I know quite well many were worried about Jamaal Charles coming into this game and for good reason. Someone coming off of major surgery as he did coming into the season and starting it off with only 90 yards on 22 carries was a bit disconcerting for where you had to get him in drafts. But something was in the air down in New Orleans on Sunday. Or maybe it wasn’t in the air seeing as Charles ground the ball into the Saints’ faces all day, rushing the ball 33 times today for 233 yards and a very long touchdown. Of course, you drafted him in PPR leagues because of his hands and he didn’t disappoint there either nabbing 6 for 55. Overall, if I’m a Charles owner this game was both great news and also a tad worrisome. Do we really want Jamaal getting nearly 40 touches in a game? Granted, it went to OT but he was still pretty high up in the touches before that took place. The general ineptitude surrounding Jamaal played its part – I’m looking at YOU, Matt Cassel and Peyton Hillis – but if Jamaal’s on my team, I hope his touches don’t ever reach that mark again this year for health reasons. Now outside of that concern, I’m split about how today went. On the one hand, I don’t want to take anything away from Jamaal’s career day but I need to point out that New Orleans defense is pretty bad. Not Detroit Lions defense bad – wow, Jake Locker looked like a superstar there today – but this is a team that is overall out of sync. Obviously not having your head coach is going to have an affect on how your team functions but this unit is looking a bit like a train wreck. That’s real football issues. Fantasy football issues concerning train wreck teams is will they be fighting for you all season? Do we worry Drew Brees or Jimmy Graham don’t play when you need them in the playoffs? Questions like these come into play with a veteran team that looks like it’ll be on the outside looking in when the playoff push comes around, both for real and for fantasy. Of course, I know nothing of how things will really go, I’m simply giving you a warning. Consider me a yellow light. You can drive right through, you won’t get in trouble. But if you get T-boned by Darren Sproles…hrm, I don’t know where this analogy is going now. I think I’m just going to move on to more news…
Reggie Bush -Was overheard saying about Jamaal’s big game ‘I once had a big rushing game like you, but then I took a helmet to the knee’. No word yet on if that Skyrim joke has been played out so I call fair game. He left in the second quarter which was very unfortunate for his owners as he was running the ball well with 61 yards on only 10 carries. Severity of injury is not yet known. From the game, it looks like the pick ups are Daniel Thomas and then Lamar Miller in that order. Don’t forget, Miami drafted Thomas with the expectation that Bush would be the change of pace back. If Bush is out for a while, there could be good fantasy value here.
A.J. Green – Was the man in Cincy last year and so far he’s even mannier this year. Don’t bother googling that, ‘mannier’ isn’t a word but if it were, I’d use Green as an example in that urban dictionary definition. The Red Rocket Andy Dalton is spreading the ball around well and Green is benefiting from it, plain and simple. Yes, I know the urban dictionary definition of Red Rocket. Help me out here, would be great to get that as Andy’s nickname. You heard it here first!
C.J. Spiller – CJ took a spill and it wasn’t good. Early reports from the Bills say they ‘don’t believe it’s long-, long-term’. I’m quoting here, that’s what they said. Clarification was that one week was long term but not long-long term. You thought my grammar with mannier was bad, looks like I could be a head coach! In all seriousness, we knew when Fred Jackson came back things would get dicey. Well, he’s due back next week. Welcome to limbo…I really wasn’t trying for a religious post here and I honestly don’t know where it’s coming from. Outside of that, if F-Jax isn’t ready to go, Tashard Choice will most likely get the nod as he rushed for 91 yards on 20 carries.
Titus Young – Had that game everyone was waiting for today. If, of course, you were waiting for a ho-hum day until he caught a 46 yard tipped hail mary touchdown pass. Truth be told, I’m not buying. He finished with 7 targets while Megatron, Pettigrew and Burleson had 12 apiece. Still looks like the fourth wheel in that offense, which is worse than being the third wheel and not quite as tasty as fourth meal.
Mikel LeShoure – Had a good day, rushing for 100 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown while chipping in 4 receptions for 34 yards. And where was Kevin Smith you ask? I’m guessing he was at a weight watchers meeting exchanging recipe notes with Jessica Simpson. Welcome all who googled weight watchers and Jessica Simpson! Truth be told, I’m extremely surprised the coaches would completely remove Kevin from the game plan on Sunday. Maybe he shook Schwartz’ hand a little too vigorously last week after the loss to SF. The only other carries by an RB went to Joique Bell. Don’t ask me who that is, no one knows who that is. Not a cut against Mikel but his day wasn’t awe-inspiring and could’ve easily been from any RB that got that many touches against a very bad TEN defense. I’m not going to say to automatically drop Kevin at this time as I’d like to know more about what why he didn’t play but his stock is pretty much zero at this point…just like his fantasy points for the week!
Kenny Britt – The numbers weren’t great but the 11 targets were inspiring. Looks like he’s up to snuff to play and play well now. Going forward, I’d call him a worthy WR2 with extremely high potential if he can stay healthy. That if just dislocated the dot over the ‘i’ and is out for three weeks.
T.Y. Hilton – The object of Andrew Luck affection…for this week. Meanwhile, last week’s WR heartthrob Donnie Avery had only 2 catches, albeit he did get 9 targets. Unless you own Reggie Wayne – 15 targets this week and 40 total for the year – it’s going to be hard to nail down who’s going to be the best guy to own from week to week in Indy. That’s good for the Colts as a real team, not so good for you as a fake team owner.
Tony Gonzalez – I’m seriously starting to wonder whether or not he has alien DNA. Maybe on his planet he’s only the equivalent of 25 years old as he turned 12 targets into 9 receptions, 91 yards and a touchdown. He’s an old bird but he’s playing like a spring chicken.
Fred Davis – So the guy who I really liked coming into this season finally did something: 7 catches on 7 targets to lead his team in receiving yards with 90. Of course, that follows two straight games with only 2 receptions in each. Maybe Freddie got fingered by the coaches as a guy who needed to get the ball more. I promise you, that link isn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s much, much worse. In all, if Pierre Garcon misses more time, Davis might get a shot to prove his worth and become a bigger part of the offense moving forward.
Kyle Rudolph – Only had 36 yards on 5 receptions but he’s clearly a red zone favorite for Christian Ponder, hauling in two touchdowns on the day. I said he was a sleeper coming into the season. Because it’s fun, let’s pro-rate his current stats over a full 16 game slate: 70 receptions for 736 yards and 16 TDs. Ok, those touchdown numbers just aren’t happening but the rest of it could be real and spectacular.
Heath Miller – Showed both the other three TEs up by catching 8 passes for 60 yards and 2 touchdowns after I called him a buy about two weeks ago. Since I know you won’t click on that link for fear of Rick Roll’age, I’ll give you a brief synopsis: I don’t always get excited about Tight Ends but when I do, it’s attached to Jessica Biel. That was just the first sentence. You can imagine where it goes from there! No really, imagine or click. I’m done talking about TEs.
Michael Turner – How do you like THAT sell call, Sky. In your face! Of course, after two terrible games and a DUI, Turner shows up to prove everyone wrong with 80 yards and a TD. Or everyone who thought he was on the decline. Who might’ve just been me. Now I need a drink. Turner, can you drive?
Ben Roethlisberger – So guess how the top three for fantasy football went this week among QBs? No peaking, guess first! Cheater. Ok, obviously Ben was at the top but he was followed by Schaub who lost a part of his ear and Flacco. You tell me you predicted that and I’ll give you a cyanide chip cookie. That’s what you get for lying. It was an odd fantasy day. Should’ve known it was gonna get weird with 3 OT games. #BuffaloWildWings
Larry Fitzgerald – Comes back to redeem my Turner tumble as he was the feature guy in my post as a buy this last week: 9 catches on 9 targets for 114 yards and the all important touchdown. Just ignore the Chris Johnson call right now. Let me relish this moment…
Mike Wallace/Antonio Brown – Both got plenty of receptions, yards and a touchdown apiece. This was what I was thinking when I had Wallace in my top 5 for wide receivers this year and Brown in my top 20 as a whole. Pittsburgh is a passing team and they’re looking good doing it. Don’t ask me about Jonathan Dwyer. We have officially broken up but I still talk to his Mom from time to time. She bakes a mean bundt cake!
Darren McFadden – Stopped scaring his fantasy owners, rushing for 112 yards and a touchdown. Never thought the fear for DMC owners would’ve been lack of production but there it is; he’s been healthy for three games and studly for just one.
Stevan Ridley – If I told you before the game that the Patriots would score two ground touchdowns on the Ravens, you would’ve started Stevan everywhere. Of course, it was Danny Woodhead and Brandon Bolden who got the scores. It’s not Stevan here that’s the riddler, Belichick is the enigma.  Speaking of Woodhead, is it just me or does he, Edelman and Welker confuse the heck out of you when they’re out in the flat catching passes? Woodwelkelman.
Wes Welker – And speaking of Welker, had over 100 yards receiving and over 200 in his last two games as a whole. I think that buy low opportunity just did an out route for 5 yards and a first down on 4th and 2. That pointless analogy means it’s over.
Tom Brady – Had a very good real game but barely snuck into the top 15 QBs for fantasy this week. That’s what happens when Bolden and Woodhead take over a game. Wait, what?
Ray Rice – Rice was nice, gaining over 100 on the ground while chucking in a TD and 4 receptions. Considering the Ravens seemed to not want to give him the ball for the first quarter or at the goal line at one point, I’d say those are good numbers. This whole ‘no huddle’ thing is fine, Baltimore, but the ‘no common sense’ part of it needs to go.
Torrey Smith – This is my shout out to a guy who went through something terrible and still went out and gave his all. I’m not dropping any jokes here and this will be one of the few times I say I could give a rip about the fantasy side of things. Whether or not he performed well – and he did in a major way – I give nothing but praise to Torrey for playing through his loss.
