Now that my little Fantasy Football science experiment is over I’m going to change things up a little bit. You wouldn’t believe all the hate mail I got in the past couple of weeks. It seems my ESPN accounts have been locked out and someone even toilet papered my front yard. Enough is enough. Going forward I’m just going to give you my top six picks for the week. The only rule for a pick is that a player cannot be considered a stud to be eligible. Recommending Antonio Brown helps no one.
Before we get started let’s quickly see how I did last week…
Quarterbacks
Aaron Rodgers – He scored 24 points on 221 and 3. But as I say with studs, who did I really help with this pick? (1-0)
Carson Palmer – Palmer put up 15.6 points on 291 and 1. Was hoping for more. (1-1)
Brian Hoyer – This was a good pick for me. Hoyer scored 22.1 points on 353 and 2. (2-1)
Josh McCown – I tried. I failed. (2-2)
Jay Cutler – Eat shit Jay Cutler. He needs to disappear. Last time I try and get cute. He did lose Devante Parker in the first quarter, but he still should have done more than 92 and 1 against the Titans. How about Jay C-U-Later! (2-3)
Running Backs
LeVeon Bell – Top five running back with 19.3 points. (3-3)
Carlos Hyde – He spent most of the time on the sidelines due to injury. I’m taking a pass on this one. (3-3-1)
Frank Gore – Gore managed 11.6 points on 14 carries for 48 yards and 3 catches for another 38. He was only a touchdown short of being firmly in the top ten for the week. I’m gonna call this one a push too. (3-3-2)
Wayne Gallman – I’m counting his 13.2 points as another push. This call wouldn’t have helped our hurt anyone really. (3-3-3)
Duke Johnson – Johnson only carried the ball six times for 20 yards. Not so great. However, I did say this was a PPR only pick. Duke caught 3 passes for another 63 yards and a touchdown giving him 17.3 points. (4-3-3)
Wide Receivers
Jarvis Landry – Another double digit point game for Landry. Jarvis had 5 receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown and 15.4 points. (5-3-3)
Devante Parker – Injured. Push. (5-3-4)
Larry Fitzgerald – With only 11.1 points I’m taking a loss on this call. We expect more from Fitz. (5-4-4)
Jaron Brown – Nope. (5-5-4)
Nelson Agholor – Four catches, 93 yards, 1 touchdown and 19.3 points. (6-5-4)
Tight Ends
Austin Seferian-Jenkins – I called for a 5 catch-50 yard-1 TD performance, but instead we got a 6 catch-29 yard-1 TD game for 14.9 points. Works for me. (7-5-4)
Hunter Henry – Henry found the end zone. Unless you have Gronk or Kelce, a touchdown is really all your are looking for from your tight end. (8-5-4)
Antonio Gates – Not so much. (8-6-4)
Jesse James – I’m blaming this one on Big Ben. (8-7-4)
Not really the best week, but if I was picking winners all the time I probably wouldn’t be here writing to you. So let’s see if I can do better than last week with these six week six picks.
I love to tell you to go with Drew Brees, but that would break the only rule of this post. Call me the Brees is a no brainer start. So instead of Brees I am will go with his opponent this week, Matthew Stafford. While he hasn’t thrown for more than 292 yards this season, he does get the Saints this week. While the game is on the road, it is in dome, where the Lions are comfortable playing. The Saints were lit in the first two weeks by Sam Bradford and Tom Brady. The held Cam Newton and Jay Cutler in check in weeks three and four, but Cutler is a legitimate joke. He wouldn’t even be the starter for Eastern Mississippi Community College. With an over/under of 50, I think this one is going to be a shootout.
C.J. Anderson
I love Todd Gurley and Kareem Hunt this week, but as with Brees, they qualify. I’m going with C.J. Anderson at running back. I think the Broncos will get up by a bunch and run, run, run. Except for their game against the Buccaneers, the Giants have given up more than 100 yards rushing in every game. That game against the Bucs was while Doug Martin was still suspended. I can see C.J. going for 85 and a score.
Pierre Garcon
Washington has been extremely tough on opposing wide receivers giving up the second fewest points to the position. However, cornerback Josh Norman is out with a fractured rib. This should open the door for Garcon who is in the top ten in receiving yards this season. On a related note, look for both Michael Thomas and Golden Tate to have nice days.
A.J. Derby
Everything is pointing a Austin Seferian-Jenkins. And by everything I mean the Patriots have given up a touchdown to a tight end in four of their five games this season. ASF is averaging five catches for 35 yards per game. That’s 8.5 points in PPR leagues. If he can manage a score, he’s looking at a 14.5 point day. Cameron Brate has a touchdown in his last three games, but the guy I’m going with is A.J. Derby. The Giants season is over, and they have given up at least one touchdown per game to opposing tight ends. While the Broncos tight end scene isn’t as clear as other teams, I like Derby to find the end zone.
The Lions have given up 291 yards on 32 receptions to opposing running backs in their first five games. That’s just about 6 for 50 per game, which translates to 11 points. Kamara is averaging about 5 catches for 37 per game. It’s not just Alvin and Ingram in the Saints backfield and I think in this high scoring contest we are going to see Kamara with quite a few pass catching opportunities.
DeSean Jackson
The Arizona Cardinals have given up the sixth most points to opposing receivers. Patrick Peterson will be shadowing Mike Evans, so that means someone else is going to have a nice day. It could be Adam Humphries, but I’m banking on Jackson who’s coming over a 106 yard game.
Bonus Pick: Ben Roethlisberger – I’m not sure we can quite count him out yet.
Good luck everyone.
Follow malamoney on Twitter at @malamoney
