The season keeps rolling right along and the fantasy playoff tree is starting to take shape in your league. Those of you who are fighting and clawing for a postseason spot can ill-afford to have many let downs from your big-name guys down the stretch. The information below could very well be the reason why you are just ‘window shopping’ for fantasy football championship belts this season.
Top Fantasy Woes for Week 10
1. The Bengals’ Offense
Cincinnati got manhandled by Cleveland, 24-3, on Thursday night and it was as if the offense just didn’t show up. Quarterback Andy Dalton’s stat line was atrocious with a laughable 86 yards, only 10 completions on 33 attempts and a passer rating of two. The Bengals as a team rushed for 86 yards with the hot, waiver-wire grab, Jeremy Hill, leading the charge with 55 on 12 carries. Dalton also threw three picks with one coming on the team’s first drive of the game and the other two coming on the first two possessions of the fourth quarter.
The fourth-year signal caller was so bad on a short week as he consistently missed A.J. Green and Mohammed Sanu on makable throws. Even in somewhat windy conditions, Dalton has no excuse other than the fact he plays terrible on big stages. He is now 2-9 in nationally televised games in his career with 14 interceptions to just eight touchdowns.
2. Jeremy Maclin
It happens fairly often that a backup quarterback gets thrown into the starting lineup and doesn’t have great chemistry with the team’s star wideout right away. Mark Sanchez had more success looking for rookie Jordan Matthews than Maclin, who is easily the team’s most talented option in the passing game. The former Missouri Tiger finished Monday’s nights win over the Panthers with three catches on seven targets for a total of 38 yards.
Fantasy owners can expect Sanchez to look for Maclin more often going forward as the two get more familiar with each other. They haven’t had a ton of reps in practice because Sanchez was working with the second-team all year where he and Mathews got familiar with one another. If Sanchez can keep this up and avoid the butt fumbles, the high-octane Philly offense may not skip a beat without Nick Foles.
3. Jay Cutler
The Bears got absolutely crushed by the Packers, 55-14, as Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdowns in the first half alone. To put it into perspective, Cutler has thrown six touchdowns over the past four games to go along with seven turnovers, four picks and three fumbles lost, in the same span. Sunday night’s contest saw Cutler cough it up on three separate occasions (two interceptions and one lost fumble) and a touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall when the game was already decided is what saved his fantasy output.
4. Carson Palmer
The Cardinals put their money on Palmer with a three-year extension worth $50 million just days before he suffered a season-ending ACL injury on Sunday. It was a ‘ghost’ injury as Palmer’s knee buckled awkwardly as he went down untouched in the fourth quarter of a division win over the Rams. He had been sharp heading into the game with four straight games with at least 249 yards passing and multiple touchdown passes. But unless you’re in a keeper/dynasty league, he’s now worthless to you this season.
5. Sammy Watkins
The fourth overall pick in this last year’s draft was limited to just four receptions on 10 targets for 27 yards through the air on Sunday against the Chiefs. The 10 targets from quarterback Kyle Orton are to be expected at this point since he is the team’s leading receiver as a rookie, but they duo couldn’t hook up as usual. The credit should go to Kansas City’s defense, which is the league’s best against the pass so far this season. At least Watkins wasn’t chased down while celebrating prematurely before reaching the endzone like he did in Week 8 against the Jets. Even though his owners could have used the extra points.
Cincinnati Bengals top banner photo credit: Erik Eckel
