That’s it Rush Nation, we’re over halfway through the Fantasy season. Let me start by apologising for the lateness of this article. With the 49ers winning 28-25 over the Cardinals last night we push into the playoff hunt. After a shocking week seven with my selection of receivers. I bounced back with three of four of my selections winning per se.
OBJ was again poor against the best defence in the league. This wasn’t a surprise but I was still shocked to see the number of people starting him as their WR1. In standard leagues especially! The 49ers strangled the Panthers in a whitewash. Winning 51-13. Thus making Samuel and Moore poor selections. Maybe Samuel could have been started in a flex role as his ceiling was much higher compared to Moore.
The only loss was Alshon Jeffery who scored slightly more than projected. The Bills were given a lesson by the Eagles in a surprising loss. The loss might not have been so much of a surprise but the score was.
Last Weeks Selections
Odell Beckham – Projected 14.4 – Actual 10.2 – Down 29%
D.J. Moore – Projected 10.9 – Actual 8.8 – Down 19.3%
Curtis Samuel – Projected 9.9 – Actual 8.6 – Down 14%
Alshon Jeffery – Projected 8.4 – Actual 10.4 – Up 19.3%
There are four teams on bye this week, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans. With Studs such as Julio Jones, Michael Thomas and all three of the Rams receivers missing this week, the wideout selections could be tougher. The week before the six-team Bye-pocalypse hits let’s have a look at this week’s selections.
Golden Tate Vs The Cowboys
The Cowboys have been stingy good against Wide Receivers through the first eight weeks. If you had to name defences that were giving up few points to the position, the Cowboys wouldn’t have been up there. I didn’t think so anyhow. Dallas is only giving up 16.6 Fantasy points per game to Wide Receivers. This could be due to the fact that they have let receivers be targeted just 115 times in eight games. This is a league joint second lowest. The cowboys are also allowing a league second-lowest real-life NFL points, a measly 27.3. The defence is playing well and causing the O-Line trouble. Meaning the Quarterback can’t throw as much.
Since returning in week five Tate has been seeing an increase in receptions. Having three in week four, rising to six in weeks six and seven. finally another rise to eight against the Lions in week eight. This is a trend in the right direction however Sterling Shepard has been practising in full and is looking good to play this weekend. With the Shep Dog returning, Tate no longer sees the tastiest targets as the only cow in the field.
Tate is only projected 58 yards and five receptions which isn’t great numbers. in full point PPR, he is a risky Flex play at best.
Marquise Brown Vs The Patriots
Historic. That’s the pace the Patriots D/ST is playing at. They have allowed only two touchdowns on the year. One on the ground and one through the air. Stephon Gilmore will be covering Brown most likely and he is playing lights out this year.
Brown started the year with a bang in his first two games. Week one he went mad against the Dolphins. He followed it up with a healthy week two against the Cardinals. Since then he has seen a high of four receptions and 49 yards. He then got injured and has missed the last three weeks. Two with injury and then the third with the Ravens bye week. No doubt the Ravens and John Harbaugh wanted to give him through the bye week to recover. Remember he came into the League injured from college. Lamar Jackson has improved greatly with his throwing. That being said he isn’t quite there yet and Brown will need a huge play to break his way to do well this week.
The Patriots have shown year in and year out that they can scam for anybody. They dispatched the Rams in the Super Bowl by great coaching. so far this season the defence has been Belichicked perfectly and it wouldn’t surprise me if they shut Jackson down this week. They can force him to run by taking away his targets or flushing him out the pocket. or they can ask him to throw and say “show us what you’ve got son” by stopping the run. The Ravens coaching staff is super clever however so maybe they spent their week off scheming for a Lamar explosion. This will be the run game I think and in having Jackson run limits Browns upside. Forget the first two weeks and bench Brown this week.
Terry McLaurin Vs The Bills
Rookie sensation McLaurin has started the year fast. He had at least seven targets in every game until week six. In this six week period, he had averaged a touchdown a game. He missed week five but returned with a double score week in week six. In week seven he went against the excellent 49ers defence. he had one repletion off two targets for 11 yards. This week he takes on a sturdy D in the Bills.
After the Vikings game where he started out promising, he tallied three catches for 49 yards in the first half. Mclaurin should’ve had a touchdown if not for massive pass interference. After this McLaurin didn’t catch a ball the entire second half once Dwayne Haskins took over for Keenum. This is surprising considering they were best of friends at Ohio State. With Keenum still in the concussion protocol, Haskins could start. He shouldn’t. that’s a fact. he just isn’t ready for the NFL yet.
The Bills defence is still good despite being whacked last week by the Eagles. All the Eagles work was on the ground. They racked up the most ever yards under Doug Petersen. They are currently giving up just 14.8 FPPG to opposing receivers and with the Redskins struggling all over the field I think the Bills get a stranglehold on this game early. Haskins could, in theory, be annihilated in this game and McLaurin could suffer once more. If you’ve read Ash’s Rookie watch you’ll know we love this kid but it’s going to take some time for him to be relevant again f Haskins starts.
I don’t love the matchup even if Keenum plays. This is a get right game for the Bills and they will want to scalp the Skins this week.
Good luck this week and let’s hope you can get a win before next weeks bye hell
– Stocks @5yardrush
