MVP by Position
QB: Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers – 228 yards, 5 PaTD, INT – Where was this the past few weeks? I guess all Roethlisberger needed was a sprained foot to realign his throwing motion, because he was pinpoint accurate in this game. Five touchdown passes is the most so far this year, and Big Ben picked the Titans secondary apart. I’m still hesitant to put my fantasy eggs in his basket (or follow him into a bar), but this was certainly a step in the right direction.
RB: BenJarvus Green-Ellis, New England Patriots – 149 yards, 2 TD – Patriots head coach Bill Belichick must love playing mind games with fantasy football players. One week Stevan Ridley looks like the heir apparent in the Pats running game, the next it’s Green-Ellis tearing up the field. I’ll never understand it, but props to you if you started him against the Jets this week.
WR: Pierre Garcon, Indianapolis Colts – 125 yards, 2 TD – That’s 271 yards and four touchdowns in two weeks for the Painter-Garcon connection, and it seems pretty legitimate. In week four Garcon’s two catches were both for long, strange touchdowns full of blown coverage and shoddy tackling. He had another one of those this week, but they also looked for him around the end zone with a nice six-yard bubble screen.
TE: Joel Dreessen, Houston Texans – 112 yards, TD – Is Dreessen going to be the main beneficiary of the Andre Johnson injury in Houston? Who knows for the long term, but he certainly was in week five. I wouldn’t pick him up just yet, as he is probably the third best tight end on the team behind Owen Daniels and James Casey. It will take at least one more week of support before I buy into him.
Defense/Special Teams: San Francisco 49ers – 3 Points Allowed, 2 INT, Fumble Recovered, TD, 3 Sacks – The 49ers-Buccaneers game got ugly, and fast. The Bucs were playing on a short week due to their previous week’s Monday night skirmish with the Colts. On top of that they travelled to the West Coast for the first time this year. Whatever the reason, they looked downright awful, and the 49ers capitalized on both sides of the ball.
Last Friday’s Predictions
I obviously couldn’t have been more wrong on Roethlisberger, as I put him in the #ThumbsDown section. I was generally pretty spot-on with the other players I told you to avoid, excluding the Panthers’ option play that DeAngelo Williams took for a 69-yard score (fluke!). LaGarrette Blount, Jonathan Stewart and Nate Washington all finished with less than 70 yards and zero touchdowns.
For the guys that I recommended in #ThumbsUp! last week, tight end Jermaine Gresham and running back Mark Ingram both scored touchdowns. My best call was on the Cincinnati Bengals defense, who ended their game with the Jags by scoring a defensive touchdown. Other than that it was a pretty mediocre week of picks, no doubt due to the fact that bye weeks thinned the crop of guys to choose from.
Waiver Wire Pickups
Tim Tebow (QB, Denver Broncos) – The Broncos are on bye next week, so don’t pick him up if you are without roster space or patience. If you have room though, grab Tebow and stash him on your bench now that he is officially the starter. He almost led a ridiculous comeback against the Chargers in week five, chipping in a rushing and passing touchdown along the way. That’s roughly what you can expect from Tebow. It won’t be pretty, but a typical Tebow line of 150 passing yards, 60 rushing yards, and one touchdown on the ground with another through the air adds up to quite a few fantasy points.
Delone Carter/Donald Brown (RBs, Indianapolis Colts) – If Addai’s hamstring injury proves to be serious (MRI results should be out soon), these two are the replacements that you want on the Colts team. We’ve seen a couple superstars suffer from lingering hamstring injuries already this year (Arian Foster and Miles Austin), so you might want to grab one of these backups even if Addai returns for the Colts’ week six game with the Bengals. Carter finished with 14 touches to Brown’s eight, so it seems as though he is in favor with the coaches in Indy. He’s also the guy I would grab first if I need to replace Addai.
Pierre Garcon (WR, Indianapolis Colts) – He was in this section last week, but I’m putting him back in because he’s still available in some leagues. This is the second straight week with over 100 yards and two touchdowns, and this time at least one of his scores was completely legitimate. Colts quarterback Curtis Painter consistently targets Garcon more than any other receiver, and I’m tempted to start Garcon over teammate Reggie Wayne in future weeks.
Victor Cruz (WR, New York Giants) – He broke out several weeks ago when Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham were dinged up, but his week five performance (164 yards, TD, Fumble) came with both Giants receivers in the game. There’s no doubt he has amazing skills, evidenced this week by a bobbling catch and run for a long score. The glaring issue with him is his lack of awareness, which is to be expected with someone who doesn’t have much NFL experience. He lost a fumble in a key drive and was also responsible for the pick-six that really did the G-Men in. Hopefully quarterback Eli Manning keeps looking his way, because he has the potential to be a top 20 fantasy wide receiver.