Week 4 Thoughts and Observations

[Tom Kessenich]

Here are some random thoughts and observations about Week 4 as I wonder who traveled worse this week – the Colts to London or Kansas City to Pittsburgh.

If you’re an A.J. Green owner you have no reason to be upset about how things went on Thursday night but it is fair to wonder why Marvin Lewis didn’t utilize his best weapon more in the Red Zone last Thursday against Miami. The one time Green got a target near the End Zone he scored. So why not throw to him more often? It was almost as if the Bengals got near the End Zone and were trying not to score.

Unless Lewis was starting Mike Nugent in his fantasy league this week.

Ahhh, now things make sense.

#Tannehilling.

I really gotta patent that.

Remember when DeAndre Hopkins used to catch lots and lots of passes? That was fun.

Welcome back to elite fantasy status Russell Wilson. You’ve been missed.

Oh and Jim Graham? Yup, he’s back.

I know it’s probably not fair to do this since losing Eric Decker is a ginormous blow but the regression of one Mr. Ryan Fitzpatrick was such an easy call to make this offseason I shouldn’t gloat for saying I called it the entire offseason. But it is why I said the Jets shouldn’t have worried so much about re-signing him. I’m a fan of the Bearded One, don’t get me wrong, but he’s always been best suited to be a backup quarterback and his scattershot ways and flawed attributes are really rising to the surface this season. Sorry Jets fans, it’s gonna be a long year and things are just gonna get worse.

Especially if anything’s really wrong with Matt Forte.

Remember last week when I said the Patriots were gonna start Uncle Rico at quarterback against the Bills? How would that have been any worse than what we saw on Sunday?

Steve Gostkowski has missed two field goals this season.

Steve Gostkowski has missed two field goals this season.

I had to type that twice to make sure it wasn’t a misprint.

Is Rob Gronkowski still playing in the NFL? Just wondering.

I don’t get ‘em all right for sure but I absolutely loved Steve Smith this week. Played him in my top league as my WR4 and loaded him into every DFS lineup I played this week. He’s absolutely ballin right now and Joe Flacco is feeding him targets. Just loved his matchup against Oakland on Sunday.

Of course I also thought LeGarrette Blount was gonna go off this week too. So there ya go. I’m smart.

Has Julio Jones stopped tearing the Panthers a new one yet? Just curious.

If you started Julio and Matt Ryan on the same team this week and lost fantasy football may not be the right hobby for you.

Dear Matt Stafford, thank you for seriously soiling the bed and eating it with the easiest matchup you’ve had the entire season. Sincerely, Stafford owners everywhere.

Dear Jeremy Langford, you’ve been Pipped.

Dear Antonio Gates, you better get healthy real quick or you’re gonna get Pipped too.

I love you Mel Gordon but hold onto the damn ball.

That whole Jack Doyle thing sure was fun wasn’t it?

Think the Colts might miss Donte Moncrief a little bit?

And an offensive line?

And a defense?

And good coaching?

And a good GM?

OK, they’ve got a few problems.

Think Le’Veon Bell is kind of important to the Pittsburgh offense? The Steelers looked like an entirely different team with him back on the field Sunday night. That’s a good Kansas City defense they completely dismantled and it wasn’t even a contest.

Offensively, the Chiefs are a disaster. They need to come out of the bye with Jamaal Charles back in the lead running back role. They’re way too dependent on Alex Smith, who is a special kind of awful, and Spencer Ware is just a backup. Time to get back to making Charles the team’s offensive foundation again.

Hey look, the Rams got Todd Gurley involved in the passing game and LO AND BEHOLD, it was hugely productive.

SHOCKING. POSITIVELY SHOCKING.

Amazing what can happen when you move your offense into the 19th century, isn’t it Jeff Fisher?

Arizona, we’ve got a problem.

I didn’t think the 49ers’ offense would be viable enough to give Carlos Hyde enough sustained value this season but through the first month of the season I’ve been proven wrong. He’s hanging in there for sure and been quite productive. Rock-solid RB2.

I sure do enjoy watching Dak Prescott play quarterback. Kid’s got some moxie.

And finally, if you started Brian Hoyer, Fozzy Whitaker, John Kuhn, Dontrelle Inman, Eddie Royal, Brian Quick and C.J. Fiedorowicz this week I’m pretty sure your dog hates you. Your cat’s not fond of you either. And your girlfriend spent all day texting your best friend because he wasn’t spending the entire day screaming “KUHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN” at the top of his lungs like an idiot.

[Frozen Tundra]

If you started Julio and Matt Ryan on the same team this week and lost fantasy football may not be the right hobby for you.

I wonder what percentage of NFFC owners started Matt Ryan. Matty Ice was primarily drafted to be a backup QB, considering that he was outscored by about all QBs last year (on a point per game basis) despite Julio having his usual ridiculous year. Since football is such a great sport when it comes to predictability, this year through 4 weeks Ryan is leading the QB position by a mile. In my 4 NFFC leagues, two owners started him and two benched him (for Big Ben and Dalton). One of the guys who started him had Rodgers on bye (lucky roll I guess) and the other just drafted Matty Ice as first choice QB (this guy deserves mad props).

[Tom Kessenich]

If you started Julio and Matt Ryan on the same team this week and lost fantasy football may not be the right hobby for you.

I wonder what percentage of NFFC owners started Matt Ryan. Matty Ice was primarily drafted to be a backup QB, considering that he was outscored by about all QBs last year (on a point per game basis) despite Julio having his usual ridiculous year. Since football is such a great sport when it comes to predictability, this year through 4 weeks Ryan is leading the QB position by a mile. In my 4 NFFC leagues, two owners started him and two benched him (for Big Ben and Dalton). One of the guys who started him had Rodgers on bye (lucky roll I guess) and the other just drafted Matty Ice as first choice QB (this guy deserves mad props).

I liked Dalton this week (started him over Carr in one league - oops) but I would've started Ryan over him. I would've started Ryan over Ben too mainly because I expected the Chiefs' D to show up and put up a fight and they clearly didn't. I was getting some Ryan questions on Twitter and told everyone to start him. Guy's on absolute fire right now.

I'm probably going to tell people to start him next week against Denver too though like you said he's most people's QB2 so options will certainly be much different then. But if he is your QB1 I'd keep rolling with him. I doubt the Broncos are able to take Julio completely out (both A.J. Green and Mike Evans had respectable numbers against them) and I doubt Ryan implodes the way Winston did yesterday. Ryan really looks like he's got his 2014 groove back. I don't have him in a single league even though he's someone I was really high on this year as a late-round QB2 target.

[King of Queens]

The Week 4 "Shit The Bed" lineup of NFFC-started players:

QB Stafford 10.35
RB Charles 0.7
RB Washington 2.4
WR Hopkins 1.4
WR Tate 3.1
WR Austin 2.8
TE Gronkowski 2.1
DST Baltimore 2
K Gostkowski 0
FLX Snead 3.3
TOTAL 28.15

A BIG IMPROVEMENT over Week 3!