Fantasy Football: The Things I Learned – Week 9, 2016

By Chet Gresham – @ChetGresham
Follow @walterfootball for updates.

Below, check out my fantasy-centered recaps of key players from this week’s contests. For instance, did a player come back to earth after an aberrant breakout, or were they simply affected by something like game flow?

After just four passing touchdowns through his first five games, Dak Prescott now has eight in his last three outings, including three scores against the Browns on Sunday. He’s never going to be a “300 yards a game” guy in this offense, but he’s taking what’s given to him, and now he’s pushing the passing game a bit more, especially in good matchups. Tony Romo will be riding the bench a bit longer.

Melvin Gordon rushed 32 times for 196 yards and a touchdown, plus caught 4-of-4 targets for 65 yards. That’s a whole bunch of yards and the second straight game in which Gordon has done much more than just score touchdowns and put up sub-par yards-per-carry numbers. Gordon has always showed he has ability, but his vision at the line wasn’t always the best. He appears to be seeing the field much better than before, and he’s up to 11 touchdowns through nine games.

Mark Ingram was the backup running back for the Saints this week after being benched for fumbling last week, so he took this matchup with the pitiful 49ers and went off for 171 yards and two touchdowns on 17 touches, while the starter Tim Hightower had 24 touches for 102 yards and a touchdown. Of course, the main takeaway is that the 49ers are unbelievably awful against the run, but also that despite Ingram’s big game, this appears to be a committee situation at the moment.

Travis Kelce is an idiot who threw a towel at a ref and was ejected.

Jason Witten hadn’t gone over 100 yards in a game since 2013. On Sunday though, he caught 8-of-10 targets for 134 yards and a touchdown. This movie is called, “The Browns Are Horrible Defensively.”

Colin Kaepernick completed 24-of-39 passes for 398 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, plus rushed five times for 23 yards. He currently ranks seventh in fantasy points for quarterbacks this week. The Saints’ porous defense has a lot to do with the big numbers, but it was good to see Kaepernick actually complete some passes, even if it was to very open receivers.

Golden Tate hadn’t been putting up good numbers when Theo Riddick was playing, but this week, Riddick started and Tate still managed to catch 11-of-12 targets for 79 yards and a touchdown, while Marvin Jones caught 1-of-5 targets for five yards. This situation has turned since the first half of the season as Marvin Jones is getting tough matchups against No. 1 cornerbacks and having trouble, while Tate is back to getting plenty of targets underneath.

Eric Ebron caught 7-of-8 targets for 92 yards and has looked great since returning from his injury. As long as Marvin Jones is having trouble, Ebron will continue to be a big target for Stafford and is forcing his way into the conversation as a top-tier fantasy tight end in fairly shallow class right now.

Jay Ajayi didn’t rush for 200 yards again, but continued to show he’s a force in real and fake football as he rushed 24 times for 111 yards and one touchdown, plus added 19 yards on three receptions. This came against a tough Jets front seven, and even though his schedule looks tough moving forward, he should remain a solid fantasy starter.

Playing the Cowboys is not good for your fantasy stats, and it’s not because they have the ’85 Bears defense; it’s because they are so methodical and slow on offense that they take years off your life waiting to get back on offense. Terrelle Pryor found this out as he had a nice first half with four receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown, but the Browns went on to run just 14 plays in the second half!

Ben Roethlisberger had in the vicinity of zero fantasy points through three quarters against the Ravens, but went on to throw for a touchdown and run for another in the fourth quarter to give himself a decent fantasy day. The Steelers were conservative with him to start, and he was also not good, so it was encouraging to see him pick it up in garbage time, as his passes looked much better even if it was against a lax defense.

Eli Manning threw four touchdown passes against the Eagles, but also looked awful at times. But of course, that’s who Eli is. He’s going to be maddeningly inconsistent, but you can get four-touchdown games like this from him.

Matt Forte continues to play well, as he rushed 12 times for 92 yards and one touchdown against the Dolphins. But, he deserved more work in this one, especially with Ryan Fitzpatrick was his usual awful self and the Jets had a lead much of the game.

Joe Flacco isn’t very good. He can be very good, but right now, he isn’t. Last week, he looked awful, and this week, he looked close to awful, but was bailed out by Mike Wallace taking a slant 95 yards for a touchdown and his team blocking a punt for a touchdown.

Stefon Diggs didn’t have a huge game this week, but in PPR, he cashed in by catching 13-of-14 targets for 80 yards. He gets some tough matchups with Washington and Arizona next on the docket, but then he faces Detroit, Dallas, Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Green Bay. I like that push at the end of the fantasy season.

Laquon Treadwell caught his first pass as a NFL player on Sunday. I truly didn’t think I’d be writing that out in Week 9 of the season without a Treadwell injury, but that’s where we are, and it would take multiple injuries to the Vikings wide receivers to change that for this season.

Steve Smith Sr. is back. He didn’t have a big game, but showed that he is healthy as he caught 4-of-7 targets for 30 yards. His upside isn’t what it once was, but Flacco trusts him, and as long as Smith is playing, he needs to be on your fantasy team.

Paul Perkins rotated with Rashad Jennings all game, but the Eagles bottled both up for most of the game. Perkins should be a better receiving option than Jennings and really a better option overall, but I assume they’ll continue a fairly even split for now.

Eli Rogers was a big beneficiary of Ben Roethlisberger’s late game flurry of completions, as he brought in 6-of-10 targets for 103 yards, mostly in the fourth quarter. Rogers is healthy, and Darrius Heyward Bey isn’t, while Markus Wheaton was a healthy scratch. Rogers should be able to continue getting decent targets moving forward.

Derrick Henry left the game versus San Diego with a calf injury and didn’t return. He wasn’t a big threat to DeMarco Murray’s playing time, but if Henry’s hurting, he’s not going to be a threat at all.

Blake Bortles and Allen Robinson left a lot of yards on the field, but they also connected enough for one of Robinson’s best games of the season, as he caught 7-of-11 targets for 76 yards and a touchdown against Kansas City. Bortles has taken a step back this year, which is hurting Robinson, but the targets, including red-zone targets, are still there.

Darren Sproles continued to lead the Eagles’ backfield as he touched the ball 16 times for 71 yards. He saw nine targets, but only caught three passes for 14 yards. All in all, this, at the very worst, helped reinforce that Sproles is going to continue to get enough work to have fantasy value.

Chris Ivory led the Jaguars’ backfield with 18 carries for 107 yards against Kansas City. He did lose a goal-line fumble, but he was a bruiser in this one. He hurt people who tried to tackle him today.

Charcandrick West ruined many lineups this week as he rushed 13 times for 39 yards and caught 3-of-4 targets for 35 yards. He led the backfield and will continue to do so if Spencer Ware can’t be cleared of his concussion by next week, but the Chiefs do play Carolina.

Travis Benjamin came into Sunday’s game dealing with a sprained PCL and then had to leave the game with a knee injury, which I am assuming was due to the PCL injury. That pushed Dontrelle Inman up in the pecking order, and he ended up leading the team in targets. We’ll need to hear more about Benjamin’s injury, but I’m eyeing Inman on my waiver wire.

Frank Gore wasn’t great against a tough Green Bay run defense on a per-carry basis, but he found the end one twice to finish with a nice fantasy day. He just continues to plug away and be a useful fantasy player, so keep plugging him in your lineup.

Todd Gurley had 16 touches for 76 yards and no touchdowns against a touch Carolina run defense. This is what we get for drafting a player coached by Jeff Fisher.

Randall Cobb was a surprise active for this game, but didn’t see the field until the second half. He ended up seeing just two targets, but caught one of those for a touchdown. This is a good sign for his availability moving forward.

Lance Kendricks has quietly been putting up good numbers of late. He caught 7-of-12 targets for 90 yards against the Panthers and had another seven-catch game last week. Of course, he only has one touchdown all season, i.e. the Fisher curse.

Michael Thomas just continues to impress, and this week, he caught 5-of-8 targets for 73 yards and two touchdowns, including one crazy juggling catch. He led the Saints in targets, receptions, yards and touchdowns, and even though Drew Brees is going to spread the ball out a lot, he continues to single out Thomas enough that this production could easily continue. Oh, and the Saints face Tampa Bay twice in the fantasy playoffs.

DuJuan Harris ran like a man possessed as he totaled 142 yards and a touchdown on 15 touches against the Saints. He lost a fumble, but it wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of those who played him in fantasy this week. Carlos Hyde should be back next week, so Harris will go back to the bench, but we know where he is if Hyde is hurt again.

For more thoughts, check out Walt’s updated NFL Power Rankings, which will be posted Tuesday morning.

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