Fantasy Football

Greetings to fans and followers of frenetic and fast football. Welcome to another edition of the Pace of Play report where we shine a light on the fastest teams in the NFL. We glare at the teams who play at a funereal pace. We look at matches in the coming weeks slate that should produce a lot of plays. This allows you to maximize (or minimize) your exposure to players in those contests. Because players need to run plays to score fantasy points, this is another useful tool to look at when making lineup choices or setting DFS lineups. No need to thank us, though. Just enjoy and absorb.

Three seasons, three mediocre quarterbacks. Matt Ryan completes Indianapolis’s Knights of the Mediocre Roundtable. His above-average accuracy metrics are dulled by his inability to push the ball past the sticks. Ryan’s 2.5 (No. 26 of qualified quarterbacks) Deep Ball Attempts per Game and 6.4 (No. 29) Air Yards per Attempt are both worse than Phillip Rivers in the final season of his career. With nine (No. 1) fumbles and five (No. 2) interceptions, Ryan is rapidly approaching a 2020 Drew Brees-level of bad.

The Texans have allowed over 100 yards rushing to opponents in three out of four games this season. They have also allowed at least 9 RB receptions in two of those games and yielded 6 total touchdowns to RBs. Etienne is the pass-catching back in Jacksonville, seeing 11 targets to Robinson’s 7 so far this season. The matchup against Houston in Week 5 is the spot for Etienne to finally come through for fantasy owners.

While Sanders dominates RB touches now, his overall Snap Share is still less than 60-percent and Hurts is a continuous threat to take rushing touchdown opportunities. Expect the Cardinals and Eagles to play to their respective strengths in a shootout through the passing game this week. Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown are in for big weeks, but Sanders is in line to be left behind against a solid run defense in what will be a high scoring, passing-dominated affair.

This week was the revenge of the Running Backs in a couple of ways. First of all, they simply scored more points. For the first time this season, the top 12 running backs of the week outscored the top 12 wide receivers of the week. As for who scored those points, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Only three of the top 12 RBs were drafted as top 12 RBs, while six of the top 12 WRs were drafted as such. That being said, seven of the top 12 RBs were drafted top 24 at the position, and only Jamaal Williams qualified as a “streamer” among the top 12 finishers. This was by far the worst streaming week of the year.

With three of Detroit’s top offensive weapons out – Amon-Ra St. Brown, D.J. Chark and D’Andre Swift, their 21 weekly targets had to go somewhere. In Week 4, they went to T.J. Hockenson who put up a tight end week for the ages. On a career-high 12 targets, he posted 179 yards and two scores. Even WR Josh Reynolds, former Rams buddy of Jared Goff, carried a share of the load with seven catches for 81 yards and a score. Of course, PlayerProfiler’s weekly projections told you beforehand that both would shine.

Perhaps you have Kyle Pitts and had to suffer through an Arthur Smith galaxy-brained game plan of him being out-snapped by Parker Hesse (87-percent to 62-percent). Maybe you drafted Javonte Williams in the second round and were so excited about his upside next to new QB Russell Wilson only to suffer through a largely forgettable first four weeks and now a season-ending torn ACL. Or perhaps you drafted Jonathan Taylor with a top-two pick only to suffer through three straight fantasy duds including this week’s 42 yards rushing on 20 carries. Now Taylor is dealing with an ankle injury. 

The worst part of our beloved game is the frequency of injuries. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of such a fast-paced, contact-heavy sport. It’s something that is important to remember as we approach the first full week of the preseason. Luckily for the NFL players, they have access to some of the best doctors in the world and can usually return to form at least by the next season. Unfortunately for us fantasy players, it’s not always easy to know when a player will get hurt. To another degree, sometimes your roster isn’t big enough to plan ahead for an injury. This series, the Infirmary Report, will give you advice on the injuries that have happened every week during the season. Without further ado, here are the injuries from Week 4 of regular season action.

With Jimmy Garoppolo back under center, the 49ers will host the Rams in a NFC West MNF Showdown in Week 4. The game sets up as a defensive scrum with no love lost on either side. A notable injury that will affect the game include the loss of All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams. I like an alt-under here as a safe bet. The two teams have combined to average 43 points per game in their last 3 meetings. Touchdown hunting is also on the table with superstars like Deebo Samuel and Cooper Kupp on the field. Without further ado, let’s break down this Monday Night Showdown!

Looking for a running back that may be on sale? How about a wide receiver that is being discounted due to bad reviews? Maybe a quarterback or tight end whose price is about to skyrocket? This is the right place. Welcome to the Fantasy Supermarket!

The players that are in the Fantasy Supermarket have indicators suggesting that their current value may increase in short order. I’ll be using advanced analytics and metrics from PlayerProfiler.com’s Data Analysis tool to highlight which players are worth buying into. But you have to act now because these current prices will not last long. 

Dalvin Cook sustained yet another injury to his shoulder that has bothered him for years. Backup Alexander Mattison has risen to the occasion in Cook’s absence in the last three seasons. In the five full games Cook has missed since 2020, Mattison has averaged 21.4 carries, 90.2 yards, and 0.6 touchdowns per game while adding five targets per game and 0.4 touchdowns through the air. The Saints’ run defense has not been as stout this season as we’ve been accustomed to them being. They stifled Leonard Fournette (24 carries-65 yards), but Cordarrelle Patterson (22 carries-120 yards-1 touchdown) and Christian McCaffrey (25 carries-108 yards) had their share of success. The Saints’ defense skews closer to the Tampa matchup than the other two, but we’ll see. Mattison is a fine RB2 this week if Dalvin misses.