Over the past few years during the NFL season, Ted Schuster and I have been doing a segment on the SiriusXM radio show called “Right, Wrong or Indifferent.” Basically what this means is a scorecard for all of the predictions, rankings and recommendations we gave out during the previous week for fantasy football.
I feel very strongly about users (readers, listeners, customers, etc) holding fantasy analysts responsible for the information and advice they pass along. To be honest, its way too easy for us to disguise our analysis on a week in and week out basis because there are thousands of excuses to be made. After all, we aren’t the ones playing the game, right? Well, nah, eff that. We need to be held accountable. If we aren’t then its too easy to become soft and not pay as much attention or not watch the games that we are trying to make sense out of. You guys deserve better.
Thus, I will be putting our radio segment down on paper and posting it right here each week on the Fantasy Alarm site. I encourage you to help be hold myself (and Ted!) accountable for the information that we provide. Now be careful here because if you are going to try and come at me with blame for something I didn’t say or take my thoughts out of context than I reserve the right to fire back at you. And you had better believe that I will. Just stick to the actual things that I say and we should have no problems.
This is a good spot to post your submissions for our Haterade segment on the SiriusXM show as well. Just light me on fire in the most negative way possible in the comments section, on the Fantasy Alarm Forums or on Twitter (@Jeff_Mans).
Here is my Right, Wrong & Indifferent for Week 6:
RIGHT
Andy Dalton, QB, Bengals
I put Dalton at the top of the list because of the example he provides for all of us. Nobody is ever excited about starting Andy Dalton. But as long as he is not in a primetime game, he’ll put up the 250 yards and two TD’s that you need to get on with your day. Dalton didn’t play well on Sunday nor did the rest of the Bengals offense and yet he still went for 269 yards and two TD’s. Sometimes reaching for the stars can make you fall to your demise.
Brian Hoyer, QB, Bears
I had Hoyer ranked in the top 10 last week and also put him in the DFS NFL Playbook for week five. The matchup against the Colts was a good one and Hoyer did not disappoint. He wound up being the fifth highest scoring QB this week and is giving the Bears a lot to think about in terms of who their starting QB will be when Jay Cutler is healthy.
Ryan Mathews, RB, Eagles
My stance on Ryan Mathews this past week is probably the definition of why you are reading my work right now. It isn’t easy to stand up for what you believe when literally everybody is telling you that you’re wrong. But I have been playing fantasy sports for 27 years now. I have been working in the industry for over a decade. I’ve seen every possible situation you could imagine and have made plenty of mistakes in those years. So, I know when it is right to stand behind a player in a situation that I spent most of the summer talking up. Mathews is the lead back in Philly, at least unless they demote him for that terrible fumble, and thus he’s an every week starter on most fantasy teams. The injuries are a problem, but when healthy he can put up weeks like he did this week on a consistent basis.
Theo Riddick, RB, Lions
I am not a big fan of small, reception dependent running backs as most of you know by now. But Riddick is the only one left standing in the Lions backfield right now. The Lions also seems to always be playing either at a fast pace or from a deficit both of which greatly benefits Riddick. His two TD’s this week paid off for those who either played the DFS NFL Optimal Lineup or use it as a guide to build their own lineups this week.
Amari Cooper, WR, Raiders
It isn’t every day that the law of averages works out exactly how you planned but it did in the case of Amari Cooper this week. Cooper had been struggling and out produced by teammate Michael Crabtree pretty significantly so far this season. But that all changed as we said that it would this week with the fourth best week of any WR. The crazy thing is that Cooper actually had three touchdowns called back on Sunday any combination of which would have made his week and ours that much better.
Randall Cobb, WR, Packers
Another in the “stand by your man” philosophy as Cobb finally had the big game so many of us have been waiting for. His 9-108 stat line was great but could have been even better if his second quarter touchdown would have not been nullified by a holding call.
Cameron Meredith, WR, Bears
The Meredith advice this week helped out in multiple ways hopefully. First of all, we recommended Meredith over fellow Bears WR Eddie Royal on waivers thus saving you a lot of FAAB budget. Secondly, the bold move of having Meredith within the top 36 of fantasy WR’s this week meant he was a starter in any league that features three or more starting WR positions. Then there was the DFS Playbook and Optimal Lineups that had Meredith prominently featured as the best value option out there which he indeed turned out to be. These kind of bold decisions don’t always work out like this especially to this extent so let’s really savor the flavor this time around.
Rob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots
If you benched Gronkowski last week you got extremely lucky that he didn’t have one, two or all three of those touchdown receptions that went to Martellus Bennett. The return of Brady should have given you all that you needed to know about what Gronkowski would be able to do. No matter what you did last week, let’s make a pact that Gronk is in our lineups every single week moving forward unless he is completely out with an injury.
Will Tye, TE, Giants
This one is for my buddy Jeff Collins who almost talked me into Tye last week. The reasoning was sound in that Tye did get a big bump in targets last year when Larry Donnell was out but things have changed since then and it is important to know that. The addition of Sterling Shepard and the health of Victor Cruz means much fewer targets left over for the TE position here in New York these days.
Others I Was Right About
Tom Brady, QB, Patriots
Carlos Hyde, RB, 49ers
Isaiah Crowell, RB, Browns
DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Texans
Will Fuller, WR, Texans
Dwayne Allen, TE, Colts
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WRONG
Marcus Mariota, QB, Titans
Mariota was the worst QB in the NFL going into last week so I certainly didn’t see this output coming. I am very happy to see it though as I am a fan of Mariota and hope that he can break through at some point. If he can continue to escape the pocket and pickup first downs with his legs, Mariota can save his and the Titans season just as he did in week five.
C.J. Anderson, RB, Broncos
My most fatal decision of the week was to invest so heavily in the Broncos RB in many of my DFS lineups. Anderson not only didn’t gain much yardage but he also lost out on snaps to rookie Devonae Booker this week. I don’t anticipate this trend continuing but it is something we have to be aware of moving forward.
DeAndre Washington, RB, Raiders
Washington was just a complete bust this week. He has looked real good in part time duty this year but clearly couldn’t handle the full time job against a poor San Diego defense. This was his big chance and he totally blew it leaving the door open for Latavius Murray to come back to the starting job when healthy.
Sammie Coates, WR, Steelers
In hindsight, I really should have been higher on Coates going into the week especially against this Jets secondary. I feel myself becoming really enamored with Coates so here is hoping that this week wasn’t the last big one that we will see from him this season.
Jordan Matthews, WR, Eagles
Listen, a four catch for 65 yards performance isn’t all that bad really. Heck, if projected over the course of a full season that amounts to 64 catches and over 1,000 yards receiving. Now, I obviously expected a much bigger game from Matthews against the Lions undersized corners but it just didn’t happen. I was wrong and it cost us in cash games big time.
Zach Ertz, TE, Eagles
You would have thought that with Jordan Matthews disappointing this week that Zach Ertz would have been the one to pick up the slack. That didn’t happen. The Lions came into this week giving up the most TD’s and second most fantasy points to TE’s but Ertz never got going whatsoever.
Others I Was Wrong About
Paxton Lynch, QB, Broncos
Jerick McKinnon, RB, Vikings
Tevin Coleman, RB, Falcons
Jarvis Landry, WR, Dolphins
Jeremy Kerley, WR, 49ers
Martellus Bennett, TE, Patriots
INDIFFERENT
Carson Wentz, QB, Eagles
The glass slipper was going to fall off of Cinderella’s foot here eventually. Wentz didn’t play poorly at all he just didn’t return us the value that we would have liked in the daily game or even in seasonal. I figured that Wentz would be able to put up Andy Dalton type numbers this week but he just slightly missed the cut.
Terrance West, RB, Ravens
I liked West this week but wanted to see if Buck Allen was going to be active on game day or not. It turned out that he was but I still rolled out West in an optimal lineup and told many of you to start him in the windy conditions on Sunday. The problem was that West just didn’t get enough touches for what he was putting up. This led directly to offensive coordinator Marc Trestman being fired on Monday.
Odell Beckham Jr., WR, Giants
I had predicted a big game on Sunday night football for OBJ but it never materialized. The late touchdown was a blessing otherwise he would have wound up in the wrong pile and my GPP lineups with him would have missed the paylines altogether.
Zach Miller, TE, Bears
Miller came into this week red hot in hauling in three TD’s over the last two games. He and Brian Hoyer have put together some good numbers and this week was indeed an extension of that. Still, 7-73 was good but not quite what I had projected for the Bears TE this week.