Monday Morning Hangover: Week Five

Ken Kelly Posted On October 8, 2012

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Every Sunday we’re featuring the Sunday Six Pack that covers the day’s biggest storylines. We follow this up each and every Monday with the Monday Hangover, which looks back on those stories and covers what we learned. These back-to-back articles are sure to get you primed, pumped and informed throughout the entire season. In addition, reading these articles will ensure you understand the dangers of not paying attention or drinking too much on Sundays.

Can #1) Reggie Bush is Tough?

We asked that question this week as we were pretty curious to see what newly branded tough guy Reggie Bush had in store for us on Sunday. He was a fine play yet again with 72 yards and a touchdown on 21 touches. Daniel Thomas did get his fair share of carries (ten), but Bush has established himself as a completely different player in Miami. In his last nine games, he’s averaging 121 yards from scrimmage per game and has scored five touchdowns, all while averaging a healthy 5.6 yards per carry. Most importantly, “Reggie 2.0” hits the holes hard and doesn’t bounce runs outside when unnecessary. At this point, Bush is locked in as a solid RB2, with RB1 upside.

Can #2) Blaine’s Disappearing Act

Blaine Gabbert had given his owners a bit of hope with a solid preseason that carried over to the start of the regular season. Unfortunately, things have gone South in a hurry for Gabbert. On Sunday, Gabbert completed just 17-of-33 passing for 142 yards and two interceptions in a 41-3 epic beat down by the Chicago Bears. He still has a 5:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio on the year, but he simply isn’t moving the offense. It’s not going to be a shock to anyone if the Jags turn to Chad Henne after the bye.

Can #3) Chris Consistent?

Dynasty owners were praying to the fantasy Gods that Chris Johnson had turned a corner and would finally be that special player we saw a couple years ago after he posted a great day last week.

Sigh.

Johnson was horrible yet again for Tennessee, rushing for an anemic 24 yards on 15 carries against Minnesota as the Titans were blown out by a score of 30-7. In four of his five games this year, Johnson has averaged 2.1 or fewer yards per carry. If you take out that game against the Texans last week, he has 48 carries for 69 yards, good for a rather unhealthy 1.4 yards per tote.

At this point, you have to figure the Titans ride it out with Johnson, especially since Javon Ringer suffered a potentially significant knee injury on Sunday. From a dynasty perspective, this is serious trouble. There’s no way the Titans pay him $10 million next season so he’s undoubtedly going to be released at the end of the season unless there’s a big time turnaround here.

Sadly, he’s a bench player until further notice.

Can #4) Battle for San Diego

We were hoping Norv Turner wouldn’t give fantasy owners yet another reason to hate him by using Jackie Battle over Ryan Mathews on Sunday night. Alas, we’ll have to find another reason to hate Norv as Mathews dominated the carries and posted a solid night with 80 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and also added 59 yards on six catches. Meanwhile, Battle posted just 10 yards on four carries. While owners of Mathews will say Ronnie Brown was used a little too much in the passing game (five catches for 47 yards), it’s clear the Chargers were sending a message to Mathews last week and stil recognize he’s easily their most talented back.

Now, can he just stay healthy and not turn the ball over?

Can #5) Brees Passes Unitas

Speaking of Sunday night, congratulations to Drew Brees, who passed Johnny Unitas in the record books by throwing a touchdown pass in his 48th straight game.

Amazing.

Over that span, Brees has a total of 118 touchdowns against just 50 interceptions. It’s pretty crazy to think only two teams even wanted him when he became a free agent back in 2005.

At some point, every player in a dynasty league needs to stop and realize what we’ve been given over the past few seasons by Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and so many others – this era of the quarterback won’t last forever.

Can #6) Brady vs. Manning Renewed

Speaking of legendary quarterbacks, the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning rivalry was re-visited on Sunday with the Patriots hosting the Broncos. The game didn’t quite turn out to be the shootout everyone had hoped for as the Patriots held on to an early lead and won the game by a score of 31-21.

Brady went to 9-4 against Manning all-time by completing 23-of-31 for 223 yards, throwing for one touchdown and running for yet another. Meanwhile, Peyton Manning went 31-for-44 for 345 yards and three touchdowns, but lost a crucial fumble.

In the end, it was a lot of fun to see two of the all-time best on the field in the same game again – hopefully we get to see it again.

Enjoy the game tonight and we’ll see you tomorrow for the Dynasty Aftermath!

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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