#DAWGPOUND over the the Tennessee Titans. Enough said.
We promise this is NOT a Cleveland Browns blog.
Survivor Pick Week 6
#SKOL took care of business, dominating the Texans for nearly the entire game. On to Week 6.
As mentioned last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a juicy matchup when they visit the Miami Dolphins. You might remember that we picked the Cincinnati Bengals against the Dolphins in Week 4. In the game since, the Dolphins got embarrassed at home by the Tennessee Titans (read: Marcus Mariota and DeMarco Murray). The Dolphins compiled a paltry 200 yards of total offense, and turned the ball over as many times as they reached the end zone (twice).
The Steelers and Dolphins have been trending in exactly opposite directions, and we like that to continue this week. Pittsburgh will be without top defensive players Cameron Heyward (missing the first game in his career), as well as Ryan Shazier. Though Heyward and Shazier are game-changing players, the Steelers’ defense has others who can anchor the unit while they are out. Look for Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, and LeVeon Bell to exploit this terrible Dolphins defense and get the W in South Florida.
#boomin
SPOILER ALERT: Survivor Week 5
Man, would love to pick the Cleveland Browns here again, but won’t. Don’t want anyone mistaking this for a Browns blog.
At first glance, not a lot of great upset opportunities for Survivor this week. However, the New York Football Giants are an intriguing pick. Though they were not able to get anything going last week, we’ve noted that they played against one of the best defenses in the game. The Green Bay Packers defense is a far cry from elite. They have given up some huge games to opposing offenses and will again be without Sam Shields in the secondary. While just over 6% off entries have picked the Packers in their pool, they are given over a 73% chance of winning the game.
We like Odell Beckham, Jr. and Eli Manning to get on the same page this week and thrash the Packers, spoiler style.
STUD HUB Week 5
This week Desktop Quarterback likes the following players to exceed point projections and deliver you a nice little performance:
Eli Manning (QB-NYG) @ GB – The best Manning hasn’t been on the top of his game this season. But that changes this week. It’s Sunday Night Football. The Green Bay secondary is not great. Eli gets back on track. Period.
Yahoo projected points: 16.36
DQB projected points: 20
P.S. Also look for Odell Beckham, Jr. to get it going and have a breakout week.
Jerrick McKinnon (RB-MIN) vs HOU – Coming off a decent week against a New York Giants defense that had been quite stingy with opposing running backs, we like McKinnon to find the end zone again this week against a Houston Texans defense that just got trampled by DeMarco Murray. The Texans’ pass defense is their strength, and should give Sam Bradford some trouble. The Vikings will need the running game to show up in order to stay undefeated.
Yahoo projected points: 9.63
DQB projected points: 13.5
Cameron Brate (TE-TB) @ CAR – Brate has 18 targets over the last two weeks (just 6 shy of Mike Evans during that same time period), including two touchdowns. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been throwing the ball a lot. I mean A LOT – an average of over 44 attempts per game. Brate will be a good safety valve for Jameis Winston in a game that could be a tough divisional match-up in Carolina.
Yahoo projected points: 5.45
DQB projected points: 12
Survivor Pick Week 5
As expected, the Cincinnati Bengals made quick work of the lowly Miami Dolphins, winning 22-7 and advancing us on to Week 5.
This week there are two teams leading the pack in most Survivor pools. Tom Brady makes his triumphant return against a win-less Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers host the New York Jets after thoroughly embarrassing the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football last week. This has led over 49% of entries to pick the Patriots and 23% to pick the Steelers, which combined accounts for nearly 3/4 of entries for the week.
While the Patriots seem like a lock, and Tom Brady may just break the whole league, we tend to shy away from being part of such a large cohort. The Steelers on the other hand have a choice matchup next week with the Dolphins, so we’ll be saving that pick, if we are to advance to Week 6. For that reason, we’re going with the team picked by less than 7% of entrants this week, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings have been quite impressive over the first 1/4 of the season, shutting down the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, and Eli Manning in three consecutive weeks. Now, they host a Houston Texans team that, though they are 3-1, has not looked great over their first four games. Brock Osweiler has already thrown SIX interceptions, and faces off against a stout Vikings defense that already has 11 takeaways this season (ranking second in the league to the Arizona Cardinals who have 12 and already played this week). For context, this defensive unit is so good that it’s being compared to the infamous “Purple People Eaters” who donned the Vikings purple from the late 1960s to late 1970s.
Though the Vikings are not at 100% and are a little banged up, we like their above average offense and otherworldly defense to get them the W at U.S. Bank Stadium this week.
#SKOL
Fantasy Football Mock Redraft Rankings
With the completion of Week 4, we are officially one quarter of the way through the 2016 NFL season. Though it is still early to make a definitive judgement on the season, we have gotten to see a nice sample size of how it may pan out. Per usual, we’ve been surprised by particular players and teams, and others have lived up to expectation (for better or worse). For that reason, Desktop Quarterback has completed what we’ll call “mock redraft rankings.” Taking in to account how players have done thus far, while still considering their future potential to perform, our quarter-season rankings are as follows:
1 – Antonio Brown (WR-PIT)
2 – Julio Jones (WR-ATL)
3 – David Johnson (RB-ARI)
4 – Ezekiel Elliott (RB-DAL)
5 – A.J. Green (WR-CIN)
6 – LeVeon Bell (RB-PIT)
7 – Odell Beckham, Jr. (WR-NYG)
8 – LeSean McCoy (RB-BUF)
9 – Todd Gurley (RB-LA)
10 – Kelvin Benjamin (WR-CAR)
11 – DeAndre Hopkins (WR-HOU)
12- Jordy Nelson (WR-GB)
13 – Melvin Gordon (RB-SD)
14 – Mike Evans (WR-TB)
15 – DeMarco Murray (RB-TEN)
16 – C.J. Anderson (RB-DEN)
17 – Jordan Reed (TE-WAS)
18 – Mark Ingram (RB-NO)
19 – Rob Gronkowski (TE-NE)
20 – Marvin Jones (WR-DET)
Players of note that have leaped into the conversation are DeMarco Murray, Melvin Gordon, and Marvin Jones, Jr. – all playing very well right now, and not showing any signs of letting up.
On the other hand, those that have been pretty disappointing thus far are Odell Beckham, Jr. and Todd Gurley. We’re not counting them out yet, and think they will certainly turn it around, as they are both extremely talents. However, they were certainly not worth top 5 status right now.
SPOILER ALERT: Survivor Week 4
In addition to our Survivor pick each week, Desktop Quarterback will pick a team that has the potential to play spoiler and upset a top-ranked pick. We will base this pick on likelihood of winning and percentage of people who have picked each team. If you want to pick against the weekly favorite, and watch everyone else who followed the leader be sorely disappointed, here’s a team we think could pull it off.
In the most picked game of the week we have the Washington Redskins hosting the Cleveland Browns. With a 7.5 point spread favoring the Redskins, over 28% of entries have picked them this week (highest % of any team).
That said, we are picking the Cleveland Browns as our inaugural SPOILER ALERT team.
The Redskins were several plays away from being win-less thus far, and the Browns lost their last two games by a combined 11 points (one in overtime). Have we mentioned they have Terrelle Pryor? And besides, it’s always fun to root against Dan Snyder.
STUD HUB Week 4
This week Desktop Quarterback likes the following players to exceed point projections and deserve a pickup in your league:
Terrelle Pryor (CLE-WR/QB/Real life FLEX?) vs WAS – Though it was against the defense that can’t seem to do anything right (Miami Dolphins – minus Reshad Jones who is a beast), Pryor put up 200 all purpose yards last week. At 6’4″, 223 pounds, he will be a handful for the Washington Redskins, who have said that he won’t be shadowed by Josh Norman.
Oh, and he’s their only offensive weapon. Feed him, he’s hungry.
Yahoo projected points: 8.36
DQB projected points: 17
Zach Miller (CHI-TE) vs DET – Last week Miller was a great safety valve for backup quarterback Brian Hoyer, and should look to build upon that this week against a porous Detroit Lions defense.
Yahoo projected points: 5.87
DQB projected points: 14.5
Dwayne Washington (DET-RB) vs CHI – Ameer Abdullah missing time has allowed rookie Washington and backfield mate Theo Riddick to battle it out for the featured back role. Washington outperformed Riddick last week (on limited carries), and has gained the attention and confidence of the Lions coaching staff. In a game where the Lions should have no trouble putting points on the board, I like him to continue his good work from last week.
Yahoo projected points: 6.67
DQB projected points: 13
*Note: projections subject to change prior to kickoff.
Survivor Pick Week 4
So… apparently Miami wanted us to feel that South Florida heat and sweat our way through Week 3. Not quite the dominant performance we predicted, the Dolphins won the game on an overtime touchdown run by Jay Ajayi. It gives me anxiety to think about this game any more, so we’re moving on – a win is a win, and we’re on to Week 4.
Like a good quarterback, we’ve totally moved on from last week, and are now going AGAINST the Fins on Thursday Night Football, when they travel to Cincinnati and are hosted by Andy Dalton and A.J. Green.
While Cincy is a 1-2 football team, they have lost pretty close games to top tier opponents over the last two weeks (@ Steelers and vs Broncos, respectively).
After watching the Miami defense nearly lose to a third string rookie quarterback at home, and knowing that A.J. Green can take over a game with the best of them, we’re going with the Bengals to lead us into Week 5. Look for a few of these tonight against a lowly Dolphins secondary (we still love you, Reshad Jones):
Survivor Pick Week 3
Lots of interesting matchups this week with many divisional games going on. Our Survivor picks for weeks 1 and 2 were HOU and NYJ respectively, so this week we’re going with MIA against CLE.
The Browns have looked terrible the first two weeks of the season, and are very banged up Week 3. Cornerback Joe Haden (arguably the best player on CLE) is out with a groin injury, as is rookie wideout Corey Coleman and starting quarterback Josh McCown.
MIA should take care of business at home and advance us to Week 4. #GoFins
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