster with the likes of Phillip Lindsay , Austin Ekeler and has been a grueling battle to say the least, but rather than just spit on these guys because you think they suck and that their hamstrings are made out of wet tissue paper, let this be a lesson learned in handcuffing. This is exactly why we do it. I’m not saying your crappy record is because you didn’t handcuff because one player shouldn’t make or break your week, but you would most definitely be sitting in a better place right now if you did.
And for the record, no, you don’t drop either. If you want to explore the trade market, fine, but be ready to accept 50 cents on the dollar if you’re so compelled to get rid of them. No, they haven’t helped you to date, but should you find yourself in the playoff hunt over the last three or four weeks of the fantasy regular season, both could prove to be the difference.
Quick Hits
If Sunday was any indication of how the Colts view their backfield moving forward, all you Nyheim Hines owners are going to be saddled with a ton of disappointment. Don’t freak out and drop him just yet, but you should be prepared for fantasy life without him if Marlon Mack is really going to get all the touches.
Anyone out there see this tweet?
#Bills Josh Allen just asked Kelvin Benjamin if he wanted to work on routes pregame during warm ups.
— Jenna Cottrell (@JennaCottrell) October 14, 2018
Kelvin’s answer: No
The current state of the Bills is in massive disarray right now and what we’re learning is that VonTae Davis was just the tip of the iceberg. The team needs to start cleaning house of all the malcontents regardless of talent or contractual obligations if they ever want to move forward. Kelvin Benjamin is an asshole. There’s no other way to say it. The guy has always been a malcontent. He’s always been an underachiever. And he’s always got some sort of an ailment, be it real or imagined. He thinks he should be a superstar and he does absolutely nothing to back it up. The Bills need to trade him to anyone who will offer up something of value or just cut him outright. It’s not like he’s going to suddenly turn around his career and help someone win a championship.
It’s time we close the book on Larry Fitzgerald . Officially. A walk down Narrative Street was our last-ditch effort and it failed miserably. The guy grew up in Minneapolis and was playing what we all expect to be his final game in Minnesota. How could he not go out with a bang? Oh…that’s how. Just five measly grabs for 39 yards and a whole lot of disappointment. This is the last time you will see him in the DFS Playbook. He gone!
It’s tough to think that maybe the switch at quarterback from Kirk Cousins to Alex Smith has killed Jordan Reed ’s mojo, but it would certainly seem to be the case. He did see a team-high nine targets, but there was just nothing there for fantasy owners. Usually we’re trying to jam him into our lineups because you never know when the next injury is going to sideline him, but he doesn’t look good even healthy this season.
The Jaguars are the biggest enigma in football right now.
The Titans suck at football.
And finally, the Chiefs and the Patriots? They are exactly who we thought they were. What a game!