Studs And Duds From Week 8

Studs

Calvin Johnson, WR, DET - I wonder if Megatron is happy to have his franchise QB back at the helm?  In his first game after being reunited with Matthew Stafford, Calvin makes the most of it, hauling in 9 catches of the 15 thrown his direction to total 101 yards and three scores.  Calvin should be able to validate your decision to draft him with ease in the 2nd half of the season as the Lions continue their crawl out of the shame of their 2-30 record from the ’08 and ’09 seasons.

David Garrard, QB, JAC - Well, this is why Garrard is so frustrating for fantasy owners.  5 total TDs this week in a dominating performance against the helpless Dallas Cowboys. I still couldn’t trust Garrard in a one QB league, but if you were in bye week hell this week, you were rewarded for digging deep and starting Garrard.  Stay away from Captain Inconsistent from here on out unless you have to start 2 QBs every week.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis, RB, NE – The law firm had a MONSTER second half Sunday to finish with 112 yards and 2 scores on just 17 carries.  This performance came out of left field given his committee situation and tough match up, but he has done a lot to ensure he will see a lion’s share of the carries in the Patriots backfield.

LaGarrette Blount, RB, TB – Blount, in the past two weeks has taken over the feature-back role in the Buccaneers’ offense and vaulted himself to a top 25 RB option for fantasy owners.  The success of the Buccs offense has centered around young talent like Freeman and Mike Williams.  I was not surprised to see this type of performance from Blount in that offense with the great match up, but it was far from a lock that he saw the same amount of carries.  After Sunday, these questions are no longer a concern and Blount should be used as a great flex option from here on out… or a RB 2 if you’re hurting!

Larry Fitzgerald, WR, ARI - When it looked like it couldn’t get any worse for Fitzgerald… it didn’t! Fitzgerald returned a little bit of value to fantasy owners who drafted him and hadn’t abandoned him to their bench.  Fitz caught two TD passes from two different QBs this week and totaled 72 yards.  We can’t expect to see scores every week from the NFL’s most talented receiver, but he should probably be started weekly still, whether you like it or not!

Brandon Lloyd, WR, DEN – After two straight quiet weeks, Lloyd hauled in 7 catches for 169 yards and a score Sunday in England.  He has been a HUGE value for the lucky owner in each league who grabbed him off waivers early in the year.  I do have concerns for Lloyd down the stretch as continuing to lose only speeds the emergence of Tebow as the Broncos starting QB… which turns every offensive player in Denver into one giant question mark.

Jamaal Charles, RB, KC - I still don’t know what Todd Haley and Charlie Weiss are thinking making Charles split carries with Thomas Jones.  Charles saw only 3 more carries than Jones did and has an extra ONE HUNDRED YARDS to show for it.  It’s great to have an adequate backup that can fill-in when your lead guy gets tired… but to force him to see half the carries at the expense of the success of your offense and team is just idiotic.  Charles had double the yards per carry that Jones did and had he run it 30 times instead of 22, there would not have even been an over time in this game.  Even with his current coaching staff, Jamaal Charles is a top 15 RB and a must-start every week.

Jason Witten, TE, DAL - With uncertainty at QB and one of the most talented Tight Ends in the NFL, we should see the re-emergence of Jason Witten as an elite fantasy TE.  Very often when a QB is struggling, they use the TE as a safety-valve because they are so difficult to cover in space, due to their large size.  That combined with how good Witten is at stretching the field and going deep over the middle should lead to him being Kitna’s new best friend.

Duds

Ben Roethlisberger, QB, PIT - The Saints defense looked a lot like their opponent usually does… dominant.  Ben was not able to stretch the ball down the field to his receivers who all could take a spot on this list. This won’t be the norm, but highlights why Big Ben is not an elite fantasy QB at this point in his career.

Chad Ochocinco, WR, CIN – The Bengals continue to deny their identity as a run-first offense and they continue to lose.  I don’t know why Marvin Lewis is the last person on the planet to realize that Carson Palmer is not the QB he once was and as long as they continue to go to the air twice as often as handing the ball off, they will continue to lose.  Chad’s owners might disagree with me, but if they would run as often as they did last year, he would be open much more often.

Zach Miller, TE, OAK – With his first terrible game of the season behind him, we still have to start this guy every-week.  I was big on him as a value pick in this year’s draft and he has not disappointed.   Look for him to remain the Raider’s leading receiver throughout the season and continue to be productive regardless of who starts at QB.

Felix Jones, RB, DAL – All I can say is you’re sure not starting ANY Dallas RBs until further notice.  What a mess.

Marshawn Lynch, RB, SEA – I am speechless, the matchup was right… but the whole Seahawk offense was silenced Sunday against the Raiders.  We can’t expect anything THIS bad again, but it puts a halt on the top 20 RB expectations I had for Lynch for the past couple weeks.

Mark Sanchez, QB, NYJ - The whole Jets offense struggles when Sanchez does and the Dom Capers blitzing scheme shut Sanchez down this week.  All we really learned from this game is that the Jets are indeed human and even with all the injuries, we still need to take the Packers seriously.

Randy Moss, WR, MIN – Moss did so bad this week that his head coach told the Vikings players that Moss was no longer a part of their team on Monday morning.  Now, no such move was officially made yet and we need to watch this unfold to know how his fantasy-value will be impacted.  However, I saw a lazy player not trying his hardest on Sunday… unless this serves as a humbling experience for Moss, his attitude will need to be monitored closely for the rest of the season.