20 Fantasy Football Studs and Duds For Week Five

20 Fantasy Football Studs and Duds From Week Five

October 7, 2008

Another crazy week in the NFL and Fantasy Football.  Some new names on Team Stud and Team Dud.  Some players switched teams this week.  Let’s have a look at the top dog’s and the dog’s that laid down this week in fantasy football, including Individual Defensive Players (IDP)…

Team Stud:

QB: Aaron Rodgers, Packers

The Packers did not get the win against the Falcons but many fantasy owners got the win that started a hurting Aaron Rodgers this week.  Take away the interception, you have a QB who has shown you some toughness playing through the injury this week, and gave you 313 yards and three TD’s. 

From the looks of it Rodgers should be able to play this week against the Seahawks and despite what some fantasy sites say (KFFL) he is not a sleeper, he is a top three fantasy QB right now in points.

RB: DeAngelo Williams, Panthers

So if you have a handcuff on the Carolina backfield, chances are you had Jonathan Stewart in the starting lineup.  If you have listened to FootballJabber.com dating back to months before the season, you drafted Williams and stashed him away specifically for the week five bye week. 

You did?  Thanks for listening.  You didn’t?  Subscribe via RSS.  Okay, enough tooting of thy horn.  We don’t know how long he will hold Stewart off but the carries were almost equal (Stewart 19, Williams 20), and Williams made more of his touches.

RB: Brandon Jacobs, Giants

Brandon Jacobs came out like a monster against the Seahawks.  He lost carries later in the game but the damage was done.  136 yards and two TD’s.  Yippie for the Jacobs owners out there.  Next comes the Browns (22nd vs. the run) and the Niners (23rd vs. the run).  Jacobs only had 15 carries, which tells us he can get the job done while sharing time.

WR: TJ Houshmandzadeh, Bengals

Two weeks since his last appearance on Team Stud, Housh returns.  Houshmandzadeh found the endzone twice in a game performance by the Bengals against the Cowboys.  There has seemed to be some balance here and there with the distibution and performance between Housh and Chad Johnson.  It is clear nowdays that he is the one to have out of the pair.

WR: Andre Johnson

Those who drafted Johnson early, (ADP round and pick of 2.07 at Fantasy Football Calculator) have been waiting for a game like this.  For most at that position he was likely drafted as a No.1 fantasy WR.  He was a monster bringing the ball in nine times, once for a TD and 131 yards.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, even when Matt Schaub’s injury comes…if Sage Rosenfels isn’t ran out of town he can obviously get Johnson the ball.

TE: Chris Cooley, Redskins

Cooley was ranked as a Top Five TE in many rankings prior to the season.  He is playing like it.  109 yards and a TD on eight receptions.  This is the type of production you want to see out of your TE.  Considering it has taken the Redskins a little to adapt to Jim Zorn’s offense, we can forgive the Week One game and look at the recent weeks as an indication of what is to come.

DT/ST: Carolina Panthers

We know that the Chiefs have a terrible offense.  Forcing turnovers and sacks, thrown in with only allowing 127 yards in four quarters, the Panthers were money this week.

Individual Defensive Players (IDP)

LB: Patrick Willis, 49ers

The beast is alive!  Willis was throwing up average numbers every other game but broke that cycle this week with a whopping 14 tackles, four assists, and a sack.  Willis was the first LB off the board inmost IDP drafts and with good reason when you look at the totals for the season up to this point.

DL: Mike Patterson, Eagles

It’s not often that the top defensive lineman on the IDP scoreboard is a DT.  This week Patterson’s eight tackles and two assists were enough to put him up there.  If you say you saw this one coming we have to say you are not being honest with yourself or anyone else considering he has not topped a tackle in each game up to this point.

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.