Sunday Six Pack: Week Seven

Jarrett Behar

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We’re with you every Sunday to provide the Sunday Six Pack, an article featuring six of the biggest storylines heading into each and every week of the season. Keeping tabs on these events will keep you prepared and informed throughout the season – just don’t drive within six hours of reading this.

Can #1) Miller Time

Plays great and less filling?  With Knowshon Moreno going on injured reserve, Lamar Miller finally has the Dolphins backfield all to himself.  And he’s done pretty well with it so far.  Even with Moreno carrying the mail in week one, Miller is the PPR RB10 heading into week seven.  He’s averaging 5.2 yards per carry, has 15 receptions and four total touchdowns (three rushing and one receiving).  Despite the fact that their defense has been plagued by injuries, the Bears are actually tenth in the league in defending the run, giving up an average of 103.7 yards per game.  But Miller’s workload and involvement in the passing game should help him stay in the RB1 conversation, even with the average matchup.  On the other side of the ball, the Dolphins are 8th in the league against the pass through six weeks (or five and a bye), giving up just an average of 221.6 yards per game through the air.  We’ll see if they can stop fantasy football’s QB3 Jay Cutler in what’s looking like a decent weather day (50 degrees and mostly sunny) at Soldier Field.

Can #2) Torrey! Torrey! Torrey!

A complete surprise has been achieved. And that surprise was a two touchdown breakout game from the otherwise dormant Torrey Smith, who has taken a backseat to Steve Smith Sr. in the Baltimore passing offense.  Although the two scores were nice, and vaulted Torrey from the PPR WR65 to the PPR WR48, it was only accomplished on five targets, which isn’t going to cut it for WR2 consideration, and makes him an unreliable WR3.  It is possible to chalk the number of targets up to the fact the Ravens were playing with a lead for most of the game, but considering that Torrey already has three games of three or lower targets this season, it should give you cause for concern.  I’d still fire him up as a WR3 (and certainly as a WR4) against a Falcons team ranked 29th against the pass (278.8 average passing yards given up for the season), but you need to prepare yourself for his low floor.

Can #3) Three Feet High and Rising

Pleasure and preaching starts in the heart.  Well, fine, Rams rookie running back Tre Mason is actually 5’8”, but you see where I was going with that.  Mason finally got on the field Monday night against the 49ers and had a solid debut rushing for 40 yards on five [inlinead]carries with one reception for twelve yards.  And he further frustrated Zac Stacy owners by turning the two-headed committee with Benny Cunningham into a three-headed monster.  I’d expect Mason to be active going forward making all three Rams running backs essentially unstartable until one emerges as someone that is a lock for at least double-digit carries – that is especially true against a Seattle Seahawks team that is ranked sixth against the run (just 82.2 yards per game given up on the ground) and is likely fuming from having DeMarco Murray run roughshod over them in Seattle last week.

 Can #4) Get Outta My Dreams

Get into my Carr. It turns out all you have to do is bury a football to get the Oakland Raiders to play better.  After two horrible weeks and a bye, Raiders rookie  quarterback Derek Carr faced a tall task against the San Diego Chargers’ top-tier pass defense in week six.  No problem, Carr completed 18-of-34 passes for 282 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.  He threw a couple of pretty deep balls including a 77-yard bomb to the emerging Andre Holmes to start the game, and a 47 yard score to Brice Butler.  This week, Carr gets an Arizona Cardinals defense that is ranked dead last against the pass as the only team giving up over 300 yards per game through the air (309 to be exact).  I like Carr as a streaming quarterback option and Holmes is a interesting high-upside play.  On the flip side of the ball, the Cardinals are ranked third against the run (a stingy 75.8 yards per game), so even though Darren McFadden was able to eek into the top 24 running backs in week six, I’d leave him on the bench unless you were supremely desperate.

Can #5) Catch It Like Beckham

He didn’t ask to be good at football.  He was just born that way.  Giants rookie wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t build against his impressive week five debut.  Instead, he followed the rest of Giants offense straight down the toilet, catching just 2 of his four targets for 28 yards.  That being said, it’s hard to take too much from his performance when the entire team essentially laid an egg and the Giants will now be forced to rely more on OBJ now that Victor Cruz was lost for the season with a patellar tendon tear.  Beckham will continue to play on the outside with Rueben Randle and Preston Parker will likely get the first shot at manning the slot (I love Corey Washington as much as anyone, but my dude is raw and unlikely to contribute this year).  Dallas is ranked 12th against the pass so far (227.5 yards per game), but is only tied for 26th with just seven sacks.  Hopefully, the Giants can protect Eli Manning a little better Sunday afternoon.  If they do, there’s a decent chance that Beckham does have a big breakout game.

Can #6) The Women Fight for His Delight

So I said to myself, it’s time for me to release.  And the Bengals have done a decent job releasing rookie running back Jeremy Hill the past couple of weeks.  Hill saw eight carries last week against the Panthers and while he only gained 22 yards, he was able to punch in a touchdown and caught all four of this targets for thirteen yards.  Hill is now the PPR RB33 through week six, putting him the FLEX conversation.  If you take out his anomalous low week one usage, he’s the PPR RB26 from weeks two through six, putting in the strong FLEX/low-end RB2 conversation. Especially while stud wide receiver Adriel Jeremiah Green is sidelined with a toe injury, expect the Bengals to rely more heaving on both Hill and Giovani Bernard.  The Colts are ranked 11th against the run, giving up an average of 107.5 yards per game, but even in an average matchup on the road, I expect the Bengals to try to run the ball and keep QB1 Andrew Luck off of the field as much as possible.  I like Hill for a decent game this week.

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