OMAHA! OMAHA! OH-MAH-GOD IT’S BROCK OSWEILER AGAIN! RUN FOR THE HILLS!
Fine readers of the Going For 2 fanbase my name is @TheBLeagueSays and I am 100% against ‘Horse and Collar’ tackles. Yes, they are horrific, but all I can think about is how funny a horse in a collar would look like and I forget the actual severity of the incident fairly quickly after that…Â And thank you for the awesome feedback and conversations following last weeks Pros And Cons – it seems to have struck a chord with the audience, it turns out I must have had a jinx over Marshawn Lynch and Cooper Kupp who both succumbed to injuries – which sucks but football has injuries apart of it, but I’m kinda down for thinking I’m some sort of Sorcerer too so I’m ok with it if that’s the price that has to be paid. And I am absolutely looking forward to addressing Week 7 with you too. Once again please remember that the articles I bring to you will be based on the Pros and Cons of players or scenarios that the Fantasy Football Community has split ideas on heading into future fixtures for your matchups.
So before we get started – Thank you, and enjoy!
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So there are a few things that stand out six weeks into the 2018 season. You can see how teams have improved or become worse, you can see a new coach’s philosophy being played out (Hi, Matt Nagy!) and you can see old coaches habits continually take shape (Bye, Mike McCoy…). You can see what Rookies are adapting quicker than others (Hi, Saquon Barkley) and you can see what veterans in new scenarios have or haven’t skipped a beat (Hi, Allen Robinson, Bye, Allen Hurns). What is apparent though, is which Quarterbacks are leading their teams and which ones are struggling. And while there are questions about some of them there are others who are starting, that due to a regression in performance lately that we are looking into their stability at their current team.
So, @TheBLeagueSays, if you’re so smart what teams are there out there who could be in need of a new play caller?
Well, I don’t know about being smart, however…
I’ve decided to come up with my own ‘Tier Based Structure’ for teams who are needy at Quarterback. Now I understand very well I might be off the mark here and I’m fine with that, feel free to let me know who you think is in greater or lesser need out of this. It’s not about being right or wrong it’s about what I see. All opinions are welcomed! But before we get into that…
Did you know…
In Week 6, Marcus Mariota had more Sacks (11) than he did Completions (10) against Baltimore at home last week?- Matt Ryan has a 14-to-2 Touchdowns to Interceptions difference this year? Ryan also has 156 completions (which is 26 completions per week) so far which is roughly 1 Touchdown every 11.14 Completions. Pair that with an average of 325 yards per week he’s not traveling too bad! He takes on The Giants who are allowing an average of 27 Completions per week (which is right in his ballpark) and 243.8 yards per game.
- That through the first 6 weeks Tom Brady has so far sent only one end zone Target to Rob Gronkowski. He also did not catch that one Target. Doesn’t that seem crazy?!
In Week 6, Right – here goes!
TIER ONE – a team is in dire need of a change right now;Â New York Giants, Denver
Eli Manning: We all know now that the risk in selecting a Running Back at Number 2 overall has not worked out for the Giants. I mean, Saquon Barkley has worked out incredibly well, don’t get me wrong – but Barkley I believe is why Manning’s sitting 8th overall of Passing completions so far this season. Alternatively, Manning has gone 0-14 on 3rd down conversions over a 2-game span which is dreadful considering he has Odell Beckham Jr, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram at his disposal. But the risk that the Giants took was to dip out on one of the best Quarterback Rookie Drafts we have seen in some time and it is clear that it has backfired on Dave Gettleman and co. As your resident Giants fan; I am a Josh Rosen guy but with how Sam Darnold has been tracking so far it is hard to say that he wouldn’t have been the better option than Barkley with that second-overall pick. Manning, at 37 is on borrowed time, but he has only thrown for under 250 yards once this year and that is something that nobody really mentions. But it’s the inability to escape pressure and move the ball downfield that is killing his team. Make no mistake I’d have to think 65% of those 250+ yard games are coming from dump offs to Barkley most weeks too, there are no delusions on how it’s getting done. The Giants best option is to go down the route that, let’s say their neighbors the NY Jets rolled out this year. They grabbed Teddy Bridgewater (and ultimately flipped him to the Saints and got back a 3rd Round 2019 Draft Pick in return), have Veteran Josh McCown still on the roster who held his own in a Jets team that was meant to struggle and pair him up with highly touted Rookie Sam Darnold. Why can’t the Giants do the same thing? Hold onto Manning for another year, Grab a free Agent QB (Teddy Bridgewater, Tyrod Taylor, Robert Griffin III and double down on the best available Rookie QB in the first round of the Draft? It’s an answer – it may not be the best solution but at least it’s something of an idea. Still not sure the Giants have that much planned out… Patent Pending! Patent Pending!
Case Keenum: Although had a great year last year in Minnesota just don’t forget that he had a great year last year by his standards, not by the league’s standards. What may have seemed like a great year may have had something to do with way too many Quarterbacks being injured and turnover at the position for other teams. The fact that he happened to have been in a team with a really good setup with 2 shakey Quarterbacks was an amazing job by his agent more than anything. Keenum got a shot because Bradford went limp and Teddy Bridgewater wasn’t yet quite right – otherwise, he was the third choice option for the Vikings like he was the third choice option in L.A. also a year prior. He got paid still, and Denver thought it could avoid responsibility for poor QB selections whether it be through free agency or through drafting, but the reality is they didn’t look that much better than when Trevor Siemian was healthy and doing ok at the start of last season. Simian had big games, Siemian also had stinkers. Chad Kelly had cheers from the crowd when he entered the turf last week when he closed out the second half to kneel and see the half out which shows the disgust to Broncos hopefuls. You would think John Elway would be able to find a Quarterback when he sees one, Elway is also possibly blind. He could also be daft for not chasing Kirk Cousins as his job depended on it. But considering he got a contract extension in 2017 I don’t actually think he is too fussed. Denver started 2-0 and now see themselves with a 2-4 record, Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas have looked ok, Courtland Sutton has flashed and that’s a start. A win against Arizona and a Divisional matchup vs Kansas (who they nearly knocked off a few weeks ago) could see them back in the mix for a playoff spot. But going 2-6? I could imagine they give Chad Kelly the wheels and let him drive the rest of the season.
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****UPDATE**** Denver absolutely smoked Arizona on Thursday Night Football 45-10. Case Keenum went 21/14-161 yards-1 TD-1 INT. Denver scored 45 points and Keenum only had 161 yards and 1 Touchdown. That’s, uh, that’s not good!
TIER TWO – Change needed, but not until the end of the season; Oakland, Tennessee
Derek Carr: I don’t know what is going on in Oakland. Yeah, it’s funny to make fun of John Gruden and all the garbage that has circled the Raiders atmosphere since his arrival but at the end of the day, it’s players livelihoods we are somewhat joking around with. Unfortunately, Gruden doesn’t seem to care (and why would he when he has a 10 year $100 million contract) and the direction Oakland seems to be taking is Route One to Las Vegas and anyone left remaining on the way is more of a survivor than lucky – and with talk circulating about shipping off Amari Cooper this week after not putting up any effort to keep Khalil Mack would we really be surprised to see if Carr gets moved at the end of the year? The weird thing is, I’d agree with Gruden right now if he said that he didn’t think that Derek Carr is the long-term answer; but a few years ago whilst in the running for the MVP you’d have been laughed at for thinking such things. Michael Crabtree was cut and Amari Cooper has gone missing and Carr has connected (sometimes) with Jared Cook or Jordy Nelson; guys who could be well past their use by date. John Gruden has at times been critical of Derek Carr and I can imagine that maybe he is looking at grabbing a Quarterback early in the next draft to groom them prior to the Franchises relocation to be the Raiders new face. Or maybe he gets traded… New York Giants anyone?
Marcus Mariota: Has, to be fair, a hard start to the year. Rishard Matthews wasn’t healthy and when he finally got healthy asked to be released. Delanie Walker tore his knee at the start of the season. Corey Davis has looked very stop-start and the run game hasn’t open anything up for anyone. Everything hasn’t gone according to plan for a team that grabbed Matt LaFleur as their Offensive Coordinator from the Rams this offseason. And I can’t believe that even though the Titans who still sit at 3-3, that this will be tolerated and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them explore their options at the end of the year. Mariota himself has had a checkered past with injuries and that is a concern considering he has decent rushing abilities but it feels like this year more than ever that has been limited. The Titans stacked up in the Draft on the opposite side of the ball by getting Rashaan Evans and Harold Landry and grabbed Malcolm Butler and others also, so if their Offense needs to be revamped I wouldn’t be shocked to see Mariota’s name on the chopping board. Mariota currently sits at 63.6% in Pass Completion and is ranked 23rd Overall in that department. Which isn’t that bad considering he is with an esteemed star like Patrick Mahomes who is currently Ranked 22nd, one spot ahead at 63.7% Pass Completion. A few interesting differences, however… Mahomes has 94 more Attempts than Mariota (118). Mahomes has more actual Completions (134) than Mariota has actual Attempts (118). Mahomes has nearly twice as many Yards Per Game (311) than Mariota (159) and has nine times the amount of Touchdowns (18) than Mariota (2) also has too. And while I’m at it, Mariota has more Interceptions (4) than he currently has Touchdowns (2) – how is it that no one is picking up on any of this lately?!
Now I’m not directly comparing the two… No, wait I kind of am… Well, it’s been four years in Tennessee and he is approaching the last year of his Rookie deal. This is just a glimpse of the lack of production that Mariota has provided this year. I would have to think he needs to make drastic improvements for the Titans to want to continue with him.
TIER THREE – Change needed, but team motives are unknown;Â Miami, Jacksonville
Ryan Tannehill: Miami is Oakland-lite. Who knows what goes through Adam Gase’s head?! At times you think you have the answers and before you know it Gase has changed the questions. Tannehill at times can look decisive in his delivery. Which is something considering that Adam Gase did get rid of his best weapons this offseason, yet kept DeVante Parker, go figure? And outside of a few ‘splash’ plays (get it, because they play for the Dolphins, and Dolphins spla…nevermind) from Albert Wilson, there hasn’t been much to talk about as most of Wilson’s plays have been great efforts from after the catch was made.
What makes it worse is that after being declared not fit to play last week, those plays were made also this week by Brock Osweiler because Adam Gase hates us all. To be fair, Jay Cutler and Matt Moore had the Dolphins moving in some sort of direction last year too so it’s not like Ryan Tannehill is the be-all-and-end-all. In fact, Ryan Tannehill could well be Jay Cutler or Matt Moore in a different jersey and we would never know. There are times when he can look like Brock Osweiler, which isn’t great because they already have him as their backup – who ironically lead them to a win this weekend against Chicago of all teams; which is something I’m not sure anyone thought he would have done if he started.
Out of all the Quarterbacks who started this year, Tannehill is ranked 27th overall for the number of Completions so far (85) yet is 13th overall in Passing Completion percentage which means, like Marcus Mariota, he’s just not passing the ball enough and when he does, they are somewhat safe plays at best.
Blake Bortles: I am going to sum Blake Bortles up in a few short sentences, and I will use his matchup with Kansas a week or so ago as an example. Bortles threw for over 400 yards – that’s good. He had 4 Interceptions. That’s bad. He rushed for a Touchdown. That’s good. He also had a Pick-6. That’s bad. He had six Receivers tally over 50 yards each. That’s good. He had 61 attempts. That’s bad.
This is the Blake Bortles experience week-in, week-out. For a team last year that was pushing the New England Patriots to the brink in an AFC Championship game this right here, this one positional change could be the difference between winning big and going home losers again. They could make changes, he was given a relatively modest contract in the offseason but it’s nothing that can’t fix if they see the need. Do I think the way forward for them is through the Draft? At this point, I would think a Veteran would be a better option. How about this as a scenario to be played out – Lamar Jackson is bound to take over from Joe Flacco in the offseason much like Patrick Mahomes did to Alex Smith. Would I hate Joe Flacco in Jacksonville with an excellent run game, plenty of possession Receivers and one of the best Defences in the league? He’s done it before, and in this situation, I think Flacco could do it again.
TIER FOUR – Change possible, but not necessary; Tampa Bay, Washington
Jameis Winston: No one is a bigger doubter of Winston than me. It’s not because of the talent. It’s because of what goes on between the ears. Winston, to be blunt, is a screw-up. Whether it’s the Uber incident, or talking down at little girls in a primary school, or the ‘eating a W’ farce that had Joe Flacco ripping on him, or the infamous ‘crablegs’ incident or the misdemeanor that had the police question him for misconduct on campus. All of this crap – all of his baggage – is going to lead your franchise to the promised land? This guy? Are you sure you want it to be this guy? This is the guy you’re probably going to have to fork over $100 million in guaranteed money? You’re going to trust this guy with your Franchise, Team, and Money? A guy who had Ryan Fitzpatrick play lights out and potentially nearly took Winston’s job?
It will never be about the talent.
Winston is a stud. You’ll never get questions about that from me; I love watching him play – let’s kill that idea off right away. But would you blame the Tampa brass if they had a wondering eye? They’d be crazy not to look at the Draft and see if there is a prospect they can groom over the next few years. Winston’s contract will be up soon as he enters the fifth year of his Rookie contract in 2019 where he has a fair bit of change coming his way. If I had to take a guess; I’d expect the ‘Kirk Cousins’ treatment and see him get Franchise Tagged a few times first. Winston is extremely young for a guy who has had many years in the league, and for a guy who is only 24 the upside on an extremely young and talented guy is there, but he’s gotta earn that trust back.Â
Alex Smith: Well… it was fun whilst it lasted right? Where is last years star Quarterback from the Chiefs? The Alex Smith we loved? Where is the deep ball bombing, tight window chucking, eyebrow-raising, throwing passes that are blazin’, sack avoider, the new King of D.C. anointed, wooooooo – son of a gun?! Well.. he’s not in Washington that’s for sure. Smith has played ‘not as advertised’ nor how he was sold on the front of the box from how Andy Reid presented him. Now Alex Smith is good. Good, not great, just good. He’s like porridge in the winter. If you can be bothered to put all that effort into something that comes out bland it hardly feels worth it. But add some cinnamon, walnuts and honey and goddamn you got yourself a relatively healthy, heartwarming favorite that can get you through 3 months of cold, bleak and dreary days. Smith had Kareem hunt, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce to make his porridge seem appealing. I think we can now put a pin in Jamison Crowder and Josh Doctson as condiments to be counted upon. Paul Richardson hasn’t done much to prove he is worth the price tag he ‘earned’ even though he has somewhat flashed when he isn’t hurt. And, Jordan Reed is not his old self, which was a big ask, to begin with. Could they give Smith another year and some free agents to go with Darius Guice next year? For the Redskins, I hope so. If not, its back to the drawing board.
‘Wow, @TheBLeagueSays that’s fairly detailed and insightful from you – which is a first. So, step to it, what are…’
THE PROS
Quarterbacks vs Kansas…
(Once again, depending on your scoring system and penalties, fantasy scoring numbers and rankings are coming from fantasy.nfl.com.)
Kansas, with their incredible record of 5-1 have currently only played two games at home. We have marveled at how Patrick Mahomes has been traveling and the high-velocity Offense they put out there every week who put up a stack of points at the drop of a dime. When this happens, their opposition has to follow suit and start chasing points. As a result, Quarterbacks against Kansas do relatively well. There are two things I want to look at right now and that is traveling Quarterbacks at Kansas, and how Andy Dalton, Bengals Quarterback who plays against Kansas in primetime this week, plays on the road.
Quarterbacks on the road; Jimmy Garoppolo had 22.3 points at Kansas in Week 3 had (Yards-TDS: INT)Â 251 yards-2:0, along with 23 of the most regrettable Rushing yards of his young career; as it was that week where he scrambled against the Chiefs and tore his knee. In the process of doing that Garoppolo still finished at the QB11. Blake Bortles had 20.6 points in Kansas which was a yo-yo game for the play-caller. Bortles went 430-1-4. Along with this, Bortles also rushed for 34 yards a Touchdown on the ground which saved his day (and finished also as the QB11).
Andy Dalton away from Cincinnati; So far, the Bengals have had three games on the road this season and had wins against the Colts and Falcons with a loss at Carolina on the road. in the process Dalton has (Yards-TDS:INT); 243 yards-2:1 (QB16) at Indianapolis, 352 yards-2:4 (QB19) at Carolina, and 337 yards-3:1 (QB9) at Atlanta.
Andy Dalton is known for an Interception or two, and aside from Giovani Bernard, has all his players on hand. The Bengals are traveling to Kansas for a primetime Sunday night matchup and would see them equal their opposition Kansas’ record of 5-2 should the get a win. Keeping up with the Chiefs will be hard to do, but that can only be good for our shares in Bengals players this week. Kansas has offered up two QB11 performances at home along with an average of 340 yards at Arrowhead. I would not be surprised to see Dalton finish inside the Top 10 at his position this week and considering some of the guys who are on the Bye this week (Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson and coughDerek Carrcough) there is an opportunity for him to gain you a scoring edge in your matchup.
The Browns next 4 Weeks for Fantasy…
At Tampa. At Pittsburgh. Home to Kansas. Home to Atlanta.
Points. That’s all I can say. Points.
First of all, these four teams are all in the Top 5 for conceding points to the Quarterback with an average of 25.58 points per week. So if anyone is planning on streaming a Quarterback over the next month, Baker Mayfield needs to be in the forefront of your mind. Forget what he has or hasn’t done, he is going to strike gold here.
Secondly, in the vast post-apocalyptic wasteland, I had once described as the Tight End position; Tampa, Pittsburgh, and Kansas are giving away the most points to the Tight End position also, with Atlanta ranked 14th overall also with a combined 10 Touchdowns conceded this season. Hi there, David Njoku! How’s it going? Wanna grab some lunch together? Here, let me pull your seat out for you, can I get you some water?
Baker Mayfield has looked to David Njoku frequently since he took over as the Browns starting Quarterback, with an average stat line of 10 Targets, 6 Receptions and 58 yards. Last week they connected for his first Touchdown of the year as Best-ball and redraft gamers rejoiced at once. With the string of opposition coming up before their Week 11 Bye Round we could see a stack of points between the duo, even if the Browns don’t get the wins they are looking for.
Josh Gordon is back, kinda…
It’s the second comi… It’s the third coming this year of our Savior himself! This year has been a stop-start season for Josh Gordon to say the least – what’s new? Landing in New England couldn’t have been a better place for him to end up, who doesn’t want to be alongside Tom Brady instead of Jason Campbell, Brandon Weeden, Austin Davis, Brian Hoyer (wait, what?!) and so on… But after (sort of) playing for Cleveland this year and suffering a hamstring injury he found himself moved out to the far north-east.
Each week he has been in New England he has seen more time on the field. Each time he has been on the field he has seen an increase of Targets, seeing more time on the field with Tom Brady on 3rd Downs, he only has two Targets in the Endzone area this year in three games in New England but as I said before, that’s one more than what Rob Gronkowski has seen that Gordon had minimal time learning the playbook before his first matchup against Miami where he still went 2-2-32 yards.
This week Gordon faces the Chicago Bears 380 yards and 3 Touchdowns to a Brock Osweiler lead Miami last week. I can’t imagine that Tom Brady won’t have similar success, and my gut feeling is that this will be Gordon’s coming out party for the Patriots.
Huh? Josh Gordon, to have a ‘breakout game?” The kids a star, @TheBLeagueSays, you are a hack. Get on with…
THE CONS
Deshaun Watson‘s TD Regression…
What nobody wanted to happen, happened. What everyone was telling people was going to happen, happened. Those who drafted him in the 5th Round who was during their draft season in denial, are now in further denial about how his lack of production has proceeded since…
Last season Watson was a supernova that lit up the league. He helped DeAndre Hopkins excel as possibly the best Receiver in the year and he squashed conversations about how Will Fuller could be used. And what was great is that Fuller complimented Hopkins, the trio together was fantastic. He even helped Lamar Miller look decent (statistically anyway). I mean come on, anyone who saw the game against Seattle last year would have told you it was one of the best Rookie Quarterback performances anyone could remember in some period of time. I mean the Legion of Boom was still the Legion of Boom and he went bonkers.
But we know the story from there: Watkins tears his ACL. The Texans then struggle through the rest of the year as a result. They don’t beef up their Offensive Line in the offseason. Their Run game still is not what it could be and Will Fuller is back to being somewhat injury prone again. They drafted poorly and Bill O’Brien, again, makes excuses for his team. Nothing has changed really. Just another day in Houston with all of the warning signs that were still there to tell us that nothing had changed.
And we (and by we I mean everyone else; I have zero Watson in my leagues this year and I’m happy with that) didn’t listen at all. So far this year the Texans have one of the worst end zone completion rates this season (which is great for those who have Ka’imi Fairbairn as their Kicker). There have been some positives, however. The yards are good with four games over 300 yards, and three of those were for over 370 yards – which is something he only managed once last season in his last game of the year against Seattle. He’s consistently getting over 40 rushing yards a game, something he has done 4 times this season.
There has been one major let down when you compare this season to his last. This year the Touchdowns have simply not happened which is crazy because in one less game he has more passing attempts and completions than in 2017 while his completion percentage is slightly higher than last year too. For me, the obvious answer and it’s the 9:7 Touchdown-to-Interception differential. In 7 games last year, Watson had a 19:8 Touchdowns-to-Interception difference which showed how uber-efficient he was. Half the Touchdowns with the same about of Interceptions in 2018? That’s not great by his standards unless what we are seeing are his standards and last year was a fluke.
It’s in the red zone where Watson has struggled also. Ryan Griffin for example (whether it’s a good one or not is to be determined) has had red zone 5 Targets and not connected with one yet. Hopkins has 2 Touchdowns from 3 red zone Targets and you would think with his caliber that needs to increase. It just feels like every time they get close to the end zone they stutter and can’t really rely on Lamar Miller to help punch one in either.
Their Bye Round isn’t until Week 10, so any corrections they need to make needs to be at the focal point of what they do mid-week. Because at 3-3, their losses have come via seven or fewer points and that for me is the inefficiency in execution when it matters most. Their games prior to the Bye includes trips to Jacksonville and Denver with a home game against Miami on a Thursday night wedged in between. All are very winnable games, they just have to take advantage of these opportunities that get often presented to them, and that starts with Watson being clinical like he was last season.
The flyin’ Hawaiian? More like the grounded Hawaiian…
Player A;Â A new Head Coach. A new Offensive Coordinator. Player A was given plenty of help to compliment his style of play. His team went out of their way to spare no expense getting him the team he needs to succeed to return on their recent investment in this Quarterback.
In 2017, his end of season stats did not look great at all (Attempts-Completions-Completion %-Yards-TD:INT): 330-196-59.39%-2193 yards-7 TDS:7 INT along with 41-248 yards-2 TDS rushing the ball. In 2018, however, looks like a complete 180 turnaround, and if we look at how his stats over 16 weeks, his numbers would project as 515.2-361.6-70.18%-4000.3 yards-35 TDS:13 INT along with 80-524.8 yards-3TDS rushing to go with it; is what he looks to finish with if he keeps trending the way he does. These numbers would have him finish up with similar numbers to what Alex Smith had (505-341-67.5%-4042 yards-26 TDS:5INT) who finished last season as the QB4 in Fantasy scoring (fantasypros.com) for the year.
Player B; also has a new Head Coach but how much input he has on playcalling is something to question. He also has a new Offensive Coordinator too. His Franchise barely went out of their way to compliment him with new talent. A free agent Running Back was added but that felt like more of a slight on who they had already and not something that was going to greatly aid their Quarterback. No players were really added to help his style of play, and their Receivers they have had really blanked for him and underperformed over the past two seasons which is a shame because in 2017 in Fantasy he finished as the QB18, a position many feel like he could vastly improve upon. Already this season he has lost a Veteran to the Injured Reserve and another asked to be released; his numbers this year have been abhorrent and over the course of the season will look like this the way he is trending; 377-240-63.66%-2537.6 yards-6 TDS:12 INT along with 76-470.4 yards-3 TDS on the ground. The way he is trending, he is heading towards the numbers Josh McCown had, which says something considering McCown only played 13 games last season.
This year, these numbers – they are not good.
Now I know you are all smart cookies and had already pinged one of these players to be Marcus Mariota – yep, the Hawaiian part probably gave it away and had already been spoken about in this article already. And considering this is ‘The Cons’ section and Player B’s numbers sucks then a 50-50 shot would tell you that Marcus Mariota would be Player B in this example.
Player A is Mitchell Trubisky.
Chicago got Mitchell Trubisky and Head Coach in Matt Nagy who had success with Alex Smith in Kansas and the way he is trending it looks like he is playing (statistically at least) in a similar fashion. The most underrated facet of Chicago’s additions this offseason was Mark Helfrich, who was at Oregon. Helfrich was specifically matched up for Trubisky. Mitchell Trubisky ran the most RPO’s when he was at the University of North Carolina and that’s what Helfrich was brought in to enhance him at a pro level. And by getting Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Trey Burton and drafting Anthony Miller – everything was set up for this team to be explosive and to put up points.
But the Titans? Not really the same. Mike Vrabel is a Defensive mind so as a Head Coach one would assume he is deflecting to his right-hand man Matt LaFleur who they did bring in as their new Offensive Coordinator but so far the Titans look nothing like the Rams Offense that LaFleur had aided with last season. Jonnu Smith who was a 3rd Round Pick last year has been a failure by being unable to step into Delanie Walker‘s shoes at Tight End. The Titans gave Rishard Matthews a contract extension then a release and Corey Davis has flashed, sparingly. Dion Lewis and Derrick Henry have been throwing air swings as a 1-2 punch and their Offensive Line has been banged up for most of the year. But this is (like Jameis Winston) the 4th year of his Rookie contract and if he is looking for an extension next season then I’d have to think something has to change drastically by the end of the season. But considering 41% of his yards came in one game this year (344 yards vs Philadelphia) and is the only time he has thrown for over 130 yards over a five-game span – I would be completely concerned if I was a Titans fan this season having to watch this each week.
Cleveland, wyd…
I dig Baker Mayfield, I have no problems with him at all. He is going to be fantastic and an opportunity for him over the next month with a nice schedule is banging at the door for him to eat in Fantasy. However. The Browns are gonna Brown… Today Cleveland just moved Carlos Hyde to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 5th Round Pick. A few weeks ago they moved Josh Gordon to the Patriots for a 5th Round Pick. That is two game-changing players they just took away from their Rookie Quarterback in only his 4th start this year. In the past two weeks, the Browns have scored 12 and 14 points in back-to-back weeks and you would think a matchup against a leaky Tampa Defense who just fired their Defensive Quarterback Mike Smith midweek would be on the cards and exactly what the Doctor had ordered to get them firing as the did against Oakland.
Apparently not…
It just seems weird for a team that is only two wins from the top of their Division and one away from third that this is a move that they would make. Cincinnati are away to Kansas and Baltimore hosts Drew Brees and the Saints while Pittsburgh is on their Bye Round; there is absolutely a chance for Cleveland to catch up in their Division.
But it’s also the Browns. So maybe it’s not that weird at all…
PROJECTIONS
All projections are for the respective Players ceiling
Eli Manning @ Atlanta:Â Attempts; 44 / Completion %; 61.33 / Completions; 27 / Yards Per Reception; 13.19 / Yards; 356.13 / TDS; 3 / INT; 3
Marcus Mariota vs L.A. Chargers (London game):Â Attempts; 33 / Completion %; 52.88 / Completions; 17.45 / Yards Per Reception; 10.69 / Yards; 186.65 / TDS; 2 / INT; 2
Andy Dalton @ Kansas: Attempts; 42 / Completion %; 69.04 / Completions; 29 / Yards Per Reception; 10.73 / Yards; 311.17 / TDS; 4 / INT; 2
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SUMMARY
The problem with Quarterbacks to me is that they can produce positive and negative streaks frequently and infrequently alike. We can dump a Quarterback and play week-to-week and figure it out as we go or we can look at a guy like Baker Mayfield who I used earlier as an example who has an incredible block of Fantasy games ahead of him.
With Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr on their Bye Round this week there is a stack of opportunity available of other Quarterbacks to step up and take the limelight while others like Drew Brees (at Baltimore) and Tom Brady (at Chicago) face tough matchups. I have presented a handful of players that are struggling and can be dropped and a few that may be going under the radar right now that have more than just streaming potential. There are some you can buy low on and some you should be trying to sell now and get what you can for them. I hope this helps!
I want to thank you for getting this far and taking in everything I have presented. Set your lineups accordingly and check out the DFS and Weekly Content all the hard-working staff is pumping out to get you best prepared. Also – download the Going For 2 app, then and rate, review and share with your loved ones. You all deserve it!
You can as always follow and find me at @TheBLeagueSays and offer any view or conversation about this. Let’s all get better together!
Once again, Thank you and Enjoy!
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