Sunday Recap: Week 4

Jaguars @ Colts

This game had an impact before kickoff even started with Andrew Luck being inactive. For many, Matt Hasselbeck being under center made the Colts plays less attractive, and many of them turned out to be duds. Hasselbeck did not play all that bad, but for DFS purposes, the Colts were irrelevant. Coby Fleener made the most of this game with a 9-83-1 line, and he had the second most targets behind T.Y Hilton. Donte Moncrief also had six catches on nine targets for 75 yards. This is encouraging moving forward, and I will certainly have more confidence with him in my lineups. I believe this game solidifies him as the true WR2 in the system, which I was not sure about until now. The Colts have a short week against the Texans, which may have had something to do with sitting Luck.

There is a trend building against the Colts, and that is WR2 dominating them. Over the first four games, opposing WR2s have combined for 31-387-4. This is something to watch over the next few games, although the Texans don't really have a decent wideout on the other side of DeAndre Hopkins. Allen Hurns contributed to those numbers this week, with a 11-116-1 line, and he led the team in targets. Allen Robinson put together a nice game against Vontae Davis, but nothing to make a splash on DFS lineups. T.J. Yeldon got a bump from me with the Luck news, and he ran the ball for over 100 yards but did not find the end zone. Yeldon is a touchdown reliant running back, and this was the first time the Jags were not expected to be chasing the game dramatically. Yards were there, but the end zone finish was disappointing.

Giants @ Bills

What the hell has happened in 2015 to where we are playing upwards of three Bills' players in our cash games? The matchup was good, and these guys were all coming off solid weeks. I was on them as well, but looking back at it, maybe we weren't so wise. Luckily the the slate bailed out Bills' users, because the bigger names put up average numbers this week. The Buffalo play-calling was horrendous this week, and Tyrod Taylor had to drive the entire distance of the field each time he went out on the field. We were bailed out with a Taylor to Karlos Williams touchdown late in the game, but they were all a disappointment for the hype they received. Charles Clay was easily the most dominant wideout they had, going for nine catches and 111 yards. He was the only receiver to see double-digit targets, while the next closest was Percy Harvin. Dropped passes, stupid penalties, and bad play-calling sums up the Bills this week.

Eli Manning shined for the Giants this week, throwing three touchdowns and for 212 yards. Sure, his rating was poor, and he had his first interception of the season, but against this Bills defense, and on the road, he was impressive. The scoring was very spread out for the Giants, with Rashad Jennings, Dwayne Harris and Rueben Randle finding the end zone. Only two players went over 50 yards of offense, they were Jennings and Harris. While Jennings and Andre Williams flash signs of being a stable running back, the Giants do not run the ball enough, nor stick with one back to make them a viable option. Shane Vereen did not receive one target in the passing game, which was a bit odd this week.

Panthers @ Bucs

The weather was bad in this game, which led me to take the Panthers defense and nobody else. Who would have thought the Panthers would put up this many points this weekend? It was a sloppy game from the Bucs, and the Panthers capitalized. Newton managed the game, and while nobody put up monster stats, he connected with Ted Ginn Jr. twice in the end zone. Newton also added 50 yards on the ground, which is always a plus to his game. Carolina came through on defense with four interceptions, running one of them back for a score. Greg Olsen and Newton remain the elite options, but with the lack of depth at wide receiver, Ginn is a very nice flier with upside. The 4-0 Panthers are flying under the radar.

The Bucs had fantasy value this week, yet I doubt anybody had any shares. Vincent Jackson looked like his old self, with 10 catches for 147 yards and a score. The Bucs were chasing this game from the start, and with Mike Evans shadowed by Josh Norman, Jackson picked up the slack. Norman is a corner I do not want to pick on in fantasy. Always find out who he will be on during the week. Doug Martin also put up some points on the ground, going over 100 yards and finding the end zone. He was one of the top scoring running backs of the weekend, believe it or not.

Eagles @ Redskins

This was another ugly weather game, with winds kicking up to 30 MPH. This is usually bad news for quarterbacks, so of course Sam Bradford has his most efficient game as the Eagles' quarterback. He threw for three touchdowns and 270 yards. That should mean a big day for the wideouts, right? Wrong, Riley Cooper, Miles Austin and Brent Celek were on the receiving end of those scores. DeMarco Murray was invisible again and made it clear after the game that he needed more touches. The Washington run defense has stopped opposing backs this season, and they are not the pushovers they were a year ago. The secondary is the area you want to target.

Each week we see Alfred Morris' touches get cut into, and this time it was Chris Thompson showing off his speed. Kirk Cousins snagged the rushing touchdown in this game, and he threw one to Pierre Garcon. Rookie wideout Jamison Crowder was the most targeted man for Cousins, and he had seven catches for 65 yards. Crowder is a small, speedy wideout out of Duke who could see a bigger role as the season goes on.

Raiders @ Bears

The Raiders were another team highly touted coming into this game for cash games and GPPs. The prices were great, and the matchup against the Bears defense stood out just from looking at the schedule. The outcome was far from stellar, as they only found the end zone twice. Amari Cooper got off to a decent start, but he stalled big time in the second half. He saw nine targets, which is a bit disappointing for the Oakland number one. He finished with 4-49-1, while Michael Crabtree had 80 yards on five catches. We all had much higher expectations coming into week 4, so this dampened a lot of our lineups. Latavius Murray was another player who underperformed and was eventually benched in the late stages of the game due to a fumble.

Jay Cutler returned, and he led his team to a victory over the Raiders. Matt Forte put up over 125 combined yards, but fumbled once, and did not find the end zone. Touchdowns were crucial this week, as they always are, but in such a low scoring week it seemed we needed them more than ever. Forte's performance was equaled by Karlos Williams, who had a poor day, but did find the end zone. Much like the WR2 against the Colts situation, tight ends against the Raiders are thriving. They have combined for 31-381-5. Martellus Bennett went off for 11 receptions, 83 yards and a score. Marquess Wilson also made a stamp on this game in the absence of Alshon Jeffrey, with 80 yards on six catches. This team can put up plenty of points when healthy, so keep them on your radar going forward.

Texans @ Falcons

The Texans had Arian Foster this week, but he did not carry a full workload, as expected. He should see more of a normal workload against the Colts on Thursday night. There was not much from this Texans team, outside of DeAndre Hopkins racking up 22 targets for 157 yards. Cecil Shorts III put up another strong week with a touchdown and 87 yards, but he dislocated his shoulder. He was coming into the matchup with the Colts as that WR2, but now we will likely miss out on the opportunity.

The Falcons put up a disappointing 48 points, and you are probably asking how is that disappointing? Terron Ward, Devonta Freeman and the defense combined for six of them. If you faded Devonta Freeman not thinking he would reproduce his big performance in week three, you were disappointed because he did. This also caused the game to swing into the Falcons' favor quickly, resulting in zero need to throw the ball to Julio Jones. It was Leonard Hankerson who thrived in the minimal passing game with 103 yards and a score.

Chiefs @ Bengals

The Bengals offense kept on trucking this week, but the touchdowns came from an unexpected place. They rushed for four touchdowns, and Jeremy Hill had three of them. He only carried the ball nine times and was still out-rushed by Giovani Bernard, but he was the highest scoring player from this team. Andy Dalton looked great again, completing 17-24 passes and finding the end zone once. It was a long bomb to Brandon Tate, and he had most of us hanging our heads after we figured out it was not A.J. Green. Cincinnati has two tough defenses in the next two weeks, so it will be interesting to see if they can keep this kind of production up.

Jamaal Charles was much like Forte this week. He put up 145 yards of offense but did not find the end zone. Paying up for these guys and missing out on touchdowns is a major letdown. Despite putting up over 400 yards of offense, the Chiefs did not score one touchdown. They managed to stay in the game for most of it behind Cairo Santos' seven field goals. He was likely your top scoring player on FanDuel this weekend. Jeremy Maclin asserted himself again as the Chiefs WR1 with 11 receptions for 148 yards. I believe the Chiefs have figured out that they have a good wide receiver to use in their game plan.

Browns @ Chargers

The 57 combined points was a shocker for me, and the game being this close was as well. Phillip Rivers dominated this game with 358 yards passing and three scores. With Joe Haden out, this secondary becomes weaker than it already is. We may have been able to see that if we weren't so keyed in on Taylor and Carr. The Chargers lost Stevie Johnson and Malcom Floyd in this game to injury, but they gain Antonio Gates back this upcoming week. Expect him and Keenan Allen to be heavily targeted. Danny Woodhead once again stole the show in the backfield after many predicted the Melvin Gordon train to arrive. He had 130 combined yards, but did not find the end zone. Gordon rushed for 38 yards on 12 carries.

The Chargers defense is just bad. That is the main thing I took away from the Browns' side of things. Josh McCown looked solid, throwing for 356 yards and two scores. When McCown is one of the higher scoring quarterbacks on the slate, that should be an indication of how the week went. They did figure out how to get their rookie playmaker involved, Duke Johnson Jr. He had nine receptions, 85 yards and a score. He also had 31 yards on eight carries. He is one of their lone offensive weapons, and I am hoping this is a sign for using him this way in the future.

Packers @ 49ers

Aaron Rodgers and company had a chance to bury any DFS players who used Taylor over him but failed to do so. The 49ers have been torched the last three weeks, but they limited damage this week. They allowed two touchdowns, one scored by John Kuhn, once again another indication on how this week went. The other touchdown went to Richard Rogers. It was a disappointing week for high priced wideouts, as Randall Cobb only had 44 yards on five catches. James Jones managed to have 98 yards on five catches. The 17 points from the Packers was something we didn't expect.

The 49ers offense did meet expectations this week, as they put up three points. They failed to move the ball in the air, and on the ground. I will likely never use a 49ers player moving forward this season. This is a quick recap, they are bad

Rams @ Cardinals

The Cardinals were another offensive powerhouse to let down the DFS world with only one touchdown which was to David Johnson. Chris Johnson looked great again despite not finding the end zone with 83 yards on the ground. Larry Fitzgerald was the leading receiver yet again for Arizona, falling just a yard short of 100 receiving yards on seven catches. We also saw John Brown show up with 10 targets which resulted in seven catches for 75 yards. We saw an off week for many teams, so not putting too much stock into this game going forward. Arizona is still one of the offensive powerhouses in 2015, and they will likely get Andre Ellington back this week.

Nick Troles, I mean Foles threw three touchdowns against a good Arizona secondary after falling flat last week when many took him. He found Tavon Austin twice in the end zone, as he also racked up 96 yards. This is one of those Tavon games we see once or twice a year. He will likely be back to his three receptions and 21 yards next week. The big "wow" of the weekend was Todd Gurley rushing for 146 yards on 19 carries. He is going to be a force for a long time and is one player who could open up this Rams' offense completely.

Vikings @ Broncos

Only 43 points were scored in this game, but compared to the other games, if you had stock in the right players here it paid off. Both pass defense rank in the top half of the league, which limited both quarterbacks. Mike Wallace did come away with a nice 8-83-1 line, while rookie Stefon Diggs led the team in yards. Adrian Peterson also showed he is matchup proof, rushing for 83 yards and a touchdown, but not numbers that make our eyes pop at his price. This was one of those games where you had to get very off the wall to receive some fantasy points.

The Broncos touchdowns came from unlikely players, with Ronnie Hillman busting out a long 72 yard touchdown run and Owen Daniels catching a short TD pass. Denver received a scare with Demaryius Thomas leaving the game, but he managed 93 yards on nine catches. Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders are still the go-to options each week, even after some down starts to the season. The running game continues to be a mystery, despite Hillman looking like the better back. I can certainly say to avoid C.J. Anderson, but I can't say Hillman gets a great workload each week.

Cowboys @ Saints

Drew Brees ended up playing in the Sunday Night game despite the shoulder issues. He looked solid, throwing for over 350 yards and two scores. You would have expected Brandin Cooks and Brandon Coleman to be the leading receivers reading Brees' numbers, but it was the opposite. C.J. Spiller had the monster 80 yard catch in overtime, but he was once again not much of a factor in the offense. Mark Ingram had six catches for 51 yards and 77 on the ground, proving he is capable of both roles. Reports before the weekend had Spiller getting a boost in touches, but that was not the case. Willie Snead finished with 89 yards on six catches looking like their number-one wideout. Is this Sean Payton being Sean Payton, or is Snead actually going to be a consistent threat moving forward? This team is a mystery.

The Cowboys lost another offensive weapon with Lance Dunbar gone for the season. I am not sure how much offense they can put up each week with the weapons they have. For now, most of the names are cheap tournament fliers, especially in the passing game. Brandon Weeden hasn't looked that bad, or bad enough to keep me away from Terrance Williams or Cole Beasley. Dallas will likely be a team I avoid until healthy, whenever that time comes.