I’m sure all the Dwayne Bowe owners appreciated the six receptions, 108 yards, and two scores (though I have a feeling more than a few had him benched after his terrible start to the season). What they couldn’t have appreciated was the “stickum” touchdown celebration after his first score.
Sure, it was a nice catch, and the celebration looked cool, but really? Two weeks ago he dropped what could have been a game-winning touchdown, and over the course of his four-year career, he’s accumulated more drops than any other receiver in the league during that span. Insinuating that he now has sticky hands after one good play was an unnecessary kick in the crotch to all his owners.
Thanks for points and all Dwayne, but maybe you want to go at least two weeks in a row without a drop before you start writing checks your hands can’t cash.
Other Week 6 Observations…
-Even if it appears that a sleepy Junior Seau is behind the wheel of the Ryan Mathews bandwagon, I refuse to jump off. He was the obvious number one option against the Rams, carrying it 12 times to Mike Tolbert‘s three, and gaining an impressive 64 yards. Unfortunately, the Chargers fell behind and were forced to throw most of the fourth quarter, rendering Mathews carry-less over the final 10 minutes.
If you think San Diego will be playing from behind all year, ignore this advice, but if you’re of the belief they’re still a 10-win team (which I am), know that there will be plenty of 20-carry games on the horizon for Mathews. Considering how great he’s looked in limited work, there are plenty of double-digit fantasy days on that same horizon. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go shake Seau awake.
-Old Derrick Mason is back to being the old Derrick Mason. With just 82 yards combined through the first three weeks, Mason looked ready for Shady Acres, but in the last three he has 17 catches for 227 yards. This week against the Pats he prowled underneath like a hungry puma, totaling 100 yards and eight receptions on a team-high 10 targets. I know reading about Mason is more boring than listening to a story told by a woman (or is that just me?), but the man has eight 1,000 yard seasons in the past nine years. I have a feeling he’s in the process of making it nine of 10.
On a Similar Note: The new Randy Moss-less Patriots offense looked strikingly similar to the old Randy Moss-less Patriots offense. Tom Brady accumulated 297 yards on 44 pass attempts, nearly all of them of the short-to-intermediate variety. His longest completion of the game came on a 30-yard catch and run to Aaron Hernandez, while Brandon Tate, the presumed deep ball replacement for Moss, didn’t record a single reception.
Reading between my own lines, I seem to be suggesting that without the quick-strike, yardage padding presence of Moss, Brady should be removed from the ranks of the elite, and placed into the Ben Roethlisberger/Joe Flacco/Eli Manning group of good, but not great fantasy QBs.
–Michael Jenkins made a splash in his 2010 debut, catching five passes for 99 yards on 11 targets. Don’t get too excited though, there’s an old scouts saying that goes something along of the lines of “if they haven’t fulfilled their potential yet, someone was drunk when they evaluated them.” Meaning, there aren’t any tricks left up Jenkins’ sleeve.
He did a few things last year, and by a few things I mean he caught a touchdown and had four 75-plus yard receiving games. If you’re playing in a league as deep as a Chilean mine and could use a reliable 3-to-6 points a game, by all means, give Jenkins a goose. If not, let someone else make the mistake of rostering him.
-Holy Japanese tourist, there was a Devin Aromashodu sighting in Chicago on Sunday. The preseason fantasy fave had two catches for 40 yards, and was actually targeted five times in his first offensive action since the opening game. The majority of his time on the field came in four-wide sets though, and considering Cutler spends more time on his back than a pornstar taking a nap, there’s no reason to get overly excited about Aromashodu’s return to the field. It’s worth knowing about, I guess, just not worth doing about it yet.
-There are a lot of opinions out there about Week 6 stud Chris Ivory, so I figured I’d be an A-hole and give you another. Against Tampa Bay, he demonstrated every attribute you’d want in a running back — vision, power, patience, acceleration — of course, it WAS against Tampa Bay, the league’s 31st ranked run defense, but still, 158 yards on 15 carries is nothing to blow your nose at. He had a long run of 33, and 11 of his 15 attempts went for at least seven yards. He also chipped in a 17-yard reception on his way to securing a long-term role in the Saints backfield.
Even when the injury-plagued Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush return, which could be anytime between this Sunday and Week 12 of the 2014 season, Ivory will fulfill a Mike Bell-like role in Sean Payton’s offense.
-Don’t let the stench of Knowshon Moreno‘s six week pants-crapping force you into doing something you’ll regret later – namely dropping him into free agency, of selling him off for a hot pocket and a kicker. He only had 12 carries in his return from this second hammy injury of the season, which, of course, is the reason he only had 12 carries. The Broncos weren’t about to let Moreno handle a full workload in his first game back, especially against a Jets defense that was allowing 3.3 yards per carry entering the game. He finished with 48 yards, good for 4.0 ypc, and didn’t report any additional injuries after the game.
Looking Ahead Side Note: Moreno could see productive dividends this week against Oakland’s 30th ranked rush defense, even if he’s limited to less than 15 carries. Going even further ahead, his playoff schedule is as juicy as it gets, with Arizona, Oakland, and the aberration that is the Houston Texans defense on the docket for Weeks 14, 15, and 16.
–Hawk Williams is the obvious addition in Seattle, but the not so obvious grab is Deon Butler, who caught all four balls throw his way, including one for a nice 22-yard touchdown. He’s running routes out of the flanker position previously occupied by Deion Branch – who was leading all Seahawks receivers in catches prior to being traded. Previously just a mild afterthought, Butler’s new role, combined with his known talent, thrust him into a prominent bye-week replacement position this week against Arizona’s fairly stinky pass defense (ranked 26th in the league).
-With the arrival of Brandon Lloyd, the re-emergence of Eddie Royal, and the distractingly mammoth build of Demaryius Thomas, it’s understandable if you haven’t been paying attention to Jabar Gaffney‘s recent reliability. He caught an efficient six balls on eight targets against the Jets, and topped 80 yards for the second consecutive week.
After opening the year with five receptions for 49 yards in the first two games, he’s since averaged 8 catches, 10 targets, and 90 yards a contest. He’s not much of a scoring threat – if you set the over/under at 6 total touchdowns, I’d take the under, and then demand that you pay me on the spot – what he is though, is a legitimate candidate to post an 80 catch, 1,000 yard season.
