What we are talking about:
Tyrod Taylor
Full-time starting fantasy QB
Colin Kaepernick
How much worse could it get?
Marshawn Lynch
Move him while you still can
This is a terrible start to the season for quarterbacks. Big names like Tony Romo, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger have missed time and will miss time this week. Although, I find it kind of weird Sam Bradford has remained healthy this long. Not that Bradford has done anything for your fantasy team. Drafting him has left me with the same regret Uncle Owen had when he chose R5-D4.
Well two of those aforementioned quarterbacks were set to square off on Sunday night. You know the NBC executives were pumped for a huge matchup between Brees and Romo in primetime. But it's not to be. Romo is definitely out. Brees will end up as a game-time decision. And it's got to be disheartening for Saints fans who paid big bucks for tickets.
Think about it. Not only are the Cowboys without Romo, but there is no Dez Bryant or even DeMarco Murray from last year. The Saints and the Cowboys this week are like two tribute bands going against each other. The Cowboys without Romo are the football equivalent of Sublime with Rome. April 26, 1992. There was a riot on the street, tell me where were you? Well, I can tell you Brandon Weeden was graduating from college.
Not that these teams should complain. They could be the Chicago Bears. The team did something seemingly unthinkable in NFL circles when they started to dump players. This kind of thing happens in other sports, but football's weird salary cap rules prevent trades. It's too bad, too.
I would love it if the Bears could deal Matt Forte. Not from a personal standpoint. I like Forte. He's my current favorite player. But the Bears probably aren't going to win the Super Bowl this year. So it would be nice to see Forte land with a contender like the Seahawks (as a for instance) to help push them over the top. But we just never seem to get that enough in the NFL.
These salary cap rules are on my short list of things to get down when I become commissioner. But enough about that, let's look at the Likes and Dislikes for the coming week.
A big hand to stats maven Careen Falcone for dropping the knowledge.
And without further ado ...
Tyrod Taylor has thrown three touchdown passes in back-to-back games. If you picked him up as a fill-in guy, he should be your full-time starter right now.
You read in Rank's 11 (or you should have) that I'm all about Derek Carr now. The Bears have allowed eight TD passes this year, second-highest total in the NFL.
Andy Dalton has a great matchup against the Chiefs, who have allowed the most fantasy points to QBs. Dalton is a good start even with Sean Smith coming back.
I know some of you are in QB purgatory, so Ryan Mallett would be a sneaky start this week for the Texans. The Falcons are brutal against the pass this year.
Aaron Rodgers is a good start this week. I know, I know. But I mean this for daily fantasy leagues. He's a guy you should lock into your lineup every week. Worth it.
Andrew Luck popped up on injury reports this week. Of course he did. Like we don't have enough anxiety about him. But there is no way I could leave him on the bench if he starts.
I would play Cam Newton over Luck right now, though. He's scored 57.30 fantasy points over the last two weeks. He's had six rush TDs in six games against Tampa Bay.
I'm completely with Newton on his controversy of the last week. Defenders take way too many liberties with him, similarly to the way defenders were allowed to drape themselves all over Shaq during his heyday. Whoa, both of them used the Superman nickname. So maybe that's the thing. Cam isn't too young to get a call, he's invincible. Maybe if Cam went by Jimmy Olsen, he'd get all of the calls. Just a thought.
ImageI'm pretty excited about "The Flash" making its way back to my television this week. Check out this link if you want to get excited for the upcoming season. And if you haven't watched yet, I'd suggest a healthy binge.
ImageI'm going to like the Trevor Noah era of the "Daily Show." I wasn't surprised by how smooth he was. But then again, I was kind of surprised by how smooth he was.
Latty Murray had a really nice game last week and you must really like his matchup against the Bears. As bad as Chicago is against the pass, it's worse against the run.
Devonta Freeman scored 37.30 fantasy points against the Cowboys. This is the kind of stuff that happens when you give the guy the ball more than 30 times in a game.
That also green lights both Mark Ingram and C.J. Spiller this week. The Cowboys have allowed four rushing touchdowns this year, fourth-most in the NFL.
Karlos Williams is another guy who is going to benefit from a high work rate. With LeSean McCoy out, he'll be solo against the Giants who have allowed a lot of fantasy points.
Ryan Mathews was able to roll solo against the Jets and he responded with 108 rushing yards. Give these kids a chance to get loose and you might just be surprised.
ImageRemember last week when I had Chip Kelly ticketed to the University of Texas? Funny, now the Eagles looks like the front-runners in the NFC East again. Although, maybe Oregon gets back into the mix again. Seriously, what the stuff Ducks? How did you let Utah beat you by six touchdowns. SIX TOUCHDOWNS? I'm a fan for the Utes, and still lament the fact they are no longer in the Mountain West. But I can't fathom that Utah went to Oregon and won by six touchdowns. SIX.
Would I just be piling on the Bears to say Amari Cooper is a great start this week, too? Maybe not. But even Michael Crabtree seems like a decent start this week, too.
Brandon Marshall is one of four players to have a receiving touchdown in the first three games of the NFL season. Great move by the Bears to get rid of him.
Julio Jones is a must-start. But he's another guy I anchor into my daily fantasy lineup and find a way to build around him. I don't care what the cost is.
Mike Evans is back. He led the team with 17 targets against the Texans. That was a career high. And it confirmed my preseason thought Jameis would force-feed him.
I wouldn't worry about A.J. Green with Sean Smith back in the mix for the Chiefs. But I would feel Marvin Jones would be a little bit more dangerous. But I still like him.
At some point you can't ignore the fact James Jones is going to score a touchdown every game this season. Same goes for Larry Fitzgerald, too. And there's some dumbass in your league who drafted both, right?
Everybody who drafted Jordan Matthews as a WR1 is bummed out about him so far. But if you nabbed him as a WR2, then you are sitting pretty good right now.
ImageI know it's really become a wrestling hot take to say The New Day is the best part of RAW every week, but it's the legit truth. I damn near (stuff) myself when Xavier Woods answered John Cena's US Open challenge via the trombone. Part of me loves that The New Day has become so relevant, John Cena feels like he needs to beat the team. Yes, I know TND ended up the winners of the six-man tag with Cena and the Dudley Boyz. But that's what should have happened. Cohesive six-man teams that are actual teams should win such matches. The same way the Patriots would beat a patchwork team of NFL all-stars.
The Raiders provide the best matchups for tight ends so Martellus Bennett is the play of the week at that position. But don't overlook Charles Clay against the Giants, who also struggle to stop TEs. Jason Witten also has a pretty rad matchup, too.
ImageSo we've piled on the Bears a little too much for my taste this week. I would like to point out the baseball playoffs are about to start and the Chicago Cubs will be in the middle of it. Which is awesome for baseball and America. I love Joe Maddon so much. It kind of makes me regret the fact the Angels passed him over to hire Mike Scioscia back in 2000. I really believe the Angels would have won three World Series titles in the 2000s if Maddon had been the manager.
ImageBTW, Mike Trout is not getting nearly enough love for the glove work he showed on Saturday night. His catch saved the season. But he also made it look so damn easy, people take it for granted. This is why he deserves the MVP award. I like Josh Donaldson. And I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt; but only if Trout would have won the MVP award he deserved back when he was a rookie. So consider this year a makeup call. Especially if the Angels make the playoffs.
I added Taylor a few weeks ago when Drew Brees went down. The reports are Brees will play this week. I don't care. I'm still going to roll with Taylor over him.
Well there is a way you could leave Andrew Luck on the bench even if he starts. But I'm not going to be that guy who tries to over-think these things. Like I did with A.J. Green last week.
I have no idea what Matthew Stafford's deal is. But the Seahawks haven't allowed a TD pass in four consecutive home games. And Stafford struggles on the road.
Newsroom debate of the week: Has anybody risen and subsequently fallen as fast as Colin Kaepernick? He was one play away from being a Super Bowl MVP! Who do you think throws more passes for the Packers this week? Rodgers or Colin Kaepernick?
Colin Kaepernick threw four picks last week in 19 attempts. On the other hand, Rodgers has four interceptions in his last 592 pass attempts.
ImageBTW, I like Zoe Lister-Jones. She's great. But she's like a player who keeps getting put on bad teams. "Whitney" and "Friends With Better Lives" both flamed out. "Life in Pieces" is like her, "I just signed to be the quarterback of the Texans" moment. Hey CBS, why don't you stick to the procedural dramas? Maybe like NCIS: South Dakota. CSI: Buffalo. Stop doing comedy. Only FOX seems to put out consistent winners.
ImageI also kind of hate to admit this, but I've become hooked on "Real Housewives of the OC" lately. I can't help it. I started to pay attention a little bit because the wife wanted to watch it. And when the mother of your child wants to watch the show while she is giving nourishment to said child, well you kind of need to roll with it. But Brooks is faking his cancer, isn't he? Something stinks about this whole thing. It stinks!
I want to believe Jeremy Hill is going to turn (stuff) around this year. But it's not going to be against the Chiefs this week who are tough against the run.
I was off Justin Forsett this week. Again, another guy I want to get it fixed by the end of the season. I just didn't see it this week. Boy was I was wrong.
I was fearful Marshawn Lynch was going to slow down this year. Well, I was scared about it last year. But now this year I am finally right! I'd try to peddle Lynch before this weekend's game because it's going to end up being a pain for you.
Matt Jones was a waste of fantasy space last week. But I am going to try to avoid him and Alfred Morris this week because the Eagles are tough on fantasy running backs.
Do the Lions ever want to get around to playing Ameer Abdullah more? Are they waiting to be eliminated first? Sorry, I can't play him at Seattle.
Same thing with Lamar Miller. Can you believe people were convinced Miller was poised for a breakout because of a contract year? Or at least I was?
I want to believe C.J. Anderson is going to turn it around this year. But Ronnie Hillman and Juwan Thompson got carries. And then there's Peyton Manning who would rather throw the ball 100 times, win a bunch of regular-season games and then lose in the playoffs. You can almost see the look of defeat in Gary Kubiak's face as he knows Peyton is going to doom him this year. He's going to long for T.J. Yates. All right, maybe not that far.
ImageOne of our staffers has walked around the building over the past couple of days and besmirched the name of C-3P0. Which is just one of the most absurd hot takes of all time. I mean, you can say pretty much anything you want about my teams. About my family. But I will not allow you to talk poorly of C-3PO. And for the record, if you haven't kept up with Marvel's new "Star Wars" series you really should. Especially since it's cannon. (There's a Han Solo spoiler in the "Star Wars" books I won't give you here.) But Darth Vader actually created droids who are evil counterparts to C-3PO and R2-D2. Check it out here.
I actually believe Drew Brees makes Brandin Cooks worse. He's never been the kind of guy who has locked in on one stud receiver and rode him to fantasy gold.
I could not cut Andre Johnson fast enough. I was never convinced Dre would make an impact for the Colts. I sat down to watch some tape and he just doesn't look like his dominant self. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
You can drop Victor Cruz if you're holding on to him, too. In fact, I dropped him in a 14-team league for Leonard Hankerson. That's where we are living right now.
Congratulations to Jeremy Maclin as he broke the WR curse for the Chiefs. And congratulations to sports writers everywhere who had a joke for the occasion saved in their drafts on Twitter. Because a few of you were way too quick on it. Way too quick. And not funny, either.
ImageMy biggest fear for The New Day is they will become too popular and John Cena will have enough. Then TND will make it to the final four of the Royal Rumble with Cena. And then Cena will do Cena things and eliminate all three of them in short order. It will be like the end of the Nexus all over again.
ImageI was seriously so morose when Wade Barrett returned to RAW on Monday night. He's going to go down as one of those guys with so much wasted potential. I blame the organization for that. He was so over with the Bad News Barrett gimmick, but they couldn't let that happen. Again, I blame Cena. But that was the most enjoyable part of the show. But the WWE gets these weird thoughts in their head where they won't let their guys get over. I fear that with The New Day.
I heard a great point on Sirius this week about Jordan Cameron, in that he was really nothing more than a product of Rod Chudzinski's system in Cleveland. That would explain a lot.
I'm ready for Travis Kelce to disappoint this week. Seriously, Andy Reid has made a career of his maddening use of his stars. I just don't get it.
ImageI really hate the NFL catch rules. Sometimes common sense gives way to things like "process" or some of the other dumb (expletive) they say to try to justify their terrible position. Tyler Eifert caught that ball. And I'm not complaining because it cost me in fantasy. All right, I'm complaining a little bit because if it. But how do we have all of these rules wrong? Eifert caught that ball. Jordan Matthews scored a touchdown in Week 1 that should have been an automatic review from above. Sometimes I feel like the NFL is trying to make me not like it. Which just isn't possible, but still. Get rid of these dumb rules, man.
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.
