Week 5 Target Watch: NFC

Green Bay Packers

Jordy Nelson: 7-9-3-12 (31), Jermichael Finley: 11-5-5-5 (26), James Jones: 6-5-6-6 (23), Greg Jennings: 9-dnp-10-3 (22), Randall Cobb: 9-2-2-8 (21), Cedric Benson: 0-4-5-4 (13), John Kuhn: 0-3-4-0 (7), Donald Driver: 0-1-1-2 (4), D.J. Williams: 0-1-2-dnp (3), Tom Crabtree: 0-0-dnp-1 (1)

Well, the Packers finally faced a bad defense and did what they do to such defenses. Of course James Jones and Tom Crabtree combined for three touchdowns as Aaron Rodgers is wont to do, but overall it was nice to see the Packers offense get back on track.

There isn’t one player on the Packers that has seen over 20% of the targets, which is the only team with that distinction. If Greg Jennings hadn’t been injured he’d probably have gotten enough, but as it usually is in Green Bay, no one player dominates week in and week out.

Cedric Benson remains the feature back and if the Packers ran more near the goal line I’d say buy the old man, but unfortunately they don’t and if they do, John Kuhn or B.J. Raji or whoever might get the call. And Benson just doesn’t have the chops to score from way out.

Minnesota Vikings

Percy Harvin: 8-13-11-6 (38), Kyle Rudolph: 7-5-6-5 (23), Michael Jenkins: 5-6-5-4 (20), Adrian Peterson: 1-3-4-4 (12), Toby Gerhart: 1-3-4-1 (9), Devin Aromashodu: 3-3-2-0 (8), Jerome Simpson: dnp-dnp-dnp-5 (5), Stephen Burton: 0-2-1-dnp (3), John Carlson: 1-0-1-1 (3), Matt Asiata: 1-0-0-0 (1), Allen Reisner: 0-0-1-dnp (1)

The Vikings defense needs to stop playing well so Christian Ponder will throw more.  Right now they are near the bottom of the league in total passing attempts. Thankfully Percy Harvin is seeing over 30% of those, but after him, Kyle Rudolph is at 18.7%. That’s not horrible, but there are 11 tight ends ahead of him in percentage and unless the Vikings need to throw more, Rudolph is going to remain inconsistent.

Adrian Peterson had four targets and caught all four, which is very good. Not since Brett Favre’s magical season has Peterson had 40+ receptions and he’s on pace for that now. It’s not a ton, but every bit helps.

New Orleans Saints

Jimmy Graham: 10-13-8-9 (40), Lance Moore: 10-5-7-15 (37), Marques Colston: 11-4-4-13 (32), Darren Sproles: 8-14-3-7 (32), Pierre Thomas: 1-6-6-3 (16), Devery Henderson: 2-dnp-7-2 (11), Joe Morgan: 2-3-dnp-1 (6), David Thomas: 2-1-0-2 (5), Jed Collins: 2-0-1-1 (4), Mark Ingram: 1-0-0-1 (2), Courtney Roby: 0-1-0-0 (1)

The 0-4 Saints are tough to watch, but they are still huge fantasy contributors, both on offense and as a horrible defense to start all players against. Drew Brees is ahead of Matthew Stafford in the race to break the record for most attempts in a season, which really isn’t the record you want unless it comes along with a touchdown record, but still, it give plenty of chances for receivers to have good days.

Jimbo Graham is still Brees’ main target, just like last season and except for last week has had no trouble getting into the end zone. Lock and load The Reverend in your lineup.

Darren Sproles got back into the target game with seven targets in which he caught five for 44 yards and a touchdown.  Don’t worry about his PPR studliness.

New York Giants

Victor Cruz: 11-17-8-13 (49), Martellus Bennett: 6-10-7-3 (26), Hakeem Nicks: 6-15-dnp-dnp (21), Domenik Hixon: 5-1-dnp-11 (17), Ramses Barden: 0-2-10-4 (16), Andre Brown: 0-2-5-1 (8), Ahmad Bradshaw: 2-0-dnp-4 (6), Henry Hynoski: 1-1-2-1 (5), Bear Pascoe: 1-0-1-2 (4), Rueben Randle: 0-0-3-1 (4), David Wilson: 0-2-1-1 (4)

Victor Cruz is tied for the league lead in targets and has received over 30% of the Giants targets, which puts him at tenth overall. Of course those numbers might be slightly different if Hakeem Nicks had played the last two games, but Barden and Hixon filled in for Nicks admirably and received a big chunk of looks. It isn’t a stretch to say that whoever starts in Nicks’ spot is going to get his targets.

With Ahmad Bradshaw back, we saw Andre Brown’s touches decrease dramatically as well as his time on the field. Bradshaw was on the field 58 times to Brown’s nine. There’s no time-share there.

Philadelphia Eagles

DeSean Jackson: 11-8-10-9 (38), Brent Celek: 8-11-6-5 (30), LeSean McCoy: 9-3-3-4 (19), Jeremy Maclin: 14-1-dnp-3 (18), Damaris Johnson: 3-1-11-1 (16), Jason Avant: 5-2-4-2 (13), Clay Harbor: 6-2-0-1 (9), Stanley Havili: 0-1-0-2 (3), Bryce Brown: 0-0-2-0 (2), Mardy Gilyard: dnp-0-1-0 (1)

DeSean Jackson continues to be the most reliable receiver on the Eagles. Wait, huh? There’s little doubt that a fully healthy Jeremy Maclin would be the guy to own, but he is far from fully healthy. Against the Giants, Maclin played the exact same number of snaps as Jackson, but saw six less targets and only caught one for seven yards.

The good news is that Maclin played a full set of snaps, but the bad news is how are we to know when he’s truly back?  Oh the humanity!

Last season through four games, LeSean McCoy had 66 carries for 363 yards and 4 touchdowns and 15 receptions on 19 targets for 83 yards and 2 touchdowns. This season through four games he has 81 carries for 384 yards and 1 touchdown and 14 receptions on 19 targets for 59 yards and no touchdowns. So if anything, he’s seen more work than last year, but has five less touchdowns. It’s the touchdowns stupid!

Have you ever thought to your self, “self? Are targets the best thing or the greatest thing in the world?” And then instead of answering yourself, you just smile smugly at your awesomeness?  Just me? Anyway, we have target info for you below. The team breakdowns are for the NFC, so if you are looking for the AFC teams, you’ll need to wait another day for me to write about them. It will all work itself out in the end.

For a little appetizer, here are the top targeted targets for each position so far.

Target Leaders

Arizona Cardinals

Larry Fitzgerald: 11-5-9-15 (40), Andre Roberts: 9-1-6-9 (25), Early Doucet: 3-4-1-7 (15), Todd Heap: 4-9-dnp-dnp (13), Michael Floyd: 1-0-2-8 (11), Ryan Williams: 3-2-2-2 (9), Jeff King: 3-0-2-2 (7), Rob Housler: 0-1-2-3 (6), LaRod Stephens-Howling: 1-2-0-dnp (3), William Powell: dnp-dnp-dnp-2 (2), Anthony Sherman: 1-1-0-0 (2)

Andre Roberts now leads all wide receivers with four touchdown receptions. Last season Calvin Johnson had eight at this point. This tells us that wide receiver touchdowns are lame.  But is Andre Roberts? No and probably.

Roberts is a good receiver, but his touchdown rate is unsustainable at one touchdown for every 3.75 receptions or 6.25 targets. If he were getting more targets, I’d be fine with him regressing to a more sustainable touchdown rate, but right now, he’s just not getting consistent targets.

Against Miami, Kevin Kolb threw the ball 48 times; in his first two games he threw it 27 and 24 times. If for some reason the Cardinals turn into a run-and-shoot team, I’ll change my tune on Roberts.

But of course there are other players on the team. Larry Fitzgerald to name the best and he of course led in targets and in red zone targets with four. That’s what I like to see.

The running back situation is not a good one for fantasy with William Powell seeing the field more than Ryan Williams. This was due mainly to Powell being used as the passing-down back. Williams must not be up to snuff on pass protection quite yet. The good news is that the Cardinals normally have a better defense than they showed against Miami and won’t be throwing all over kingdom-come that often.

Atlanta Falcons

Roddy White: 8-11-8-12 (39), Tony Gonzalez: 6-10-12-5 (33), Julio Jones: 9-7-7-8 (31), Jacquizz Rodgers: 2-1-5-4 (12), Harry Douglas: 4-3-2-2 (11), Michael Turner: 0-1-2-5 (8), Jason Snelling: 0-1-1-4 (6), Michael Palmer: 1-0-1-dnp (2)

The Falcons are playing well right now, and Matt Ryan can do little wrong.  Much like Aaron Rodgers last season, Ryan will exploit the best matchups, which sometimes leaves players out of the fun.  And the Falcons have three of the best receivers in the league to choose from.

Michael Turner went all slow burner on us and racked up yardage through the air and ground. His five targets were the most he’s ever had and his receiving touchdown was the first of his career.  But Jacquizz Rodgers still was on the field for 43% of the time compared to Turner’s 53%. Last game Rodgers held the snap advantage, so I think we’ll continue to see about an even split, depending on circumstances.

Carolina Panthers

Greg Olsen: 7-3-14-7 (31), Steve Smith: 11-4-4-6 (25), Brandon LaFell: 5-8-5-3 (21), Mike Tolbert: 3-2-5-3 (13), Louis Murphy: 5-0-3-1 (9), DeAngelo Williams: 1-0-2-2 (5), Kealoha Pilares: 1-1-0-1 (3), Jonathan Stewart: dnp-1-dnp-1 (2), Armanti Edwards: 0-0-0-1 (1)

Greg Olsen is doing some work and it’s good to see. After being Mike Martz’d and Jeremy Shockey’d into obscurity, it’s finally time for him to show what he can do. He currently leads all tight ends in target percentage for his team. Cam Newton is targeting him 28% of the time. And he’s the sixth most targeted tight end in the league.

Newton’s recent love for Olsen is hurting Brandon LaFell. The Panthers passing game can’t give three receivers consistent fantasy production, so someone has to take a back seat. Right now it is LaFell. This of course could fluctuate, but I believe Olsen has a good hold on the target lead, even to the detriment of Steve Smith. Of course the good thing about Smith is that he is averaging over 20 yards a reception, so it doesn’t take many targets to put him in the fantasy money.

The running back situation is exactly what you would expect, a mess for fantasy players. Jonathan Stewart’s injury has thrown a wrench into analyzing playing time and touches, but last week we saw pretty much an exact split in time and touches. Guessing who gets a touchdown between DeAngelo Williams and Stewart is going to be tough.

Chicago Bears

Brandon Marshall: 15-5-11-8 (39), Alshon Jeffery: 5-2-7-5 (19), Kellen Davis: 1-6-3-4 (14), Earl Bennett: 4-6-4-dnp (14), Matt Forte: 6-5-dnp-1 (12), Devin Hester: 2-1-2-4 (9), Michael Bush: 0-0-2-1 (3), Matt Spaeth: 0-2-0-0 (2), Dane Sanzenbacher: dnp-dnp-dnp-1 (1), Evan Rodriguez: 1-0-0-dnp (1), Kahlil Bell: dnp-dnp-1-0 (1), Kyle Adams: dnp-dnp-1-0 (1)

Right now Brandon Marshall is receiving 33.3% of all the Bears targets, which puts him fourth overall in the league, while Alshon Jeffery is getting 16.2%. That’s just not enough for Jeffery to have any kind of consistency. 

Matt Forte’s ankle injury seemed to still be a bit of a problem Monday night, but he still played 32 snaps to Michael Bush’s 22. As long as he doesn’t have a setback, he should up that number this week.

Dallas Cowboys

Dez Bryant: 5-7-8-13 (33), Jason Witten: 3-10-6-14 (33), Miles Austin: 4-10-9-6 (29), Kevin Ogletree: 11-1-7-5 (24), DeMarco Murray: 2-4-4-7 (17), Felix Jones: 2-5-2-0 (9), John Phillips: 1-2-0-0 (3), Phillip Tanner: 0-0-0-3 (3), Cole Beasley: 0-dnp-dnp-2 (2), Lawrence Vickers: 0-0-1-0 (1), James Hanna: 1-0-0-0 (1), Andre Holmes: 0-dnp-0-1 (1), Dwayne Harris: 0-0-0-1 (1)

We’ve all been begging for more Dez Bryant targets and we got them. Of course he dropped some and made some bone-headed plays and made it harder for him to keep getting those targets, but he got them and topped 100 yards receiving for the second time in his career. Hopefully for his fantasy owner’s sakes he’ll keep getting them.

Jason Witten broke out of his slump in a big way and led all tight ends with 14 targets, catching 13 for 112 yards and a touchdown. Can’t argue with those numbers.

You can argue with DeMarco Murray’s 24 yards rushing on 11 carries, but thankfully he saved his PPR day with seven receptions on seven targets. That’s by far his best target and reception day of the year.

Miles Austin took a back seat in target bingo, but still got in for a touchdown. He continues to get his no matter what. We won’t go into Tony Romo’s evening of ill-repute.

Detroit Lions

Calvin Johnson: 7-12-12-12 (43), Brandon Pettigrew: 10-4-12-9 (35), Nate Burleson: 8-3-12-8 (31), Joique Bell: 0-3-5-8 (16), Titus Young: 3-3-7-3 (16), Tony Scheffler: 8-3-dnp-3 (14), Mikel Leshoure: dnp-dnp-4-5 (9), Kevin Smith: 6-3-0-0 (9), Will Heller: 2-1-1-0 (4), Keiland Williams: 1-0-0-1 (2), Stefan Logan: 1-0-1-0 (2), Ryan Broyles: dnp-dnp-0-1 (1)

The Lions can’t seem to put together much in the wins department, but they sure throw the ball enough to give us beaucoup target information.  Matthew Stafford is actually on pace to eclipse Drew Bledsoe’s record for most pass attempts. Of course Drew Brees has five more attempts than Stafford this season!

Calvin Johnson has been steady in his targets with 12 each of his last three games. His main problem has been getting into the end zone, which is really one of the Lions’ main problems as well. But you know he’s going to start crossing the goal line with the ball soon.

I’m not sure what Kevin Smith did to deserve such a plummet down the depth chart, but he didn’t step on the field last week, while Joique Bell backed up Mikel LeShoure once again.  And Bell did some good work on passing downs, catching six of eight targets for 72 yards. He currently ranks second in receiving yards for running backs behind Darren Sproles.

Titus Young saw his targets go back down to his normal three and has as many targets as Bell has on the season! That’s not good.

Green Bay Packers

Jordy Nelson: 7-9-3-12 (31), Jermichael Finley: 11-5-5-5 (26), James Jones: 6-5-6-6 (23), Greg Jennings: 9-dnp-10-3 (22), Randall Cobb: 9-2-2-8 (21), Cedric Benson: 0-4-5-4 (13), John Kuhn: 0-3-4-0 (7), Donald Driver: 0-1-1-2 (4), D.J. Williams: 0-1-2-dnp (3), Tom Crabtree: 0-0-dnp-1 (1)

Well, the Packers finally faced a bad defense and did what they do to such defenses. Of course James Jones and Tom Crabtree combined for three touchdowns as Aaron Rodgers is wont to do, but overall it was nice to see the Packers offense get back on track.

There isn’t one player on the Packers that has seen over 20% of the targets, which is the only team with that distinction. If Greg Jennings hadn’t been injured he’d probably have gotten enough, but as it usually is in Green Bay, no one player dominates week in and week out.

Cedric Benson remains the feature back and if the Packers ran more near the goal line I’d say buy the old man, but unfortunately they don’t and if they do, John Kuhn or B.J. Raji or whoever might get the call. And Benson just doesn’t have the chops to score from way out.

Minnesota Vikings

Percy Harvin: 8-13-11-6 (38), Kyle Rudolph: 7-5-6-5 (23), Michael Jenkins: 5-6-5-4 (20), Adrian Peterson: 1-3-4-4 (12), Toby Gerhart: 1-3-4-1 (9), Devin Aromashodu: 3-3-2-0 (8), Jerome Simpson: dnp-dnp-dnp-5 (5), Stephen Burton: 0-2-1-dnp (3), John Carlson: 1-0-1-1 (3), Matt Asiata: 1-0-0-0 (1), Allen Reisner: 0-0-1-dnp (1)

The Vikings defense needs to stop playing well so Christian Ponder will throw more.  Right now they are near the bottom of the league in total passing attempts. Thankfully Percy Harvin is seeing over 30% of those, but after him, Kyle Rudolph is at 18.7%. That’s not horrible, but there are 11 tight ends ahead of him in percentage and unless the Vikings need to throw more, Rudolph is going to remain inconsistent.

Adrian Peterson had four targets and caught all four, which is very good. Not since Brett Favre’s magical season has Peterson had 40+ receptions and he’s on pace for that now. It’s not a ton, but every bit helps.

New Orleans Saints

Jimmy Graham: 10-13-8-9 (40), Lance Moore: 10-5-7-15 (37), Marques Colston: 11-4-4-13 (32), Darren Sproles: 8-14-3-7 (32), Pierre Thomas: 1-6-6-3 (16), Devery Henderson: 2-dnp-7-2 (11), Joe Morgan: 2-3-dnp-1 (6), David Thomas: 2-1-0-2 (5), Jed Collins: 2-0-1-1 (4), Mark Ingram: 1-0-0-1 (2), Courtney Roby: 0-1-0-0 (1)

The 0-4 Saints are tough to watch, but they are still huge fantasy contributors, both on offense and as a horrible defense to start all players against. Drew Brees is ahead of Matthew Stafford in the race to break the record for most attempts in a season, which really isn’t the record you want unless it comes along with a touchdown record, but still, it give plenty of chances for receivers to have good days.

Jimbo Graham is still Brees’ main target, just like last season and except for last week has had no trouble getting into the end zone. Lock and load The Reverend in your lineup.

Darren Sproles got back into the target game with seven targets in which he caught five for 44 yards and a touchdown.  Don’t worry about his PPR studliness.

New York Giants

Victor Cruz: 11-17-8-13 (49), Martellus Bennett: 6-10-7-3 (26), Hakeem Nicks: 6-15-dnp-dnp (21), Domenik Hixon: 5-1-dnp-11 (17), Ramses Barden: 0-2-10-4 (16), Andre Brown: 0-2-5-1 (8), Ahmad Bradshaw: 2-0-dnp-4 (6), Henry Hynoski: 1-1-2-1 (5), Bear Pascoe: 1-0-1-2 (4), Rueben Randle: 0-0-3-1 (4), David Wilson: 0-2-1-1 (4)

Victor Cruz is tied for the league lead in targets and has received over 30% of the Giants targets, which puts him at tenth overall. Of course those numbers might be slightly different if Hakeem Nicks had played the last two games, but Barden and Hixon filled in for Nicks admirably and received a big chunk of looks. It isn’t a stretch to say that whoever starts in Nicks’ spot is going to get his targets.

With Ahmad Bradshaw back, we saw Andre Brown’s touches decrease dramatically as well as his time on the field. Bradshaw was on the field 58 times to Brown’s nine. There’s no time-share there.

Philadelphia Eagles

DeSean Jackson: 11-8-10-9 (38), Brent Celek: 8-11-6-5 (30), LeSean McCoy: 9-3-3-4 (19), Jeremy Maclin: 14-1-dnp-3 (18), Damaris Johnson: 3-1-11-1 (16), Jason Avant: 5-2-4-2 (13), Clay Harbor: 6-2-0-1 (9), Stanley Havili: 0-1-0-2 (3), Bryce Brown: 0-0-2-0 (2), Mardy Gilyard: dnp-0-1-0 (1)

DeSean Jackson continues to be the most reliable receiver on the Eagles. Wait, huh? There’s little doubt that a fully healthy Jeremy Maclin would be the guy to own, but he is far from fully healthy. Against the Giants, Maclin played the exact same number of snaps as Jackson, but saw six less targets and only caught one for seven yards.

The good news is that Maclin played a full set of snaps, but the bad news is how are we to know when he’s truly back?  Oh the humanity!

Last season through four games, LeSean McCoy had 66 carries for 363 yards and 4 touchdowns and 15 receptions on 19 targets for 83 yards and 2 touchdowns. This season through four games he has 81 carries for 384 yards and 1 touchdown and 14 receptions on 19 targets for 59 yards and no touchdowns. So if anything, he’s seen more work than last year, but has five less touchdowns. It’s the touchdowns stupid!

San Francisco 49ers

Michael Crabtree: 9-7-8-7 (31), Vernon Davis: 5-7-8-2 (22), Mario Manningham: 4-4-5-5 (18), Randy Moss: 4-1-6-1 (12), Delanie Walker: 2-2-2-4 (10), Frank Gore: 1-4-2-2 (9), Kyle Williams: 0-2-3-0 (5), Kendall Hunter: 0-3-1-0 (4)

I’m starting to wonder why Michael Crabtree is the target leader on this team. He averages less than 10 yards a reception, hasn’t found the end zone and takes up over 27% of the targets.  And this s all happening while Vernon Davis does so much more with his targets. He is averaging 13 yards a reception, is tied for the league lead in receiving touchdowns, has five receptions over 20 yards (to one for Crabtree), and has converted first downs on 87% of his receptions. I know there are reasons and I can understand them to an extent, but I think you need to get the ball in your playmaker’s hands more often.

The running back position is still controlled by Frank Gore. Kendall Hunter had his best game of the season, but it was in garbage time of a blowout.

Seattle Seahawks

Sidney Rice: 9-5-1-7 (22), Golden Tate: dnp-4-7-3 (14), Zach Miller: 3-1-4-3 (11), Anthony McCoy: 1-5-2-3 (11), Doug Baldwin: 6-1-dnp-3 (10), Braylon Edwards: 9-0-0-0 (9), Marshawn Lynch: 2-0-1-4 (7), Robert Turbin: 1-2-0-2 (5), Ben Obomanu: 1-0-3-0 (4), Charly Martin: 2-dnp-1-dnp (3), Evan Moore: 0-1-2-0 (3), Leon Washington: 0-1-0-0 (1)

Each week I say the same thing when looking at the Seahawks target numbers. Wait, what is it I say? Oh I can’t remember, but it’s something about, the pain and suffering that accompanies trying to find a fantasy relevant receiver on the Seahawks. Give up.

Now this Marshawn Lynch fella, he’s darn good. And this week he almost led the team in rushing and receiving! His four receptions on four targets were nice to see. It’s been a while since he was used in the passing game.

St. Louis Rams

Danny Amendola: 9-16-9-9 (43), Brandon Gibson: 5-4-6-4 (19), Lance Kendricks: 2-2-7-2 (13), Steve Smith: 3-5-3-dnp (11), Chris Givens: 1-2-4-3 (10), Steven Jackson: 4-0-2-2 (8), Daryl Richardson: 0-3-1-3 (7), Brian Quick: dnp-1-dnp-3 (4), Matthew Mulligan: 0-2-1-0 (3), Austin Pettis: dnp-dnp-0-2 (2), Brit Miller: 0-0-0-1 (1), Mike McNeill: 1-0-0-0 (1), Isaiah Pead: 0-0-1-dnp (1)

I have to say I’m amazed that a Rams receiver can be relevant in fantasy, let alone a top 10 receiver through four weeks. His 43 targets are fourth in the league and his 34% of his team’s targets leads the league. The Rams don’t throw the ball enough and successfully, to supply a receiver with good fantasy numbers unless they continue to force feed him the ball. And right now there’s no reason to think they will stop doing just that.

Steven Jackson is averaging 3.3 yards a carry on 59 carries and only has seven receptions on eight targets. He has been playing with a groin injury, but all in all this is not a good situation for fantasy owners. The fact that he doesn’t rest is probably hurting more than anything. At this point in his career he needs to be as close to 100% as possible to be effective.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Vincent Jackson: 10-10-7-11 (38), Mike Williams: 3-5-6-8 (22), Doug Martin: 4-3-3-5 (15), Dallas Clark: 1-5-4-4 (14), Arrelious Benn: dnp-0-1-4 (5), Luke Stocker: 0-0-3-2 (5), Danny Ware: 0-1-2-2 (5), Tiquan Underwood: dnp-dnp-1-3 (4), Preston Parker: 1-1-dnp-dnp (2), Sammie Stroughter: 0-2-0-dnp (2), LeGarrette Blount: 1-0-0-0 (1)

Tampa Bay is an intriguing team for fantasy. Unlike some teams who we try our darndest to manufacture some fantasy players from, the Bucs actually have worthwhile fantasy players. But they are still a poor to middling team and it’s difficult to get a grasp on these guys week in and week out.

I am a big fan of Doug Martin.  Even when he gets a three yard carry, it looks like he’s just on the verge of making it a 20 yard carry, but unfortunately, he’s mostly coming up with the three yard variety so far. And that has left a sliver of hope for LaGarrette Blount who is the opposite of Martin in ability.

Martin still saw the bulk of time on the field, but as far as touches go, Martin had eight rushing attempts to Blount’s six and even though he had five targets, he only caught two for nine yards.

Right now I’m not that worried. Martin is the better all around back and he just needs to break out and after the bye he gets Kansas City and then New Orleans.  If he hasn’t put together a big game after that, I’m going to cry.

Washington Redskins

Leonard Hankerson: 0-3-7-11 (21), Fred Davis: 4-5-7-4 (20), Santana Moss: 5-3-3-4 (15), Josh Morgan: 2-5-3-5 (15), Aldrick Robinson: 6-3-3-dnp (12), Evan Royster: 0-3-4-3 (10), Roy Helu: 3-1-3-dnp (7), Niles Paul: 0-3-0-2 (5), Pierre Garcon: 4-dnp-dnp-1 (5), Alfred Morris: 0-0-1-2 (3), Brandon Banks: 1-0-1-0 (2), Darrel Young: 0-0-0-2 (2), Logan Paulsen: 1-0-1-0 (2)

Leonard Hankerson was the real target winner last week with 11 while Fred Davis dropped back down, but still had a decent day, catching all four of his targets for a team high 70 yards.

Davis continues to be just on the verge of becoming fantasy relevant again, but his lack of targets is still hurting him. He has the ability, like Vernon Davis, to put up good numbers on few targets, but will need to get into the end zone to do so. As it is, I’m not dropping him, but I’m still wary of starting him.

Pierre Garcon saw a good chunk of playing time, but only had one target, which he caught for 20 yards. He’s the guy you want to own from the Redskins. If he’s healthy, his upside is quite high with RGIII at the helm. But there aren’t many targets to go around and Hankerson will most likely drop off as Garcon moves up.

Snap count data comes from our friends at Pro Football Focus and red zone data from our other friends at The Football Guys.