20 Fantasy Football Studs and Duds For Week Five

DB:Antoine Winfield, Vikings

Those that are in the know in IDP have been waiting for Winfield’s break out game of the season.  He always seems to be at the top of the IDP rankings for defensive backs.  It isn’t a more stylish name but that doesn’t matter in fantasy football.  Forced fumble, recovery, on a sack.  Eight tackles…oh yeah, that blocked kick returned for a TD as well.

Team Dud:

QB: Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks

In a game where the Seahawks were getting Deion Branch and Bobby Engram back we expected more from Hasselbeck.  The Giants defense is obviously for real, but 105 yards and a pick does not make much for fantasy numbers, huh?  Yes, he was benched, but after the damage was done and the offense just didn’t get it done.

RB: Larry Johnson, Chiefs

A week after making team stud and relieving all those owners that had been waiting for production out of Johnson, we are back to square one.  Johnson put up a daisy like two yards on seven carries.  Herm Edwards then went back to taking a look at the kids by handing the ball over to Jamaal Charles and Kolby Smith. 

If Johnson can find a good enough matchup to stay in the game long enough to have a monster game again we may want to take a look at moving him.

RB: Adrian Peterson, Vikings

Sure, you were licking your chops having Peterson left in your lineup going against the poor Saints defense.  Yards galore and TD’s, enough to carry your team, right?  Wrong.

32 yards and a reception is all that Peterson could patch together against the Saints in his worst performance of the season.  Not on Peterson, the Saints defense was tough against the run out of nowhere.  Had to hurt his owners though.

WR: Santana Moss, Redskins

Your big names are expected to step up in big games.  Moss was only targeted twice against the Cowboys and was held without a catch.  Sure, this helped the Redskins by drawing so much attention to Moss that Chris Cooley was able to make the Stud team for the first time this season.  But that isn’t going to make fantasy owners who have Moss rest any easier.

WR: Brandon Marshall, Broncos

Owners who gave Marshall a fantasy pass on his suspension have been very lucky with his output up until this week.  It was bound to happen and this week it did.  A pedestrian three catches for 25 yards brought some of those owners back down to earth.  A beast against man to man coverage, the Bucs had different ideas with their zone.  He will be back to making you happy soon enough, you’ll see.

TE: Antonio Gates, Chargers

All those guys that grabbed Gates before Jason Witten, despite all the rankings lists leading into the season, are feeling it now.  He is still in the top three as far as scoring in leagues with PPR right now but this week’s one catch for 12 yards is not acceptable.  His injured hip is lingering.  You will get some points out of him sometime but he certainly is not the TE he was without the hip stinger.

DT/ST: Buffalo Bills

If your league allows negative points, the Bills may have put you in the hole at the Team Defense/Special Teams slot.  Just demolished by the Cardinals.

Individual Defensive Players (IDP)

LB: Brian Urlacher, Bears

Not the worst performance by a LB this week but it was a drop from even his average performance so far this season.  Two tackles and two assists is not what you expected taking this guy. 

What is scary is that we are in Week Five and this is his second game with that type of score.  We would like to think that he will pick things up as we move on with the season, but right now if you have to have a Bears LB is appears that Lance Briggs is the guy to have.

DL: Gaines Adams, Buccaneers

Adams has been pretty consistent up until this week.  Owners had to be disappointed in his one tackle and one assist after scoring well the previous three weeks for an IDP lineman.  If you were lucky enough to draft him in an IDP Dynasty league you will have more good weeks than bad weeks.

DB: Chris Gamble, Panthers

Chris Gamble started the season with a couple of solid monster games and has remained consistent since.  This week he only posted one tackle with a couple of passes defensed. 

Still, in a defense where Richard Marshall and Chris Harris were supposed to be the defensive backs for you to draft, Gamble has been a good gamble for those that took him and should expect more good weeks out of him.

Honorable Mention:  Martin Gramatica

Don’t ever mention kicker, but…You are dead to me.

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