Nobody needs to be told
starting Aaron Rodgers, Arian Foster, or Calvin Johnson is a good
idea. Duh, right? You can’t have studs at every position,
though, unless you’re in the shallowest of leagues. This
is where the Shot Caller comes in. Need help deciding which bargain
basement QB to use and which to ignore on Rodgers’ bye week?
Let’s talk. Looking for solutions at running back because
Foster is a game-time decision? Look no further. Need to know
which of your unproven targets to start and which to sit since
you ignored Megatron and went RB-QB-Gronkowski in your first three
rounds? I’m your huckleberry. Past results may not guarantee
future success, but I believe ignoring them entirely can ruin
your Sundays in a hurry. Read on for a little history and, hopefully,
a little sage advice.
Bye Weeks: Carolina, Chicago,
Jacksonville, New Orleans
Grab a Helmet
Romo needs to get back on track.
Tony
Romo @ BAL: Wait, isn’t he an automatic start every week? Conventional
wisdom sure says so, but I’ll repeat what I once said in this space
many moons ago: Conventional wisdom is very often too much of the
former and not enough of the latter. In other words, stick with
suffering stars at your own risk. Through a quarter of his season,
Romo’s 19.7 fantasy points/game (FF Today default scoring) ranks
him only 16th amongst starting QBs. That’s not very good, even if
you’re in a 16-team league. On the bright side, he’s topped the
250-yard mark every game and just had two weeks to think about an
especially smelly performance against the Bears in Week 4. The Ravens
are a tough draw coming off a five-interception debacle and he’s
sure capable of throwing more in the Charm City. However, I think
Romo gets back on track in Week 6. Don’t give up on this particular
star just yet.
Brandon
Weeden v. CIN: Conventional wisdom also says this: Don’t
start rookies making their sixth career start when they A) are tied
for the league lead in interceptions and B) possess the 33rd worst
QB rating out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks...in a 32-team league.
Yeah, he stinks. I get it. I also know you’re possibly without the
services of Drew Brees (ouch), Cam Newton (probably gonna sting
a little), or Jay Cutler (who knows?) in Week 6. Translation: You
need a warm body. Weeden’s definitely that and in no immediate danger
of losing his job. He’s also, believe it or not, becoming legitimate
bye week replacement material. After an opening Sunday debacle against
the Eagles, he’s averaging 292.5 yards/game. He’s also not getting
hit very much (just nine sacks so far), meaning he likely won’t
pull a Jake Locker or Matt Cassel on you. The best reason to give
him a look, however, is that his most productive game as a pro occurred
in Week 2 against these very same Cincinnati Bengals (322 yards
and two scores). I promise you could do worse.
Kevin
Kolb v. BUF: I urged you to sit Mr. Kolb down against a deceptively
good Rams defense last week and that turned out to be a pretty good
call. He definitely got his yards in the Thursday night snooze-a-thon
(289 of them) but he failed to throw a touchdown pass or even lead
the upstart Cardinals to a single six-pointer in the deflating 17-3
defeat. Luckily, Arizona now welcomes Buffalo’s Bills to the desert,
a wreck of a squad that’s been virtually flame-broiled the past
two weeks. Tom Brady et al. hung half a hundred on them in Week
4 (45 in the second half alone) and then Alex Smith channeled his
inner Joe Montana (303 yds. and three TD passes) en route to a Week
5 pasting at Candlestick Park. That first blemish on an otherwise
clean sheet might sting Kolb and his Cardinals but the Bills are
almost certainly a timely restorative. Get him in there if you’re
missing your regular field general.
Grab a Clipboard
Matt
Hasselbeck v. PIT: I had an opportunity to grab him
off the waiver wire last week and use him instead of Matt Cassel
as my second QB. That would have been a good move as it turns
out, but not by a whole lot. And that’s saying something when
you consider Cassel went 9-15 for 92 yards, threw two picks, fumbled
at the one-yard line in a 9-6 game, got hurt, and then got booed
by his hometown “fans” as he sat dazed on the Arrowhead turf.
Now THAT is a rough outing. Cassel’s been ruled out for Week 6
but I’m still not clamoring to pick up Hasselbeck. He’s almost
my vintage (huge red flag), he has no support from the running
game (more on that later), and is facing a nasty Steelers D (is
there any other kind?) at LP Field on Thursday night. There’s
no part of that preceding sentence I want a piece of. Hurry back,
other Matt.
Sam
Bradford @ MIA: Bradford is now well into his third
season as a pro and should probably be demonstrating some real
progress. Here are his rookie numbers as compared to his projected
numbers for this season:
| Sam Bradford |
| Season |
Passing
Yds |
Passing
TDs |
INTs |
Passer
Rating |
| 2010 (Rookie) |
3,512 |
18 |
15 |
76.5 |
| 2012 (Projected) |
3,270 |
19 |
16 |
78.6 |
|
Well, that’s progress, I guess. At this rate, he’ll be Aaron
Rodgers in approximately 2068. OK, I’m not being fair, am I? He
plays for St. Louis (strike one). He missed a good portion of
his second season (strike two). The only receiver he was able
to count on and seemed to trust just dislocated his clavicle and
almost died (I’m feeling faint). Bradford may break through at
some point but he’s going to need some more time and he’s certainly
going to need some more weapons. Give him a seat unless you desperately
need a fill-in this week.
Ryan
Tannehill v. STL: Tannehill, unlike the aforementioned
Bradford, IS showing some real signs of progress the past couple
weeks. He followed up a monster Week 4 effort (431 yards) with
a solid, if unspectacular, performance in the win against Cincinnati,
his first road W as a pro. Unspectacular has a place, for sure,
but you probably can’t build a fantasy contender on such a shaky
foundation. His recent strides notwithstanding, Tannehill has
still only thrown two TD passes in five games. Moreover, he’s
doing basically nothing with his feet, a surprise considering
he played multiple seasons at wide receiver for Texas A&M. This
week, he draws a St. Louis pass defense tied with Baltimore as
the league’s stingiest (just two TD passes yielded). Wait for
a better opportunity to use this still green signal caller.
Running Backs 
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