Dominating My Fantasy League — Week 5
Ouch.
So before I get into my ramblings about what decisions I did and did not make this week, I want to wish Dak Prescott a speedy recovery for that just brutal injury he suffered in the third quarter against the Giants. Gallup’s body language said it all — Dak was hurt and hurt bad. He’s known around the league as a top notch player but also just a genuinely good guy so I truly do hope he gets healthy and back in the amazing form he’s been in so far this season for next year. Football takes no prisoners and one play can drastically the change because of a single play and these guys go out there and put their bodies on the line and I watch from a very safe distance because I am a coward.
But as I am documenting this journey of evaluating weekly player performance in hopes of winning my fantasy league, I must press on. I also must admit that I am not doing so hot. I feel like I’m finding some good players to add that are getting more involved week over week, but I’ve got a 2–3 record so something is not right.
Prescott aside, another player I’ve kept in is Diontae Johnson. I took a risk picking up Johnson thinking after Week 2’s performance, he would be a bigger part of the offense. Johnson may very well be that influential piece, but after leaving Week 3 early with a concussion, not playing in Week 4 and now going out early in Week 5 with a back injury, I have to make a decision as to whether or not I should keep him. In terms of wide receivers, I have DeAndre Hopkins, Robby Anderson, Julio Jones, and Jamison Crowder. Julio Jones has so far been plagued with a nasty hamstring injury, but when he’s healthy, he’s a major key to the Falcons’ offense. Anderson has been an ever growing target for Bridgewater on the Panthers. Last week alone he was targeted 13 times and caught 8 for 112 yards. Jamison Crowder was a pickup I made last week. The Jets may be 0–5, but Crowder is their go-to. He was targeted 10 times and caught 8 for 116 yards. He also caught the only touchdown for the Jets. I have a good roster so I just need to decide if I need to cut my losses with Johnson or what.
Now back before Week 4, I picked up Jonnu Smith for a tight end spot on my team. I had to look back as to why I wanted Smith since the Titans game then got postponed due to a COVID outbreak, but safe to say his performance Tuesday night(totally weird) validated his presence. Smith may have only been targeted 7 times, but 2 of those times he scored a touchdown. He’s reliable and steady on the offensive line and he will be remaining right there. Last week I did make the decision to pick up Dalton Schultz of the Cowboys. In Week 4, I had grabbed Mo Alie-Cox who exceeded expectations, but is still a smaller part of the game than Schultz has proven to be. Schultz is targeted an average of 7 times per game compared to Alie-Cox who is only targeted 3.25 times. I don’t think I need to go into detail that after the injury to Prescott, the Cowboys scheme changed drastically and he didn’t really connect with backup quarterback Andy Dalton.
As for running backs, I have a solid set up in Derrick Henry, Chris Carson, Mark Ingram and Darrell Henderson (my pickup from Week 4). Mark Ingram while a fantastic RB hasn’t performed the way I would want. Take a look at the graphs below. The top graph shows the total number of rushing attempts. Seriously no one comes close to Henry so obviously he’s staying put. Ingram only attempts 8.5 carries per game and amasses 37 yards per game. His yards per attempt are higher than Henderson so far this season but at the end of the day he’s really just not a part of the game the way I need him to be. What did stand out to me was Damien Harris of the Patriots. He played his first game in Week 4 and carried for 17 attempts, 100 yards in just one game. I want to take a chance and assume that as the season goes on, he’ll be a bigger part of the offense. Henderson on the other hand had a fantastic Week 5 — running for 38 yards on 15 attempts and scoring 1 rushing touchdown. Henderson was also targeted 4 times, even scoring a receiving touchdown to go with his rushing one.
As for my Defense, last week I made the devastating decision to go against my beloved Jets and chose the Broncos. Now the Broncos are not the best defense out there so I knew I wanted to look to other teams. I landed on the New England Patriots who had allowed only 92 points in the first 4 games. They allowed only 58% of the red zone attempts and managed to get 8 turnovers in total. Of course I go with New England (again my blood is just boiling) and their game gets postponed! Covid has other plans and while yes my fantasy analysis is super important, the players who’s schedules are completely thrown off and despite practicing all week suddenly have the rug pulled out from under them are the ones really at the short end of the stick. But either way when I realized just before the games on Sunday were set to start I needed a new team, I just went with what team was rostered the highest percent so I got New Orleans. They ended up with 3 points. It was fine and I admit it was rushed. Just something to focus on for Week 6!
A frantic week to be sure. Covid rescheduling is a beast to contend with and the ever shifting schedule is tough to keep track of but it is fun to make these decisions rooted in data and see how they work out. Plus while the Jets lose by double digits, I can focus my attention on my fantasy players and become invested in other games beyond just having it on to just have something on.
If you want to check out my github — see here. I’ll be back for Week 6 where hopefully my QB decision is easy and the defense I choose won’t have to be scrapped at 12:45 on Sunday.
