Fantasy Football: What To Watch For In Week 5
Hey there #Footclan, and welcome back to the weekly series, “What To Watch For“. Each week we take a look at the schedule and the matchups and point out some interesting things that we all should pay attention to. These can be something simple, or those ongoing burning questions we have in the back of our minds. Let’s take a look at Week 5.
Green Bay vs Dallas: 2016 Playoff Rematch
From a surprise NFC West battle between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams to the Dallas Cowboys seeking revenge against the Green Bay Packers, Week 5 of the NFL 2017 season has plenty of fun and exciting games for football fans to enjoy this weekend. As bad as it sounds, there are numerous teams at risk falling below .500 if they end up with another loss this week, which means fans have even more reason to watch and show support and cheer them on for a win.
Last year, the Cowboys ended up being one of the biggest surprises in the NFL going from a 4-12 record in 2015 to finishing with the best record in the NFC in 2016 at 13-3 to earn the number 1 spot in the conference for the playoffs. However, Dallas watched their Super Bowl dreams quickly vanish after Green Bay knocked them out of the postseason with a heart-stopping, last-second field goal by Mason Crosby. A devastating loss like this left an awful and yucky taste in the mouths of the Cowboys, and even though this meeting won’t be as meaningful compared to the high-pressure situation both teams were in late last year, there’s nothing they would love more than to knock off the Packers on Sunday afternoon. If you are hoping for a shootout for fantasy purposes, this is the game for you to take in!
The Kansas City Chiefs look to stay undefeated
Four weeks of the NFL season are in the books and there’s just one undefeated team left standing. Last week the Chiefs survived a Monday night battle at home with the Redskins, who looked primed in the early going to knock off the 4-0 team.
This week Kansas City plays a true test in the Houston Texans, who are coming off an impressive performance against the Tennesee Titans. Rookie QB Deshaun Watson went off for 283 passing yards, 4 passing touchdowns, and added on for 4 rushing attempts for 24 yards and one rushing touchdown equaling out to 41.4 fantasy points in playing in the “Ballers preferred” points system. He gets the weakened secondary of the Chiefs who are without their star safety Eric Berry as he is out for the remainder of the year on IR.
Can Alex Smith continue his impressive resurgence and find success in feeding Travis Kelce more targets and continuing to handoff to Rookie of the Year candidate Kareem Hunt? Will the Chiefs try to get Tyreek Hill more involved and add to their arsenal to improve to 5-0? We have to wait for the Sunday night game to find out.
The winless has a chance to win in Week 5
The Chargers and Giants have potential Hall of Famers behind center in Eli Manning and Philip Rivers, but each has their own problems in the offense that needs to be addressed. It’s a long shot, but it’s fair to begin wondering if these four 0-4 franchises have begun to plan for 2018 early. Week 5 will be a big indicator of which teams are still trying to fight for possible playoff contentions and which have slid into tanking mode that we thought that the Jets were trying to do, but looks to be not the case anymore.For the New York Giants, there is absolutely no rushing offense coupled with a defense that’s given up nearly 24 points per game. In Los Angeles, it’s the dark cloud of 16 straight road games and an offense that looks great on a spreadsheet, but unable to execute and get the job done when the game is on the line.
Joe Robbins/Getty Images
For the New York Giants, there is absolutely no rushing offense coupled with a defense that’s given up nearly 24 points per game. In Los Angeles, it’s the dark cloud of 16 straight road games and an offense that looks great on a spreadsheet, but unable to execute and get the job done when the game is on the line. Sunday’s winners will shake up the early line in the draft order for 2018 and might provide a glimpse and insight into which teams are still fighting in December. In other words, they will be paying more attention to the college bowl games and assembling their draft boards than thinking towards January.
How will the Raiders look without Derek Carr?
Almost no one expected the Raiders offense to look this rough in the early going of 2017. They were favored to win the AFC West and make a Super Bowl run. They are just 2-2 and struggling to score points or generate yards for that matter. To make things even worse, quarterback Derek Carr will miss two-to-six weeks due to a back fracture he suffered last week against the Denver Broncos when he landed awkwardly after being forced down on a blitz play.
When Carr broke his fibula bone in Week 16 of the 2016 season, the Raiders looked horrible without him. Carr didn’t play in Week 17 or in the AFC Wild Card game. In those two matchups, the Oakland Raiders averaged only 10 points per game and backup quarterbacks Matt McGloin and Connor Cook both struggled mightily.
Now, the Raiders will have to depend on EJ Manuel to make plays in the passing game. Last week when Carr went down and got hurt, Manuel came in and looked pedestrian at best, throwing for 106 yards and a late interception. Oakland can only hope that Manuel can be a better game manager against the Baltimore Ravens and look to find his star pieces in Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper.
The Jets are a great streaming defense vs The Browns
According to Pro Football Reference, the Cleveland Browns have coughed up 10 turnovers in the first 4 weeks of play. Although they are starting to see streaks of success in their front defensive line, the offense continues to be a huge question mark in what they are supposed to look like. DeShone Kizer has a higher interception rate (5.6 %) than Y/A (5.4%), some ugly stat lines to ingest.
The Browns have allowed 16 fantasy points or more to three of the four defenses they’ve faced so far this season. The New York Jets have a low percentage of being owned in most leagues currently, and this could be a great addition for owners that may have one of their defenses on a bye week and need a solid one week flyer to bank on for a good outcome. Why not give the Jets a chance? Yes, I know I usually pick on them once a week, but this time I think they can make a splash in a positive way for our lineups and help contribute to withstanding some victories for Week 5.