NFL Fantasy Football Week 4: Studs and Duds

By "Studs" I don't mean the players that will perform the best at their position necessarily.  I mean players that will outperform their expected weekly outputs.  The opposite applies for "Duds." 

For instance, me calling Justin Forsett a stud, and Ray Rice a dud, doesn't mean you bench Rice in favor of Forsett, it just means that I expect Forsett to outperform his usual numbers and Rice to under perform this week. 

That being said, here we go:

Studs

Justin Forsett RB Sea

After a preseason of skepticism about who would be the man in Seattle, Pete Carroll showed last week who his go to guy is.  Now that he’s the man in Seattle, Forsett is gifted the porous Rams defense to showcase his abilities.  He won’t disappoint this weekend.

Roscoe Parrish WR Buf

Parrish has become one of Fitzpatrick’s favorite targets this season.  The shifty receiver has been targeted often this year, and with Darrelle Revis out again, the Jets secondary is just a little bit worse than usually. 

The Jets will also have a lead, so Buffalo will keep throwing.  All signs point to another big day for Roscoe. 

Brandon Jackson RB GB

Green Bay isn’t a team that will run the ball on you all day.  Yes, usually their offense goes with their exceptional passing attack.  But they’ll have an early lead against Shaun Hill’s Lions, and they won’t look back. 

I actually think this Lions team are pretty good, but not with Matthew Stafford out.  Green Bay will light it up early, and then uncharacteristically feed Jackson the rock over and over. 

Brandon Marshall WR Mia

We’ve learned many things about the Patriots this season, two things in particular.  We learned Tom Brady can light up the scoreboard, and that their secondary has a lot of holes. 

The Dolphins would like to play their style of ground and pound offense but will need to put up a lot of points to keep up with the Pats.  Marshall will exploit the lackluster New England secondary for a huge game.

Duds

Ray Rice RB Bal

By all means, don’t bench Ray Rice unless you have other great options.  I’m merely suggesting that he won’t have as good of a day as you would normally expect from a running back of his caliber. 

The Steelers held Chris Johnson to under 40 yards rushing.  Yes, that’s the same Chris Johnson that had 12 straight 100-yard rushing games entering that contest.  This game will be a tough, hard-fought game and Rice is entering with a deep bone bruise in his knee.  I’d lower expectations for all your Steelers and Ravens, particularly Rice. 

Maurice Jones-Drew RB Jac

With MoJo, the same rules as Rice apply.  Don’t bench him unless you have unbelievable replacements.  But also, don’t expect him to put up his usual numbers either.  The Colts, as always, will put up huge numbers offensively.  And as we all know, that means Jacksonville will have to throw as they play catch-up. 

Look, Jones-Drew will still probably put up solid numbers, just not top 10 fantasy back numbers. 

Braylon Edwards WR NYJ

Nobody expected Braylon Edwards, coming off a DUI arrest, to put up the numbers he put up last week.  He seems to be The Sanchize’s favorite target early on this season.  I’d expect a drop off this week. 

The Jets will pound the ball and make the Bills look like the University of Buffalo Bulls.  I don’t expect many in the Jets passing attack to have that big of numbers this weekend.