NFL Fantasy Help -- Week 9

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If you were planning on riding the most recent fantasy BFF, Colt McCoy but I'm sorry it ain't gonna happen. Not this week anyway. NFL.com is reporting that RGIII is alive and well and living on the Redskins practice field for the first time since Week 2 when he dislocated his ankle. The site is also reporting that the Redskins have announced that RGIII will be in the lineup this Sunday vs Minnesota in the Great White North, the Land of the Vikings, the other place with Frozen Tundra. It's a shame considering that McCoy has been responsible for the current two game winning streak the Redskins are enjoying right now.

Tony Romo has been listed as day-to-day as he continues to deal with the back contusion he suffered against those same Redskins. Mark my words, Romo will play this Sunday against the Cardinals. It's a given, if Romo can walk, he will play. He is scheduled to have a CT scan, whatever the heck that is, as the team doctors try to make sure Romo is truly healthy. The good thing is the knee in the bad wasn't near the surgery location. Romo said himself that surgery or not that hit in the back just plain hurt and he's got a heckuva bruise.

In case you didn't notice I said last week that Mark Ingram was worth a play at home against the Packers. I don't like to toot my own horn, okay, yes I do, but I was right as rain. Ingram actually had the best game of his career against the Packers. With Khiry Robinson and Pierre Thomas out with injuries the onus was right square on Ingram's shoulders and he didn't disappoint. He rushed for 171 yards on just 24 carries which translates into a 7.2 YPC average. He is looking at a matchup against Carolina defense that is ranked 31st in the NFL against the run allowing 5.2 YPC and has given up 1082 yards at the half way point of the season. You may also take a chance on Ingram's backup Travaris Cadet who picked up some decent yards in the passing game. He didn't exactly light up the stat sheet but he showed something in the passing game.

I have it on good authority that Lorenzo Taliafaro is again a hot pickup on most waiver wires. Bernard Pierce was a healthy scratch last week and Taliafaro seems to be the man of choice in the red zone as well. If he's available I'm picking him up.

I'll say it one more time. Pick up Brandon LaFell. LaFell has become that deep threat missing in the Patriots offense. Last week in the blowout of the Bears LaFell caught 11 balls on 11 targets for 124 yards and a TD. Julian Edelman has become the really good at dropping passes. Edelman was targeted 4 times with one catch for 14 yards. With Gronk rounding back into form LaFell offers a deep threat Edelman doesn't.

[eagle eye]

The Jets have announced that Michael Vick will be the starting QB for the Jets this week vs the Chiefs in KC. If you need a QB I wouldn't necessarily look here.

It seems to be a done deal. RGIII will start in Minnesota this week.

Some quick hits for Week 9 pickups:
> Theo Riddick RB Detroit - Has been good in passing game. Week 8 11 touches, 8 receptions for 79 yards and a TD.
> Bobby Rainey RB Tampa Bay - Has been much more effective than Doug Martin who is now injured and out.
> Jonas Gray RB New England - Had 17 carries for 89 yards last week against Chicago. Trusting a Patriot RB is hard. Use caution.
> Martavis Bryant WR Pittsburgh - Needing a compliment to Antonio Brown the Steelers may have found their man.
> Davante Moncrief WR Indianapolis - Big, strong and fast. Reggie Wayne hasn't been himself and Moncrief has been good.

Take with caution: Michael Vick QB NY Jets. In relief he hasn't been very good but as a runner and a passer he certainly has more upside than Geno Smith.

What about tonight? New Orleans at Carolina.
New Orleans found a running game last Sunday night. Mark Ingram was a beast and Carolina is 31st in the NFL against the run. Of course you are going to have Brees and Graham in the lineup but Brandin Cooks is continuing his badass rookie season. Last Week against Green Bay he caught 6 out of 7 targets for 94 yards and a TD. He also added a 4 yard run for a TD. The Saints run game was the difference and I expect nothing less tonight. Since the Saints are playing on an even shorter week since they played Sunday night you might see Travaris Cabet get more touches. With Pierre Thomas and Khiry Robinson out with injuries the Saints have nobody else to turn to at the RB position. Last week he caught 4 balls in 5 targets for 40 yards and rushed one time for 7 yards. Again, it's a shorter than usual week and Ingram just played his second game in over a month. I guess what I'm saying is Cadet is a possible candidate for a flex position on fantasy rosters.
Carolina is coming off a loss to Seattle at home they should have won. Cam Newton didn't do much passing (12/22 - 171 yds, 1 INT) and he wasn't particularly effective running (12 carries 24 yards) and he didn't score in either category. He's still worth a play because until he got hurt Aaron Rodgers carved up the Saints defense pretty good. Carolina found a stud WR in Kelvin Benjamin and his total last week was pretty good considering how much Cam sucked. He had 4 catches for 91 with a long of 51 yds. Jonathan Stewart was the best the Panthers had to offer which wasn't bad (16 carries for 79 yards and 3 catches for 15 yards). DeAngelo Williams is coming back into the picture but Stewart had beaten Williams out for the starting nod out of training camp. I would say Stewart is worth a flex spot and that's about it.
Carolina is going to get killed, or that's what you'd think but it's a divisional game and it's on the road for the Saints who don't do nearly as well as they do at home. Despite a really ragged start to the season the Saints may be finally hitting their stride. They should pound the Panthers tonight. Shoot the Saints ST/Def and Kicker ought to be good plays.

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Sorry this post is long. I just had to get this off my chest. It's a post about Colt McCoy that I feel very strongly about. I invite you guys to agree or disagree because I am interested in your opinion.


I was watching the Saints-Panthers game last night and I was thinking that Cam Newton blew a lot of opportunities to help his team win the game. He must've targeted Kelvin Benjamin 10 times but K-Ben had only had 2 catches for 18 yards and zip TDs. Newton was a terribly unimpressive 10/28 for 151 yards and no TDs and a pick. He did rush for 14 yards on 7 carries with a TD so in fantasy leagues you scored in the neighborhood of 20 points. Not the boom he was when he first came into the NFL. My point here is Cam has been exposed a little bit. Or maybe a lot. He's no less athletic but his limits as a passer have been hurting his team and the things he did to have an impact in the NFL and fantasy are on film now and NFL teams are no dummies. The defensive coaches in the league get paid a lot of money to figure out ways to stop the opposing offenses. Carolina hasn't got a great O-line so their running game doesn't offer much relief to Newton so he's having to carry the team and he's just not good enough to do that.
Now, this same situation may be surfacing in Washington. RGIII wins the Heisman at Baylor throwing to what are now top flight NFL receivers like Josh Gordon, Terrence Williams and Kendall Wright. He falls into a situation where he's got some talent on the team that drafted him, the Washington Redskins. He makes a big splash in his rookie year and leads the team to the playoffs in a win or go home game vs Dallas in the last game of the 2012 season. Top of the world, Ma. But in 2013 he struggled, he got hurt and he lost his job to the other QB drafted in the same draft Kirk Cousins. This season he began not doing well losing the opening game to the Houston Texans. He was doing okay in Week 2 in the first quarter when he dislocated his ankle. He hasn't played since. My point here is Griffin seems to be in the same boat as Cam Newton. Talented and successfull in college and successful in the first year as pro. All this is true but like Newton RGIII is on film there for the defensive gurus in the NFL to dissect his game and device ways to stop him. And they have stopped him. They have learned to scheme against him and they limit his read-option work to limit his rushing and his own body's fagility has kept him on the sideline. Where Washington has an advantage is they had two candidates to step in for RGIII. Kirk Cousins showed promise but he's been a turnover machine. That's why he got benched for Colt McCoy. I hear all these NFL guys mock McCoy but what McCoy can do that Cam and RGIII can't is throw the damn ball. He failed miserably in Cleveland but IMO it wasn't his fault. The situation in Cleveland wasn't stable with the head coach and GM at odds with each other, a change in ownership and about as stable a situation as sitting on a 3 legged chair that's supposed to have 4 legs. McCoy could've had his chance but another change of head coach and the drafting of Brandon Weeden doomed McCoy's chances to really show his stuff in Cleveland. He became a baby-faced joke and he didn't deserve that. McCoy was a Heisman Trophy runner up and if Texas had beaten Oklahoma and Sam Bradford McCoy was going to win the Heisman in stead of Bradford.
So, fate has a way of evening things up and fate decided to give McCoy another chance to show what he could do. All he did was lead the Redskins to two victories. One in relief of a pathetic Kirk Cousins who couldn't find his own receivers with a road map and a guide, in a win over Tennessee and he led the 'Skins back to Texas where he played a solid game to beat the Cowboys, who were heavy favorites, in the Death Star on Monday night. It was an impressive performance by McCoy who didn't make a bad mistake except for throwing up and interception in the end zone to a receiver who was not even close to being open. In the second half he was nearly perfect and Dallas was not nearly as perfect and they blew their own opportunities and lost the game.
RGIII is now healthy enough to step back into his starting job this week and I will be watching to see how he does. Not just this week but for the rest of the season. I don't think Griffin is as good a passer as McCoy but he is taller and more athletic than McCoy. But, I don't think Griffin is the field general McCoy is either. I hope that Redskins head coach Jay Gruden doesn't ride Griffin to the bitter end if he struggles. I hope that he has seen enough to have confidence in McCoy to hand over the reins to him if RGIII isn't effective or when he gets hurt again. I believe he's earned the benefit of the doubt and have no doubt Washington would be better off with McCoy on the field instead of the sideline. I think McCoy, with the talent Washington has, would make the Redskins a contender again. It may be too late this year but going forward I think he's got the smarts and ability to help take advantage of that weapons Washington has to work with.

[eagle eye]

Need a RB? Now this guy probably won't have too big a role in the offense this week so he's a guy for a little down the road but Tampa Bay has activated from the IR/Scheduled to Return list 3rd round pick Charles Sims. NFL.com is reporting that Sims was a Lovie Smith draft pick and with Doug Martin out due to injury Sims should begin seeing snaps this week. The feeling is that since he is a Smith draft pick he will be given a long look in the second half of the season as Smith evaluates who will be and who will not be on the Bucs roster next season. Tampa Bay was excited about Sims' potential during the off season after the draft but an ankle injury that required surgery has sidelined him for the past 11 weeks. Martin, even when healthy hasn't been productive and according to sources he may not and probably is not in the team's future plans. Rainey has been productive when he's healthy which has been a bit of a problem and he and Sims could be a nice one-two punch for the Bucs. We are deep in the heart of the bye weeks and a good RB is hard to find at this point of the season in fantasy. If you can spare a roster spot he may well be worth a stash or at least flagged so you can monitor his progress.

[eagle eye]

Okay, I meant to post this sooner but if you have Tony Romo on your roster you need to get your backup in or hit your free agent list and get a backup because Romo was officially ruled out today. He hasn't practiced all week and he is apparently in a lot of pain with broken bones in his back. It was revealed yesterday that the bones called the transverse process that stick out on the left and right side of the spinal column bones there are two fractures. This sounds a lot more serious than it really is. Check out the link to Fansided.com for a better explanation and a diagram to show what I've been talking about.

http://fansided.com/2014/11/01/transverse-process-fracture/

Talk about close calls. The bus taking the Washington Redskins to the stadium for today's game in Minnesota was in a traffic accident. No players or coaches were injured but an escorting officer injured his leg. Redskins WR Pierre Garcon tweeted a picture of the accident if you want to check it out. I can't go to twitter at work so I can't help you.

Philadelphia will get Darren Sproles back in the lineup today. He was close to returning last week against Arizona and he's practiced all week. He will get his normal amount of reps today vs Houston.

Speaking of Houston, the hope that Jadeveon Clowney and Brian Cushing would be in the lineup today is now a reality. Unfortunately, the reality is neither will suit up for the Texans today.

Tampa Bay running back Charles Sims was activated from the IR/Scheduled for Return list this past week but he will be inactive today as Tampa Bay faces off against Cleveland in Cleveland. The Bucs powers that be want to give Sims an extra week to heal and practice.

Also, in Dallas LG Ronald Leary will miss this week's game with a groin injury. Dallas was already without RT Doug Free with a broken bone in his foot. My guess is Leary will be out today but will be day-to-day going forward. Free could be back for next week's game depending on what doctors recommend. It was estimated that Free would be out 3-4 weeks and this is his third week. He could be back for the Jacksonville game in London next week. Taking Free's place is Jeremy Parnell and the likely next man up for Leary will be Mackenzy Bernadeau. Both players are veteran players who have been with Dallas since last season.

The Colts will get WR Reggie Wayne and CB Vonte Davis back for the Giants game on Monday night. This could certainly affect WR Donte Moncrief's fantasy value by pushing him to a WR3 spot in the Colts lineup.

The Giants list Jason Pierre-Paul as probable but CB Dominque Rogers-Cromartie is questionable in his return. DT Cullen Jenkins is out with a calf injury.