Nobody needs to be told starting Aaron Rodgers, Jamaal Charles,
or Calvin Johnson is a good idea. Duh, right? You can’t
have studs at every position 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 Luck’s bye week? Let’s talk. Looking for solutions
at running back because AD 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 Brown and went RB-QB-Gronk in your first
three rounds? You get the idea. Past results may not guarantee
future success, but ignoring them entirely can ruin your Sundays
in a hurry (maybe even your Mondays and Thursdays). Read on for
a little history and, hopefully, a little sage advice.
Note: Fantasy points
based on FF Today’s standard scoring system.
Bye Weeks: Miami, Minnesota, NY
Jets, Carolina
The Bills have faced some high profile
QBs (Luck, Brady) but also gave up 5 TDs to Eli and Tannehill.
Grab a Helmet
Marcus
Mariota v. BUF: Week 5 is deep enough into the season
to start drawing real conclusions about our fantasy assets and to
stop making snap judgments/overreactions based on a couple anomalous
performances. It’s tougher in the case of rookies, however, as the
sample size is still incredibly small. Do we trust they’ll consistently
perform at the levels they’ve so far established? Or should we be
worried NFL defenses will soon adjust and make things nightmarish
for them? This is especially true for rookie QBs, so sometimes it
comes down to a simple matter of faith. Faith is one thing I’ve
always had in Mariota. I’m completely biased, sure, and absolutely
a fanboy, but that’s because I spent three years watching him exasperate
NCAA defenses just down Interstate 5 in Eugene. Trust what you see
(25.4 pts/game, 4th overall) and keep believing in Tennessee’s great
Hawai’ian hope against the Bills.
Jameis
Winston v. JAX: “And I’m poor decision-making Marcus
Mariota and I have cable….” We’ll never know why the Bucs’ brass
opted for this Heisman trophy winner over that one, but it’s looking
like the wrong decision based on early returns. Wrong for them,
I might add, but not necessarily wrong for us. Winston’s turned
it over eight times in four games and has looked mostly disastrous,
but he’s still somehow managed to notch 83.6 fantasy points for
make-believe GMs, good for 11th overall at the position. So, he’s
basically the second coming of fantasy football guilty pleasure,
Ryan Fitzpatrick, minus the Ivy League pedigree and the epic face
blanket. Fitzy’s thrown one more TD and one less pick, but the two
triggermen are otherwise separated by just 41 total yards and a
mere four fantasy points thus far. If your league doesn’t penalize
turnovers heavily, think about using Famous Jameis.
Josh
McCown @ BAL: Up for another round of Player A v. Player
B? Here goes…
Completions
Attempts
Yards
TD passes
Interceptions
Avg. Fantasy PPG
Player A
61
97
833
8
2
25.4
Player B
60
90
697
4
1
25.5
Player A, you might have guessed, is the aforementioned Mariota
three games into his professional career. Player B is, surprisingly,
none other than career journeyman McCown, scrubbed of his Week 1
stats (he played one series against the Jets). Yes, he’s averaging
30 completions, nearly 350 yards, and a couple scores per contest
since reclaiming the Browns’ job from Johnny Manziel before
Week 3. That wasn’t a popular decision in Cleveland, but it
was the right decision for now. So long as the running game struggles
and the defense remains the league’s worst (406.3 yds/game),
McCown gives Cleveland its best chance of continuing to pile up
excruciatingly narrow defeats.
Grab a Clipboard
Andy
Dalton v. SEA: Will the real Red Rifle please stand
up? Two years ago, Dalton took the fantasy FB world by storm,
throwing for over 4,200 yards, 33 TDs, and 23.6 pts/game, good
for 3rd overall at the position. Last year, he slumped to fewer
than 3,400 yards, 19 TDs, and 17.9 pts/game, fringe QB2 numbers
at best (18th overall). This year, he’s back to being a world-beater,
on pace for career highs in almost every conceivable category
through four weeks of action. I just got done telling you four
games is enough to go on for the remainder of 2015, but now I’m
making an exception. Dalton’s numbers are simply unsustainable
and he hasn’t faced a great defensive unit to date. He will this
Sunday when the Seahawks visit the Queen City. If I’m wrong again,
I promise he won’t “grab a clipboard” the rest of the year.
Matthew
Stafford v. ARZ: I’m not making that same promise here.
It’d be easy to blame Monday night’s loss on the Legion of Boom
and even easier to blame it on the referees, but the reality is
Stafford and Co. did basically nothing on offense until that final
drive. In fact, the Lions have mustered just 66 total points on
the year, an embarrassingly low number for a squad employing Stafford,
the most dominant receiver in NFL history, and some other really
talented skill players (Golden Tate, Ameer Abdullah, and Joique
Bell). Here’s the short list of teams that have scored fewer points
than Detroit in 2015: Miami, Jacksonville, and San Francisco.
Yeah, literally a short list. Better days probably lie ahead but
with Arizona visiting the Motor City on Sunday, expect more trouble
for Stafford and lots more of that look on Jim Caldwell’s face.
You know the one.
Colin
Kaepernick @ NYG or Michael
Vick @ SD (Monday): If Michael Vick is the OG of dual-threat
QBs, Kaepernick is probably Vick 2.0, for both good reasons and
bad. While both men tantalize with explosive running ability,
neither has ever managed to be a precise enough passer to truly
terrorize the league’s defensive coordinators. If you watched
Kap throw footballs into the Levi’s Stadium turf or consistently
sail them over his receivers’ heads last Sunday, you know
what I’m talking about. Russell Wilson, he most certainly
ain’t. Neither is Vick, though at least he has the excuse
of being long in the tooth and not really the guy Pittsburgh intended
to have under center at this point. Don’t let these specimens
beguile you. They’ve got seemingly good matchups, but San
Diego and New York are sitting second and tied for third, respectively,
in rushing yards yielded to opposing QBs.
