Love/Hate Lists for Week 4

Love

Michael Turner, RB, ATL – The Falcons are on the road and have not been playing that great so far this season.  They have gotten down early and this has minimized Turner’s impact on each of the first three games.  Do you think Seattle’s offense can get off to a blazing start and keep the Falcons passing the entire game? I don’t.  I don’t like the Seahawks’ rush defense and I think Turner might be in a for a really big game. Double digit points should be just about guaranteed.

Matthew Stafford, QB, DET – The Lions’ offense would be the biggest talk of the NFL if it wasn’t for the Bills and this week Stafford has a great match up against a weak Cowboys secondary. The Cowboys offense is banged up and could have troubles sustaining drives against the Lion’s VASTLY improved defensive unit. This will lead to a lot opportunities for Stafford and with Megatron pulling down 2 TD passes per game, there is no reason to not ride out the wave.

Mario Manningham, WR, NYG – The Giants face off against the Cardinals, who I think might have the worst pass defense in the NFL this season.  The currently are ranked 25th and have faced Carolina, Seattle and Washington.  None of these teams have top-end passing attacks and the Giants are coming off of a big game through the air against the most talented secondary in the league.  I have my concerns about their chances this year as well as the play of Eli Manning, but last week lessened them and the match up is just too good to ignore.

Ray Rice, RB, BAL – The Jets just did not look like Rex Ryan was in charge of the defense last week as Darren McFadden ran all over them to give his Raiders a big win.  Ray Rice is a premiere back in this league and after he shredded the Steelers in week 1, I am just simply not at all scared of what would normally be a poor match up.  I think the Ravens match up very well against the Jets and will win this game on the legs of Rice.

Rex Grossman, QB, WAS – The Monday night game was conservative and hard fought.  Grossman put up OK numbers and didn’t kill fantasy owners that needed to use him last week.  This week the Skins get to play the Rams in a dome. After watching Flacco tear the Rams’ secondary apart last week I think Grossman has a great chance for a really good game. St Louis is not as competitive so far this season as they were last year and I am choosing not to overreact to a mediocre offensive outing in an NFC East rivalry game.

Jermaine Gresham, TE, CIN – Buffalo has been an entirely different team this year.  They have been able to stop the run and put up huge numbers on offense. One weakness they still have is at linebacker. Last season the Bills allowed 11 TDs to opposing tight ends (worst in the NFL) and an average of 9.2 fantasy points per game (also worst in the NFL).  That average is down to 8.7 so far this year, but have only faced one legitimate TE (Gronkowski) and he tore them apart.  It is also worth noting that this weakness is why Wes Welker went crazy last week on short crossing routes.  I look for the Bengals to try and mirror this approach and with Dalton playing this well, it should be a relatively effective strategy.

Percy Harvin, WR, MIN – I won’t be shocked if Harvin doesn’t have a big day, but Harvin is the one spark that the Vikings have in their receiving corp and without Eric Berry, the Chiefs secondary is far more vulnerable to the deep play.  I personally like safe and consistent producers, but I can’t ignore the high likelihood of Harvin ripping off a long TD run or catch against this secondary.

Hate

Mark Sanchez, QB, NYJ – The Jets offense has become much more about the passing attack and I don’t think that is the kind of QB that Sanchez is best suited to be. So far he has proved me wrong and put up some quality numbers.  I do not think it is very likely to happen in this game and think that the Ravens will be able to force some bad decisions out of Sanchez. Don’t let his early production fool you, I do not think he is a legit #1 QB for fantasy owners.

Mike Tolbert, RB, SD – Most people thought that Tolbert was the guy you wanted to draft from the Charger’s backfield because he was available much later and likely to see a lot of goal line touches. This was affirmed in week 1 and since then, it looks like we were dead wrong.  I am not jumping ship yet, but the Chargers have not been playing inspired football in recent weeks and despite a good match-up I don’t think Tolbert is a very good start this week. I want to see how the work load is distributed in a couple weeks when the Chargers are back to their old selves again.  I wish I could figure out why they are so bad early in the year and so good late…

DeAngelo Williams, RB, CAR – What is it about all the RBs who received big contracts this off season? they all seem slow and unable to find a crease to run through.  Williams hasn’t been widely discussed as a bust because Chris Johnson and Frank Gore are taking all the heat, but he has just been awful as of late and Jonathan Stewart is clearly the guy worth starting if you need a Panther RB in your lineup.

Mike Williams, WR, TB – This has nothing to do with his recent performance really. I didn’t expect him to improve on last season much, if at all and the Buccs are a young team that is sstill establishing their identity. A big part of this identity needs to be LeGarrette Blount and he needs to see at least 20 carries to be as effective as they would like.   I think the Buccs will take a conservative approach and try and run early and often against a bad Colts rush defense. Williams is still the go-to guy when they need a big play through the air, but his targets will be down as there is not likely to be much need to take risks against the win-less, Peyton-less Colts.

Anquan Boldin, WR, BAL - Have you met Darrelle Revis yet Mr. Boldin?