Love/Hate Lists for Week 4

Love

Cedric Benson, RB, CIN – If the Bengals had another viable option at Quarterback Carson Palmer’s career would end in the middle of the season.  With poor QB play the Bengals will be forced to do what they do best, run the ball.  After getting back to the type of offense they ran last season in week 3, the Bengals are about to go up against one of the worst teams in the league… the Browns.  I would expect at least 25 carries with 100 yards and a score.  Benson is easily a top 10 RB this week.

Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, JAC - The Colts defense without Bob Sanders has been disappointing.  Their biggest weakness is against the run and with the quality of the Colts pass rush there is no reason to make David Garrard throw any more than he needs to.  MJD is back to 100% and should have a very good game against the Colts.

Austin Collie, WR, IND – The number one WR in fantasy football is not even the highest ranked guy on his team.  Garcon is going to be a game time decision this week and Collie has earned the trust of Peyton Manning.  In addition, players coming back from hamstring injuries usually do not get their full workload right away in an effort to ensure there are no setbacks.  Garcon’s workload is already shrinking and Collie is almost certain to be the one to join Reggie Wayne in any 2 WR formations.

Kyle Orton, QB, DEN – Orton, surprisingly, has a lot of receiving options at his disposal this season and coming off the best performance of his career it is hard not to have high expectations.  Orton just barely cracked my top 10 this week and if he is able to keep up this level of play then we will see him in the top 10 a few more times this season.

Louis Murphy, WR, OAK - I have been waiting for someone in Oakland to step up and earn the top spot on the depth chart at WR.  It appears as though Bruce Gradkowski was able to provide stability to the offense and over the past two weeks there has been some apparent chemistry between him and Louis Murphy.  Houston’s pass defense has been terrible so far this year and with how explosive the Texans offense is, the Raiders should need to air it out in an effort to keep up.

LaDanian Tomlinson, RB, NYJ – Gotta love the top RB on any team going up against this Buffalo defense.  Even though the Bills were able to score some points last week, the Patriots defense is pretty terrible.  The Jets should be able to play the typical Rex Ryan style of football and pound the running game and control the clock.  At least for now, LT is playing much better than Shonn Greene and should see the majority of the work for at least the first half of the season.

Donovan McNabb, QB, WAS – There is no way that McNabb rolls over in the big-story match up of the week.  The Eagles defense is going to be the reason the Eagles win this game, but McNabb will be plenty productive on the stat sheet.

Justin Forsett, RB, SEA – The Seahawks finally have the right idea, DON’T GIVE JULIUS JONES THE FOOTBALL.  Last week Jones got zero carries and Forsett was used as the feature back.  In a divisional match up against St. Louis this week Forsett, is a solid RB2 and great flex play.

Jeremy Maclin, WR, PHI - Maclin has certainly lived up to the preseason hype and there must be plenty of credit payed to Vick for this.  With four TDs in the first three games Maclin has developed a niche as a red zone threat for the Eagles.  I expect both the play of Vick and Maclin to remain at a high level.  Maclin should be a solid WR2 throughout the season.

Packers, D/ST, GB – The Packers would likely still be my #1 ranked defense even if Matthew Stafford was going to be active.  Last week the Packers lost a tough divisional game to the now first place Bears and I can’t imagine this game is anything other than a blowout with Jahvid Best on a bum toe.

Hate

Joe Flacco, QB, BAL – The Steelers have been playing lights-out defense so far this season and they are undefeated despite playing with sub-par quarterbacks.  Despite all the new weapons at their disposal this will not be a great statistical game for anyone on either offense.

Jonathan Stewart, RB, CAR – Given the struggles of the Panthers and the poor performance of Stewart personally, you really can’t start the Daily Show until further notice.

Jahvid Best, RB, DET – Turf toe is a common injury in today’s NFL, but there is nothing common about the level of pain it causes.  If Best is active, his role and productivity will be hindered by this injury.

Michael Crabtree, WR, SF – The 9ers offense has been a huge disappointment and with the firing of their offensive coordinator there is little chance that starting Crabtree would pay off until we see that this offense can be competitive.

Anquan Boldin, WR, BAL - See Joe Flacco.

Lance Moore, WR, NO – Moore’s performance last week is not anything that you can predict or expect with any consistency.  Meachem and Henderson will have days like Moore did in week 3.  Rumor has it this guy named Colston is pretty good too.