Stars of Week 6

QB: Joe Flacco, BAL: 21-29, 306 yards, 5 TDs

RB: Arian Foster, HOU: 20 carries, 109 yards, 2 TDs

WR: TY Hilton, IND: 9 catches, 223 yards, 1 TD     

TE: Jace Amaro, NYJ: 10 catches, 68 yards, 1 TD

Joe Flacco’s numbers don’t even begin to tell the story of the brute pummeling he thrust upon the hapless Buccaneers franchise. Flacco’s fifth TD pass occurred just a minute into the second quarter! Think about that for a second. That’s hard enough to do playing Madden, much less in an NFL game. Anyways, I digress. Arian Foster finds his way here for the second week in a row. For those who did not watch the Colts-Texans tilt, Foster looks like the rushing title version of himself. Whether or not he can stay healthy remains a concern, however. In the same game, TY Hilton torched the Texans’ secondary with his 223 receiving yards. Unfortunately for the Texans, JJ Watt can’t play defensive end and cornerback at the same time. Finally, Jace Amaro had the best day of his young career against the Broncos. We’ll take a closer look at him later. 

Week 6 Takeaways – A Closer Look 

Each week we take a closer look at a handful of performances and sort out what such performances mean going forward. 

- Joe Flacco, QB - BAL: 21-29, 306 yards, 5 TDs     

Analysis:         We won’t delve too far in terms of analysis of Flacco’s performance, primarily because it speaks for itself. What you do need to note is that 1) the performance came against the Bucs, the same team that gave up 56 points to the Falcons a few weeks back, and 2) we’ve got several seasons worth of data on Flacco. In other words, he is what he is. What he’s not, despite what happened this past Sunday, is a QB1. Flacco remains an upper QB2 and a solid bye week fill in for standard leagues. 

- Ronnie Hillman, RB - DEN: 24 carries, 100 yards, 0 TDs

Analysis:         Hillman did quite well in his first test as the Broncos lead back, rushing for 100 yards against what’s looking more and more like an overrated Jets’ run D. Hillman had the lion’s share of the carries – counterpart Juwan Thompson only had 8 totes. Can Hillman keep the lead RB role for the remainder of the season? We’ll know much more after next week’s matchup against San Francisco. For now, proceed with cautious optimism - consider Hillman a low-end RB2/high-end flex play, with room to move up.  

- Storm Johnson, RB - JAC: 10 carries, 21 yards, 1 TD                                                         

Analysis:         Storm Johnson quietly became a hot name on the waiver wire once Toby Gerhart was ruled out for the game against the Titans. How did Storm do on Sunday? Fine for fantasy purposes (because of the TD), but otherwise he underwhelmed. While Johnson has potential, you can’t discount the fact that he – and any other Jaguars’ ball carrier – runs behind a porous offensive line. Storm should have more opportunities to audition for the lead RB role, but don’t expect a fantasy landscape-altering player. The Jags’ line won’t provide for that. Until we see more, Johnson should be viewed as an RB3/flex play. The kid’s got talent, but that alone won’t make him a fantasy force.

- Mohamed Sanu, WR - CIN: 10 catches, 120 yards, 1 TD 

Analysis: Last week I tweeted that managers needing a WR should pick up Sanu. For those who listened, you were rewarded. For those not following me on twitter, you should do so! Sanu has seen his number of targets rise each of the past three weeks, with TDs in three of the past four games. You should view Sanu under two prisms: 1) while AJ Green is out, he’s a low end WR2, and 2) when AJ Green plays, he’s a low end WR3 and good bye week fill-in and flex play option. This is especially the case now that the Bengals have placed Marvin Jones on season ending IR. As for this week, the early word is that AJ Green will miss Sunday’s game against the Colts. If that holds up, Sanu is a must start in all formats this week. 

- Andre Holmes, WR - OAK: 4 catches, 121 yards, 2 TDs

Analysis:         Finally, we get to take a closer look at a player on the Oakland Raiders (it only took 6 weeks). Holmes provides a big target at 6 feet 4 inches, and has been developing great chemistry with Derek Carr over the past few weeks. Carr targeted Holmes 8 times against the Chargers, and 12 times the week before against the Dolphins. Carr needs someone to throw to, and for my money, Holmes looks legit. If you need a WR, grab Holmes and see where things go. He belongs in WR3 territory for now and should be rostered in all formats.

- Jace Amaro, TE – NYJ: 10 catches, 68 yards, 1 TD

Analysis:         Welcome to fantasy relevancy Jace Amaro! No surprise that Amaro made his way into our discussion, as he was a highly touted TE out of Texas Tech. Amaro had been relatively quiet thus far into the season.  This past weekend against the Broncos, however, Amaro was targeted on twelve passes, hauling in ten, including one in the end zone. Going forward, expect Amaro to sprinkle in some nice performances mixed in with quieter ones. The Jets don’t exactly possess a juggernaut passing attack, and Amaro remains a rookie. So temper expectations accordingly – we’re talking mid TE2 range. 

Rapid Fire Pickups 

Each week we’ll throw out potential free agent pickups from each position for deeper leagues, in each case 1) someone who has NOT been referenced above, and 2) a player available in most leagues.

QB:                  Brian Hoyer, CLE (had him here last week and once again this week)

RB:                  Tre Mason, STL

RB:                  Isaiah Crowell, CLE

WR:                 Jarvis Landry, MIA

WR:                 Louis Murphy, TAM

TE:                  Clay Harbor, JAC

Week 7 Rankings

Quarterbacks

1. Andrew Luck

2. Aaron Rodgers

3. Philip Rivers

4. Peyton Manning

5. Jay Cutler

6. Cam Newton

7. Russell Wilson

8. Colin Kaepernick

9. Drew Brees

10. Matthew Stafford

11. Carson Palmer

12. Tom Brady

13. Joe Flacco

14. Tony Romo

15. Matt Ryan

16. Eli Manning

17. Kirk Cousins

18. Ben Roethlisberger

19. Brian Hoyer

20. Andy Dalton

Running Backs

1. DeMarco Murray

2. Arian Foster

3. Matt Forte

4. Le'Veon Bell

5. Marshawn Lynch

6. Giovani Bernard

7. Jamaal Charles

8. Branden Oliver

9. Ben Tate

10. Andre Ellington

11. Lamar Miller

12. Alfred Morris

13. Justin Forsett

14. Andre Williams

15. Eddie Lacy

16. Ahmad Bradshaw

17. Joique Bell

18. Fred Jackson

19. Ronnie Hillman

20. Shane Vereen

21. Frank Gore

22. Trent Richardson

23. Reggie Bush

24. Pierre Thomas

25. Jerick McKinnon

26. Bishop Sankey

27. Chris Ivory

28. Mark Ingram

29. Jonathan Stewart

30. C.J. Spiller

31. Brandon Bolden

32. Zac Stacy

33. Steven Jackson

34. Khiry Robinson

35. Jeremy Hill

Wide Receivers

1. Demaryius Thomas

2. Jordy Nelson

3. Antonio Brown

4. Dez Bryant

5. Julio Jones

6. Alshon Jeffery

7. Steve Smith Sr.

8. Brandon Marshall

9. Randall Cobb

10. Mike Wallace

11. T.Y. Hilton

12. Emmanuel Sanders

13. Kelvin Benjamin

14. Andre Johnson

15. Mike Wallace

16. Golden Tate

17. DeSean Jackson

18. Julian Edelman

19. Michael Floyd

20. Mohamed Sanu

21. Pierre Garcon

22. Rueben Randle

23. Reggie Wayne

24. DeAndre Hopkins

25. Keenan Allen

26. Torrey Smith

27. Cecil Shorts

28. Larry Fitzgerald

29. Terrance Williams

30. Andre Holmes

31. Roddy White

32. Marques Colston

33. Percy Harvin

34. Sammy Watkins

35. Brandin Cooks

Tight Ends

1. Julius Thomas

2. Rob Gronkowski

3. Antonio Gates

4. Greg Olsen

5. Martellus Bennett

6. Jordan Cameron

7. Delanie Walker

8. Larry Donnell

9. Jason Witten

10. Vernon Davis

11. Jordan Reed

12. Travis Kelce

13. Dwayne Allen

14. Owen Daniels

15. Tim Wright

- Neema Hodjat is the fantasy sports expert for RealGM. He can be reached via email at nhodjat@gmail.com and followed on twitter at @NeemaHodjat.