Nobody needs to be told starting Patrick
Mahomes, Christian
McCaffrey, or DeAndre
Hopkins 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 Mahomes’ bye
week? Let’s talk. Looking for solutions at running back because
Barkley 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 Hopkins and went RB-RB-Kelce 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.
The mustachioed Minshew has taken quite the winding path from Flowood
MS to Jacksonville folk hero, stopping at Troy, NW Mississippi CC,
East Carolina, and then Washington State along the way. He didn’t
play football at Troy, but won a national juco title at NWCC and
set a Pac-12 single-season record for passing yardage out on the
Palouse (not to mention 11 games) before getting plucked in the
sixth round of this past April’s draft. That’s four
different systems since 2015, a whole bunch of touchdowns, and a
legion of fake moustache, cool shades, and jorts-donning followers.
Only time will tell whether Minshew’s a flash in the pan or
a longer-term sensation, but with pinpoint accuracy, a favorable
schedule, and no real competition until Week 11 (Nick Foles’
earliest return date)...why not? I love this matchup against a Broncos
squad that hasn’t yet registered a sack.
As I type this, Keenum has just finished turning the ball over five
times in a brutal Monday night loss to Chicago, making this one
of the bravest, longest, called shots of my FFToday career. It was
the kind of performance that typically gets a placeholder QB relegated
to permanent ballcap duty, clearing the way for every fan’s
favorite player—the first-round draft pick backup—to
make that first, fresh start. And yet, there Keenum was, keeping
the Redskins within shouting distance until dang near the end, racking
up 24.9 garbage points (ahem, 9th overall for Week 3) while Dwayne
Haskins stayed clean. That tells me the rook isn’t ready,
at least not yet, meaning Keenum likely gets another start this
Sunday. Good news, if so: The Giants aren’t the Bears. New
York is yielding a league worst 10.5 yds/pass and 332.3 passing
yds/game.
We’ve reached that point in the season
where being undefeated starts to mean a little something. Wins don’t
come easy in the NFL, unless you’re playing the Dolphins,
and stringing together several in a row is harder still. Technically,
Detroit hasn’t done that but they also haven’t done
something 24 other NFL clubs already have: lost. Nobody’s
expecting we’ll be able to say that after this Sunday when
Andy Reid’s juggernaut comes to Motown, but home teams almost
always have a puncher’s chance in this league and fantasy
GMs won’t care if Matty Stafford can sneak in a few jabs along
the way. He’s averaging almost a touchdown’s worth more
points per game this season (23.5 v. 17.1) and the Chiefs are surrendering
about just that many per game to the position (23.3). Stafford’s
a QB1 in Week 4. Get him in there.
I’ve been following Packers football
since approximately 1980 and through all those years, many thin
and then many thick, the defense has rarely commanded the spotlight.
There were certainly some stellar defensive talents along the
way (Reggie White, LeRoy Butler, and Clay Matthews), but only
six Green Bay defenses during that near 40-year stretch have ranked
in the top five for points allowed. Nobody cared so long as Brett
Favre and Aaron Rodgers were piling them up on offense, but tables
seem to have turned this season. Rodgers is still adapting to
Matt LaFleur’s new scheme while the defense is picking up
the slack and doing all the heavy lifting so far. That doesn’t
bode well for Wentz and his decimated WR corps, especially on
a short turnaround Thursday. Expect lots of pressure from the
Smiths (Preston and Za’Darius) and a subpar outing for Philly’s
franchise.
Until further notice—and you shouldn’t
be expecting it anytime soon—I’d recommend fading
any quarterback not named Patrick Mahomes against Chicago’s
fearsome front seven. Case Keenum tallied nearly 25 points Monday
night, as mentioned above, but the vast majority of those digits
were accumulated after halftime while Washington frantically attempted
to narrow a 25-point halftime deficit. They did, to some extent,
but we shouldn’t be expecting the same game flow this coming
weekend and we certainly shouldn’t be expecting anything
useful from Cousins. He’s averaging just 15.6 FPts/G, MORE
than a touchdown’s worth fewer than last year, and looked
brutal against that up-and-coming Packers D we just talked about
in Week 2. Chicago’s is better. Every NFC North team is
above .500 through three weeks but that won’t be the case
after Sunday. My bet is Minny drops to 2-2. Sit Cousins down for
this one.
Hopes were high for the Browns this season and there’s still
time to fulfill that immense promise, but a tough divisional battle
looms this weekend and, behind that, a well-rested (not to mention
undefeated) Niners team in San Fran. Put another way, Cleveland
could conceivably be 1-4 by the time we chat again two weeks hence.
They’d have only themselves to blame, sadly, if they can’t
solve the penalties problem or the protect Baker Mayfield problem.
The Browns are tied for the league lead in penalties with Atlanta
(35) and have already surrendered 11 sacks, tied for sixth. Of course,
Mayfield isn’t holding up his end of the bargain either with
that 3-5 TD-to-INT ratio. Cris Collinsworth said he’s throwing
too many “fadeaway jumpers” and any NBA fan worth his/her
salt knows you can’t live off a steady diet of those. Wait
until we see improvement.
