Week 4 Recaps - Matchup 2 and Matchup 3

Matchup 2: Zeka-A-Virus wins 136.3 to 115.9:

Ezekiel Elliot:

Ezekiel Elliot has been everything that the Cowboys could have wished for and more. I’ve talked about him every week and I will keep talking about him until the production slows down. As a 21 year old rookie, Elliot is leading the NFL rushing attempts, rushing yards, runs over 20 yards, and of course yards per game. He has rushed for 27 first downs on the season, which is 9 more than the next highest guy. The only cause for concern is over-usage. Elliot’s 94 carries mean that he’s averaging over 23 carries a game. Over a 16 game season, he’s on pace for 376 carries. Add in the 1.5 receptions per game and he’s on pace for about 400 touches this year. That’s a really heavy workload and I’m not sure it will continue the whole year. Regardless of the workload concerns, Ezekiel Elliot is the real deal – legs.  

Frank Gore:

Frank Gore is absolutely ridiculous. Just think about it. The guy is 33 years old and has played 12 NFL seasons (including 2016). He’s rushed for 12,300 yards in his career on 2,766 carries and has scored 85 total touchdowns. Now that I’m looking, he has to be a Hall of Famer right? We’ll find out, but there is a definite case. Anyway, despite running behind a terrible Colts offensive line, he’s scored 69.2 (nice) fantasy points this year. Part of that comes from his usage in passing downs – 13 catches, 66 yards, 1 receiving TD through 4 games. The other part comes from rushing of course – averaging 16 carries per game. So is he going to break down? While I am concerned, I have to trust what I’ve seen over the last 12 years. Gore is not hot dogs, but legs. Frank Gore is a BEAST. 

Latavius Murray:

I’ve talked about usage with the last two guys, so let’s keep that going. Eeek. Eeeek and not Ez-EEEK-iel Elliot. Eeek as in bad. Murray started off the year with 15 touches for 72 yards and a TD (16.5 points). Since then, his touches have gone down to 14, 11 and 10 in the most recent game. His fantasy points have gone 20.7, 12.3 and 5 in the three games since Week 1. This is a semi-dumb take, but if you take out the touchdowns he scored in week 2 and 3, he would have recorded 14.7, 6.3 and 5 points over the last 3 weeks. Trending in the wrong direction. No burger for Latavius Murray, he is hot dogs.

Matchup 2: Can I Diggs It? Yes You Can lost 115.9 to 136.3

Le’Veon Bell:

To this point, Le’Veon Bell has been a hot dog. Just something you got really excited about when you drafted/first saw, but then something that let you down when you realized what it was/that he wasn’t playing the first three weeks. The first three weeks of a fantasy season are HUGE. You can’t win your league in the first three weeks, but you can certainly lose your league in the first three weeks. If you draft a guy knowing he will miss the first three weeks, he’s a hot dog. However, I did say that hot dogs could become legs. Let’s not get into specifics, but a player who was merely hot dogs can become a player who is legs over time. That’s what we have with Le’Veon Bell. He proved that in his first game back by scoring 26.9 fantasy points on 18 carries for 144 yards and 5 catches for 34 yards. He will continue to produce at a ridiculous rate and as a result, he is legs.

LeGarrette Blount:

Through four weeks, LeGarrette Blount has been legs. He used those legs to hurdle over many a defender in his career (yes, I realize this is from before the Pats acquired him).

Through four weeks, he is the 9th highest scoring RB in our league and if you go back to Week 3, I believe he was a top 5 RB. In the first three games, he rushed for 70, 123 and 105 yards with 4 touchdowns. So he’ll continue to be legs, right? WRONG. In the first four games, of this season, without Tom Brady, Blount received 22, 29, 24 and 13 carries (avg of 22). In the last four games Blount played last season, with Tom Brady, he received 16, 9, 13 and 10 carries (avg of 12). So when Tom Brady plays, he gets 10 fewer carries per game. That’s a bad trend and I fully expect that his workload will decrease now that Tom is back. For that reason, LeGarrette Blount is hot dogs.

Rob Gronkowski:

Frader’s first round pick missed the first two games of the season, clearly showing up as hot dogs. He went back to the grill for some more hot dogs in week 3 when he played maybe 10 snaps. In week 4 he played much more, but came down with just one catch. HIS FIRST CATCH OF THE SEASON. Through four weeks, Frader’s first round pick has 1 catch for 11 yards. HOT DOGS. But, as you read above, Tom Brady is back. A rising tide lifts all boats and Tom Brady is not just a rising tide, he’s a tsunami. Tom Brady enhances the value of all Patriots skill players and Gronk will be beneficiary numero uno. Yo soy fiesta. Even though he basically didn’t play for the first 4 games, I bet Gronk will finish as a top 5 tight end and show up as legs.

Matchup 3: Marty Huggins won 97.7 to 83.6:

Odell Beckham Jr:

I hate to talk about this guy (get it, Guy?), but I just have to. Despite every single news outlet talking about him, I’ll spend some time here. You’re probably guessing that I’m going to say he’s hot dogs. You would be wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong. But wait, he just had a 3.8 point game and he is outside of the top 30 WRs??!?! Calm down, he’s still Odell Beckham. Besides, his stats aren’t really THAT bad. He’s got 22 catches for 303 yards. Antonio Brown has 28 catches for 379 yards. Based purely on yards and catches, Brown is only outscoring him by 11 or so points. It’s really the touchdowns that are killing you, but those will come. Odell Beckham Jr. is legs. Crybaby legs, but still legs.

Isaiah Crowell:

WTF is up with this guy? (get it, Guy?) How is he doing this well? The Cleveland Browns are 0-4 and have had 4 different people play QB (including Terrelle Pryor), yet somehow Isaiah Crowell keeps churning out yards and TDs. He’s scored 11 or more points in all 4 games this year and has scored a rushing TD in all but one game. As much as I I don’t understand it, I have to admit that Crowell has been legs so far. HOWEVER, I do not believe in the Browns and I cannot buy into it. Eventually teams will figure out how to stop the run and then what? Have Cody Kessler throw the ball? If teams can shut down Todd Gurley, then teams can shut down Isaiah Isis Lover Crowell. These are hot dogs, not legs.

Brandon Marshall:

I think Guy has an obsession with diva receivers. Think about it, are there any bigger divas in the NFL than Odell Beckham, Dez Bryant and Brandon Marshall? Marshall hasn’t been too bad in recent years, but Odell has a laundry list of offenses this year and Dez Bryant missed a team ordered MRI and another team meeting last week. What a bunch of divas. Anyway, Marshall has been very uneven this year. The third round pick followed up a week 1 stinker (4.7) with a big week 2 (15.1). He then went back to terrible in week 3 (4.2), before having his highest output in week 4 (16.9 points). Unfortunately he was on Guy’s bench for that game. So ultimately, as the 37th ranked WR, Marshall has been hot dogs. I don’t think that continues though, he is too talented. I think Ryan Fitzpatrick rights the ship and Brandon Marshall improves on his numbers. It looks like hot dogs at first, but it turns into legs the more you look at it. These are not legs below, but my Lord this Sierra Skye girl is something else. 

Matchup 3: Gurley’s Gone lost 83.6 to 97.7:

Delanie Walker:

Delanie Walker was a revelation last year and is one of the major reasons Keetz made the playoffs. He was targeted a million times and turned it into the best year of his career. So how has he followed that up? Not well, not well at all. He has scored 5.7 or fewer in two games and did not play in week 3. His only good game came when he caught 6 passes for 83 yards and a TD in week 2. Despite the rough start, I’m gonna go legs here. He’s too talented and the Titans have a great schedule coming up. Over the next 5 weeks, they play the Dolphins, the Browns, the Colts, the Jags and the Chargers. Talk about a cake walk. Legs.

Jeremy Maclin:

Jeremy Maclin had a pretty good first season in Kansas City, going for over 1,000 yards and catching 8 TDs. Unfortunately, that hasn’t really translated to 2016 quite yet. As of press time, he’s the 38th ranked WR, behind guys such as Tavon Austin, Tyreek Hill (also on the Chiefs) and Adam Humphries. Gross. His week 1 performance was nice, but since then he’s averaged just 8.5 points per game. Double gross. Gross as that dude from Montana who got mauled by a bear. Did you see the gash on his head? That thing was filthy. Gross. Anyways, Maclin has been gross. Despite this, I’m going to use the same logic I just used for Delanie Walker – an easy schedule. After a week 5 bye, the Chiefs play the Raiders, Saints, Colts, Jags, Panthers and Bucs over the next 6 games. Those are some of the worst secondaries in the league and I expect Maclin to improve. Plus, he’s just too good of an athlete (4.48 forty at the combine). He’ll use those legs to become legs. This was a terrible idea for a writeup, oh well. Side note, I don't know when the pose below became a thing, but as Lamone and Uncle Jesse say - have mercy. 

Charles Sims:  

Man, I may have been wrong about this one. In Ken's draft recap I said "Charles Sims is the #2 RB behind Doug Martin and is a PPR flex play in his own right. Not bad at all." That was proving to be a good analysis through three weeks, a period in which Sims put up 42 fantasy points. Then the Bucs played the Broncos in week 4 and the wheels came off. Not only did Sims have a shitty game (5.5 points on 17 touches), but he got hurt as well. I'm not sure it's serious, but something to monitor. While it's not fair to judge a player on one game against the Broncos, I think the window for Sims to be a true starter is over. He's potentially injured this week and playing a pissed off Panthers team, before taking a bye in Week 6. After that, Doug Martin should be back and then it's his backfield once again. Overall things are not looking great for Sims, so hot dogs it is.