Alright, so not too bad of a comeback performance from my abysmal week 4 predictions (although it’s nearly impossible to have done any worse). Now that I’m back on the right track, I’ll carry that over into this week with an even better performance. I could always pick some chalk, you know the easy picks of the guys that go off every week, but that’ll never be my style. But, let’s do a quick recap of last week before we jump into who is on my list this week.
The guys I loved last week were Andy Dalton, Melvin Gordon, Stefon Diggs, and Darren Waller. Not so hot seeing as three out of the four didn’t even crack double digit points, but I was saved by the good ol’ Red Rifle putting up over 20 fantasy points and cracking the top 10 at his position. The guys I hated on were Aaron Rodgers, Le’Veon Bell, Chris Godwin, and Ricky Seals-Jones, so clearly a little bit better here. Obviously Godwin exploded (Marshon Lattimore did lock up Mike Evans though, so I was right about him putting the clamps on someone), but the other three had underwhelming performances all around.
Who I love:
QB: My quarterback of the week (especially a good play for you DFS folks) is Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals. This week he has the fortunate draw of playing the Atlanta Falcons, who have allowed Deshaun Watson, Marcus Mariota (!!!!), and Jacoby Brissett to light them up in consecutive weeks. Now, it’s Murray’s turn to take advantage and the dual-threat quarterback is looking to feast in this battle of the birds.
Moose’s Prediction: 325 passing yards, 2 passing touchdown, 58 rushing yards, and 1 rushing touchdown.
RB: Once in a while, certain players will remind us just why they were so great to begin with. And it’s really sad that there is a generation of football fans and fantasy football fans that didn’t get to watch Adrian Peterson when he was a one man wrecking ball, but we’re going to get a glimpse of that past this weekend. He might just be a top 3 or 5 running back of all time, and in a game where he faces quite possibly the worst team we’ve seen on a professional football field, we’ll get a vintage AP performance. If you couldn’t guess the team by that clue, it’s the Miami Dolphins and they just so happen to give up the most fantasy points to opposing running backs in the league.
Moose’s Prediction: 133 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.
WR: If you’ve watched the Saints at all these last two weeks, you would have seen a disappearance act by both Amari Cooper and Mike Evans when matched up against Marshon Lattimore. This week he’ll likely be guarding D.J. Chark since he’s been one of the best receivers in all of football this season, which will leave Dede Westbrook to have a big game against the Saints subpar secondary (minus Lattimore obviously). Westbrook was targeted 11 times last week against the Panthers, so he should see at least that many looks again in what will likely be a high scoring affair.
Moose’s Prediction: 10 receptions, 114 yards, and 1 touchdown.
TE: Greg Olsen has received just 6 targets over the last two weeks, but that probably has something to do with the fact Christian McCaffrey has a whopping 62 touches over the last two games. I know it’s worked thus far and they got two wins out of it, but if there’s one surefire way to get a guy hurt in this league, it’s to let him get that many touches on a consistent basis. 100% a recipe for disaster and just isn’t sustainable, so as the Panthers look to give their best player more opportunity to get hurt, their second-year quarterback will inevitably look his veteran’s way.
Moose’s Prediction: 7 reception, 88 yards, and 1 touchdown.
Who I hate:
QB: The Los Angeles Rams have thrown the ball 117 times in the last two weeks, and each have those weeks have resulted in a loss for the team. Going forward, the Rams will not be letting Jared Goff throw nearly that much and will look to lean on Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown (but mostly Gurley) quite a bit more. Plus, when you factor in their matchup against the San Francisco 49ers and their strong defense, it just doesn’t look so good for Goff in this one.
Moose’s Prediction: 240 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions.
RB: I made the foolish mistake of including this back on my hate list a few weeks back, and I’m (foolishly?) going to do it again. Dalvin Cook has been the most consistent fantasy superstar this season, but his time without even a mediocre game has run up. He’s matched up against the Philadelphia Eagles this week who’s clear strength on defense in their front 7 and their clear weak point is their secondary. The Vikings and Kirk Cousins really got the passing game going last week which they are going to continue to build off and have another big day through the air. Kirk may just round out his apology tour and throw the ball to Diggs 15 times to make him happy since last week was Thielen’s turn.
Moose’s Prediction: 51 rushing yards, 3 receptions, and 29 receiving yards.
WR: This one sort of goes hand-in-hand with the quarterback I hate this week, but since Cooper Kupp is the WR3 overall right now, I thought it would be fitting with looking for tougher selections. The 49ers defense has been pretty stout this season and I’m thinking Richard Sherman might be keying in on Goff’s go-to guy. Obviously, you don’t sit a guy that’s the third highest scoring receiver, but if you want to win it’s something you may have to consider depending on your backups.
Moose’s Prediction: 4 receptions and 66 yards.
TE: This is the hardest one for me to decide on each week because tight ends this season have been quite mediocre outside of a couple guys, so it’s not fun for me since it’s fairly easy to select a tight end that isn’t going to score much. It pains me to say it, but Zach Ertz is the guy making the list this week. He’s still Wentz’s favorite target, but from the eye test (I make sure to at least watch the Eagles every week) it seems like they aren’t looking his way as often down in the redzone. They just have so many viable options and love using Jordan Howard’s big frame near the goaline, so there have been fewer opportunities for Planet Ertz.
Moose’s Prediction: 5 receptions and 62 yards.
~Moose~