I rebounded with a nice collection of picks in week 4. Scanning this week’s games, there appears to be a lot of one-sided affairs on tap. Even so, that doesn’t make those lineup decisions any easier. Time to roll up the sleeves and see who should be starting for your fantasy team in week 5. Read MoreThe weather is cooling and three of fantasy football’s best quarterbacks are on a bye week. I’m anticipating a low scoring week from around the league. If that’s the case, you can expect some close games in your fantasy league(s) and that makes this week’s line up decisions crucial.
Start Sit or Squat and Pray!
QB
Start: Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals – The Texans are getting burned by the run thus far (see Johnson, Chris) but make no mistake, Arizona will be throwing the football. Warner and his receivers have had two weeks to prepare for this game and are playing at home.
Sit: Eli Manning, New York Giants – Let’s take a look at what we know. He has an injury to the heel of his plant foot and has never played with this injury before. As a fantasy owner, you just can’t risk plugging him in and having him leave the game after the first quarter.
Squat and Pray: Tom Brady, New England Patriots – The Broncos pass defense is pretty good but Romo made them look better. Brady has two games under his belt against defenses able to pressure the quarterback. The Pats still have a lot of weapons on offense and fantasy owners have to have faith in there early pick this week.
RB
Start: Marshawn Lynch, Buffalo Bills – The Browns are giving up over 400 yards a game on defense. They rank dead last in the AFC against the run. The wait is over for Lynch owners this week.
Sit: Steven Jackson, St. Louis Rams – I’m doubling up on sitting running backs against the Vikings. Jackson will be tough to sit, but the Rams are bad and if there is a team that knows what it’s like to have an opponent load up against the run it’s Minnesota.
Squat and Pray: Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons – He has a history of only performing against weak teams and the 49ers defense doesn’t fall under that category after a month of NFL games. Yielding a scant 73.8 yards rushing per contest, San Francisco will be ready for Turner and the Falcons at home.
WR
Start: DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles – Jackson and the Eagles should perform well against a defense that has allowed nine touchdowns through the air and several long passing plays.
Sit: Braylon Edwards, New York Jets – I was busy this week and haven’t had time to chime in on the trade but the Jets are not going to turn into a passing team overnight. He still has stone hands and a half-week to learn the offense.
Squat and Pray: Steve Smith, New York Giants – How can you bench this guy, especially in PPR leagues? You really can’t. I’m worried that Eli won’t be as effective throwing the ball. But I’m even more worried about the Giants having this game in hand early resulting in a heavy dose of the running game.
TE, DEF, K
Start: Buffalo Defense – They are playing at home where the forecast is calling for 10+ MPH winds and a temperature high of 52-degrees. Add in a lowly Browns team and fantasy owners with the Bears, Packers or Chargers defenses have their bye week replacement.
Sit: John Carlson, Seattle Seahawks – I realize he is playing at home, Matt Hasselbeck is likely to play and the Jags rank dead last in the NFL passing yards allowed per game. However, a lot of that is due to them facing Peyton Manning. Deion Branch, Nate Burleson and Houshmandzadeh are going to get their share of balls. Fewer targets and less than ideal touchdown potential have me benching him this week.
Squat and Pray: John Kasay, Carolina Panthers – Kasay is probably on your league’s waiver wire and I like the match up. He only has three FGA on the season but could double that this weekend.
---------------------------------------
Week 4 Recap:
QB
Start: David Garrard – 323 pass yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 38 rush yards
Sit: Eli Manning – 292 pass yards, 3 TD, 1 INT
S and P: Shaun Hill – 152 pass yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Garrard was great last week as the Jags took advantage of the leaky Titans pass defense. Eli’s numbers were not among the weekly leaders until Hakeem Nicks turned what should have been a moderate gain into a 54-yard touchdown. Those who started Hill were fortunate two get a couple of scores to bail out his fantasy day.
RB
Start: Ronnie Brown – 115 rush yards, 2 TD
Sit: Ryan Grant – 51 rush yards, 4 rec, 50 rec yards, 0 TD
S and P: Darren McFadden - -3 rush yards, 1 rec, 5 rec yards, 0 TD
I’ll admit the Brown call was a bit “easy” but I needed to get one right in the worst way. Grant did ok in PPR leagues but otherwise was a disappointment. McFadden injured his meniscus in his last chance to win fantasy owners over this season.
WR
Start: Calvin Johnson – 8 rec, 133 rec yards, 0 TD
Sit: Santonio Holmes – 4 rec, 52 yards, 0 TD
S and P: Randy Moss – 3 rec, 50 yards, 1 TD
Johnson saw twelve targets but came up just short of the goal line on a couple of receptions and Kevin Smith took advantage. Santonio Holmes watched Rashard Mendenhall like the rest of us. Moss was held to a season-low five targets this past Sunday but did tally his first TD on the season.
TE, DEF, K
Start: Dustin Keller – 3 rec, 31 rec yards, 0 TD
Sit: Denver Broncos Defense – 10 points allowed, 5 sacks, 1 int, 1 FF
S and P: Dan Carpenter – 1 FG, 5 XP
The Jets’ Mark Sanchez played too poorly for Keller to post solid numbers. Just when I thought Dallas was going to take the ball out of Romo’s hands they let him toss 42 passes. Carpenter walked away with solid eight points if you plugged him as a bye week filler.
NFL GAMES WEEK 5 (All times EST)
Bye: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers
Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens - 1 p.m.
Cleveland Browns at Buffalo Bills - 1 p.m.
Washington Redskins at Carolina Panthers - 1 p.m.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions - 1 p.m.
Dallas Cowboys at Kansas City Chiefs- 1 p.m.
Oakland Raiders at New York Giants - 1 p.m.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Philadelphia Eagles - 1 p.m.
Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams - 1 p.m.
Atlanta Falcons at San Francisco 49ers - 4:05 p.m.
Houston Texans at Arizona Cardinals - 4:15 p.m.
New England Patriots at Denver Broncos - 4:15 p.m.
Jacksonville Jaguars at Seattle Seahawks - 4:15 p.m.
Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans - 8:20 p.m.
Monday: New York Jets at Miami Dolphins - 8:30 p.m.
BOXCAR Football updates are also available on RSS and Twitter!
