Fantasy Football in Review: Week 3
September 29, 2016
Forget the Broncos’ defense; the Chiefs ran the show during week 3. In terms of overall points (including offensive players), the Chiefs were tied for first with 32 points. Although Ryan Fitzpatrick’s record six interceptions might have had something to do with it, if you were lucky enough to have the Chiefs defense in your starting rotation, you were probably outscoring others by a thundering margin. Although the Chiefs might be a valuable addition to any Fantasy rotation, the Vikings still have the greatest consistency amongst defenses (scoring an average of 20 PPW).
On the opposite side of the ball, the shining stars were the rookies. Neither Eagles QB Carson Wentz nor Cowboys QB Dak Prescott have thrown an interception yet this season. With an interception scoring -2 points in most fantasy leagues, it’s a very smart move to choose QB’s who are careful and precise. Due to his six interceptions, Fitzpatrick managed to score -3 points after the offsetting of a few passing yards.
Although the Saints have yet to win a game, Drew Brees has played extremely well with an average of almost 329 passing yards per week. The week proved to be fruitful for other powerful passers such as Aaron Rodgers (26 pts), Matt Stafford (26 pts), and Jameis Winston (25 pts). On the other hand, QBs who performed unusually poor included Cam Newton (12 pts), Ben Roethlisberger (6 pts), and Carson Palmer (3 pts). However, I still suggest starting all three quarterbacks this week due to the high possibility that their week 3 performances were flukes.
Devonta Freeman returned to superstar form this week with 152 rushing yards and 55 receiving yards, as well as a receiving TD. This came after a lackluster week 1 and 2 in which he did not score above 10 points in either game.
Although the Browns look depressingly bad, Terrelle Pryor took the role of both wide receiver and quarterback (which he played at Ohio State), and racked up an impressive 23 points. However, this could be an unusually high week for him since week 3 was his best performance by a margin of 17 points. Oh, and he’s on the Browns.
Surprisingly, superstars Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham, Jr. did not make much of an impact this week, scoring 14 and 12 respectively. Also, Beckham has yet to catch a TD this year, which is unusual for a player who has acquired 25 career TDs in his first two years. Although it may pain many Fantasy owners to make this choice, it’s probably time to bench Beckham in favor of a WR like Marvin Jones, Jordy Nelson, or Stefon Diggs.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the 4th edition of Week in Review after the next Monday Night Football game.
