Potential Fourth Quarter Killers for Week Eleven

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TY Hilton
The past two weeks Hilton has had second half statistical surges as the Colts have trailed. Against Tennessee the Colts shouldn’t get behind, or be behind by insurmountable points. At the same token I do not expect the Colts to adjust their offense at any point in this game. After the performance Andrew Luck had against the Rams the Colts are going to want Luck to regain all confidence. They’ll have him firing from quarter one until a kneel down occurs.

Tiquan Underwood
Mark Glennon’s first outing where he didn’t look like a third string quarterback was against the Atlanta Falcons about a month ago. In that game he hit Vincent Jackson on a couple of deep balls and nearly led a comeback in Atlanta. Tampa finally got their first win of the season against the Dolphins and should be able to be competitive against a reeling Falcons team. Atlanta should be giving extra attention to Jackson after what happened last game, leaving Underwood available for some big plays.

Rashard Jennings
Quietly Oakland is in the top five in the NFL rushing the football. It isn’t happening with a premier back carving up defenses each week. It’s happening with a duel threat quarterback in Terrelle Pryor. Houston is at the point where the team is going to start looking worse as the weeks go on. Case Keenum has dazzled with some touchdown passes to Andre Johnson, but the team has still lost both games he has played in. Teams that come into the season with high expectations that whittle away are always team to capitalize on. Jennings will get over 100 yards rushing on the road in Houston.

Rob Gronkowski
An area the strong Carolina Panthers defense still is vulnerable in is pass defense. The Panthers caught a break against the 49ers last week when Vernon Davis exited early with an injury. The backup tight end had a chance to haul in a throw late in that game that could of led to a touchdown. The prior week the Panthers struggled with Tony Gonzalez and I expect the Patriots to be able to attack the Panthers with Gronk the entire game.

Reggie Bush
I’m not buying the Steelers first impressive defensive performance against the Buffalo Bills. EJ Manuel was just returning from an injury and did not look comfortable the entire day. This is the same Steelers defense that has aged and has big time issues with speed. Detroit possesses that with its receivers and the all-important Reggie Bush. This game could possibly be Bush’s best game of the season.

Others: DeMaryius Thomas, Keenan Allen, Eddie Lacy, Pierre Thomas, and Pierre Garcon

Potential Fourth Quarter Killers For Week Nine

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Strap up your fantasy football seatbelts. It’s the accelerated part of the season. In all likelihood you have a few owners that have waved the white flag. There seasons were over after week four. It’s dwindled down to yourself and a handful of other league mates. Can you make that surge to get bragging rights? Here are some potential fourth quarter fantasy football players for week nine.

Alex Smith
I’ve been a brutal basher of Alex Smith every week. But when a matchup presents itself you have to take it for what it’s worth. The Bills for the most part have stayed strong mentally through constant injuries on both sides of the football. This week though presents a dubious task against the undefeated Chiefs. Mental confidence will take a strong hit by the Bills if Thad Lewis is unable to play. Smith just finds a way to do just enough. This week though he should flourish against an over performing Bills defense that surrenders chunks of yardage.

Marshawn Lynch
Seattle’s offense has been far less productive than teams with Super Bowl aspirations require. In order to get it fired back up the offense needs to get Lynch more involved. During the telecast of Monday Night football, Jon Gruden brought up a good point. Defenses are loading the box and daring the Seahawks to try to beat them with man coverage. Now with Percy Harvin set to return it should give Lynch clearance to run between the tackles better.

Dez Bryant
Dallas is just one of those teams that a win or loss is up in the air when it comes time for the fourth quarter. This is almost a must win scenario for the Cowboys against the Vikings. It’s going to be crucial that they rise to the occasion. Will the let down a week ago ultimately be impactful in a positive way or negative way? One thing that’s for certain is that Tony Romo will get Dez Bryant more involved against a Vikings secondary that loves to give up big plays.

Greg Jennings
Minnesota has been a head scratcher for fantasy football owners this year. AP has had two great runs on the year, while performing mediocre with almost all the rest of his carries. Poor quarterback play has led to the receiver and tight end position to be sapped of possible fantasy football value. Sometimes talent can supersede issues on given weeks. This should be one, as the Cowboys continue to get torched week to week by nearly every team via the passing game. Expect Jennings to finally have a decent game this week and produce in the fourth quarter.

Marques Colston
I’m going to call the reappearance of Marques Colston back to life. It is Halloween week after all. Those ready to bench Colston for good are going to be torn and twisted after Sunday. Drew Brees just hasn’t targeted Colston like he has in years past. Part of that has had to do with Brees’s sharp rise in targets to Jimmy Graham. A player in the Saints offense can only be relegated for so long. I’d expect Colston to make a sharp turn to regain a few notches on his season averages over the course of the next month.

Others: DeAngelo Williams, Terrelle Pryor, Saints Defense, Joe Flacco, Eddie Lacy, and Donald Brown

Potential Fourth Quarter Killers Week Eight

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Week eight has six teams on bye week with the Bears, Titans, Colts, Chargers, Ravens, and Texans. That makes it even ever more important that you choose a viable fantasy football starter for Thursday and Monday’s games. Some of you are right on the fringe of getting into your league’s fantasy football playoff picture.

Here are some fourth quarter killer opportunity starters to use in week eight.

Mike Tolbert

Tolbert’s performance this past week against the Rams would of likely got some other running backs benched in the NFL. With the Panthers pinned on their own one yard line, Tolbert stutter stepped to find a hole, instead of lunging forward. It cost the Panthers a safety which could have been a tailspin negative effect. Luckily for Tolbert it wasn’t. Clearly the Panthers love to utilize Tolbert in short yardage situations. It has led to Tolbert getting the one yard plunging touchdowns that use to go to Cam Newton. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Tolbert get an increased work load in the fourth quarter, on top of his normal goal line and short yardage duties.

Jordan Cameron

Cameron has been awfully quiet the past few weeks as Brandon Weeden has put on multiple poor performances. A game against Kansas City isn’t going to be much easier on Weeden’s psyche. An area the Browns need to re-attack to give Weeden some confidence is throwing the football back to Cameron. It seemed when Josh Gordon returned from suspension and had a few breakout games, that the Browns shifted their passing game focus to Gordon. If a blowout occurs in this contest, I would expect Cameron to get easy targets with a relaxed Chiefs prevent defense.

Brian Hartline

Tom Brady hardly ever loses back to back games. In fact he usually comes out firing to avenge the prior week’s loss. A majority of Patriots losses during Tom Brady’s career could be traced to the Patriots defensive let downs. Against the Jets it was Brady that struggled against the Jets pressure and had a costly pick-six with an eleven point lead. Miami has back tracked considerably since a 3-0 start. Ryan Tannehill has been a turnover machine and the Dolphins can’t establish a ground game. One go to guy for Tannehill has been Hartline. Expect Hartline to get ample targets late and be a fourth quarter fantasy contributor.

Le’Veon Bell

After a month on the job it appears that enough has been learned on Terrelle Pryor’s skillset. In the second half against the Chargers the offense went to shutdown mode, even though they held on to victory. Against Kansas City, Pryor had a successful first quarter before the Chiefs adjusted to shutdown Pryor’s running capabilities. Without his legs Pryor is not savvy enough yet to be a passing quarterback. It led to an unsettled offense and an atrocious interception thrown by Pryor in the second half against Kansas City. I suspect that Pryor’s woes will linger over against a Steelers team now on a two game winning streak. Le’Veon Bell has been a mini catalyst for the Steelers offense and should get a heavy workload in the second half against the Raiders.

Michael Floyd

If you could label a young Vincent Jackson molded receiver in the NFL—Michael Floyd would fit that bill. He is a tall athletic target that can possess the football over smaller defensive backs. Atlanta has struggled in many areas on defense this year. Matt Ryan struggled a year ago against the Cardinals with several first half interceptions. This should be a good matchup but I expect Carson’s week to week woes to position the Falcons nicely. Floyd will probably have an all around quality game that turns into a great one based on his fourth quarter stats.
Others: Jared Cook, Greg Jennings, Jordan Reed, Pierre Garcon, Terrence Williams, and Khiry Robinson