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.