Stretching the Field Post Week Five

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Keenan Allen
You can classify Allen as a one week wonder based on his statistics Sunday. He was able to pick on rookie cornerback DJ Haden and a poorly ranked Raiders secondary to average over nineteen yards a catch Sunday. Allen’s rise Sunday won’t be a weekly occurrence. He should finish the year around 800 yards receiving with three to four touchdowns.

Alshon Jeffrey
Jeffrey tore apart a secondary that has held up solidly for four games. Cutler went into 2012 throw it up any play, any down like he would to Brandon Marshall. Jeffrey is coming into his own. Defenses are shielding Marshall which is allowing Jeffrey’s to flourish. For week six lines head to NFL Odds at TopBet.eu Sportsbook. Sunday, Jeffrey averaged 21 yards a catch with over 200 yards receiving. He’ll likely see more attention now from defenses after back to back great weeks.

TY Hilton
We found out who was more successful in practices at Stanford. Andrew Luck ripped apart the Seahawks secondary and Richard Sherman. They did it by using their speed receiver Hilton, who got behind the Seahawks secondary time after time. He finished the day with his best game of the season with five catches for over 140 yards with two big touchdowns.

Jimmy Graham
Recommendations are always great to look back upon when you hit a home run off of them. Back when fantasy drafts were ongoing I recommended to draft Graham as high as you can, and preferably in the first part of second rounds. No one from a receiving standpoint is coming close to Graham’s stats. He is seven yards away from 600 yards with six touchdowns. With eleven more games to play he is going to put up record numbers at the position. He finished Sunday with fourteen yards a catch.

Donnie Avery
Alex Smith is just one of those unlikeable players that continues to get things done his way. Avery is one of the Chiefs unheralded players that is getting it done alongside Smith on a weekly basis. He made a big key sideline catch in which he roasted the Titans defender with his speed on that play. They don’t throw it long often but Avery is the one catching the balls over Dwayne Bowe.

James Jones
Kill shots are expected when you have a gunslinger like Aaron Rodgers. They use to go to the likes of Greg Jennings and Donald Driver. Substituting more than admirably has been James Jones. He got a step on the outside of his defender and gave the Packers the comfort they needed to separate from the Lions. Four catches for over 130 yards with that long touchdown isn’t a bad afternoon.

DeSean Jackson
I was one off the Jackson band wagon heading into October. He has shown the inconsistencies to carry on a strong September through the rest of the season. It looks like he has fully embraced Chip Kelly’s offense. Maybe it’s because he is a main cog in it with his speed. Whatever it may be it is working as Jackson had another big day with nearly 19 yards a catch.

Torrey Smith
Smith seems to be on here every week. Joe Flacco threw yet another ill-advised pick six interception in the fourth quarter against Miami. This time he was able to stave off that poor play mentally and deliver the Ravens a game winning field goal. Having Smith as a receiver adds to the ills and thrills of Flacco as a Raven quarterback. Flacco is going to continue unleashing deep ball throws to Smith. They connected on six passes that resulted in over 120 yards for Smith.

Josh Gordon
Gordon’s name is on the trade market but the Browns may want to keep Gordon if they plan on drafting a new quarterback of the future next year. Gordon possesses speed to get open on any down he wants. Success with Hoyer and Weeden in back to back weeks is a strong sign the Browns need to keep him.

Others That Did Well: Julius Thomas, Dez Bryant, and Terrance Williams.

Post Week Three NFL Team Rankings

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1. Denver Broncos- There is no question here. Denver has blown out teams since being down to Baltimore in the first half of week one.
2. Seattle Seahawks- Seattle is 3-0 but needs to show it can win handily on the road before bumping out Denver in the top spot.
3. New Orleans- If the defense can play as a top twelve to fifteen unit, this is a team no one wants to play in January
4. Chicago Bears- Trailing or even with a big lead the Bears have made things interesting. Chicago has jumped out to great regular season starts the last few seasons only to fizzle. The defense’s age could be a detriment past the midway point of the season.
5. Houston Texans- The Texans couldn’t put touchdowns on the board early against Baltimore and it came back to bite them. Add a pick six and a defensive touchdown and the game took a turn for the worse. Houston gets their hands full this weekend against the Seahawks.
6. New England- Yes they’re 3-0 but I still rank them behind the Texans for now. Their wins have come against the Jets, Bills, and Buccaneers. Not the best of opponents in which they did not dominate as teams ranked above them have.
7. Baltimore- A non-talked about display from Sunday was the dominance of the Ravens defense against Houston. The team was flying from sideline to sideline. I don’t care if it was Tom Brady behind center instead of Matt Schaub, there would have been similar results.
8. San Francisco- They’ve got some work to do but it is too early in the season to believe the defending NFC champs are going to cave under the current circumstances.
9. Atlanta- Falcons fans have no reason to worry. They just need to fix their woes inside opponents territory to gain touchdowns instead of field goals. The Falcons could easily be 3-0.
10. Kansas City- It’s going to take half the season for me to be a believer in this Chiefs team. They haven’t been truly threatened to rely on Alex Smith in the fourth quarter playing from behind. It’s bound to happen soon. I can envision a three to four game slide before the season’s all said and done.
11. Cincinnati Bengals
12. Green Bay Packers
13. Indianapolis Colts
14. Dallas
15. Detroit Lions
16. Miami
17. Tennessee
18. San Diego Chargers
19. Philadelphia Eagles
20. Carolina Panthers
21. Arizona Cardinals
22. New York Jets
23. Pittsburgh Steelers
24. NY Giants
25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
26. Washington Redskins
27. St. Louis Rams
28. Cleveland Browns
29. Buffalo Bills
30. Minnesota Vikings
31. Oakland Raiders
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Team Rankings Post Week Two

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1. Seattle Seahawks- I was one that gave the 49ers a probable chance to upset the Seahawks. Boy was I wrong. I still think there flaws on offense might come to bite them more than people would expect this season.
2. Denver Broncos- Manning is off to his typical red hot regular season start with a defense that hasn’t had to worry about tight games yet.
3. San Francisco- A regular season loss can be exaggerated at times, especially early in the season. San Francisco will be where they’ve been the last few years once the playoffs begin.
4. Green Bay Packers- As Stephen A Smith says, Aaron Rodgers is a baaaaaad man. His throws and how he is spreading the football around are incredible. They’ll get a tough test this week at Cincinnati.
5. Atlanta Falcons- Injuries are hitting this team early but they have enough talent to sustain through the injury bug. People worried about the Falcons without Steven Jackson just need to refer back to the Michael Turner days. Atlanta got it done with a back that should have been out of the league last year.
6. Houston Texans- Their carousel ways of coming back to win are not what people expected as heavy favorites in both games. This week is a true test for both Baltimore and Houston to see where their teams are at.
7. Chicago Bears- Though the Bears have also came back in their first two games of the season, it has been done in a different way. They’ve fought through turnovers and still managed to grab two wins over quality teams.
8. New England- Those thinking the Patriots are going to resort back to easily blowing out teams are mistaken. They’re downgraded at running back and receiver and it’s going to take patience to win every week.
9. New Orleans- The Saints have won two close games to start the year. They’ve done so by not looking as proficient offensively as we are accustomed to seeing. Will the defense give or will the offense get back to its old ways?
10. Cincinnati- With the Ravens still figuring out things, the Bengals could be ready to leap past the entire division. They’ll need a second receiver to step up to divert attention away from AJ Green if they’re going to do so.
11. Baltimore
12. Philadelphia
13. Miami
14. Dallas
15. Kansas City Chiefs
16. Indianapolis
17. NY Giants
18. St. Louis Rams
19. Arizona Cardinals
20. San Diego Chargers
21. Detroit Lions
22. Minnesota Vikings
23. Pittsburgh Steelers
24. Tennessee Titans
25. Washington Redskins
26. Carolina Panthers
27. NY Jets
28. Buffalo Bills
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
30. Oakland Raiders
31. Cleveland Browns
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

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Forty Million Dollars Later

Follow @cimini When Greg Paulus decided to re-open his recruitment to attain a last year of eligibility via a college’s graduate program, many believed Syracuse would be the school he chose. Doubts crept quickly though on how Paulus would play the position of quarterback after spending the last four years as a Duke point guard. The answer was easy. Find and throw to Mike Williams as much as you can. Paulus did just that and the two had a dynamic combination. Williams broke a Big East record with touchdowns in nine straight games and had the attention on NFL scouts. Attention that Syracuse had dropped the distinction of becoming possible for several years as a cellar team in the Big East. In a span of weeks Williams promising return from academic troubles to a productive junior season looked like it was washed away again. New head coach Doug Marrone had suspended Williams and other Syracuse player’s for violating conduct. Williams would not return to play another down at Syracuse. Tarnishing his draft stock was inevitable and did as he fell to the fourth round. Williams had a choice to make at that moment and throughout his first three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers his name has remained out of the unwanted type of athlete news---Ticker Flash News Across ESPN. Instead he relished the opportunity to do what was correct and let his career as an NFL receiver be the only objective as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. As a rookie in 2010, Williams helped Josh Freeman to a career year with 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions. Williams caught an astonishing eleven of Freeman’s 25 touchdowns. A new dynamic tandem had been branched together down in Florida. A tandem Florida likely has not seen from any of their teams in Jacksonville, Miami, or Tampa Bay since Mark Brunell to Jimmy Smith. That’s how bad the three franchises had been over the last five to six years between quarterbacks and wide receivers. 2011 did not fare well as a team for Tampa Bay and Williams did not play near as well with the added attention by defenses to him. It was a combination of things and Tampa Bay ultimately decided to let Raheem Morris go. Greg Schiano was brought in and anytime a new tenure is enforced changes on roster’s can happen at the drop of a dime. Vincent Jackson was signed to a mega-contract and that made Williams role even more unclear heading into the 2012 season. Playing on a rookie contract for a fourth round pick, Williams was once again faced with an opportunity to step up or have the walking papers handed to him. He rose to the occasion and put up stellar numbers as a likely WR4 or WR5 in most fantasy leagues. Fantasy playoffs are the time to shine for participants. More and more attention is being paid to athletes that can put forth a different type of season in that final stretch of the fantasy playoffs. Mike Wiliams did that and had four touchdowns in the last five games of the season. Tampa Bay did not hesitate to retain Williams as they see a bright future for him alongside Vinny Jackson. Quietly they re-signed Williams to a forty million dollar contract. Now it’s time for Williams to put the same type of work in he has throughout his years at Syracuse and Tampa Bay to prove that his contract is worthy. Vincent Jackson is a young thirty years old, so chances are high that this combination will be together for at least three to four seasons. Not too bad for an athlete that had twelve other receivers drafted ahead of him, including Arrelious Benn. A second rounder drafted by Tampa Bay who is no longer on the team, and trying to make the Philadelphia Eagles roster now.

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Preseason can be one of the harsh gray areas for fantasy football participants to over predict. Just because someone has a stellar preseason does not mean it will carry over into the regular season. Actual sleepers tend to come during the season and are because of injury. With Rob Gronkowski’s rehabilitation dragging into the season, many are quick to wrap their sights and take Sudfeld as a sleeper now.

Before you pull that trigger on Sudfeld lets calm the storm before you get tossed into it. It’s evident that Sudfeld would step into a significant role with New England. As Tom Brady has been one of the better quarterbacks in the league at diagnosing mismatches with his tight ends. The skill set that Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez had over Sudfeld is obvious. They were more athletic and possessed the speed to whirl by their opposing defenders. Seam routes were fantasy havens for owners of Gronk and Hernandez especially when it came down to red zone opportunities.

Defensively teams had to pick their poison on who was at-risk in one on one coverage especially when both Gronkowski and Hernandez were on the field at the same time. Their ascent to the rise of tight ends in the NFL was largely due to their complementary abilities of each other, and the fact that they were deemed elite tight ends coming out of college.

Before Brady had the duo of Hernandez and Gronk, Brady never had even close to the success statistically over the first nine years of his career. In the pre-Gronk and pre-Hernandez era Brady had unreliable fantasy tight end targets. Remember the names of Kyle Brady, Ben Watson, and Christian Fauria? I’d guess maybe ten percent of you had Ben Watson as your fantasy tight end during those bottom tier years of tight end significancy out of New England.
Watson’s top year receiving yards wise was 643 yards and he also topped out another year with six touchdowns. Christian Fauria and Kyle Brady were did not even touch the blips of waiver wire consideration.

My point with New England is they’ll likely figure out a shuffle of guys not just Sudfeld to make due for however long Gronkowski is out. The Patriots will not let it be known just yet what the time table for Gronkowski return is. More than likely the team will keep him out as long as possible to ensure proper prevention is met this time, as he has been unstable with injuries over the past year.

Sudfeld sure had an great performance in the first game of the preseason. Teams have no true game plans going in and sure as heck did not have Sudfeld in mind for assignment attention. Regular season will be a different story. If he is going to see twenty plus plays on the field, the opposing defenses will be ready for him. He is a big target at 6’7 with soft hands but does not possess the physical or speed attributes that New England had with Gronk and Hernandez.

Sudfeld’s three touchdowns in the preseason are bound to cause some fantasy football owners to reach out for Sudfeld as a *sleeper*. Others can buy low on Sudfeld as I do believe his three touchdowns in two weeks of the preseason are an aberration. Come the regular season I’ll be shocked if he reaches that touchdown total for the entire season.