Fantasy Football Weekly : Quarterly report and updates
By Chris Medeiros
Sports Editor
The fast-paced NFL season is already about a quarter of the way completed, as the teams who did not have a bye week yet have just 12 regular season games remaining. And for the fantasy owners of the world, there is even less time to shuffle up and figure out their lineups.
Most Fantasy Football playoffs take place in the NFL’s weeks 14-16 regular season weeks. This means there are just nine regular season games left in the fantasy football regular season.
We will take a look at last week’s top players, as well as an overall glance at the MVPs of the season thus far, and those who will most likely carry their teams into the promise land moving forward.
Week 4 Top Scorers: QB: Eli Manning-32 points. RB: Jamaal Charles- 28pts. RB:Matt Asiata-27pts. WR: Steve Smith- 25pts. WR: Antonio Brown- 25pts. WR: Randall Cobb-23pts. TE: Larry Donnell-24pts. Defense: Eagles-23pts. Kicker: Phil Dawson/Blair Walsh- 17pts.
Eli Manning stole the show this week at quarterback versus a porous Washington Redskins defense, although the reliable Andrew Luck (29pts) finished second with his fourth straight strong game of the season.
Jamaal Charles returned to prominence after an early-season injury scare as he gashed the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football. He is getting plenty of relief from his reliable backup Knile Davis (11pts) and this should help to keep him fresh for the long haul of the season.
The two biggest surprises this week were Adrian Peterson-replacement Matt Asiata (3 touchdowns) and New York Giants tight end Larry Donnell (3TDs). Asiata should serve as a reliable running back option moving forward and Donnell is one of this year’s top tight end sleepers.
Chief’s tight-end Travis Kelce (15pts) finished second in tight end scoring this week and is another unexpected surprise at tight end who should be owned and started in all leagues.
Here are the top scorers for each position at the quarter-mark of the season: QB: Andrew Luck (103pts) RB: (top three) DeMarco Murray (80pts), Marshawn Lynch (59pts), Le’Veon Bell (58pts) WR: (top three) Antonio Brown (73pts), Jordy Nelson (61pts), Steve Smith/Julio Jones (59pts) TE: Martellus Bennett (52pts) Def: Eagles (42 pts) K: Dan Bailey (45pts).
Andrew Luck is certainly fantasy football’s quarter-season MVP and also the leader for MVP in the ‘real’ football world. He is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the pack because of his consistency and his offense’s desire to throw the football.
DeMarco Murray is the other player who has been the most consistent of any other at his position. When the Cowboys commit to running the football they win games. As long as Murray can stay healthy, he’ll finish as a top-3 fantasy running back this season.
Antonio Brown is the only other leader I would fully trust for the rest of the season. He is the main target in Pittsburg and will continue to get his looks.
The other top players all offer injury and lack of target issues and there will most likely be some new names at the top by the halfway mark of the season.
Reader’s Fantasy Challenge
Contest Rules: Put together a line-up of players who you think will score the most points for the given fantasy week. You must select: 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1 Defense/Special Teams, 1 Kicker. You are allowed to pick from all available NFL players.
Next, just e-mail your lineup to cmedeiros@student.bridgew.edu before the start of Sunday’s games (we will skip Thursday’s game for timing purposes.)
Good luck and choose wisely!
Chris Medeiros is the Sports Editor for The Comment. Email him at cmedeiros@student.bridgew.edu.
