Hallelujah! The bye weeks are among us! Actually, it’s
not all giddy for everyone. I mean, some owners are scrambling for a guy to
replace all three of their running backs, because they don’t know how to draft.
Or someone might be looking for that quarterback who is going to have a great
game and is a free agent in their league. I know you are thinking Tavaris
Jackson, Andy Dalton, or Matt Cassel; all of which are wrong. But, I wouldn’t
want to just give it away so let’s get started.
Quarterbacks
Bank
Cam Newton vs New Orleans – Look, there is almost no
way you can sit this guy right now. He
is playing out this world, and even more so for a rookie. This guy is going
be around for awhile, and whether you like it or not, he is going to be, or at
least looks like he is going to be, an elite quarterback. Against a weak New
Orleans defense (19th
in the league), I think you can expect a big game for Cam Newton again.
Alex Smith vs Tampa Bay – Yes. The quarterback for
the 49ers. The same Alex Smith that I have ranked 32nd this year in
my quarterback rankings. If your quarterback is on bye (Tony Romo, Joe Flacco)
and you are scrambling to pick up someone, then this is your guy. Tampa Bay is
ranked 21st in the pass and have allowed seven touchdowns in the
first four games this year. That doesn’t mix well with a dose of Alex Smith (I
chuckled as I typed this…). Last week Smith had 291 yards and two touchdowns against
a “stout” Eagles’ pass defense, so why not against the Bucs? Look out for Alex
Smith this week.
Extra: Donovan McNabb vs Arizona
Tank
Ben Roethlisberger vs Tennessee – The foot isn’t a
huge concern to me, but the way Ben has been playing is. Roethlisberger. He hasn’t
scored over 15 fantasy points this year (against Seattle he scored 15) and the
way Tennessee is playing, I wouldn’t want to play my quarterback against him.
Tennessee has allowed just four touchdowns (one per game) this year, and Big
Ben has only thrown just three touchdowns. On top of all of that, he has a foot
injury. Is that enough to convince you to sit Ben Roethlisberger?
Matt Schaub vs Oakland – When Andre Johnson was not in the game last year, Mat Schaub was
everything but fantastic. He threw for 755 yards, four touchdowns, and an
interception in the three games without Andre Johnson. I’m not saying he is
going to completely suck this week, but he isn’t going to be the Matt Schaub
you are wanting. Hopefully you have a better option this week.
Running
Backs
Bank
Joseph Addai vs Kansas City – Remember those talks
of Delone Carter taking over the role in Indianapolis? I think that’s over now.
The last two weeks Addai has been taking
the heavy workload for the Colts. Addai has had 28 carries to Delone Carter’s 11, and I’m not just
trying to sugar coat this: in three games Addai has 42 carries to Carter’s 22. While
Carter still has five carries in the
redzone to Addai’s four, all of Addai’s carries in the redzone have come in
the last two weeks and in that time frame, Carter has zero. With the matchup, I
really love Addai this week.
Cedric Benson @ Jacksonville – Maybe Benson still
has one more game left in him before he is suspended by the NFL, but
nevertheless, this guy is getting a huge workload. In the last two weeks,
Benson is tied for the most rushes in the redzone (9). That is one-fourth of
his carries in that time frame. But his performing outside of the redzone too
with a 4.5 yards per rush average this season. With Jacksonville
dead center (16th) in rushing defense, I think Benson could have
a real nice game. To top it all off, I expect the Bengals to get up early in
this game and pound the ball (but don’t count AJ Green out).
Extra: Ahmad Bradshaw vs Seattle, Thomas Jones @
Indianapolis
Tank
Ryan Grant and James Starks @ Atlanta – Neither one
of these guys is going to get the main workload, and even if one of them does
wind up getting the bulk of the carries, you can’t guess who it is going to be!
With a tough matchup at the Georgia Dome (10th rushing
defense), I ‘m not going to be playing
either of these. And it’s not just that; I think this game will be a shootout,
and when Aaron Rodgers gets into a shootout,
he isn’t going to be handing the ball off.
Michael Turner vs Green Bay – Make it a sweep! I’m
sitting them all in Atlanta! There have only been 77
rushes attempted against Green Bay through three weeks, and it clearly isn’t
working. They are the number two rush defense in the league and are allowing
just 3.7 yards per rush. Like I said, I think this game will be a shootout, I
would try to sit Michael Turner this week at all costs.
Extra: Johnathan Stewart vs New Orleans, DeAngelo
Williams vs New Orleans
Wide
Receivers
Bank
Julio Jones vs Green Bay – The Packers already have a
bad pass defense, but they are even worse against “supporting casts”. In week
one it was Devery Henderson, then it
was Johnathan Stewart, next it was Sanzenbacher, and finally it was Eric Decker. So my point is; can the
Packers defend a physical and extremely talented guy like Julio Jones who has
had an increasing role in the offense? I doubt it.
Santonio Holmes @ New England – You all know I have
an extreme bromance with Santonio, and we also know that Mark Sanchez is no Tom Brady.
Every time these two teams play it is a shootout, and the two quarterbacks
throw…a lot. The Patriots are dead last in the league in passing defense. They
can’t stop anything, not even “The Sanchise” and Santonio Holmes.
Extra: Percy Harvin vs Arizona
Tank
Denarius Moore @ Houston – Look, I’m scared of Johnathan Joseph shutting this guy
down, that is why I have Darrius
Heyward-Bey against an injured Kareem
Jackson ranked higher.
Heyward-Bey plays on the right side more often, and Joseph in on the left more
often so I think we are going to see Moore go up against Joseph more than we
see him against Jackson.
Mario Manningham vs Seattle – I have preached Victor Cruz, and I have preached on and
on. From preseason sensation, to that player who was given that opportunity to
finally see the playing field. Cruz is extremely talented, and once he was
given this chance I knew he would take advantage of it. I know the offensive
coordinator said that Manningham still has that spot, but that is just going to
give Cruz the room he needs in the slot to run free! I still think Manningham
has a ton of talent, I just think that Victor Cruz has more of it.
Tight
Ends
Bank
Owen Daniels vs Oakland – With no
Andre Johnson, Daniels and his
receivers are going to have to step up. With the way Daniels has be playing,
and with Schaub not finding Jacoby Jones or Kevin Walter very much this year,
Owen Daniels is going to have to step up his game, and his stat line will show
it.
Extra: Jared Cook @ Pittsburgh
Tank
Dustin Keller @ New England – He has flopped once
again. In his last two games he hasn’t done much for your fantasy team, and
even though New England can’t stop the pass, they sure can stop the tight end.
In week two they shut down Antonio Gates, and in other weeks tight ends haven’t
found many holes in their defense. Sit Keller this week, I’m confident that you
can find better options.
Thanks for checking out the week five Bank and Tank.
I will be back tomorrow (Saturday) with my game picks along with all of that
other good stuff that I do on Saturdays, so be sure to check that out. If you
have any fantasy football questions (even
a simple,”Who do I start?”) then feel free to check me out on Twitter for
shorter questions, or hit me up on the email for longer questions that are
quite a big larger than that of a tweet. If you don’t come back tomorrow, make
sure to comeback on Sunday morning for all of the latest on who you need to get
out of your lineups and who you need to stick in there on the Injury Report page. And one last thing:
check out ReclinerQB.com for some great and hysterical writing from Matt Prendergast. Thanks, and I will see you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment