What we are talking about:
Todd Gurley
Use him each and every week
Colin Kaepernick
This is bad ... Like really, really bad
Martavis Bryant
Waiting to see chemistry with Vick
Dude!
Todd Gurley was the man!
Seriously. There wasn't a player I looked forward to seeing more this year than Gurley, though Ameer Abdullah was a very close second. But Gurley was my man. He was my "Star Wars Episode VII" for me. While I have been super excited, a lot of people have been more skeptical, or maybe cautiously optimistic might be a better word for it. But I've been all about him all season.
So the first month of the season had been a little tough, fantasy wise. I'm one of those guys who eschewed running backs early in my drafts as I loaded up on guys like Abdullah and Gurley. You can imagine the pain of seeing Gurley's name waiting for me as I started the season with Lance Dunbar and Duke Johnson. It wasn't pretty.
But now we've gotten a pretty decent glimpse at Gurley. He did nothing in Week 3 (you'd better believe I started him), but he really dominated in Week 4. Did you not see that game? Normally, I'd be super (upset) at a guy who didn't take a sure touchdown to do the right thing. But I can't be mad at Gurley. If anything, I was impressed by his presence of mind to do the right thing. (Yep, I'm that enchanted with him.)
So the question is what do you do with him going forward? The answer in traditional leagues is rather easy. You roll with him every week. You can't afford to have him on your bench. I know St. Louis needs to play at Seattle one week. I don't care. He's going to be in my lineup.
And if you missed out on the fun of drafting him, don't fret. He still carries a pretty good price in daily fantasy leagues, too. He's the guy, along with Julio Jones and Dion Lewis, who are automatic adds to my team every week now. You have to have these guys working.
I just hope I'm as right about "Episode VII" though I feel that will be the case. Seriously, J.J. Abrams did a great job with the "Star Trek" franchise, but to be fair I've never been into "Star Trek" at all. I liked some of the movies, and love to yell "Kahhhhhn!" like everybody else. But it was never really my bag.
A big hand to stats maven Careen Falcone for dropping the knowledge.
And without further ado ...
Philip Rivers has averaged 381 passing yards in his last two home games (23 fantasy points). He has the most passing yards this year, too. The Steelers aren't great on D, either.
This game screams, "put Andy Dalton on your bench!" While the Seahawks have been nasty against quarterbacks, Dalton has been brilliant this year so I start him.
Better late than never for Drew Brees. Even if he needed overtime last week, he's still scored at least 16 points in two of his last three games this season.
If you need a QB, see if somebody dumped Marcus Mariota. The Bills have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season.
Bold prediction: Jay Cutler will be a top-10 fantasy quarterback this week. The Chiefs have allowed the most points to fantasy quarterbacks this year.
ImageIt took me a few moments, but that was Adam Copeland (Edge of WWE fame) who starred as the Atom Smasher on the season 2 premier of "The Flash" on CW. Another great episode with a pretty big surprise reveal at the end of the show. I won't spoil it for you here, but I'm pretty stoked for the second season and the fact the show is going to get super nerdy. They aren't dumbing it down. Which means I'm going to have to keep pausing the show to explain the characters to my wife each week.
Rashad Jennings is actually a nice start this week. The 49ers have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to RBs this season, and they gave up nothing in Week 1 to AD.
I would go with Alfred Morris in this matchup against the Falcons. He's still out-touched the other backs in DC. Chris Thompson would be my pick in PPR leagues.
Dion Lewis looks as though he's bucked the trend in New England. He's got a great matchup against the Cowboys and he's must-start if you play in PPR leagues.
Doug Martin had a bunch of touches and a nice stat line against the Panthers. I just hope the Bucs can keep the games close enough so the Bucs keep feeding him.
The matchup says you should leave Amari Cooper on the bench. The Broncos have allowed the fewest points to WRs. But you're not going to get me to bench Cooper.
T.J. Yeldon has 80 touches this year and he's got a great matchup against the Bucs who have allowed more than 20 fantasy points to running backs this year.
ImageJust so we're all clear, Pete Davidson is the best thing going on "Saturday Night Live". You can check out his stint as the show's resident young person here. What's still amazing to me is that he's a "featured" performer. He's not even part of the cast yet. That makes no sense to me. But he's probably going to be off to better things in the future.
Mike Evans has a nice matchup this week against the Jaguars, who have allowed 333 receiving yards in their last three games. That seems like a lot.
Allen Hurns had 15 targets against the Colts on Sunday. He's had at least 13 fantasy points in back-to-back games. He's a safe flex option this week against the Bucs.
I ended up with Hurns and Allen Robinson in a league. I give the slight lean to Robinson. I'm actually trying to move Hurns to upgrade at running back.
Antonio Brown was a bit of a disappointment last week. That's fair. But 11 days to hang out with his new quarterback should get him back in double digits.
Kamar Aiken is a super-talented guy who is going to make the most of his chance to be a top receiver. He's had at least 75 receiving yards in two of his last three games.
Willie Snead seems like the Saints receiver to roll with, but even then, it's really hard to be upbeat about a New Orleans receiver.
It's better to register restraint with St. Louis receivers like Tavon Austin. But Todd Gurley is going to bring a different dynamic to this team that helps everybody. Think of the way Julio Jones has helped Devonta Freeman the past two weeks.
Travis Benjamin has averaged more than 20-yards-per-rection this year. He has the Ravens who have allowed the second-most fantasy points per game to receiver.
Leonard Hankerson has graduated from Danger Zone University and is fine to play in all leagues. Washington has allowed 10 receiving touchdowns in three roadies.
Has Jeremy Maclin started to come alive, or is this a mirage? He's had at least 100 yards in back-to-back games and he's got the Bears this week.
Rob Gronkowski is amazing, but he's left enough scraps for Julian Edelman to pick up. Julian has at least 11 targets in all three games for the Patriots this season.
I really want to back Colin Kaepernick. I believe he could be a Tyrod Taylor-type of player if he wasn't forced into action so early. If only Alex Smith hadn't gotten hurt and Kap was able to learn the position and grow behind him.
Kaepernick has zero touchdown passes in three of his last four games. The 49ers have averaged just 158.8 pass yards per game so far this year. That's miserable. (Not like you needed me to point that out.)
Alex Smith has a great matchup against the Bears. But I swear to Great Caesar's Ghost himself; I lose with Smith every time I try to get cute with the matchups.
Seriously, this Chiefs game seems like one where you should cash in on every marquee star in Kansas City. But watch Knile Davis end up with three touchdowns.
Derek Carr has been a fun fill-in for us in these lean quarterback times. But the Broncos have allowed the fewest points to quarterbacks.
I didn't expect much out of Matthew Stafford against the Seahawks last week. I expect even less against the Cardinals who have allowed fewer fantasy points to QBs.
Image My mind wants to be excited for The New Day and I want the new serious tone of the group to mean something. But thankfully my mind isn't a (expletive) idiot and knew John Cena was going to go over them in typical Cena-like fashion. There really isn't a challenger to Seth Rollins' title, so why not have Cena jump into that? But Big E as the U.S. Championship (especially after the title has been elevated by Cena) would have been amazing. But now I will brace for the Dolph Ziggler heel turn. Oh well, at least we have Sasha Banks.
I benched Jeremy Hill last week in the NFL Fantasy Live league, and went against him in my league of record. It hurts when one of your oldest friends goes against your advice.
Melvin Gordon had a great matchup and did nothing with it last week. He even got a goal line look and did nothing. I hate the matchup for him this week. Watch this be his breakout game.
I want to really believe in Devonta Freeman. And there is no way I would bench him on one of my traditional teams. But I can't trust him in daily fantasy leagues.
Duke Johnson was pretty amazing last week for the Browns. I want to go with him again. But if you have a better option, I would have to look at somebody else. Sorry.
Let's stick with a theme of RBs I love but can't start this week and talk a little Ameer Abdullah. The Cardinals have allowed the fifth-fewest yards in the NFL this year.
If (by some miracle) you have Freeman, Duke and Abdullah, I would rank them in that order. Watch these guy be this week's leading scorers.
Oh wait, I forgot about C.J. Anderson, too. He's got a nice matchup this week. But please don't be one of those folks who falls for the Ronnie Hillman hype. Every year they try to push Hillman on us. And every year it falls flat.
Stedman Bailey was fined for pretending to sleep on a football during his touchdown celebration. The league certainly has its finger on the pulse of fan outrage. We only ran the Bailey highlight on "That Helps No One" because the celebration was hilarious. I don't want to go into full "Baseketball" mode, but that was rather amusing.
I'm trying find some positives about Brandin Cooks. There aren't many. But I do like that he had eight targets. But I really whiffed on this one and I apologize to all of those affected.
At least I didn't jump on the Davante Adams bandwagon. He's fourth on the team with 15 targets. He's just been on the field for 57 percent of the snaps. It's easy to look good when Jordy Nelson garnered a bunch of the attention.
It's exciting to have Martavis Bryant back this week. But I can't start him this week. Not until he has at least some time with Mike Vick to develop some chemistry.
Oh man, how depressing has it been to watch Torrey Smith break free and have Colin Kaepernick overthrow him but like 20 yards? Can't the 49ers just deal him back to the Ravens or something?
I've had more than a few people ask me about whether to keep Dez Bryant or not. Look, you've come this far. He could return after Week 6. Why not ride it out a little longer?
ImageI love baseball. And I love to party. But enough with the endless celebrations. Oh my lord. You want to celebrate after you win the division, that's fair. In fact, I would reason a division title is even more impressive than a World Series title because a division title means you are the best for 162 games, instead of one series. But even with that said, you celebrate to get into the playoffs. You celebrate to get to the World Series. And you celebrate when you win the World Series. That's it. Other than partying on Opening Day. And the first day game of the year. And your birthday at the ballpark. And every Sunday game. But that's it.
I have to go digging for a tight end this week. I'm not really impressed by my options. I don't know why my gut says to go with Zach Ertz. He has scored only one receiving touchdown in his last 14 games. Besides, the moment I start him Brent Celek will end up with two touchdowns.
Image I write this every year, but I'm going to keep writing it until somebody finally listens. The NFL bye-week schedule is whack. It makes no sense. Nobody should have a bye in Week 4. Here's what you do (and it's simple). The NFL bye weeks should occur during Weeks 9-12. Two divisions are off, and are rotated every year. Simple. But the NFL doesn't do that. But that's not a surprise when you consider how complicated the catch rules are. Or when an official just whiffs a penalty at the end of a Monday night game and so on. But this is the easiest fix to make in all of the NFL. Seriously, how am I not the commissioner yet? Or at least the director of operations or something like Corporate Kane?
*For the record, you can submit your fantasy questions to *NFL Fantasy Live or me on Twitter. But realize, NFL Fantasy Live has 300K followers. Me? Just 14. See, the odds are better I will answer your question, so hit me up both via Twitter or via Facebook (if you're RG3). And if you follow me on Sundays, I'll quote "The Wolf" from "Pulp Fiction" and then it's game on! Although, it's tough to catch me on Facebook. Twitter is your go-to." Plus seriously people, I'm not taking your tweets after Midnight. I'm into the #HashtagWars via @Midnight. I've started to mute people who ask me questions at that time.