Bye Weeks: Jacksonville, Kansas City,
New Orleans, Seattle
Carson Wentz is coming off his first 300-yd
passing game and gets a shoddy Lions pass-D in Week 5.
Grab a Helmet
Carson
Wentz @ DET: The pride of North Dakota takes his show
on the road to Detroit in Week 5. Wentz is one of several young
quarterbacks across the league putting up solid numbers and coming
off a bye, gets a reeling Lions team that played as poorly as possible
against the hapless Bears. Chicago moved the ball up and down the
field last week, and I expect the Eagles to do the same. The Lions
are getting terrible play from their line, and have given up the
2nd most fantasy points to quarterbacks, with Marcus Mariota and
Brian Hoyer being two of the four they have faced. The Eagles trust
Wentz to make all the throws, and his floor should be 200-plus and
a two touchdowns on Sunday.
Eli
Manning @ GB: Manning is the 20th ranked fantasy quarterback
despite being 8th in completions and 5th in yardage. The pathetic
4 touchdowns in four games is what’s killing his value. I expect
that to spike in a big way the next several weeks, and it starts
this week in Green Bay. The Packers are the stingiest team in the
league against the run, and one of the worst against the pass. New
York has gone back to the ineffective tandem running back scenario
due to injury, and Beckham is waiting to explode (in more ways than
one!). Manning is completing a career high 66 percdent of his passes,
and the plays should be there this week, making Manning a strong
start with the rash of injuries and byes at the position.
Tom
Brady @ CLE: You’ve been waiting for this for weeks now.
The Mighty Brady returns against the factory of sadness, looking
to right a listing New England offense. Shut out last week against
the Bills, New England has struggled to generate much offense while
Brady and Garoppolo were out. Look for a pass heavy game plan against
a defense that has given up the 3rd most touchdown passes in the
league.
Grab a Headset
Brock
Osweiler @ MIN: I’ve been absolutely DREADFUL picking
quarterbacks to sit this year. The only saving grace for me has
been selecting the quarterbacks facing Minnesota. The Vikings
have sacked and pillaged every offense to come their way this
year, and the advantage they have in their new building is legit.
Houston’s offense perked up last week against Tennessee, but Osweiler
has a underwhelming 5-to-6 touchdown to interception ratio. The
Texan’s are 26th in the league in passing yardage and won’t get
healthy against a defense that totally blanketed the Giants offense
on Monday night. This game is going to be a battle, one which
Houston isn’t going to be able to win with a big offensive game. Jameis
Winston @ CAR: Winston is completing less than 58%
of his passes and has an unacceptable 8 interceptions in the season’s
first four games. His coach has acknowledged that Winston has
to be better, and has vowed to dial back on the passing attempts,
much like he did last year. Carolina is licking their wounds after
being manhandled last week, and should be incredibly grumpy. The
problem with dialing back the passing game is that the running
game hasn’t exactly been effective either. This Bucs team is young,
and inconsistency is expected. I’d definitely look to go in another
direction this week if I had options.
Marcus
Mariota @ MIA: Mariota has legitimately been one of
the worst starting quarterbacks in the league the past two weeks.
He’s struggling to complete half of his passes, and hasn’t
had a touchdown since Week 2. The “exotic smash mouth”
offense of the Titans has taken the air out of this offense, but
it’s also kept the team competitive, which means it’s
not going away any time soon. Mariota struggled against this defense
on the road in 2015, and his upside is limited by scheme and passing
game weapons. Another poor week, and it will become harder to
justify keeping Marcus rostered. Look for other options at your
starting quarterback position.
