Last week we took a long in-depth look at look at the Miami Dolphins vs The Cincinnati Bengals. My predictions from that game are below…
QB
Joe Burrow – Must start (I said his best game this year) / 20.08 Correct
Tua Tagovailoa – Bench him / Injury Correct
RB
Joe Mixon – Must start / 17.40 Correct
Chase Edmonds – Bench him / 10.00 Correct
WR
Ja’Marr Chase – Must Start / 12.10 Incorrect
Tyler Boyd – Use in the flex / 7.62 Incorrect
Tee Higgins – Bench due to Toe injury / 25.40 Incorrect
Tyreek Hill – Must start / 25.90 Correct
Jaylen Waddle – Flex Option / 5.90 Incorrect
TE
Hayden Hurst – Bench him / 11.7 Incorrect
Mike Gesicki – Bench him / 4.3 Correct
Overall I picked Cincy to win the game – W Correct
In the end the Cincinnati receivers killed me. I ended up 7-5. In the positive but not my best. It seems like the Miami secondary thought what I did and left Tee Higgins open for the entire game. At the end though the only thing that really mattered was Tua’s health after the hit he took and we are all happy that he is improving.
As we turn our sights on week 5 the week we look at Tampa Bay vs The Atlanta Falcons two 2-2 teams fighting for the top spot in the NFC South. So lets jump in!
QB
What a better way to start it off than Tommy Boy, TB12, Tom Brady. Tom has had a rough start to the year but was able to get back on track this past weekend. His receiving corps has been very injury prone this season and throw in a suspension for Mike Evans and you can quickly see the uphill battle he has been working with. With the health of his receivers starting to improve I think we will see a good outing from Tom and over 20pts. Just an FYI they are still ranked 11th in passing yards even with the struggles they have had. Also I would never bet against Brady.
Marcus Mariota is a dual threat QB and has some good weapons available to him. Unfortunately, whether its coaching strategy or Mariota himself he doesn’t seem to use them all that well. We will get into the Kyle Pitts issue later on. Mariota has yet to break 20 pts this season and I don’t see him doing it against a strong Tampa Bay defense. He’s sitting in my opinion.
RB
Leonard Fournette has struggled this season. No one is denying that. I talk PPR here though and because of that he is still a play in my book. He gets a lot of receptions which saved him this last week considering his -3 yards rushing. I think Leonard will continue to improve as the receiving corps starts to open up the box some more. I would put him in there and think he will get 15+ this coming week.
For Atlanta Cordarrelle Patterson was put on IR and Damien Williams is there as well so Atlanta will look to Tyler Allgeier and Caleb Huntley. Caleb played well this past weekend logging 10 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown. Allgeier had 11 touches for 104. Allgeier will most likely get the start but they will split carries. They are playing a tougher Tampa defense this weekend and with the situation as is and the split touches I would keep them on my bench until we know who is going to start. With that said if you have to choose one I would give the nod to Tyler Allgeier over Huntley for now.
#Falcons RB Cordarrelle Patterson has been placed on injured reserve following a knee procedure meaning he will miss at least the next four weeks. The Falcons will turn to Caleb Huntley with both Patterson and Damien Williams on IR now. #InjuryUpdate #NFL pic.twitter.com/twG1FdlinZ
— Sports Doc Matt (@sportsdocmatt) October 3, 2022
WR
As mentioned above Tampa Bay Receiving Corps has been up and down due to injury and suspension. With most of them back this should really open up some options for Tom and make it hard for the defense to cover everyone. You never really know who Tom is going to find and who will have a great day but when it comes to starting players I would say Mike Evans is a must, Godwin is a good start and Gage is a flex option but not a WR1/2. Julio Jones is a bench for me unless you don’t have another option and are sure he is playing. Right now with his questionable status and his year thus far it doesn’t make sense to start him.
As for Atlanta, Drake London had been showing off why he was the first WR taken in last years draft. Last week he had a tough outing going 2 for 7 and 17 yards. He is still getting good volume but just wasn’t able to capitalize. This week I think he will be a good flex option and could be just the lift your team needs from that spot to get you a W. I expect him to go for 10-12 pts this week. As for Khadarel Hodge and Olamide Zaccccheas I would expect them to get under 10 points apiece unless they get a luck touchdown and for that I would keep them on your bench if they are on your roster.
TE
That leaves us a TE. As for Cameron Brate he hasn’t showed any consistency and his best game has been a 10.2 point collection on 5 receptions for 52 yards. For that I would leave him on your bench. There are better options to pick up if needed.
Kyle Pitts is the biggest disappointment of this year barring injuries thus far. His numbers have disappointed week in and week out. For the #3 Tight End starting the year. All but one game he has had under 4 pts. His best game has been a 13.7 total in week 3 which wasn’t great either. If Todd Bowles doesn’t figure out how to get him involved and Mariota how to find him, he will go down as the biggest disappointment in fantasy for sure. Todd Bowles has said they aren’t playing fantasy they are trying to win games but I have to think that if that’s the case you would try to get one of your biggest offensive weapons involved. Either way if you drafted him it was probably early and you need to start him. You have to think eventually he is going to break one for some big points.
Those are my picks, I think that in the end the Bucs will take this one and go to 3-2 and Atlanta will fall to 2-3.
