Target Tease
I do the AFC/NFC Target Watch later in the week, but I figured I could give you a little taste before we got there with some interesting target numbers from Week 3.
0 – Number of touches and targets Kevin Smith saw in week three.
1 – Number of targets Tony Romo and Tim Tebow had. Romo caught his.
2 – Number of targets Coby Fleener had with zero receptions compared to Dwayne Allen’s six targets for five receptions.
3 – Number of targets and receptions Nate Washington had with his 112 yards and a touchdown.
4 – Number of targets and receptions Jared Cook had with his 77 yards and a touchdown.
5 – Number of targets and rushing attempts Joique Bell had compared to Kevin Smith’s zero.
6 – Number of targets Kyle Rudolph had for his five receptions, two that went for touchdowns.
7 – Number of targets Stephen Hill had to go with his zero receptions.
8 – Number of targets Jamaal Charles had to go with his career high 33 rushing attempts.
9 – Number of targets Brian Hartline had for his one reception.
10 – Number of targets for Torrey Smith.
11 – Number of targets Damaris Johnson had in place of Jeremy Maclin.
12 – Number of targets for both Nate Burleson and Calvin Johnson in which both had 10 receptions and scored a touchdown, but Johnson totaled 164 yards to Burleson’s 69.
13 – Target number that’s so unlucky, not one receiver had it.
14 – Number of targets for Santonio Holmes who caught nine for 147 yards, his highest since 12/6/09.
15 – Number of targets for Reggie Wayne, which moves him to the league lead for the year with 40.
16 – Number of targets for Dwayne Bowe, his highest number since week 10 of 2010.
Early Waiver Look
QB: Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton
RB: Pierre Thomas, Bilal Powell, Lamar Miller, Daniel Thomas, Tashard Choice, Ryan Williams, Joique Bell
WR: Julian Edelman, Damaris Johnson, Brandon Stokley
TE: Fred Davis, Joel Dreessen, Heath Miller, Jordan Cameron
D/ST: Seattle, Arizona, N.Y. Giants, Dallas
Committee Time
Saints - Darren Sproles actually ran the ball for the first time this week, seven whole times for 62 yards. But he only had two targets and didn’t catch either. This is bizarre world.
Pierre Thomas actually led the Saints running backs in receiving with four receptions on six targets for 55 yards. He also ran the ball six times, but for only 11 yards.
Mark Ingram followed up his fantasy relevant game with a display of irrelevance as he only rushed five times for 11 yards with no passing targets.
This doesn’t make too much sense, but I have a feeling this won’t be the norm. We are seeing more Pierre Thomas and I could see him garnering more looks as the season progresses.
Redskins - Alfred Morris had 17 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown and one target without a catch. Evan Royster ran the ball twice for 21 yards and had four targets, which he caught two of for 13 yards. Then we had a sighting of our old pal Roy Helu, who had three targets that he caught all of for twenty yards.
Morris should remain the early down back with Helu and Royster coming in on passing downs.
Texans – Arian Foster led the way with 25 carries for 105 yards, but disappointingly only had one target, which amazingly he caught for a touchdown. Ben Tate had eight carries for 26 yards and had no targets. He also lost a fumble which Kubiak abhors.
Chiefs - Jamaal Charles.
Jets - Shonn Greene had 19 carries for 40 yards with two receptions on two targets for nine yards. Bilal Powell had 10 carries for 45 yards and two receptions on five targets for 24 yards.
It seems that we are getting closer to a changing of the guard here.
Dolphins - With Reggie Bush going down, we saw a lot of Daniel Thomas. He had 19 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown, while Lamar Miller had nine carries for 48 yards. Bush’s injury doesn’t seem to be a long term problem, but if it is, I’d have trouble starting Thomas, even if he was the main guy. Lamar Miller has so much more upside that I’d throw him on my team first.
Awards
Fantasy MVP of Week 3: Jamaal Charles, duh.
Fantasy Breakout Player of Week 3: Jamaal Charles, duh.
Fantasy Rookie of Week 3: Mikel Leshoure – Yeah, I know he’s not a rookie anymore, but this is his first NFL game, so I’m going to be lenient and give him the big cash award.
Fantasy Disappointment of Week 3: Tony Romo – The Bucs had just given up a bazillion passing yards to Eli Manning and then Romo lays an egg.
Fantasy Fluke of Week 3: Cecil Shorts, his game winning 80 yard touchdown was on his second target of the day and Gabbert’s fourth completion of the fourth quarter.
Twitter Talk
@billbarnwell of Grantland.com -- Does Belichick think he gets bonus points if he scores with Michael Hoomanawanui setting up Brandon Bolden?
@evansilva of Rotoworld -- Chris Johnson improved his yards-per-carry average on the season from 1.10 to 1.36 today.
@BillPlaschke -- As If Refs Credibility Wasn't Already Shot: Raiders just played an entire half without a penalty
@CaptainComeback of Cold Hard Football Facts -- Week 3 was 73rd time Manning/Brady/Roethlisberger/Brees have played in same NFL week. First time they all lost.
@BrandonSpikes55 of the New England Patriots -- Can someone please tell these f&^%ing zebras foot locker called and they’re needed Back at work !!!!
@SC_DougFarrar of Yahoo Sports -- Just saw the Romo-to-Ogletree potential TD prevented by the ref throwing his hat on the turf and Ogletree slipping on it. Bucs fan, maybe?
@PeytonsHead -- These replacement refs are awful. Oh, that was in our favor? Good job, good effort!
Stats and What Not
The Ravens win was their first ever against the Patriots in the regular season.
The New Orleans Saints are 0-3 and the teams that have beaten them have yet to beat another team.
Kevin Kolb, Christian Ponder and Blaine Gabbert are the only starting quarterbacks not to have thrown an interception this season.
Peyton Manning now holds the record for most 300 yard passing games with 64, beating Dan Marino.
The Patriots had gone 145 games without having a losing record, which is the NFL record.
The Cardinals are 3-0 for the first time since 1974.
Larry Fitzgerald is the youngest player in history to reach 700 receptions at the age of 29.
Drew Brees has 46 straight games with a touchdown pass. The record is 47 games by Johnny Unitas.
Through the first two weeks Jamaal Charles totaled 90 rushing yards and in week two he disappointed many fantasy owners with a grand total of three yards rushing and a bruised knee, which once again reminded us that Charles’ season ended last year with a torn ACL in that same knee. So going into this week, even against the Saints poor defense, expectations were tempered.
But as we know now, our expectations should have been stoked. Charles went from 90 yards rushing through two weeks, to a league leading 323 yards rushing after Sunday's games were over.
Charles had a career high 33 carries and a career runner-up 233 yards rushing to go along with six receptions for 55 yards for a total of 288 yards, which is also a career high. So that’s a little more than last week.
This game was vintage JC Superstar. According to ESPN Stats and Info, “only four players in NFL history have had multiple games of 230+ rushing yards- Jim Brown (3), Jamaal Charles (2), Corey Dillon (2), O.J. Simpson (2).” That is some pretty good company to keep, well, as far as football ability goes.
If you bought low on Charles you are doing the Dougie while counting all the fake points you accrued. Congrats.
Game Balls
Torrey Smith - I’m not often swayed by the drama that producers manufacture around NFL games, but there was absolutely nothing artificial about Torrey Smith’s internal fortitude to play Sunday night and excel after losing his brother only hours before the game.
His 127 yards and two touchdown game was the second time he topped 125 yards a two touchdowns in a game. That’s a first for a Ravens receiver.
This game itself was marred by controversial calls and fighting, but each time Smith caught the ball, it seemed like a completely different game, between just him and his brother.
Jake Locker - After a slow start to his sophomore season, Locker broke out with a career day against the Lions in an absolutely wacko game. The two teams scored 46 points in the fourth quarter alone!
The promise of Locker was a strong arm that could stretch the field with the Titans young pass catchers, but after two weeks many were worried that his promise wasn’t going to be kept. But this week we saw what he could do. His two touchdown passes went over 60 yards each and he still had a nice 69% completion percentage.
A.J. Green - Green continues to show that he’s very much in the elite wide receiver conversation. This week he had nine receptions for 183 yards and a touchdown. That puts him at 311 yards and two touchdowns on the season, just behind Calvin Johnson for the league lead in yardage.
If Andy Dalton can continue to improve, this could be a special year for the ultra-talented Green.
Maurice Jones-Drew - Mr. Jones-Drew and me have never told each other fairy tales or looked into the future, but if we did, I think all his tales and predictions would have been a little more spot-on than mine. This guy is never going to slow down.
He ran for 177 yards and a touchdown and is only second in rushing yards to Jamaal Charles on the season. That’s after holding out and missing all of preseason.
Much like last season, the Jaguars are going to have to ride him into the dirt (I wonder why he held out?) but he’s one of the few backs in the league able to take the beating and still put up big numbers.
Christian Ponder/Kyle Rudolph/Percy Harvin – So the Vikings took on the 49ers who just beat the Packers and the Lions, i.e. Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. So what do you expect out of Christian Ponder? The fifth best fantasy game of the week? Stop lying!
Of course that’s exactly what he did as he threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in the process of upsetting San Francisco. I’m sure many of you had Ponder in the “who will be the first player to rush for a touchdown against the 49er’s?” pool.
His two main pass catchers, Harvin and Rudolph combined for 14 receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Harvin leads the league in receptions and Rudolph just caught his third touchdown in as many games.
The Vikings have a lot to be thankful for right now. Ponder, Harvin, and Rudolph are 24, 24, and 22 respectively. There’s a lot of good football to come.
Matt Ryan - It seems that Matt Ryan’s ascent into the elite is happening right before our eyes. This week he dismantled the Chargers with ease, completing 30 of 40 for 275 yards and three touchdowns.
He leads the league in passer rating and is tied for the lead in passing touchdowns with eight. His completion percentage also is tops in the league at 72 percent.
He’s not putting up the crazy numbers other quarterbacks put up last season, but the Falcons defense is keeping him from needing to throw all game long.
Mikel Leshoure - Well, I guess we know now. It took him over a year, but he finally made it into a regular season NFL game and managed to rush for 100 yards and a touchdown and catch four passes (on four targets) for 34 yards.
There’s no doubt he is the guy now, especially after it looked like he would only have about 15 touches and he ended the day with 30.
Darren McFadden - Mr. MacDaddyFadden finally broke out with 113 yards rushing and a touchdown on 18 carries against the Steelers. It was only a matter of time of course, but it was nice seeing him do it against a good defense.
Larry Fitzgerald - The Arizona Cardinal’s defense is getting some good press right now as they’ve helped lead the Cardinals to a 3-0 start, but since I’m a fantasy football nerd with offensive blinders on, it’s been hard to give much praise in this column to them, but thankfully Fitzgerald had his coming out party for 2012 with nine receptions (on nine targets) for 114 yards and a touchdown.
He’s still one of the best in the game, but to see Kevin Kolb get him those nine targets where Fitz could catch all nine, is a nice change of pace for the ex-Eagle.
Ben Roethlisberger - Roethlisberger threw the ball an amazing 49 times and targeted Miller, Wallace and Brown all in the double-digits. The Steelers have no run game to speak of and Roethlisberger is putting together some good numbers so far this year. He is tied for third in passing yards, tied for first in touchdowns, and second in passer rating.
If the Steelers defense continues to miss key players and their offense can’t get the run game going, Roethlisberger could put together a nice fantasy season.
Sell High
Alfred Morris - I may be beating a live horse here, but I just don’t see Morris keeping up his fantasy relevancy with Shanahan calling the shots and him not having any presence in the passing game, when the Redskins defense is going to keep the Redskins offense in pass mode.
Michael Turner - Sell him and sell him now. He got into the end zone again, but that is the only way he will ever help your team out this season. Hey, I may be wrong, but he just looks like he’s laboring. His upside is just too low for him to be on your team every week.
Heath Miller - I really have no idea if you can sell him high or not, but four touchdowns in three games is pretty spiffy. Yes, the Steelers are going to throw more this season, but Miller isn’t an offensive talent the likes of Rudolph, Cook, Olsen and Davis.
Buy Low
Fred Davis - Did his seven catch game for 90 yards and no touchdowns raise his stock too high? Probably not, but you can find out. I don’t want to give away the farm for him, because I’m not totally sold that he’s going to flourish with Griffin, but he leads the team in targets and if they do get on the same page, they could do some special things.
Percy Harvin - I’m going to tell you to buy low on the receiver who leads the league in receptions because I still don’t think people realize just how good he is.
If you aren’t scoring touchdowns in fantasy football, people are ready to upgrade to someone who is and yesterday, because that’s when they scored the touchdowns!
Ryan Mathews - Much like above, people want to see results fast. Mathews was a bit rusty his first game back, but still managed to put up 76 total yards and catch five passes on eight targets. I’d get him now.
Target Tease
I do the AFC/NFC Target Watch later in the week, but I figured I could give you a little taste before we got there with some interesting target numbers from Week 3.
0 – Number of touches and targets Kevin Smith saw in week three.
1 – Number of targets Tony Romo and Tim Tebow had. Romo caught his.
2 – Number of targets Coby Fleener had with zero receptions compared to Dwayne Allen’s six targets for five receptions.
3 – Number of targets and receptions Nate Washington had with his 112 yards and a touchdown.
4 – Number of targets and receptions Jared Cook had with his 77 yards and a touchdown.
5 – Number of targets and rushing attempts Joique Bell had compared to Kevin Smith’s zero.
6 – Number of targets Kyle Rudolph had for his five receptions, two that went for touchdowns.
7 – Number of targets Stephen Hill had to go with his zero receptions.
8 – Number of targets Jamaal Charles had to go with his career high 33 rushing attempts.
9 – Number of targets Brian Hartline had for his one reception.
10 – Number of targets for Torrey Smith.
11 – Number of targets Damaris Johnson had in place of Jeremy Maclin.
12 – Number of targets for both Nate Burleson and Calvin Johnson in which both had 10 receptions and scored a touchdown, but Johnson totaled 164 yards to Burleson’s 69.
13 – Target number that’s so unlucky, not one receiver had it.
14 – Number of targets for Santonio Holmes who caught nine for 147 yards, his highest since 12/6/09.
15 – Number of targets for Reggie Wayne, which moves him to the league lead for the year with 40.
16 – Number of targets for Dwayne Bowe, his highest number since week 10 of 2010.
Early Waiver Look
QB: Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton
RB: Pierre Thomas, Bilal Powell, Lamar Miller, Daniel Thomas, Tashard Choice, Ryan Williams, Joique Bell
WR: Julian Edelman, Damaris Johnson, Brandon Stokley
TE: Fred Davis, Joel Dreessen, Heath Miller, Jordan Cameron
D/ST: Seattle, Arizona, N.Y. Giants, Dallas
Committee Time
Saints - Darren Sproles actually ran the ball for the first time this week, seven whole times for 62 yards. But he only had two targets and didn’t catch either. This is bizarre world.
Pierre Thomas actually led the Saints running backs in receiving with four receptions on six targets for 55 yards. He also ran the ball six times, but for only 11 yards.
Mark Ingram followed up his fantasy relevant game with a display of irrelevance as he only rushed five times for 11 yards with no passing targets.
This doesn’t make too much sense, but I have a feeling this won’t be the norm. We are seeing more Pierre Thomas and I could see him garnering more looks as the season progresses.
Redskins - Alfred Morris had 17 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown and one target without a catch. Evan Royster ran the ball twice for 21 yards and had four targets, which he caught two of for 13 yards. Then we had a sighting of our old pal Roy Helu, who had three targets that he caught all of for twenty yards.
Morris should remain the early down back with Helu and Royster coming in on passing downs.
Texans – Arian Foster led the way with 25 carries for 105 yards, but disappointingly only had one target, which amazingly he caught for a touchdown. Ben Tate had eight carries for 26 yards and had no targets. He also lost a fumble which Kubiak abhors.
Chiefs - Jamaal Charles.
Jets - Shonn Greene had 19 carries for 40 yards with two receptions on two targets for nine yards. Bilal Powell had 10 carries for 45 yards and two receptions on five targets for 24 yards.
It seems that we are getting closer to a changing of the guard here.
Dolphins - With Reggie Bush going down, we saw a lot of Daniel Thomas. He had 19 carries for 69 yards and a touchdown, while Lamar Miller had nine carries for 48 yards. Bush’s injury doesn’t seem to be a long term problem, but if it is, I’d have trouble starting Thomas, even if he was the main guy. Lamar Miller has so much more upside that I’d throw him on my team first.
Awards
Fantasy MVP of Week 3: Jamaal Charles, duh.
Fantasy Breakout Player of Week 3: Jamaal Charles, duh.
Fantasy Rookie of Week 3: Mikel Leshoure – Yeah, I know he’s not a rookie anymore, but this is his first NFL game, so I’m going to be lenient and give him the big cash award.
Fantasy Disappointment of Week 3: Tony Romo – The Bucs had just given up a bazillion passing yards to Eli Manning and then Romo lays an egg.
Fantasy Fluke of Week 3: Cecil Shorts, his game winning 80 yard touchdown was on his second target of the day and Gabbert’s fourth completion of the fourth quarter.
Twitter Talk
@billbarnwell of Grantland.com -- Does Belichick think he gets bonus points if he scores with Michael Hoomanawanui setting up Brandon Bolden?
@evansilva of Rotoworld -- Chris Johnson improved his yards-per-carry average on the season from 1.10 to 1.36 today.
@BillPlaschke -- As If Refs Credibility Wasn't Already Shot: Raiders just played an entire half without a penalty
@CaptainComeback of Cold Hard Football Facts -- Week 3 was 73rd time Manning/Brady/Roethlisberger/Brees have played in same NFL week. First time they all lost.
@BrandonSpikes55 of the New England Patriots -- Can someone please tell these f&^%ing zebras foot locker called and they’re needed Back at work !!!!
@SC_DougFarrar of Yahoo Sports -- Just saw the Romo-to-Ogletree potential TD prevented by the ref throwing his hat on the turf and Ogletree slipping on it. Bucs fan, maybe?
@PeytonsHead -- These replacement refs are awful. Oh, that was in our favor? Good job, good effort!
Stats and What Not
The Ravens win was their first ever against the Patriots in the regular season.
The New Orleans Saints are 0-3 and the teams that have beaten them have yet to beat another team.
Kevin Kolb, Christian Ponder and Blaine Gabbert are the only starting quarterbacks not to have thrown an interception this season.
Peyton Manning now holds the record for most 300 yard passing games with 64, beating Dan Marino.
The Patriots had gone 145 games without having a losing record, which is the NFL record.
The Cardinals are 3-0 for the first time since 1974.
Larry Fitzgerald is the youngest player in history to reach 700 receptions at the age of 29.
Drew Brees has 46 straight games with a touchdown pass. The record is 47 games by Johnny Unitas.