It’s good to be back after my little mini vacation. I went to serve one of my 72 hour blocks at county as part of my plea agreement. Jay was really understanding of my situation, as long as I brought back some pruno. Enjoy! *shudders* It was a well deserved rest and an opportunity to unplug and shake off the fantasy baseball dust. Now I am 100% yours to have at your disposal for all your fantasy needs. Jeez, I sound like a backpage escort.  Except Tight Ends, I can’t figure out the rhyme or reasons going into planning for the week. Look at Larry Donnell last week with his one target and no catches…WTF! Sky shared these nuggets about Donnell with me via Twitter: Falcons sold out to make sure he had very few looks, and added to that: Double cover your guy all game and force it elsewhere. Can’t plan for that. That’s why I hate trying to predict the tight end position. Besides Graham and Thomas, no tight end is a safe bet each and every week. What does this have to do with flex plays? It’s my way of saying I won’t be doing tight ends in the flex battles. Wide receivers and running backs only. Now on to the bye bye bye week ahead.
Note: All evaluations are based on 0.5 PPR, and ranks are from FantasyPros.com.
Bishop Sankey (80) vs. Trent Richardson (82)
Sankey vs. Richardson | FindTheBest
One was a favorite to break out last week with a second chance coming this week, while the other has been boring, yet useful for those going through the injury bug. Either way, they are close in the rankings and deserve a little extra attention. Not like the extra attention my beard needs every morning. It’s like the scene from Saturday Night Fever when Tony gets ready to go out. This week, Bishop, who should be the lead back for the Titans, gets the 21st ranked run defense in the Jaguars, while T-Rich gets the 25th ranked Texans. Sankey was the much loved preseason back that was going to take over the job from Shonn Greene, and be a solid back to finish the year with. Unfortunately, the Titans have absolutely no idea what to do with a running back, which is backed up by their handling of short yardage plays. Of their nine plays, where a yard or less was needed, they gave the ball to Greene only twice. He’s a short yardage power back at his core, and his team has no clue what to do. So what make’s you think Sankey’s usage will be any better? Last week against the 4th worst rush defense in the league, the Titans, who lost a 15 point leading the 4th quarter, ran the ball THREE times in the 4th quarter. As you can see where this is going, I need to do my due diligence and talk about T-Rich. Twice this year he has over 20 touches in a game, has caught an average of 3 passes a game, and has touched the endzone once so far. The Texans might have the big name in J.J. Watt, but don’t let that keep you from playing T-Rich. He’s obviously in a time share with Ahmad Bradshaw, but as we have seen with the Colts this year, they know how to use what they got. Last week, against the good run defense of the Ravens, we can see what to expect against a comparable defense, but this is not the case with the Texans. Expect 15 carries and 3-4 catches with a chance for a TD. It’s the safer play for me while in bye week hell. Winner: Trent Richardson.
Andrew Hawkins (73) vs. Odell Beckham Jr. (75)
On one hand we have the favorite target of Brian Hoyer, at least until Josh Gordon returns from his cannacation (NSFW), against the Giants 1st round selection who made a huge splash in his first game last week. I’m sure many of you are hitting the wire to grab Odell this week, but I want you to keep in mind that I wouldn’t expect Larry Donnell to be shut out every week. (See rant above.) I also don’t think Rueben Randle is going to get 10 targets a game like he did last week (positive point). But what I do like is the kid’s upside for later in the year. This week against the very weak defense of the Eagles, it’s going to be really tempting to play him and feel all secure. But I ain’t having any of that. The Eagles are owned by Victor Cruz and I’m betting on him being the big winner out of the Giants receivers. Can’t Beckham have a good week too? He can, but I’m not ready to go all in on him with all the other options for Eli. On the other side of this, we have Mr. Hawkins who’s lowest targets on a week sits at 9. I love me some opportunity! I write these for 0.5 PPR format, and I would have to be nuts to say Beckham over Hawkins. Now, why Beckham is so high on FantasyPros is the opportunity against a bad defense. Hawkins gets the 9th best pass defense in the Steelers, and that might scare some peeps away. Not me. Why, you ask? Because in Week 1, he scorched them for 8 catches and 87 yards. That’ some PPR gold baby. I’m not expecting a repeat, but I am expecting him to find the endzone at some point. Can we get a TD over here? This winner is the conservative play in my book and taking what you can in the risk/reward game we play once a week. Winner: Andrew Hawkins.
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