Monday Night Week 6 Fantasy Football Breakdown: Miami Dolphins at New York Jets

Week 6 Monday Night Matchup:

Miami Dolphins (0-4) at New York Jets (2-3)

Miami Dolphins  

Opponent Defensive Ranks

New York Jets Rush Defense—2011: 134.8 Yards Allowed/Game (26th) || Eight TDs Allowed (T-31st)

New York Jets Pass Defense—2011: 203 Yards Allowed/Game (5th) || Three TDs Allowed (T-1st)

Miami Offensive Cast

Matt Moore (QB Week 6 Ranking: No. 25)

2011 Season: 17/26—for 167 yards, 0 TDs and one INT

Moore has had a few decent games in his career, but this won’t be one of them. The Jets likely own the best pass defense in the game and have allowed the least amount of fantasy points to opposing QBs this season, so I hope you didn’t get creative and start Moore this week.

Chad Henne (QB Week 6 Ranking: Out For the Season)

2011 Season: 64/112—for 868 Yards, four TDs and four INTs

Henne was put on IR last week, thus ending his season.

Daniel Thomas (RB Week 6 Ranking: No. 18)

2011 Season: 41 carries for 202 yards and 0 TDs || Four receptions for 37 yards and one TD

After a much needed bye week, Thomas will return to the lineup tonight and looks like he might be past his hamstring injury…at least for now.

If the Jets defense has been susceptible to one thing this season, it’s the power running game, so expect Thomas to be involved early and often. He might not get a huge workload in his return, but since the Jets have allowed the most rushing TDs in the league thus far, Thomas might not need a thousand carries to get into the end zone.

Reggie Bush (RB Week 6 Ranking: No. 28)

2011 Season: 40 carries for 119 yards and 0 TDs || 13 receptions for 86 yards and one TD

With Daniel Thomas out in Week 4, Bush was given a second chance to reclaim the starting job in Miami. No such luck. Reggie continued to show why he never should have had the job in the first place; i.e. his inability to sustain any sort of inside rushing attack.

That said, I do believe he’ll be useful tonight catching balls out of the backfield while throwing a few change-of-pace runs in the mix. He’s only a flex play, but at least he can be used in some capacity for your fantasy team.

Brandon Marshall (WR Week 6 Ranking: No. 19)

2011 Season: 22 receptions for 313 yards and one TD

Marshall was mouthing off all week saying that he plans on getting thrown out of the game tonight in the second quarter because he'll be playing with so much emotion, he won't be able to help himself.

It's certainly possible for this to happen, but it might be more out of frustration than anything else.

To give Brandon some credit here, in his first game against the Jets last season, he was targeted 17 times while catching 10 of them for 166 yards and a TD. In the second game, he only caught two of his six targets but DID make one of them count by taking it into the end zone.

No matter what happens tonight, it's sure to be a good show.

Davone Bess (WR Week 6 Ranking: No. 55)

2011 Season: 15 receptions for 207 yards and 0 TDs

Bess could be a decent play for PPR leagues, but that’s about it.

Brian Hartline (WR Week 6 Ranking: Not Ranked)

2011 Season: 13 receptions for 201 yards and one TD

Hartline is doing pretty well starting opposite Brandon Marshall, but he’s an extreme long-shot to put up points tonight if you played him as a flex.

Anthony Fasano (TE Week 6 Ranking: No. 26)

2011 Season: Seven receptions for 117 yards and 0 TDs

Fasano isn’t involved enough in the offense to have been worth taking a chance on, though you never know with Matt Moore under center. He may check down and dump it off to him more often than we're used to seeing.

New York Jets

Opponent Defensive Ranks

Miami Rush Defense—2011: 107.5 Yards Allowed/Game (14th) || Two TDs Allowed (T-7th)

Miami Pass Defense—2011: 307 Yards Allowed/Game (31st) || Nine TDs Allowed (T-20th)

New York Jets Offensive Cast

Mark Sanchez (QB Week 6 Ranking: No. 20)

2011 Season: 97/173—for 1,171 yards, eight TDs and five INTs

Coach Ryan stayed true to his word and went back to the “ground-and-pound” approach last weekend. It worked pretty well as the Jets were able to control the clock and at least stick around with the Patriots for most of the game. Because of this, New York will likely continue this offensive approach for the remainder of the season.

Basically, Mark Sanchez’s run as a top-10 QB for the first part of the season is over. He may be able to toss up a TD or two against this so-so Miami pass D, but you shouldn’t have counted on it enough to have started him on your fantasy team.

Shonn Greene (RB Week 6 Ranking: No. 14)

2011 Season: 72 carries for 240 yards and two TDs || 12 receptions for 69 yards and 0 TDs

I don’t want to say that Shonn Greene is back as a top-tier RB possibility, but last week’s performance sure was a relief for fantasy owners to see.

With Coach Ryan re-instilling the “ground-and-pound” approach last weekend, Greene put up 83 yards on 21 carries and added his second touchdown of the season. We’ll see if Rex decides to stay with it or not, but I’m guessing that he will and if so, it might be the one thing that could turn Shonn’s season around and make him that “breakout candidate” after all.

He should have been started as an RB2 this week with the hopes that the upside of 20-plus carries comes to fruition.

LaDainian Tomlinson (RB Week 6 Ranking: No. 43)

2011 Season: 22 carries for 72 yards and 0 TDs || 14 receptions for 202 yards and one TD

Tomlinson isn’t quite the back he used to be and it seems Rex Ryan is taking notice. Even though the Jets ran the ball like crazy last week, Tomlinson was only used sparingly getting just two carries and three total touches on the day.

The future Hall of Famer can still do some damage coming out of the backfield, but don't expect too much from here on out.

Santonio Holmes (WR Week 6 Ranking: No. 21)

2011 Season: 17 receptions for 224 yards and two TDs

Santonio can be an extremely frustrating fantasy player to own as you never really know when he’ll bust out for a big game. His 100-yard games are few and far between, but he does seem to catch the big touchdown whenever it’s needed.

This week Santonio decided to stick his foot in his mouth again by calling out the offensive line and blaming them for the Jets early-season poor performance.

We'll see where that gets him but at the very least, we're sure to see an inspired Holmes flying around out there tonight.

Plaxico Burress (WR Week 6 Ranking: No. 33)

2011 Season: 13 receptions for 202 yards and two TDs

Plaxico has grabbed a couple of TD passes thus far, but that’s about it. He can be used as a low-end WR3 or a flex from week to week, but you shouldn’t expect too much.

With Rex Ryan and the Jets returning to the “ground-and-pound” approach, Plaxico's fantasy potential is somewhat capped but with the Dolphins pass D giving up the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing receivers, there's at least a shot of hitting paydirt.

Jeremy Kerley (WR Week 6 Ranking: Not Ranked)

2011 Season: Three receptions for 35 yards and one TD

Kerley will serve as the WR3 now that Derrick Mason has been shipped out of town. Give it a couple weeks before passing judgment.

Derrick Mason (WR Week 6 Ranking: In Houston)

2011 Season: 13 receptions for 115 yards and 0 TDs

Mason was traded to the Houston Texans for a conditional seventh-round pick last week. 

Dustin Keller (TE Week 6 Ranking: No. 8)

2011 Season: 19 receptions for 268 yards and two TDs

Miami gives up the most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends in the entire league, so Keller might be able to bust out a nice game for his owners.

Expect a few play-action quick-slant passes thrown his way tonight with a good chunk of yardage coming out of them.

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Rankings based on top 26 QBs, 50 RBs, 75 WRs and 30 TEs

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