Fantasy Football – What We Learned Week 4

We had our usually Fantasy Football craziness from the NFL again in Week 4 and it’s time to dissect what happened and how to use it going forward in What We Learned!

Week 4 brought us some unfortunate injuries, breakout Fantasy Football performances and some studs being studs. We also had two teams on a bye but there was plenty of action to go around. I don’t want to waste a ton of time and we’ll jump right in to what you need to know for fantasy from Week 4!

AFC East – Fantasy Football

New England Patriots – Win vs Miami Dolphins, 38-7 

That should quiet down the critics of the Patriots at least a little bit. They steamrolled the Dolphins from the word go in this one. Tom Brady had a bit of a get right game, throwing for over 270 yards and three touchdowns. It’s weird to see him throw two interceptions but that’s of no concern. Josh Gordon made his debut and caught both of his targets but I want to see how many snaps he actually played before trying to figure out his role. Complicating matters is the fact that Julian Edelman will make his season debut Thursday night after a four game suspension. Rob Gronkowski left with an ankle injury and we’ll need to keep an eye on this with a short week and him being on the injury report the past two weeks.

The biggest fantasy takeaway is the tandem of Sony Michel and James White are both must-own and starts for the rest of the season. Michel bulldozed his way to 112 yards on a whopping 25 carries, which is a monster workload for any running back. With White chipping in eight rushes and receptions, the duo can be lethal in this offense. Michel especially seems secure as White does at least have the concern with Edelman coming back. The Patriots suddenly look just as good as ever.

Miami Dolphins – Loss vs New England Patriots, 38-7 

Having any sort of trust in Miami was fun while it lasted, right? The offense utterly imploded and didn’t score until it was deep into garbage time and by that point, the backups were in so it helped nobody. The biggest draft capital spent was on Kenyan Drake and his owners have to be in a(justified) full-blown panic. He had five opportunities today. FIVE. That’s just poor coaching, there’s no other way to say it. Drake should never go any game having only three rushing attempts and two targets. When he was given the reigns last year, all he did was produce. This usage is a joke and I don’t know if it’s going to change. The passing attack was just far too spread out once again to have faith in anyone. You can start Kenny Stills and just hope he breaks off the long touchdown. You have to hold onto Drake because you can’t trade or drop him but he cannot be started at this point. Ryan Tannehill is near impossible to use in anything but the best possible spot for the rest of the season. This was a massively disappointing day for any Dolphins in fantasy.

Buffalo Bills – Loss vs Green Bay Packers, 22-0 

Well, hope the Bills fans enjoyed the win in Minnesota because they came back down to Earth in this one. The defense actually did pretty well to only give up 19 points to the Packers in Green Bay but nothing in this offense can be trusted for the rest of the season. LeSean McCoy made his return from injury but was a total non-factor with only eight touches. They might have some usable games here and there but it’s hard to find anything redeeming in this offense.

New York Jets – Loss vs Jacksonville Jaguars, 31-12 

This result certainly wasn’t a surprise, as the Jets offense just lacks the firepower to mount a challenge to the Jacksonville defense. Quincy Enunwa catching four passes for 66 yards really isn’t that surprising and he saw the target lead once again. You do have to give Sam Darnold a little bit of credit since he didn’t turn the ball over but other than that, there isn’t much to write home about here. Players like Bilal Powell and Enunwa are usable in PPR and that’s really about it. They’ll be matchups to use Powell in but Enunwa is an every week start in PPR leagues.

AFC North – Fantasy Football

Pittsburgh Steelers – Loss vs Baltimore Ravens, 26-14 

This was pretty much a terrible effort from the Pittsburgh offense. This team is stuck in a rut and fantasy owners are feeling it right now. Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger are just not on the same page and it got worse this week. They couldn’t even connect on throws that Brown was wide open and owners were lucky to get a touchdown out of Brown. I can’t tell you why their mind-meld has suddenly evaporated but they need to find it in a hurry. Neither Brown nor JuJu Smith-Schuster did much of note and it was the very rare home game that Big Ben flopped. James Conner has slowly dipped each week and didn’t have the involvement in the passing game to bail out his lack of rushing production on this day. The only bright spot in the passing game turned out to be Vance McDonald, who caught all five of his targets. If the Steelers can’t get it done next week at home against Atlanta, it’s time to hit the big red panic button.

Baltimore Ravens – Win vs Pittsburgh Steelers, 26-14 

Joe Flacco led the Ravens to a convincing victory Sunday night and scored plenty of fantasy points to boot. He passed for over 360 yards and is quietly putting together a very nice season. The upgraded receiving corps of John Brown, Michael Crabtree and Willie Snead continue to pay off with Brown being the best fantasy asset. He could have had a very massive day had it not been for a couple of inches here and there, but owners are pretty happy with over 100 yards and a touchdown from Brown. The running game is the difficult part of the offense to figure out. Alex Collins found the end zone but he also fumbled near the goal line on a play that flipped the game for a while. He didn’t see the field for a significant portion of the game after that and then Buck Allen took the reigns. These two are best viewed as flex options moving forward. Keep Hayden Hurst in mind for this week’s waiver wire. The Baltimore tight ends are splitting a huge target share and the first round pick could be a massive value moving forward.

Cincinnati Bengals – Win vs Atlanta Falcons, 37-36 

First thing is first with the Bengals and it’s hoping for the best for Tyler Eifert. He suffered a very gruesome ankle injury and you really have to feel for this guy at this point. He’s a talented player who already had one touchdown on the day and he just has the worst injury luck. It would be shocking if he’s not out for the season. Tyler Kroft is the safer bet to step in but we’ll deal with that in the Waiver column. This offense really looks like it’s taken a large step forward and part of that has been the emergence of Tyler Boyd as a reliable option for Andy Dalton. He saw another 15 targets in this one, turning them into 11 receptions for an even 100 yards. He’s not a threat to A.J. Green by any stretch but Boyd is such a vital chain mover in the offense. You basically know exactly what Gio Bernard is going to bring you when Joe Mixon is out, with 96 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. Mixon might be back next week, which likely relegates Bernard back to handcuff status.

Cleveland Browns – Loss vs Oakland Raiders, 45-42 

I’m not sure we could have gotten more of a mixed bag from Baker Mayfield in his debut. He had flashes but he also turned the ball over four times, which crushed his fantasy points. The drops by the receiving corps didn’t help either but Mayfield missed Landry on an easy touchdown from in close. He’s a work in progress but there’s no reason to think he doesn’t have value moving forward. I wonder if Nick Chubb earned himself more touches since broke off two very long touchdown runs but he still only had three carries. He’s someone we need to add where we can but I wouldn’t start him yet. Antonio Callaway and Jarvis Landry dominated the targets with 19 out of a possible 41 throws and they’ll have more to show for it as the offense comes together. David Njoku saw some signs of life with five receptions for 52 yards. The potential is there. Cleveland didn’t even play well and put up 40+ points.

ACF South – Fantasy Football

Houston Texans – Win vs Indianapolis Colts, 37-34 

We saw the good and the bad from Deshaun Watson once again. He’s taking sacks by the boatload but as long as he doesn’t get hurt, fantasy owners don’t really mind. He once again provided 40+ yards rushing and found the end zone with his legs. The passing game was going exactly how we thought until Will Fuller left with an injury after he scored yet another touchdown. DeAndre Hopkins had a monster game and he actually dropped a second touchdown pass. That did open the door for Keke Coutee who saw a massive 15 targets and acquitted himself very well with 11 receptions for over 100 yards. He’ll be a very attractive Waiver option if Fuller looks like he’s not going to be healthy. Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue split carries basically evenly and Miller might be losing his grip on this job. If he’s not going to see the guaranteed volume, he’s going to a very dangerous option every week. Watson seems to be the entire offense right now.

Indianapolis Colts – Loss vs Houston Texans, 37-34 

So, hopefully you grabbed Nyheim Hines sometime this week because he’s going to be very popular Wednesday morning. Indy can’t run the ball at all so far and Hines is the passing back, garnering another 11 targets today. He turned two of those targets into touchdowns which probably won’t happen very often but they’re on a short week against the Patriots. They will also almost certainly be without T.Y. Hilton who injured his hamstring in this game. It stands to reason that New England is going to be able to put up points and we could see Andrew Luck attempt another 60+ passes. Ok, he probably won’t throw it that many times but Luck is going to be a great option Thursday night. I’m not going to bite on Zach Pascal and his 10 targets just because the ball was in the air so much in this one. Luck seemingly has eased some fears for his owners after throwing four touchdowns, despite still having a low yards per attempt.

Jacksonville Jaguars – Win vs New York Jets, 31-12 

Leonard Fournette has had a nightmare season so far because he aggravated his hamstring yet again in this one and this is really becoming an issue. It’s hard to trust him at this point and there’s no doubt about how talented he is but he hasn’t been able to stay on the field as much as owners would like. The rest of the offense has been totally volatile as well. Keelan Cole took a backseat in this one as he saw three targets to 13 for Dede Westbrook and even Donte Moncrief popped up with 100+ yards and a touchdown. Westbrook certainly paid off with nine receptions and 130 yards but all this game is proving is that it’s hard to predict this offense any given week. Blake Bortles was great in Week 2, awful in Week 3 and then dominated this game with 388 passing yards. I would say it was because Fournette was missing, but he was missing in Week 3 and the Titans defense ate his lunch. The Jags have offensive options but they shouldn’t be treated as more than flexes for the most part. Even T.J. Yeldon has been fairly inefficient with his workload in the running game when he’s had the lead. Guessing which receiver to play every week is turning into a fool’s errand. The running backs are always in play given the volume they see.

Tennessee Titans – Win vs Philadelphia Eagles, 26-23 

Marcus Mariota and Corey Davis live! They both posted big games in this matchup in a dramatic overtime victory, capping it off with a walk-off touchdown for Davis. He got a ton of work with 15 targets and converted all day long. He tortured the Philly defense for over 160 yards Mariota looked healthy for about the first time all year and he ripped it up for well over 300 yards and added another 40 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. This is what owners had been hoping for all season long and maybe this is a turning point for both players. It may have been game plan, but Dion Lewis had nine receptions and out-touched Derrick Henry. Neither back was special but it was one of the harder matchups a running back could draw so I’m not sure where to go with this backfield. Henry had 18 carries in both of the previous two games so this one would seem to be the outlier. If Mariota can keep up his good play, Taywan Taylor will be a usable flex option for the rest of the season as well. He had seven receptions for over 70 yards in this one.

AFC West – Fantasy Football

Denver Broncos – TBD 

They take on the Chiefs on Monday night and what I’m looking for is to see if the offense can take advantage of the glorious matchup. The Chiefs haven’t been able to stop anyone so far and the Broncos offense has been sputtering a little bit. If they can’t take advantage of this spot, it’s going to be a very poor sign moving forward.

Kansas City Chiefs – TBD 

This might be perceived as one of the biggest tests of the young career of Patrick Mahomes but I’m not sure just how good the Broncos passing defense is at this point. It would be nice to see Kareem Hunt get involved a bit more in the offense but what I really want to see is if Sammy Watkins continues to be as involved as it appears he will be. After a dud Week 1, he’s been fantastic since then.

Los Angeles Chargers – Win vs San Francisco 49ers, 29-27

This game didn’t go exactly as planned as the 49ers hung very tough with the Chargers all game long. You’re always happy with Melvin Gordon since he’s going to have the workload every single week and more often than not, it’s going to pay off in spades. Philip Rivers was totally fine but one of the more confusing players was Mike Williams. I was very excited about him coming into this game and he was a massive flop with just three targets. That was two fewer than Antonio Gates and I’m not sure how to gauge things moving forward. If Williams has to split the pie with Gates in addition to Keenan Allen and the running backs, there’s not much left to lean on. He’s much more talented than Gates and it would make sense for the Chargers to keep him involved but he’s been very up and down in targets so far.

Oakland Raiders – Win vs Cleveland Browns, 45-42 

Derek Carr finally saw some touchdown correction by throwing four in this game and he’s among the league leaders in passing yards. The fantasy points could come in a hurry if he starts finding the end zone a little more. Marhsawn Lynch is still a fully grown man and rolled up 157 total yards even though he couldn’t find the end zone. His day could have been even bigger had it not been for a portly timed whistle before he was tackled. Amari Cooper was back on the see-saw with a monster game after a terrible game last week. If he could just find some consistency, he would be among the fantasy elite. Jared Cook might be on the other end of the see-saw with Cooper because he smashed this week with two touchdowns and over 100 yards receiving. There’s no question that he’s a top eight option regardless of what you think of him. That’s just where we’re at with tight end. Jon Gruden has been an easy target, as he should be but this offense is showing signs of being good to us for fantasy.

NFC East – Fantasy Football

Philadelphia Eagles – Loss vs Tennesse Titans, 26-23 

Welcome back Alshon Jeffery! He was a terror in his first game back with nine targets and over 100 yards and a touchdown. The Eagles had Carson Wentz throw 50 times and I think it’s safe to say he’s back and healthy. He lost a fumble but did have 348 passing yards and two touchdowns. They couldn’t ask for more from Wentz so far and neither can fantasy owners. Jeffery is now a safe start and Zach Ertz will likely have more ceiling games like this one of 10 receptions and 112 yards. I’d pay no attention to Jordan Matthews and his 50 yard touchdown since it came off of a tiny three targets. Jay Ajayi saw plenty of touches but some of that might be due to having a thing backfield right now. Nelson Agholor had a terrible game with just five catches for 22 yards even though he saw 12 targets. Things have really gone downhill for him this year. It appears that Dallas Goedert was only a fill in until Alshon Jeffery got back from injury, since he only saw two targets on the day.

New York Giants – Loss vs New Orleans Saints, 33-18

Only generating 18 points against a defense that was bleeding points was pretty disappointing for the Giant in this one. Perhaps no player had a worse week compared to expectations than Odell Beckham. His bar is high and seven receptions for 60 yards was a dud in this spot. Sterling Shepard fared better with 10 receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown and he feels like a solid start until Evan Engram gets back. Saquon Barkley has now managed at least 100 yards from scrimmage in all four games and he found the end zone in this one as well. You know what you’re going to get from him but I’m about ready to write Eli Manning off here. He’s only thrown four touchdowns and has only eclipsed 280 yards passing once. That’s not going to get it done in today’s environment. This offense isn’t really performing up to expectations overall.

Washington Redskins – Bye Week 

Alex Smith has a wonderful matchup in New Orleans coming out of the bye week, but do we trust the weapons around him to play him?

Dallas Cowboys – Win vs Detroit Lions, 26-24 

This offense as a whole might be trash but Ezekiel Elliott is just phenomenal. He rolled up over 200 total yards on Sunday and single-handedly was the Cowboys offense. Dak Prescott finally had a respectable passing game in part from 88 yards and a touchdown coming from Elliott and he remains the only part of this offense that is really worth much. The only exception might be Geoff Swaim because the tight end position is so terrible. He’s seen seven and five targets in the past two weeks and while I wouldn’t want to start him in Week 5, he’s someone to pay attention to moving forward. I’m not going to buy into Dak as a fantasy option quite yet.

NFC North – Fantasy Football

Detroit Lions – Loss vs Dallas Cowboys, 26-24

Matt Patricia, I’m begging you – start giving Kerryon Johnson the football. This isn’t New England and LeGarrette Blount isn’t giving you anything right now. Johnson had nine carries for 55 yards and a touchdown compared to Blount getting seven carries for 12 yards. That’s just pathetic and they need to make the switch. The passing game is the same as it ever was. The trio of Golden Tate, Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay all had very solid games and this week was a Golden Tate week. He went for over 130 yards and found the end zone twice. Next week that could easily be the Marvin Jones game. You’re basically starting all three every week and just living with the outcomes. Detroit is one of the most consistent teams to figure out right now. We’re just hoping Patricia starts feeding his best back.

Green Bay Packers – Win vs Buffalo Bills, 22-0 

The buy window on Aaron Jones might be shut at this point. He didn’t post any crazy stat line but he did produce over 80 yards on just 12 touches and got a goal line carry(which he converted). Aaron Rodgers praised him as an explosive player during the week and Jones showed why in this one. He’s never going to be the workhorse in this offense and Jamaal Williams got his share of touches but Jones has worked himself into the clear-cut fantasy number one in this offense. The passing game was relatively quiet and Aaron Rodgers hasn’t exactly lit up the world yet. The positive here was he actually had four rushing attempts in this one so his knee must not be hurting that bad. With Randall Cobb out, Davante Adams and Geronimo Allison dominated the target share. They combined for over 50 percent of the throws from Rodgers and even though they din’t go nuts, they both get a little extra bump for as long as Cobb is out. Jimmy Graham scored so he was fine but he saved himself from a dud game with the touchdown. The defense stomped the Bills, which is exactly what they should have done. They’re a matchup based option moving forward.

Minnesota Vikings – Loss vs Los Angeles Rams, 38-31 

There was a good bit to unpack from this one but let’s start with the offense. This running game is starting to be a little bit of a concern. Dalvin Cook only had 10 rushing attempts and it’s possible he aggravated his hamstring injury but we’ll see. Minnesota is only averaging 63 rushing yards per game, 31st in the NFL. Since the running game is not doing anything, Kirk Cousins has been excellent so far. Sure, he had a rough game against the Bills in Week 3 but he bounced back in a huge way this week. Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are benefiting as well as they both saw double-digit targets yet again and Theilen continued his streak of 100+ yards to start the season. Kyle Rudolph is always going to be in that mid-range TE1 window and he’s going to score a few more touchdowns along the way. I think the rushing game will get better but the offensive line is a little bit of a concern here.

The defense is starting to lose their reputation as one of the best units in football. Take a look at these numbers –

It’s hard to explain why exactly that unit is struggling so badly but they are getting beat up by just about everyone and it’s stretched into last season. To me, that gives the struggles more weight and it’s something we need to keep an eye on moving forward.

Chicago Bears – 

As someone who has been blowing off Mitchell Trubisky, I have to say I missed on him this week. I can’t tell you if he’s turned the corner or if the Bucs defense is that bad, but I’m banking it’s more of the latter. I’ll give him credit for taking advantage of the matchup and Taylor Gabriel needs to be taken seriously at this point. He’s been a target monster, seeing at least seven for three straight weeks. It certainly appears that Jordan Howard got hurt in this one because he only received 11 touches in a blowout game. If he wasn’t, Tarik Cohen is going to be one of the most popular waiver adds of the week. He was a monster in the passing game, racking up over 120 yards on seven receptions. He had eight targets in the past three weeks combined. This offensive explosion is going to garner plenty of headlines but this is a spot where we should probably exercise a little bit of caution. The Bucs defense is a sieve and should be treated as such.

NFC South – Fantasy Football

Atlanta Falcons – Loss vs Cincinnati Bengals, 38-37 

Matt Ryan continues to be just white hot, throwing for another 400+ yards and three touchdowns. He apparently will never throw another touchdown to Julio Jones ever again since Calvin Rdiley caught another two and Logan Paulsen caught the third. Sure, Logan Paulsen, why not? I’m sure plenty of folks had him in their lineup. It’s the same story as it always is with Julio. The targets, receptions and yards were all there(although he did get a 49 yard reception at the gun) but there is some force field around the end zone for him. Tevin Coleman got the world but got his touchdown poached as well by Ito Smith. It was that kind of day for the Falcons offense. Don’t forget about Mohamed Sanu. He saw more targets than Ridley and has consistently seen more snaps. Sanu paid off today with six receptions and 111 yards on the day. The Falcons offense isn’t going to be changing anytime soon considering the injuries they have on the defensive side of the ball.

New Orleans Saints – Win vs New York Giants, 33-18

This Alvin Kamara guy is pretty good at the game of football. 181 combined yards and three touchdowns later, he has another monster game under his belt. I’d be lying if I said I knew what was going to happen when Mark Ingram comes back this week but Kamara is one of the best players in football, period. Michael Thomas kept up his insane catch rate but was held under 50 yards on just four receptions. That’s just a blip in the radar for the immensely talented receiver. The same can be said for Drew Brees. There was big expectations for this game but it mostly fall flat and these things can happen in fantasy. This isn’t a game where you should overreact.

Carolina Panthers – Bye Week 

I’m most interested to se if the Panthers continue to feed Christian McCaffrey 20+ touches a game when they get back from the bye week. The touchdowns might be hard to come by with Cam Newton being one of the best red zone threats in football but you just have to live with that.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 

Maybe we already knew this, but the Tampa Bay defense is in the conversation for the worst defensive unit in the league. They got absolutely destroyed by Mitchell Trubisky and will head into their bye week searching for answers. The good thing is poor defense is great for fantasy. Not only do we know to target offenses against them, but that means the Tampa offense will have to remain a pass heavy unit. Jameis Winston is back as Ryan Fitzpatrick was pulled in this one and Winston will almost certainly be the starter in Week 6.

The trio of Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson and Chris Godwin didn’t do much in this game but the offense still can’t get anything going on the ground and there’s no reason to really think that’s going to change anytime soon. They now have the bye to bring Winston all the way back and this game didn’t really teach us much new about the Bucs past Winston has his job back.

NFC West – Fantasy Football

Los Angeles Rams – Win vs Minnesota Vikings, 38-31 

Any vestiges of doubt about Jared Goff are officially dead. He picked apart the Vikings and made insane throws all night long in this one on his way to racking up 465 yards and five touchdowns. He can support all three of his main receivers because they’re all on the field almost every single snap. Brandin Cooks, Robert Wood and Cooper Kupp are all top 25-30 receivers the rest of the way and Goff should be considered a QB1 until he plays his way out of it. The defense struggled a bit in this one but Cousins really played well and their passing game is going to give plenty of issues to a lot of teams. Losing Aqib Talib hurts to be sure but they’re still a solid defensive option virtually every week. The Rams are one of the best(if not the best) teams in the league and they also have some running back named Todd Gurley who’s pretty good as well. The offense is in a great position all year-long.

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Arizona Cardinals – Loss vs Seattle Seahawks, 20-17 

I’m not trying to be hard on Josh Rosen in his first start but we’re at the quarter pole in the season(more than that in fantasy) and this passing game is just in shambles. Rosen didn’t throw an interceptions but also didn’t eclipse 200 yards passing. Nobody saw more than the 52 yards receiving Ricky Seals-Jones had and even though Larry Fitzgerald led the team in targets, he was under 30 yards for the third straight game. He’s reportedly much more hurt than he’s letting on but I think we’re at the point where he has to play his way back into your fantasy lineup. The only good news is David Johnson finally got over 100 scrimmage yards and scored. That has to ally the fears of some owners, even though Wouldn’t blame them for leveraging this good game to get out from Johnson. The Arizona offense is almost a carbon copy of Dallas right now.

Seattle Seahawks – Win vs Arizona Cardinals, 20-17

The Seahawks got the win on the scoreboard but they took some losses on the field. They lost Will Dissly to a knee injury for the season and Chris Carson was a surprising inactive, paving the way for Mike Davis to chug his way to a 101 yard, two touchdown performance. Rashaad Penny actually got some work in this one but Davis would be the one to play if Carson is out again this upcoming week. This offense was ugly today even with Doug Baldwin coming back into the lineup and Russell Wilson is struggling so far. I’m not convinced this is all his fault because the talent around him in just about every facet is lacking. None of the receivers are going to be comfortable other than Baldwin and the running backs are volatile at best, despite Mike Davis being the man today. Wilson owners just have to hope he can get some magic rolling.

San Francisco 49ers – Loss vs Los Angeles Chargers, 29-27 

Maybe there’s a little bit of hope for C.J. Beathard in fantasy as a DFS style play. He spread the ball around better than he did last year and George Kittle made his day look a lot better by taking a shorter pass 82 yards for a score. Someone needs to tell Beathard to slide because he’s going to get hurt if he doesn’t. Matt Breida was in and out of this game with his injuries but was productive yet again with 71 yards on just 12 touches. He also was brought up just short of a touchdown at one point in this game. The receivers seem pretty mediocre right now with the quarterback play although Pierre Garcon did see seven targets. I’m fine starting Breida and you have to start Kittle if you have him but this offense still isn’t anything all that exciting right now.

Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR all year-long for all the latest DFS news and Fantasy Football analysis each and every day!