Bye Weeks: Miami, Oakland

Matt Asiata currently sits in the top ten at his position and Green Bay has given up 5 TDs to RBs.

Grab a Helmet

Matt Asiata @ GB (Thursday): Folks are fawning all over the Vikings’ fresh fantasy faces after a surprisingly explosive Week 4. It’s Teddy Bridgewater this and Jarius Wright that and Jerick McKinnon this, that, and the other. I’ve long been a sucker for “upside” so I completely get it. However, I’ve also watched football long enough to know NFL coaches are suckers for good old fashioned results. Bridgewater should produce them and Wright/McKinnon could produce them, but Asiata already does and has. You think Norv Turner’s gonna completely forget about a guy who’s already scored four times? He’s not especially fast or nifty and is basically a fullback playing tailback. I see what you see, people. I also see this: Asiata’s the 9th best running back a quarter of the way through and he only received three touches in Week 1. He’s a fantasy bird in the hand. Start him.

LeSean McCoy v. STL: What to do with the epically disappointing LeSean McCoy? It’s the question on every inquiring mind after successive stinkers from one of the league’s premiere backs. Here’s what I think we know. First, there’s nothing physically wrong with him. Coach Chipper assured folks of that earlier this week. Second, there’s nothing schematically wrong with the Eagles’ offense. You don’t write off an entire offense after one lousy effort and a couple of substandard rushing performances from its primary rock-toter. Lastly, there absolutely IS something wrong with Philly’s offensive line. The Birds have been short THREE starting linemen in the early going and that spells trouble at any level of football, professional, college, high school, or whatever. The good news is that Lane Johnson returns from suspension this week and Philly faces a generous St. Louis run defense. Keep the faith, McCoy owners. Better days are ahead.

Matt Forte @ CAR: The last time I told you to keep the faith with a bell cow back, Forte responded with 23 carries for 122 yards, five receptions for 49 yards, and a tidy 17.1 points, a performance that should have eased concerns about his slow start. That was last week, in case you’ve forgotten, and now we double down on him against a Carolina team that is especially bad at two things: stopping the run (a league-worst 5.7 yards/carry) and…uh…starting it (see below). If Smokin’ Jay Cutler hadn’t decided to play catch with the Green Bay secondary last week, Forte’s Bears might be tied with Detroit atop the NFC North. As it stands, they head to Charlotte for a key intra-conference matchup that could mean plenty down the stretch. Expect a big day from Forte and a better day from Cutler as Chicago wins a key road game.

Grab a Gatorade

Darrin Reaves v. CHI: Here’s what Panthers coach Ron Rivera had to say about the undrafted and almost completely unknown running back he intends to start this weekend: “He's a tough little guy, and he works very hard at it and deserves the opportunity to play.” Translation? He’s got a great personality. It’s not like Carolina had a ton of wonderful options at the position to start with, which is frankly shocking when you consider how much money they’ve sunk into the position ($14.8M this year for Jonathan Stewart, DeAngelo Williams, and Mike Tolbert this year). Now, they’re basically scraping the bottom of the barrel thanks to a slew of early-season injuries to those very same guys they committed so much moolah to. You reap what you sow in this league and the Panthers are going to pay sooner rather than later for such a foolish investment. Like, this weekend.

Montee Ball v. ARZ: By comparison, this fantasy blue-chipper counts for less than a million bucks against Denver’s salary cap, meaning he’d have to play pretty poorly this year to be considered a lousy investment. Though he’ll eventually make the Broncos’ brass – and all those folks who made him a first round fantasy selection – look pretty smart, he certainly hasn’t lived up to expectations thus far. After getting Seattle-ized in Week 3 and then taking an early week off, he’s only the 37th ranked RB a quarter of the way through the season. Even worse, he squares off against the NFL’s stingiest run defense in Week 5. Patience has paid off for Matt Forte owners already and should for LeSean McCoy’s owners this Sunday. I’m guessing we’ll have to wait another week, however, to see some positive movement from Denver’s young running back. It’s a marathon, folks, not a sprint.

Alfred Morris v. SEA (Monday): Speaking of getting Seattle-ized…. I have a love/hate relationship with the Emerald City (love the city, hate its sports teams, both current and former), but it would be disingenuous of me to pretend the Seahawks are anything other than what they appear to be at this point: the team to beat. Again. If you’re somehow able to contain their rugged rushing attack and that wizardly young dual-threat orchestrating the show, you still have to figure out a way to score points against a suffocating defense. At least Morris and his Washington mates won’t have to further contend with Seattle’s boisterous crowd. It makes no difference. Though I didn’t pick the ‘Hawks in my survivor pool (I never pick road teams), I think they’re the closest we’ll get to a sure thing this weekend. Sit your ‘Skins on the bench where they belong this Monday night.

Wide Receivers