Sunday Morning Huddle: Week Nine

Ken Kelly Posted On November 3, 2013

Let’s face it, there’s an enormous amount of information out there this morning. We’re not going to waste your time by repeating the news and notes about who’s in or out this week, since that’s really not what you visit us for. We’re also not going to do another article on starts or sits this week – we already have the personalized lineup advice for you on the premium content. Again, there are 100 places you can go for that, so we do something different on Sundays for our Premium Content subscribers every year.

The Sunday Morning Huddle goes through each game and states what we’re looking to see from a dynasty perspective. We’ll pick one player from each team who we have our eye on and describe why their weekend performance is a key one for them in relation to their dynasty value.

Early Games

Atlanta at Carolina

What has gotten into Harry Douglas? We’ve seen him have opportunities in year’s past, but he’s never taken one and run like this before. Over his past two games, Douglas has taken advantage of Roddy White and Julio Jones being out with injuries to become Matt Ryan’s go-to wideout and produced a whopping 19 catches for 270 yards and one score. If you were to take those numbers and stretch them into a whole season, he’d be on pace for 152 catches for 2,160 yards and eight scores. That’s a little ridiculous to even add up, but he’s been equally ridiculous over the past two weeks. What will he have in store for us today?

It’s the return of Jonathan Stewart in Carolina! After missing the first eight weeks with ankle woes, Stewart finds himself finally on the active roster again. He’s only supposed to get a handful of touches, so let’s see if he looks spry or just like a shell of his former self.

Minnesota at Dallas

For the Vikings, Josh Freeman is expected to get the start this week. The last time we saw Freeman, he was overthrowing Viking receivers by about nine yards per throw, so let’s hope to see some better results. Once considered to be a hot young prospect, Freeman is seeing his value take a serious nosedive in dynasty leagues. He needs a good performance today to salvage what value he has left.

For the Cowboys, Terrance Williams is really taking off. Miles Austin is a total afterthought and Williams is looking like a steal in rookie draft right about now. We know Dez Bryant is going to get his, but Williams is working himself into WR2/3 territory here pretty quickly. Another solid effort will put the Cowboys that much closer to considering dumping the salary of Austin in the offseason.

New Orleans at New York Jets

Mark Ingram is making his return to the lineup this week and there’s a collective yawn in the dynasty community as a result. The only question at this point is if Ingram takes any value from the other running backs on the roster. My guess is no.

For the Jets, how about David Nelson’s performance as of late? He’s been a shining star on an otherwise anemic offense as he’s posted 12 catches for 160 yards over the past two weeks. While we don’t see that type of production continuing, he has a legitimate chance to prove us wrong and get back on the dynasty league radar.

Tennessee at St. Louis

Lost in the shuffle of some great recent performances has been the consistency shown by Kendall Wright this season. After posting double digit fantasy points in his past six contests (at least five catches in every one) and after posting a nice nine catches for 98 yards in last outing, Wright goes into this week as a solid option yet again. He hasn’t been spectacular, but you can see his game evolving week by week. He’s a good “buy” candidate at the moment.

The Rams blew an opportunity for a big win last week when they decided to throw the ball on fourth down against Seattle with time running down. Unfortunately, the ball will go back to Kellen Clemens this week. Another poor performance from Clemens could get us a look at Austin Davis. Stay tuned.

Kansas City at Buffalo

Dexter McCluster has 11 catches for 137 yards and one touchdown over the past two weeks. Dwayne Bowe has six catches for 73 yards and no scores over the same span. There’s really not much more to say about that.

San Diego at Washington

How about the play of Keenan Allen over the past month? In his past four games, Allen has been on a tear with 23 catches for 369 yards and two scores. It looks like Philip Rivers may finally have his replacement for Vincent Jackson as a bona fide WR1. Let’s see what he has in store for this next stretch of contests.

When you see a tight end rack up 17 catches for 224 and a touchdown in a two week span, you’d think it was Jimmy Graham or Rob Gronkowski, but you’d be wrong. In fact, those numbers have been put up by none other than Jordan Reed, who has been unbelievable lately. Another monster performance from Reed would cement him as one of the most coveted assets at the position in virtually every dynasty league out there.

Late Games

Philadelphia at Oakland

We’ve seen two versions of Nick Foles so far this year. One of those threw three touchdowns and rushed for a fourth against the Buccaneers. The other had an 80-yard showing against a weak Dallas defense two weeks ago. Which will we see this week? The value of DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy for the rest of the season may hang in the balance.

Darren McFadden has been healthy for two games in a row! Can he make it three straight solid performances and get back on the RB2 radar?

Tampa Bay at Seattle

To say the Bucs are a dumpster fire is offensive to anyone who has ever set a dumpster on fire. They roll into Seattle to face a team coming off a putrid performance, but one that plays exceptionally well at home. This is a tall order for Mike James and Tim Wright, but it’s worth monitoring the performance of both of these youngsters.

For the Seahawks, Jermaine Kearse expected to start in place of Sidney Rice this week since Percy Harvin isn’t quite ready for action. There may not be a ton of balls headed his way, but this is a great opportunity for Kearse to make some noise and allow Seattle to stay patient with Harvin’s rehab.

Baltimore at Cleveland

Ray Rice says he’s as healthy as he’s been all season. It’s time to prove it on the field and it’s time for the Ravens to lean on him again. Let’s see what happens.

For the Browns, we’re keeping an eye on Fozzy Whittaker, who is starting to get himself involved in the offense a bit. Yes, it’s that bad. However, if Jason Campbell continues to play well, owners of Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron will be ecstatic, so all is not lost.

Pittsburgh at New England

Guess who’s second in the league in receptions, trailing only AJ Green? If you guessed Antonio Brown, you win a subscription to DLF Premium if you don’t already have one! All kidding aside, Brown has been tremendous in PPR leagues this year and is starting to establish himself not as just a WR2, but as a realistic WR1 option in fantasy leagues.

Lost in the carnage of the flailing New England offense has been some truly lackluster play from Tom Brady. Yes, he doesn’t have the best receiving crew in the league. However, he’s consistently missing throws and making some poor decisions for the first time in years. At this point, he’s just 16th in the league in passing yardage and has thrown just nine touchdowns and six interceptions so far this season. Are we starting to see the inevitable decline of one of fantasy football’s greatest players in history?

Sunday Night Football

Indianapolis at Houston

Trent Richardson is running out of chances. People everywhere are saying he’s underperforming, but is that really what’s happening? It’s just as possible he is what he is and that’s a scary thought for a lot of you out there.

For the Texans, it’s another shot for Case Keenum, who looked pretty good in his last outing. It’s quite likely the Texans will be in the market for a different quarterback, be it Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota or one of the other quarterbacks set to be taken in round one, but Keenum can make them think twice with some solid efforts over the past week. He looked good against the Chiefs and few have this season. Let’s see how does under the Sunday night lights.

Monday Night Football

Chicago at Green Bay

For years, the most Josh McCown had going for him is the fact he looks a lot like Dolph Lundgren. On Monday, he’ll get another shot as a starting quarterback in place of the injured (again) Jay Cutler. The Bears are showing cautious optimism about how he’ll do and owners of Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall are hoping for the best and bracing for the worst.

The Packers aren’t missing a beat thanks to the performance of Aaron Rodgers this year. While we won’t know if James Jones is ready to go, they’ve been just fine with Jordy Nelson and a host of youngsters. Our eyes are on Eddie Lacy, though. He’s quickly becoming a high volume, high productivity player and that’s just what the Doctor ordered in dynasty leagues.

Have a great week everyone and thanks again for being a subscriber!

Author
Recent Posts

Ken Kelly

Co-Founder at DynastyLeagueFootball

Ken is a corporate trainer by day an a tireless editor of dynasty content by night. His passion for the World Champion Seattle Seahawks is second only to his love of fantasy football and the dynasty format.

Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK