It was a really sad day for some of fantasy football’s biggest names with a laundry list of predominant players who fell flat on their face, statistically speaking.
It was Atlanta’s Matt Ryan that stole the Fantasy Woes spotlight with his two picks and a lost fumble, almost costing his team the game and as they moved to a perfect, 5-0. It was an off day for the former Boston College Eagle as he and Julio Jones only connected five times for 67 yards. Leonard Hankerson has essentially passed Roddy White and his $5 million salary on the depth chart. Now, there are even trade rumors swirling for the 33 year-old wide receiver.
The Falcons still look solid having youngster Devonta Freeman step up and be the feature back recently, and it was an injury to Tevin Coleman three weeks ago that gave him the chance.
This weekend saw Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles tear his ACL while lunging and extending the ball trying to get a first down only to land awkwardly on the first down marker. Roary, the Detroit Lions’ mascot, was taken out in the process and the play subsequently took some of you out of contention in your league. Hopefully you drafted another solid running back or you might be vying for Charcandrick West or Knile Davis on the waivers this week.
It is getting tiring talking about how bad C.J. Anderson has been this season, but the Broncos offense as a whole has been terrible with first-year head coach Gary Kubiak at the controls. He has taken them from one of the most explosive offenses the past few seasons to being pedestrian at best, and yet they are still undefeated (5-0) largely because of stellar defensive play.
Anderson hasn’t rushed for more than 50 yards in a game this year after his impressive eight-games stint last year making fantasy owners want to take the horse behind the barn and shoot him. The Broncos offensive line continues to struggle to provide any running room between the tackles having gotten shuffled around due to various injuries. Anderson meanwhile, has publicly said that fantasy owners should drop him and it’s already happening as he’s on track to be one of the biggest fantasy busts of all-time.
Times have been tough for Peyton as well as six touchdowns and seven interceptions through five games just isn’t typical behavior. Denver’s offense ranks 23rd in the league, averaging 231 yards passing per game, which is five shy of the 226 yards Demaryius Thomas had receiving in Week 4 last season against Arizona. Manning was intercepted twice by Charles Woodson as both future Hall of Famers were drafted No. 1 and 2 overall, respectively, in 1998.
There were a slew of running backs that over-promised and under delivered in Week 5 as Eddie Lacy, Ameer Abdullah and Alfred Morris all were pitiful on Sunday.
Lacy and the Packers faced another stout defensive front in the Rams and had to resort to the passing game to get the win. The third-year running back out of Alabama has scored just once and hasn’t rushed for over 100 yards yet this season. Lacy is in a great situation being in an explosive and efficient offense, but he seems a little timid as a runner. We saw this out of Lacy last year, but he turned it around, and will surely do the same this year too.
That is not the case though if you own Ameer Abdullah and/or Alfred Morris, as both players have scuffled badly as of late and may hit waivers in some leagues.
The Lions haven’t been able run the ball at all with 69 yards rushing being the most they have had as a team through five games and that was Week 1 against San Diego. Abdullah rode the bench most of the game after coughing up a fumble in the first quarter and almost losing another on a kickoff in the second quarter.
The rookie could continue to lose snaps to Theo Reddick who has been superior in the passing game with 10 catches and a touchdown last week while Patrick Peterson held Calvin Johnson in check. Matthew Stafford also got benched in the third quarter with three interceptions in what was a disaster of a game for winless Detroit.
Morris is seemingly a lost cause after being bottled up to the tune of 15 yards rushing on eight carries in a loss to the Buccaneers. The fact he is a non-factor as a pass-catcher out of the backfield is very detrimental to his value. Like the Lions, Washington could be playing from behind, having to throw the ball more often, making Morris about as useful as Robert Griffin III right now.
Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans owners saw their wideouts experience what was essentially a day off in the pass-catching department. Tampa Bay’s rushing attack was on point as Doug Martin notched his second-straight 100-yard game and touchdowns. The Jaguars proved to be no match for the ‘Muscle Hamster’ who is once again emerging into fantasy stardom after being trapped in the tubes of the hamster cage in 2014.
The fact that rookie quarterback Jameis Winston and second-year receiver Mike Evans haven’t connected for a touchdown is concerning, but there was fair warning given in this video. Maybe having the bye in Week 7 should give them enough time to get in sync and speaking of ‘byes’, it is time to hit the eject button like some of you have with your fantasy teams already.
