Far-fetched. That might be a better way to describe my list below. Actually any synonym for “out there” or “outrageous” found in Webster’s thesaurus is much better than “cray cray” (today’s generation scares me). Any way you prefer to spell or say it, get ready, because I’m about to hock a loogie of fantasy football week 5 prognostication all over you.
I hate palm readers and I am by no means a fortune teller. Hell, I don’t even understand the meaning behind the fortune cookie that came along with my General Tso’s chicken yesterday. But by using my noggin and this little thing called the Internet, I researched this week’s upcoming games, which lead to the following fantasy football predictions. Hey, the more I make, the higher my odds are of actually getting one right. Right? For now, I’ll gloat even if I scratch the surface of one. Ok, enough’s enough. Here are my week 5 cray cray (ughhh) projections:
Three’s Company
– The Oakland Raiders will combine to rush for at least 200 yards and score 2 TD’s.
The Oakland Raiders’ backfield consisting of Latavius Murray, DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard might be the most talented, yet underrated backfield in the league. In standard league scoring, these three backs have combined to score 84 fantasy points (21 fpg) through the first 4 weeks. San Diego allows the 2nd most fantasy points at the running back position so far this season. Murray continues to carry the workload and holds role of the lead back, but Washington and Richard will be featured more against the Chargers’ poor rush defense.
Dirty Little Slot
– Randall Cobb will finish top 5 in fantasy points for wide receivers.
Randall Cobb has not surpassed, or even reached, 60 receiving yards in a game through Green Bay’s first three games. Aaron Rodgers targeted Cobb over 125 times in each of the past two seasons. He has just 18 targets through the Packers’ week 4 bye. With Jordy Nelson starting to, well, be Jordy Nelson again, he will force the defense’s secondary to attend more towards his area of the field which will give Cobb additional opportunities to produce like we’ve been expecting him to do.
Charles in Charge
– Charles Sims has both a rush TD and receiving TD.
With Doug Martin sidelined, Charles Sims has become Tampa Bay’s every down back. The HAMster (I dropped the extra Eddie Lacy weight from Martin’s nickname) has been a workhorse out of the Bucs’ backfield, including his ability to catch on passing downs, making him a duel threat.
Tampa Bay plays Carolina in week 5. Carolina’s run defense has been solid since allowing CJ Anderson to put up 139 total yards and 2 TDs in week 1. But if the Bucs are able to stay with the Panthers, Sims will be able to bounce back after last week’s let down in Denver.
Big ol’ TE’s
–The Colts’ tight ends will each have more fantasy points than Jordan Reed.
The Indianapolis Colts are a pass first offense, highlighted by Luck’s receiving corps: Hilton, Dorsett, and (when healthy) Moncrief. The Colts have run double tight end sets more often than not. Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle each get their fair share of targets per game. There will be holes in the middle of Chicago’s defense for Indy’s tight ends to have a field day in the Windy City.
The Baltimore Ravens’ defense against opposing tight ends has been just shy of being unstoppable. Tight ends are averaging under 3 catches per game and 30 yards receiving per game against Baltimore. They have not allowed more than 4 fantasy points to an opposing tight end through the first four weeks. This is probably one of the toughest matchups Jordan Reed will face all season.
Marsha, Marsha, Marsha
– Carr, Luck and Dalton will all have more fantasy points than Brady.
The four week suspension is over. Tom Brady is back in action as the Patriots’ starting quarterback. I expect Brady to have a good game. Good game…not great or spectacular. The Pats are playing Cleveland so I do expect them to put points up on the scoreboard but mainly on the ground. Brady couldn’t ask for a better team to play his first week back. If the NFL was a high school gym class, the Browns would be the wall-eyed kid chewing on his tongue that gets picked last every week. They are a practice squad for many teams in the league. “Brady “will throw and his receiving “Bunch” will catch, but I think this will be more of a scrimmage-type situation than a real game. Belichick will rely heavily on the run against Cleveland resulting in Brady putting up mid-range fantasy numbers. Looking at each of their match-ups, Derek Carr, Andrew Luck and Andy Dalton will each outscore Tom Brady in fantasy football leagues this week.
Best of luck in fantasy football week 5!
Get at me: @eskorupa_PAS