Takeaways from Week 4 as told by the tweets of the Fantasy Stronghold.
James, I know you want us all to say "no". But ... yes! When you go back and look at his yearly totals, you realize that statistically he's been a top-10 quarterback just three times in his first eight seasons. Plus when's the last time you talked about Matt Ryan among the upper echelon -- let alone the elite -- at the position? He's been incredible so far this season, but he's also one of those examples of a player whose stats really do paint a pretty accurate picture.
#JTITYGP Tweet of the Week: Every week, there's a scenario where an NFL team decides to not #JustThrowItToYourGoodPlayers. That was Kirk Cousins when Washington got into the red zone for the first three weeks. Suddenly in Week 4, the light bulb came on and Cousins realized that the offense would be more successful by throwing it to their good player when they're near the end zone. Correlation: they won the game. Funny how that works. Sometimes, football is a simple game.
It might be over for Latavius, y'all. We tried. We honestly did. But Murray's touches have decreased each and every week as the Raiders have gone to more of a committee situation. It's disappointing because (aside from today) Murray's done pretty well with his opportunities, averaging 4.8 yards per carry entering Week 4. Nonetheless, the Raiders coaches have seen fit to give more snaps and touches to DeAndre Washington with a sprinkling of Jalen Richard and a dash of Jamize Olawale. Murray's the starter, so it's hard to advise dropping him but it's also getting harder to find a scenario where he makes it off your bench.
Tea-sipping tweet of the week: The above tweet came after my earlier salvo about rookie tight ends. I don't think we'll be talking about either Henry or Austin Hooper as TE1's this season, but they will have more weeks of fantasy relevance. Call it "The Gronk Effect." As that chess piece has grown in demand at the NFL level, it stands to reason we'd start to see those talents developed in college. Both players are in great situations and should start to see more opportunities as the season progresses.
On the one hand, that chart is reason to be excited. It looks like Brown is back after a slow start to the season. The Cardinals offense will continue to take shots down the field and Brown is Carson Palmer's preferred option. Yet, there's potentially some bad news. Palmer left Sunday's game with a concussion and it's possible that with a short week, he might need to give way to Drew Stanton. That wouldn't be too encouraging for Week 5, but over the long run things are looking up for Brown. Now if we could only get Michael Floyd going.
What ... you thought last week was a turning point for Fleener? Negative, Ghostrider. He is still an inconsistent tight end, at best. Last week was largely a function of not having Willie Snead in the lineup. With a healthy Snead, Fleener's targets went from 11 back down to five. This is likely to be the way of things this season for the veteran tight end. With inconsistent hands and a not being much of a threat downfield means he's likely to disappoint more often than not.
Speaking of inconsistent Saints ... welcome to Brandin Cooks. His season breakdown goes like this: versus the Raiders = good. Against everyone else = not good. In Week 4, Cooks had just three catches (on six targets) for 31 yards. What we should have all learned by now is that the ceiling for Cooks is high but the floor is quite low. With Drew Brees continuing his yearly tradition of playing wide receiver roulette, there's no real telling when another big game is coming.
Wait...what?"
- T.J. Yeldon averaged 6.5 yards per touch in London. The Brexit really tilted the exchange rate.
- Fozzy Whittaker led the Panthers with nine catches and 86 yards. I don't even have a joke. That happened.
- Dontrelle Inman had never had 90 yards receiving in a game. He had 120 and a touchdown today.
And one for the road...
Marcas Grant is a fantasy editor for NFL.com. His snapchat (marcasg9) is a mixture of fantasy football and shenanigans. He doesn't know if he has it in him to watch both Westworld and Luke Cage tonight. Inevitably, he'll fall asleep in his favorite chair with the television on and eventually drag himself to bed sometime after midnight. If you read all of that, congrats. Follow him on Twitter too.
