Fantasy Football Recap and Overreactions: Week 5

Week 5 Fantasy Reactions

The Thursday night game could not have started week 5 any slower than it did. Not a single touchdown was scored. Spoiler alert, no touchdowns is bad for fantasy. There were a few players in the double digits, but it was gross. The Colts pulled off the win but wow was that concerning from both teams? Switching over to the U.K., the Giants, who were underdogs by 8 points, wound up winning by 5. The final score was 27-22. Brian Daboll is brewing something spicy in NY!

The Bills simply took care of business. 38-3 was the final score, poor Kenny Pickett. Tough game for your first start. I like his grit, though. The Browns went up 14-0, and then guess what happened? Yep, they blew it. Lost 30-28. The Bears fought in a difficult division matchup but lost 29-22. The top-scoring team in the NFL, the Detroit Lions, put up a goose egg against Bailey Zappe and the Patriots. The Lions lost 29-0. Miami gave up 40 to Zach Wilson and the Jets. Oh, and the Breece Hall breakout is here. The Jets won 40-19. Miami needs to be at full strength sooner rather than later. Saints and Seahawks could be the game of the week, that’s how exciting it was. Despite the Seahawks’ best effort, the Saints got the W, 39-32. The Bucs walked away with a win after a very questionable, very game-altering call. I hope the league cuts this shit out. It ruins the game.

The Titans leave week 5 with a win against the Commanders and caused Ron Rivera to basically say Carson Wentz is trash. The Texans beat the Jaguars in a game that could have been confused with a good baseball game. 13-6 was the final score. The 49ers beat the Panthers so badly, Matt Rhule got canned. They’re now looking at answers for coaching and QB. The Cowboys embarrassed the Rams, the Rams are now 2-3 and it doesn’t look great in LA. The Eagles move to 5-0 after coming to Phoenix and getting a tight W. Justin Tucker, the GOAT, did his thing in the final seconds and sent the Bengals packing. The Chiefs got by the Raiders, and move to 4-1 in the AFC West.

Now they’re we’re settled in, let’s look at the week 5 action.

Broncos vs Colts

I mean realistically, the highlights of this game go to the kickers. Chase McLaughlin was 4/4 and Brandon McManus was 3 for 4. Russell Wilson threw for 274 passing yards, but 2 picks and no touchdowns. Not a good day. Matt Ryan was even worse. 251 passing yards and 2 interceptions as well. Melvin Gordon, who took over the starting role after the Javonte William’s injury, managed to put together 100 scrimmage yards. Cortland Sutton also had an average day with 5 catches for 74 yards. For the Colts, both Michael Pittman Jr and Alex Pierce had solid days. Pierce caught 8 passes for 81 yards and Pittman Jr, caught 5 for 59 yards. There really isn’t much else to highlight. Pay attention to Russell Wilson’s status for next week. He is apparently dealing with a banged-up shoulder.

Trade Targets: I have my eye on Alec Pierce. Matt Ryan may not look great on paper, but he is 6th in passing yards, and Alec Pierce is literally on the receiving end of that. His price shouldn’t be too expensive, and he’s providing double-digit fantasy scores.

Packers vs Giants

Two straight London games were nail-biters! The Packers and Aaron Rodgers got out to a lead early, but the Giants never gave up. Daniel Jones & Saquon Barkley led the G-men to a 27-22 win. Saquon had 70 rush yards and a touchdown as well as 3 catches for 36 yards (19.6 total fantasy points). Darius Slayton out of nowhere had 6 catches for 79 yards but I’d be surprised if anyone was playing him in fantasy… Randall Cobb had a great day with 7 catches for 99 yards. I wonder how many started him this week? Allen Lazard didn’t have the best day but he did get 4 catches for 35 yards and a score. Touchdowns can change a player’s weekly outlook! This game came down to the last player of the game, and the G-men take the W back to the motherland with them. They haven’t lost in London!

Trade Targets: I think the only person I’m actively trying to get from these teams is Romeo Doubs or A.J. Dillon. Doubs is more for redraft. He is establishing a solid connection with Rodgers. Dillon is more dynasty, his not quite producing as people hoped, so teams with a contending lineup may want an asset that can get them points/wins now rather than in the future.

Steelers vs Bills

This game got out of hand quickly. The Bills muffed the ball on the opening kickoff, they started on the 1-yard line. The Bills take a deep shot on the 3rd play of the game and score a 98-yard touchdown to Gabriel Davis. Speaking of Davis, how about his day?! Davis had 171 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns! Good for 32 fantasy points and WR1 on the week. Stefon Diggs had another great game, with 8 catches for 102 yards and a score. Elite, per usual. We even saw rookie WR Khalil Shakir get involved with a 24-yard touchdown grab. The Bills dominated this game. The sad part, this was Kenny Pickett’s rookie debut. Not ideal. Pickett did rack up 327 yards, but he threw that ball 52 times because they were down from the get-go. Bad game script for a rookie debut. George Pickens saw 8 targets for 6 catches and 83 yards. Diontae Johnson was targeted 13 times, but only wound up having 5 catches for 60 yards. I need to see what happened to those 8 targets he didn’t grab. I imagine most were bad throws because I saw a few of them, and they weren’t good. No one really had a fantasy-relevant game for the Steelers outside of Pickens & Diontae. Bills won 38-3.

Trade Targets: I would try to trade and upgrade with Gabe Davis if you can. It took an injury to Dawson Knox and Isiah McKenzie for Gabe Davis to put up these numbers. I’m not trying to take anything away from Davis’ game. What I’m saying is you can potentially trade for a more consistent player using his big game to your advantage.

Chargers vs Browns

This was another nail-biter! Feels like there were so many games like this. This game was an exciting showdown between two amazing running backs. Nick Chubb logged 134 rush yards and 2 touchdowns while Austin Ekeler reached 173 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. Ekeler scored 35.9 points this week, tied for RB1. Chubb scored 25.4 on the day. Great performances all around. Kareem Hunt found the end zone this week too, but only 47 yards to go with it. Still a decent fantasy week (14.7 points). Mike Williams had a huge day, he caught 10 passes for 134 yards but wasn’t able to find the end zone. Even though he caught one toe-tapping but his heel came down out of bounds. I still think those catches should be counted, but that is just my opinion. David Njoku and Amari Cooper had good days. Njoku caught 6 passes for 88 yards and Cooper reeled in 7 balls for 76 yards and a score. 20.6 for Cooper and 14.8 for Njoku. The Browns had a chance to win this at the end, not once, but twice. And you guessed it, they blew it. Brandon Staley was basically handing Cleveland the win, but the Chargers lucked out. Got the W.

Trade Targets: In the next couple of weeks, if Amari or Njoku have a bad game or two, I would try to target them. They’re playing really well with Brissett, imagine when Deshaun is tossing the rock? Just sayin…

Vikings vs Bears

Kirk Cousins basically dominated this game, but it didn’t feel like it watching it. I would say that’s because he only had 1 passing touchdown thanks to the run game doing the work. Cousins connected on 78% of his passes. I know what you’re thinking, and no, he was not 13/16 or something like that. No, Kirk was 32/41 with 296 passing yards and 2 total touchdowns. Hell of a day. Dalvin Cook had a good day, he ran for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns. Justin Jefferson couldn’t be stopped, per usual. Jefferson caught 12 balls for 154 yards. Big PPR day for JJet. The Bears didn’t have that great of an offensive day despite being in a good game. Fields finally topped 200 passing yards, Mooney made some nice catches, and Montgomery looked solid in his first game back from injury. Not much else to talk about here besides the Bears should host open tryouts for linemen. I want Fields to have a good offensive line so bad.

Trade Targets: There isn’t anyone from this game I’m eager to go trade for. If you can somehow manage to trade Kmet in dynasty because finally did something, I would do that.

Patriots vs Lions

The only people who enjoyed watching this were Patriots fans. Lions fans had to watch their #1 scoring team put up a goose egg. Not even a field goal. Jared Goff looked bad without his run game helping him out. Williams only had 56 yards with no score and the backups didn’t help much either. Quiet game from Amon-Ra St. Brown, 4 catches for 18 yards. He was a late addition to the team as he was recovering from an injury. Not sure why they played him when their bye week is next week but here we are. For the Pats, Bailey Zappe didn’t look terrible for his first NFL start, but nothing was exciting about his first start either. The highlight of the day would be Rhamondre Steveson and his 161 rush yards as well as Jakobi Meyers and his 7 catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. Patriots win this game handsomely 29-0. Tough outing for the Lions.

Trade Targets: Jakobi Meyers would be on this list. But it’s a short list. If you can snag Amon-Ra and wait a week to be able to play him, his price could be a little low right now for his manager. It’s a stretch, but you never know.

Saints vs Seahawks

The Seahawks may not be a great team but man they sure are fun to watch! Geno Smith is doing his thing for Seattle. He put up 268 pass yards with 3 touchdowns on Sunday. 24 fantasy points on the day. So did Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. Lockett caught 5 passes for 104 yards and 2 scores while Metcalf hauled in 5 for 88 and a score. We saw a huge play from Kenneth Walker III where he broke off a 69-yard touchdown run. They didn’t get the win, but they played a great game. The Saints were carried by Taysom Hill and his 112 rushing yards and 3 TDs. 34 fantasy points for Taysom this week. Alvin Kamara looks healthy, as we nearly had 100 rushing and 100 receiving yards. He wound up with 103 rushing and 97 receiving. 23.4 points for him since Taysom was hawking all of the touchdowns. Chris Olave was in line for a big game before he was taken out after a slam to the ground and his body went limp. He caught 4 for 54 yards and a score before being taken out of the game. I hope he is okay. His rookie campaign has been awesome. Check this tweet out from Dave Kluge. Had an Adam Trautman sighting on Sunday! Go Flyers! (That one was for my brothers). In the end, the Saints pulled out the W.

Trade Targets: If you can get a stud out of Taysom Hill, I would be selling in redraft. Once Jameis is healthy, it would surprise me if Taysom is utilized this much.

Falcons vs Buccaneers

The Falcons didn’t have much success on offense. Mariota had 147 passing yards and 1 score. He also led the Falcons in rushing with 61 yards. Rookie, Tyler Allgeier, had 13 carries for 45 yards. Drake London had a quiet week with 4 catches for 35 yards. As I said, not a good week to be a Falcon. Pivoting to the Bucs, they had a better week. Fournette led the team in rush yards (56) and receiving yards (83). He also had 2 touchdowns, one on the ground and one in the air. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin both scored 12 fantasy points but didn’t have much else production. This game was coming down to the wire until an interesting roughing the passer call. We’ve seen this call a few times this year, but now it’s becoming a little inconsistent. I’m not a fan of when refs control the outcome of the game, and it is seeming like that is what happened in this game. While it was only 21-15, the Falcons had been gaining momentum in the 2nd half. Bucs get the W, but we will be talking about that call for the next couple of days.

Trade Targets: Chris Godwin – he managed to score 12 points in a low-scoring game while having limited snaps in the second half. Buy him low if you can!

Quick Links

Dolphins vs Jets

This game was doomed for the Dolphins from the first snap. Teddy Bridgewater hurt his shoulder and get a concussion apparently on the first play. So, the Dolphins were without their top 2 quarterbacks, lost Terron Armstead in the game, and were without the top 2 CBs. Miami fought for a lot of the game, I will give them that. There was resiliency. But, with the defense on the field the entire game, the Jets took the momentum in the fourth quarter. Breece Hall dominated this game. He had nearly 200 yards from scrimmage. Hall caught 2 balls for 100 yards. Yikes. Miami’s defense was bad. Michael Carter had a good fantasy day, he scored 17 points thanks to 2 hawked touchdowns from Breece. Miami didn’t see much fantasy production outside of Raheem Mostert. Raheem nearly scored 2 touchdowns but he had over 100 rush yards and a score giving him 19 fantasy points. Tyreek managed to get 13 points, but he got banged up late in the game. Miami absolutely needs their playmakers back and healthy. The team looks vastly different without those anchors.

Trade Targets: If you can buy Jaylen Waddle low right now, I would do that. He and Tua have a proven connection. His price, in actuality, is much higher than it currently seems.

Titans vs Commanders

I’ll tell you what, I didn’t expect to be sitting here after week 5 saying Carson Wentz is top 5 in passing yards. The best part? That’s on a 1-4 team. They’ve been doing nothing but passing, and that’s benefitting Carson Wentz’s stat sheet. In this game, Wentz threw for 359 pass yards and 2 touchdowns. Of course, it was a Dyami Brown day, because why not? Brown had 2 catches for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns. Hell of a day, too bad probably no one started him in fantasy. Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel had decent days, Samuel had 6 for 62 and McLaurin had 5 for 76. Neither scored, which stinks, but it is what it is. The sad part is that Antonio Gibson looks worthless now that Brian Robinson is on the scene. Gibson had 3 carries for 6 yards. You may as well drop him in fantasy. For the Titans, Derrick Henry was really the only fantasy asset worth mentioning. He had 102 rush yards and 2 touchdowns, which in turn is 27 fantasy points. Dontrell Hilliard (good RB to stash) had a solid day. He only caught 4 passes for 23 yards, BUT he did manage to score so his fantasy day is worth noting. Another sort of bland game from a fantasy perspective, but the Commanders are falling way behind in the NFC East.

Trade Targets: I think I would try to acquire Brian Robinson, just depends on the cost. Because he didn’t stand out in his first game back, I would imagine it would be cheap, but you never know. Reach out to his manager or even check waivers for him.

Jaguars vs Texans

No disrespect, but you know when Marvin Jones is leading the Jaguars in production, they probably played not so well. That game kept popping up on Redzone and I was saying, “This has got to be Chrisitan Kirk”. Nope, not him. Then again, thinking it was his time, nope. It was Dameon Pierce. Kirk had 1 catch for 11 yards. Against the Texans? Sheesh. Evan Engram and Travis Etienne had solid days. Engram caught 6 passes for 69 yards and Etienne had 71 rush yards and 3 catches for 43 yards. Nice little 14-point week for Etienne. Not sure what happened to James Robinson this week. Switching over to the Texans, man is it cool to see what Dameon Pierce is doing for the Texans or what? Another big week for the Florida product. He was just shy of 100 rush yards by 1 point and scored a touchdown. Big week for Pierce scoring 20 points. Like many other teams this week, he was the lone man having a solid day. The next best fantasy player was Nico Collins with 10 points. Brandin Cooks had a quiet quiet day. The Texans got the win 13-6. Such an AFC South matchup.

Trade Targets: If you can buy low on Christian Kirk, I would do that in a heartbeat.

Panthers vs 49ers

The Panthers got beaten so badly by the 49ers that Matt Rhule lost his job because of it. On top of that, Baker Mayfield got hurt, so now he is out and the Panthers are sitting at 1-4 without a starting quarterback. You know what that means…the Cam Newton alarm is sounding. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he got a call from the Panthers. I have no idea if he’s in playing shape or if he is interested in playing again, but I know the Panthers need a QB. McCaffrey was the lone wolf having a solid fantasy day having 23 points. D.J. Moore needs to be freed, this man needs a competent quarterback. Send him to the Chiefs! This was a 49ers day all around. Heck, even a Tevin Coleman resurgence day! He had 21 fantasy points thanks to his 2 touchdowns. Jeff Wilson Jr also had a great day. He had 120 rush yards and a score. Deebo Samuel had a quiet day. Only had 20 receiving yards and 12 rush yards. Not ideal from a first/second-round pick. Still not much production from George Kittle, which is unfortunate because people spent early-round picks on this guy! Jimmy G had a good day. 253 passing yards with 2 touchdowns isn’t too shabby. The 49ers get a big win and the Panthers are now without a head coach and an identity. Will be interesting to see how Tepper (the owner) handles this going forward.

Trade Targets: If you can sell Jeff Wilson for someone solid that does not have the lead RB coming back shortly, I would trade him for said kind of player. Maybe a Kareem Hunt or Miles Sanders. As soon as Elijah Mitchell is back, Wilson’s value is done for.

Cowboys vs Rams

The Rams are very concerning right now. They have no run game, which is apparent after Cam Akers rushed for 33 yards. Also, why is Darrell Henderson not getting any work? Seems weird to me. Cooper Kupp is the only WR worth a damn because Stafford can only throw it to him. The only other fantasy asset would be Tyler Higbee, who is getting all of the “I can’t get it to Kupp” throws. So be it, it still counts. Higbee is having a great fantasy season. The Cowboys are 4-1 with Cooper Rush at the helm and they should be getting Dak Prescott back soon. That’s a situation to keep an eye on. The Dallas RB room had a solid day. Pollard led with 86 yards and a touchdown and Zeke had 78 yards to go alongside Pollard. CeeDee Lamb had a quiet day, he only 5 balls for 53 yards. The funny part is that was over 50% of Rush’s passing yards (he had 102 on the day). Another very vanilla game, with not much to highlight. Dallas moves to 4-1.

Trade Targets: Not really anyone. Pollard potentially? I don’t want Zeke. I wouldn’t mind CeeDee but his price is probably higher than I’d like because his manager knows Dak is coming back.

Eagles vs Cardinals

This game was 1 of 7 games where the winner had 22 points or less. I’m not sure off the top of my head if that is a typical thing in the NFL but it certainly seems like it isn’t. I would be surprised if that’s common. It always cracks me up when a quarterback leads the team in rushing yards. Miles Sanders is such a boom-or-bust player. Sanders only had 58 rush yards. The most efficient pass catcher was Dallas Goedert with 8 catches for 95 yards. DeVonta Smith has a solid day as well. 10 catches for 87 yards. A.J. Brown had an off day. Only 3 catches for 32 yards. Need to see more out of my boy AJB! On the other side of the field, Kyler Murray had an okay day. 250 passing yards and one touchdown. The Cardinals are missing a rush attack. James Conner is not getting the job done. 55 rush yards is subpar. I still think Eno Benjamin should be getting more opportunities (he had 14 fantasy points). Marquise Brown put together a solid fantasy day. His 8 catches for 78 yards and a score were good for just under 22 fantasy points. The Eagles manage to move on to 5-0 and the Cardinals fall to 2-3.

Trade Targets: If you can buy low on A.J. Brown, I would. One bad game is not going to dictate his fantasy production going forward.

Bengals vs Ravens

I’m surprised this game was as low scoring as it was. Now that I think about it, not really. The Ravens were without Rashod Bateman and always run the ball a lot and Zac Taylor is a terrible play caller and doesn’t know how to utilize his weapons anymore I guess. How does Ja’Marr Chase only have 7 catches for 50 yards? You know when Hayden Hurst leads the Bengals in fantasy points that this game was very strange. Especially, with weapons like Joe Mixon, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins alongside you. Speaking of Higgins, why did he not play? Very curious about that. Definitely not a salty fantasy manager. For the Ravens, only a few notable days. Mark Andrews, per usual. He had 23 fantasy points. Lamar only had 14.5 surprisingly. The next best score was 13 from Devin Duverynay filling in for Rashod Bateman. Look, this game says one thing. The Ravens are still the big brother to the Bengals despite last season. They got out-coached this week. The Ravens are in first in the AFC north now.

Trade Targets: I like the idea of buying low on J.K. Dobbins, but it would need to be a cheap price. Not overspending for him right now.

Chiefs vs Raiders

I knew we were going to get a thriller on Monday night! These two teams always go at it. Travis Kelce with a 4 touchdown day! How crazy is that? What’s even crazier is Kelce only had 25 receiving yards but 33.5 fantasy points. 4 of his 7 catches were touchdowns. You don’t see that very often, so that was cool to witness. Patrick Mahomes had a great day. Just shy of 300 yards and 4 touchdowns, which we saw all went to Travis Kelce. The only other Chief player that had a fantasy-relevant day was Marquez Valdes-Scantling with 15 points on 6 catches for 90 yards. The Raiders had a handful of fantasy-relevant players. Davante Adams had two deep balls that he scored on, he topped 27 fantasy points. Josh Jacobs has been unleashed, he scored 30 fantasy points this week! Back-to-back weeks of 30+ points is incredible. In the end, the Chiefs got the win, sending the Raiders to an abysmal 1-4 start. The Chiefs move to 4-1.

Trade Targets: Marquez Valdes-Scantling would be a decent target in my opinion. In four out of 5 weeks he has had a minimum of 8 points, and then in week 5 he socred 15. I believe the touchdowns are coming for Scanlting. His price is decent to add as a flex option.