It's Hallamentary! Questions and Answers For Week 6

Posted by Ryan Hallam on 10/11/2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: Ahmad Bradshaw, Victor Cruz, Doug Martin, LaGarrette Blount, Andrew Luck, David Wilson, William Powell, Vick Ballard, Alex Green, Delone Carter, Matthew Stafford, Michael Vick, Daryl Richardson, Steven Jackson, Fred Jackson, CJ Spiller, Alfred Morris, Christian Ponder

Week 6 is fast approaching and as the game starts tonight I know that your thoughts are already on Sunday and how your matchups are going to turn out.  What are the questions that are in your head as the Steelers and Titans are dueling it out?  Lucky for you Hallam is in your head and I am about to take your thoughts and put them on to paper.  Exciting?  Yeah, I thought so. How do you win your matchups for Week 6?  Say it with me….It’s Hallamentary!

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Questions about your team or a waiver move?  Lineup decisions?  You can email me at ryan@fantasyalarm.com for answers to those questions.  You can also hit me up by following me on Twitter @ryanhallamFA or if you just want to read some of my incoherent babbling in 140 characters. 

Is Andrew Luck a QB1?  Luck has thrown for 300 yards in three of his four starts and also has multiple touchdowns in three of his four starts.  Last week was quite possibly his coming out party as he brought his Colts back from an 18 point deficit to beat the Packers and that got national attention.  Last week was also the first time that I started Luck over Michael Vick, which turned out to be a good move for me.  Right now unless you have a Brees, Brady, Rodgers, Ryan, or perhaps Manning or Schaub, Luck could easily be a starter on your team and he should only get better the more experience he gets and is a keeper league’s dream!

How should you consider all of the new starting Running Backs?  It has been an interesting couple of weeks in the world of running backs.  Beanie Wells. Gone.  Ryan Williams.  See you next year (again). Donald Brown.  Have a seat for a few weeks. Cedric Benson.  We will see you in December. Throw in the mix that David Wilson finally saw the field and made the most of it with a 40 yard touchdown run.  So, who should you be targeting?  All are pretty much unknowns so it’s hard to gauge what these guys are going to do.  I’m going to say I like William Powell in Arizona first as he has the least competition for carries and the Cardinals do run the ball.  I do like Alex Green in Green Bay, but the Packers suck at running the ball and if Green Bay had confidence in him coming into the year they wouldn’t have signed Benson in August and given him the starting job. However, he will get the majority of the carries for the foreseeable future.  Vick Ballard in Indianapolis is an interesting grab, but Donald Brown will likely only miss two or three weeks so this is more of a short term option. And you also have to account for Delone Carter there so he would be my last choice.  If your roster is strong and David Wilson is out there I would definitely stash him away for a little bit.  I believe the Giants will try to keep Bradshaw healthy and it seems that New York has moved away from Andre Brown completely and Wilson will be the next guy in line to get carries.

What do you do with the Buffalo Bills backfield?  It was an absolute disaster this week for the Bills against the Niners, but San Francisco has done that to pretty much every team they have played this season, so to see the high rusher have just 35 yards isn’t much of a surprise considering the score of the game. Fred Jackson had nine carries, CJ Spiller had seven, so what can you expect now that they both are healthy? I still think that Jackson will be the main man and will get 15-20 carries while he is healthy and Spiller is in line for 5-10 totes while Jackson is in there.  Right now I couldn’t start Spiller, but in Week 6 as the Bills play the Cardinals I would feel comfortable starting Jackson unless I had two to three other solid options.  Feel free to email me at ryan@fantasyalarm.com if you have lineup questions.

Should you sell high on Alfred Morris?  Morris was a surprise start in the beginning of the season, but he has carried the ball at least 15 times in every game, surpassed 95 yards and scored in three of five games this season.  Right now there is no one who is even taking a few carries away from Morris and there’s no reason to think that he is going to lose any carries in the future.  I wouldn’t sell high on Morris at all right now, even though Head Coach Mike Shanahan is known for shuffling his running backs.  I believe that unless he is injured, Morris will be the guy going forward.  

What in the world is going on with Matthew Stafford?  Three TDs and four interceptions in four games from a guy who threw for 5,000 yards and 40 touchdowns in 2011?  Who is this guy and where is the player we drafted in the second or third round?  Titus Young hasn’t progressed the way I hoped, and the running game hasn’t helped him one little bit.  However, these same factors were in play last season too and Stafford was a star.   I still think that he will turn it around coming out of the bye week and you need to keep rolling with him as your guy. He might look like a goofy Midwesterner, but I still believe that he will star going forward more often than not. 

What are you supposed to do with Michael Vick?  I want to disclose that I own Michael Vick in two leagues.  In both of those leagues I am looking to trade Vick if I can. In one league I have a hell of a roster to trade with, the other I am going to have to do some good work.  I have seen enough from Vick that I know I’ve seen too much.  The turnovers are FAR too much for me and I have lost faith that he is going to be someone that I can trust.  The Eagles have lost two straight and that with the injury concerns about Vick I would do what I could to trade Vick.  He did have two touchdowns last week, and I would try to push that and see what I can get from someone to get yourself another QB.  Target Romo, target, Rivers, target Cam Newton, but I no longer trust Michael Vick this season.

What will be the split between Daryl Richardson and Steven Jackson the rest of the way? The Rams actually have a winning record and on Thursday against the Cardinals, the running game never looked better.  Steven Jackson had the spunk of a mid 20s running back, and Daryl Richardson had some punch that the Rams hoped he would have in the NFL.  I am expecting to see a 2 for 1 kind of split like it was last Thursday to try to keep Jackson fresh as the Rams hope that this season actually leads to something.  Jackson is an every week starter as a low end RB2 or flex option, and Richardson is worth keeping on your roster in case of injury to Jackson or in case of a desperate bye week replacement. 

Are the Vikings for real?  Can you trust Christian Ponder?  Ponder has two rough games and the rest he has at least two passing touchdowns, and for those of you who have Michael Vick or Cam Newton or another struggling quarterback the question comes, should you start him over your main QB or not?  At this point I think the answer might be yes.  I have Vick in two leagues and the one where I have Luck I have benched Vick and if I had Ponder I would do the same thing.  Newton has a bye this week but if Ponder has good matchups I would put him in over Newton right now too.  I would say that I need Vick to outperform him two or three times or if Ponder is AWFUL I would go back to Vick, but right now Ponder would be in the game.  Newton I would put back in the minute he shows a turnaround.  I believe that Ponder is going to be a solid fantasy option all season long. 

Who should you be sitting in the NFC Championship Review?  Ahmad Bradshaw ran all over the Cleveland Browns this past week, but the road will be a hell of a lot tougher against the 49ers this week. I could see starting the Giants’ receivers, but I would have a hard time putting Bradshaw into my lineup this week considering what they Niners have allowed so far this season. They are number one against the run right now, and haven’t allowed many runners to get into their end zone.  Unless you have no other reasonable options at running back, I would try to sit Bradshaw this week, although Victor Cruz I would still put in my starting lineup.

Can Doug Martin get it going?  Martin’s production and carries have fallen each week in his rookie season, and LaGarrette Blount and perhaps even DJ Ware are in line for some carries.  I still own Martin in two leagues and have hope that he will get things going, but I have to say that I don’t see a way that I can put him in my starting lineup this week unless you are really desperate at running back or if you have multiple guys on bye.  I still can’t drop Martin, but I have not lost faith in him yet.

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