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| Everybody Love Me (At Least His Fantasy Owners) |
Talk about a homecoming. The city of dope, aka, Oakland, California has given us the rapper Too Short and now the league's #1 ranked fantasy running back in terms of standard league scoring. Man, oh man, was Doug Martin a sight to see in a 42-32 win over the Oakland Raiders. The Buccaneers first round pick rushed for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns against the hapless Raiders defense - scoring over 50 points in standard leagues.
Martin has exceptional vision, patience, agility and breakaway speed that have drawn comparisons to the NFL's all time leading rusher, HOF Emmitt Smith (another No. 22). To say that Martin has come on strong is an understatement; after a slow start the Bucs running back is on pace to rush over 1,500 yards and throwing his name in the hat for Rookie of the Year consideration. The ultimate sell-high candidate I would For your fantasy teams Doug Martin is a must-start RB1 and trading for him straight up and departing with the likes of Marshawn Lynch, and upstarts Stevan Ridley, Alfred Morris should be considered. Seriously. He plays on a better offense in Tampa Bay; defenses can't load the box because of the dual deep threats of VJax and Mike Williams. Defenses are picking their poison; and seven men in the box means Doug will be teaching a lot of people his end zone dance.
Mikel LeShoure was a great fantasy play rushing for 70 yards and 3 scores all from relatively short yardage against the Jaguars. He ran tough and Joique Bell also received 13 carries. The Lions seem content to use LeShoure in short yardage situations and Bell will continue to be involved in passing situations. Keep in mind that Jacksonville couldn’t keep up with Detroit’s offense and the Detroit Lions are built to pass. But LeShoure figures as a low-end RB2, a great bye-week replacement going forward. Next three games are at Minnesota, at home against Green Bay and then Houston comes to town. He is a sell-high candidate.
Brandon Marshall (9-122-3) had his best game as a Chicago Bear and is reclaiming his fantasy WR1 status. On his current pace, he’ll catch 110+ balls for 1,500 yards or so; which is pretty similar to what he was doing in Denver with Jay Cutler. He gets such a large share of the passing game his way..
Don’t shovel the dirt just yet on Michael Turner. Michael Turner is not washed up yet. The Burner found some WD-40 to put on those wheels and had a good game against a pretty good run defense in the Dallas Cowboys going 20-102-1. His backup Jacquizz Rodgers had 3 carries. Next three opponents are the Saints on the road, home against the Cardinals and then at Tampa. May be a good time to sell high; he’s got that average back up to 4.0.
Even though Chris Johnson’s Titans got massacred 51-20 by the Chicago Bears, CJ2K redeemed himself with an 80-yard scamped in garbage time. He lost two fumbles, however. After all the struggles Johnson has had this year, he’s still on pace for 1,308 yards and is averaging 5.0 yards a carry.
Vick Ballard owners have to feel good about getting some points from the workmanlike performance by the former Mississippi State Bulldog on Sunday. No touchdowns, but 16 carries for 60 yards and then 38 yards on 3 catches. The plan in Indy is to let Luck throw it and Ballard offer some semblance of a running game to compliment the Colts passing attack. He’s got pretty good matchups (especially if Donald Brown continues to be in and out) at Jacksonville, at New England, and home against Buffalo. Mix and match him with you flex as the matchup warrants and you’ll have a sneaky flex. He might be better than advertised in the passing game.
The Jonathan Stewart rebirth did not happen as anticipated against the Washington Redskins as Ron Rivera says Stewart will be part of a power-run game and then gives him one carry in the second quarter. I can't trust Stewart as a flex play just yet. Can I get a 100-yard performance? We'll see this week.
The Steelers will ride with the hot hand. Redman, Mendenhall, Dwyer, now back to Redman. Dwyer doesn't look like he is going to play this week. Redman is a decent flex play against Kansas City.
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