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Fantasy Football Week 5 Q&A

Looking for Internet Fantasy Predictions then look no further than Dave B’s week 6 fantasy football watch list…

Watchlist – Week 5

Hi Folks. Dave B here with your first edition of the Fantasy Football Watch List. Every week, I will determine interesting story lines that affect Fantasy Football.

I will try to give tips, trends and things that a Poolie will have to watch out for in order to crush the competition.  After all of the weekly games are finished be sure to check our waiver wire column, studs and duds, a who’s hot, and who’s not report plus more in our fantasy football guide.

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1. Did We Learn Any Bye Week lessons?

What will the teams returning from bye weeks have learned from their mandated time off?

  • Philadelphia Eagles – Week 5 marks the return of Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook from early season injuries. Will they play to expectations or will there be a rust factor? Donovan should be good to go – the Offense didn’t really miss a beat while he was out, and with the emergence of weapons like DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek, there is no reason for McNabb not to have success. Throw in the fact that he is up against the 31st ranked Tampa Defense and you have a recipe for good things in Phili. Westbrook, on the other hand might be a slightly different story – might! No doubt he will get his yards, but the emergence of LeSean McCoy makes you wonder how many touches that Westbrook will get. The Eagles are sure to score in this game, and with a lead, they are almost guaranteed to play it safe with Westbrook. Figure on Westbrook to get 2/3 of the carries in the 1st half and after the Eagles build up a huge lead, he’ll probably take the 2nd half off.
  • Arizona Cardinals – Probably the team that benefitted most from the bye week. With Kurt Warner getting older, the Cards really used the time for rest and practice with minimal contact. Let’s hop the rest benefits the passing game – Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald sure hope so!! Also, they bye week served to establish a much needed running game. Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells have been doing an OK job, but in order to keep Warner healthy, they are going to have to be more effective. Let’s hope the coaches drew up some more plays for the Backs and solidified an O-Line that hasn’t been worthy of their previous Super Bowl appearance.
  • Atlanta Falcons – Not much to fix in Atlanta and no major injuries to report. I will be watching how Matt Ryan and his coaching staff used their week off to scheme for an aggressive, tight San Francisco Defense. Sunday will be a good test for the Sophomore QB and all his weapons. Concerns that Michael Turner is not worthy of his 2nd or 3rd overall selection in Fantasy drafts will be a thing of the past and the Falcons should pass Sunday’s test with flying colors.
  • Carolina Panthers – Ugh!!! I hope John Fox used they bye week to explore other job opportunities!! With Stewart not quite 100%, DeAngelo Williams will have to do more with his touches. An offensive scheme predicated around the run has largely been disappointing this year, leaving the bulk of the pressure to succeed on Jake Delhomme – no wonder they are losing!

2. What do we know about the Undefeated Teams?

4 of the 5 undefeated teams in the NFL are suiting up this week – only New Orleans is idle.  How many will remain undefeated and how many will taste defeat for the 1st time?

  • Minnesota Vikings – With a game against the St. Louis Rams, the Vikings are poised to have their 1st 5-0 season since…..-forever!!! With the most dynamic player in football (Adrian Peterson), and an increasingly cohesive passing attack, Brett Favre and company seem untouchable this week. Who, among the Vikings Wide outs (Berrian, Rice and Harvin) will emerge and become Favre’s favorite target? This person will undoubtedly ascend to the top tier or 2 of NFL WR’s. and be given every-week starter status.
  • Indianapolis Colts – Only thing in question in this game is Peyton Manning’s 300 yard game streak. I think that Tennessee will offer resistance to the Colts running game (Addai and Donald Brown owners beware), but they will be no match for the Colts in the air. Start all your Colts pass catchers – its going to be fun
  • Denver Broncos – Whaaaa? You heard right – the Broncos have been perfect so far this season. With a defense playing over their heads, and Kyle Orton actually taking care of the football, Josh McDaniels has this team believing. Knowshon Moreno seems to be the real deal and Brandon Marshall is actually acting like a pro – all reasons for the Broncos success. Can they keep it going against the Patriots? I think Not!!
  • New York Giants – Getting it done so far, but this week they could be without their offensive leader. Eli Manning has a bad foot and David Carr would replace him if he can’t go. If this is the case, they should still win – the Giants’ running game will be more emphasized and the passing game will be a notch or 2 less productive.

3. Injuries?

  1. Eli Manning – already discussed
  2. Donovan McNabb – ditto
  3. Matt Hasselbeck – Should return this week and if he does, Seattle gets a whole lot better. Burleson, Carlson and TJ Houshmanzadeh all benefit from having steady Matt in there. They all go from bench material to serious start or flex consideration.
  4. Matt Stafford – Possibility that he misses Sunday’s game. Not that you’d have him as your starter, but guys like Kevin Smith will certainly see more action if this is the case.
  5. Marc Bulger – Doesn’t look like he’ll start either – maybe a good thing for the Rams. This team is a mess right now – steer clear from all Offensive players – they’re offensive!
  6. Willie Parker – Probably won’t suit up for the Steelers this week – turf toe!!! Rashard Mendenhall owners rejoice. Keep Willie on your bench and defiantly start Rashard!!
  7. Brian Westbrook – Should be fine – might be rested when Philadelphia gets their huge lead
  8. Fred Taylor – Ankle surgery forces the Fantasy Gods to predict who Bill Belichek will start for New England – Good Luck!!!
  9. Marion Barber – should be good to go and should perform well against the weak Kansas City Defense. Felix Jones is out – leaving Tashard Choice as Barber’s “carry vulture”. They could both be more than adequate starters this week
  10. Frank Gore – Out – leaving Glen Coffee to shoulder the load. Coffee obviously has a lot of learning to do and doesn’t seem to be a reliable option at this point.
  11. Clinton Portis – having a tough year already. He says he’s fine and the Carolina Defense might back up those claims. He’s still a risk, but is one that could pay off big time.
  12. Roy Williams – If he doesn’t play, and it sounds pretty negative right now, there could be some Waiver Wire Gold out there. Miles Austin and Patrick Crayton become interesting plug-ins – especially since Tony Romo has a lot to prove!
  13. Wes Welker – You think that Tom Brady will be happy to have a healthyish Welker back in the mix? Me too. Welker seems to be almost over his knee problem and although he has been rested in practice – you can bet that he’ll be there Sunday and produce for your Fantasy Team
  14. Calvin Johnson – Detroit really needs this guy and if he is unable to recovery from his thigh injury, a close game is a pipe-dream. Count on him being in the starting lineup and being the beast that he is.

4. Will the underachievers finally stand up?

There are a few teams that were consensus playoff team that find themselves WAY on the outside looking in.

  • Tennessee Titans – Who’d a thunk that the Titans would be 0-4, probably moving to 0-5? Liar!! The defense cannot stop anyone – and now they face the Indianapolis Colts. Kerry Collins is defiantly not the problem and although the ground game should get their #s this week, the passing game could defiantly out produce their projected totals. The Titans will be trailing in this game – guaranteed, so plug in Nate Washington, Kenny Britt, and Kerry Collins if you are in need of some bye-week help.
  • Buffalo Bills – So much optimism at the beginning of the year, so much disappointment 1/4 of the way through the year. Buffalo gets Cleveland at home this week – time to right the ship!!! Fred Jackson, Marshawn Lynch, Terrell Owens, Lee Evans, and Trent Edwards better get it going this week (and I think they will) or they are going to need bodyguards to get out of their own building.
  • Carolina Panthers – hopefully the bye week was good to the Panthers. They need this game like no other. The formula is simple – establish the ground game and find Steve Smith downfield at your leisure. All of the Carolina Offensive players should be serviceable for you this week.
  • Which underachieving stars will emerge? – Face it folks, when Chicago, Green Bay, San Diego, and New Orleans are on a bye, there is a hell of a lot of Offense that you can’t depend on this week. Come on – the Cards Offense has to come alive, Roddy White, Terrell Owens, Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson – somebody HAS to dazzle me this week!!

5. New Quarterbacks?

There are a few teams that will have Quarterback starting for them this week that were not there in Week 1.

Derek Anderson and the Brown face a very beatable Buffalo Defense, and Chad Henne plays at home, on Monday night against the Jets. 2 interesting matchups that could make or break their fantasy relevance.

6. Braylon Edwards?

Not going to waste my time or yours!!!

By DaveB

Dave B has been a Fantasy Football writer for us for 10 years. A couch potato wannabe, Dave’s insights have been read by 10’s of people for years. He hope’s for world peace + global relaxation. Enjoy and remember only smoke things that are completely natural.

One reply on “Fantasy Football Week 5 Q&A”

Donovan showed no signs of rust today throwing for 3 TDs, but Brian Westbrook remains a question mark as he was not a factor in the win over Tampa.

Giants are the beast in the NFC East as they are on a collision course with Eagles in a couple of weeks.

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