If you relied upon Matt Ryan, Terrance West, or anyone in the Sunday night game, you likely came away disappointed with your Fantasy Football team in week 7. There were some big games from people like Jeremy Hill and A.J. Green for the Cincinnati Bengals. Drew Brees bucked the trend of being average on the road and Julio Jones was Julio Jones.
As a Dallas Cowboys fan, I sure am looking forward to Dez Bryant getting back into the lineup so we can watch him do Dez Bryant things.
Anyone who wants to trade Dez (and I pray you’re just a vocal minority, and not the majority of Cowboys fans), just look at what Mike Evans, Julio Jones, and A.J. Green did in their respective games and ask yourself if that is an asset you’d like to have against the tougher defenses in the NFL.
Dez is going to make everyone with the Dallas Cowboys offense better. Cole Beasley is going to be better, Ezekiel Elliott is going to be better, and Dak Prescott is going to be better. Dez Bryant is that kind of player.
With all that said let’s take a look at how we fared in week seven.
Week 7 Hot Sauce
Jameis Winston – 21/30, 269 yards passing, 3 TDs, and 1 INT. ON FIRE
Jeremy Hill – 9 carries 168 yards rushing, and 1 TD. 2 receptions for 24 yards. ON FIRE
TJ Yeldon – 6 carries for 24 yards, 1 catch for 4 yards. BURNED
Rashad Jennings – 13 carries for 25 yards, 1 rushing TD. 2 receptions for 24 yards. MILD SAUCE
Torrey Smith – 1 catch for 17 yards. BURNED
Week 7 Weak Sauce
Aaron Rodgers – 39/56 for 326 yards and 3 TDs. BURNED
Todd Gurley – 15 carries for 57 yards, 6 catches for 35 yards. ON FIRE
Melvin Gordon – 22 carries for 68 yards, and 2 TDs rushing. 6 catches for 53 yards, and 1 TD reception. DEEPLY BURNED
Larry Fitzgerald – 9 catches for 70 yards. MILD SAUCE
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Week 8 Hot Sauce
Brock Osweiler, QB, Houston Texans vs Detroit Lions
Brock Osweiler hasn’t been great this season, averaging just over 230 yards per game passing with a 1:1 touchdown to interception ratio, but as a bye week fill-in, he has a great matchup.
Osweiler has the weapons in DeAndre Hopkins, Lamar Miller, Will Fuller, and Jaelen Strong to have been better than his numbers have shown this year. In week eight, I expect we will see an explosive Houston Texans offense.
The Detroit Lions are allowing 273 passing yards per game this season. That is an excellent fantasy day for any quarterback. They’ve allowed 18 touchdowns (2.57 per game) to only three interceptions in 2016.
Flavorful Forecast: 290 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception.
Matt Jones, RB, Washington @ Cincinnati Bengals
Matt Jones had a down week in week seven against the Detroit Lions and was out-touched by teammate Chris Thompson. Odds are that isn’t going to happen two weeks in a row.
Jones lost a fumble and was ineffective, which led to Thompson seeing more work.
The Bengals are allowing 118.4 yards per game on the ground this season and 4.6 yards per carry.
Look for Jones to have a bounce back game against a Cincinnati Bengals defense who has looked average against the run the last several weeks.
Flavorful Forecast: 20 total touches for 110 yards and 1 TD.
Matt Asiata, RB, Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears
Matt Asiata led all Minnesota Vikings running backs in touches in week seven against the Philadelphia Eagles. The bruising tailback turned 12 carries into 55 yards rushing and eight targets into six catches for 25 yards.
He’s been a dependable runner his whole career, but has only seen limited work due to his lack of speed.
Chicago is still bad against the run, as was evident by Green Bay Packers wide receiver Ty Montgomery running for five yards per carry (on nine carries) against them.
Asiata is a goal line option for Minnesota and a good flex option for your fantasy football team this week.
Flavorful forecast: 15 total touches for 80 yards and 1 TD.
Ty Montgomery, WR, Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons
I think it’s safe to say that Ty Montgomery has taken over the backfield work for the Green Bay Packers.
With Knile Davis and Don Jackson as the only running backs on the roster, Montgomery saw an increased workload in Green Bay’s pass first and pass often offense.
The wide receiver turned running back received nine carries, which he turned into 60 yards rushing (even some short yardage work) to go along with 10 catches on 13 targets for 66 yards.
Knile Davis has never really had much productivity when given the opportunity, and Don Jackson is a practice squad player who is suffering from a hand injury.
Start Montgomery this week against an Atlanta Falcons team that was just torched by Melvin Gordon and the San Diego Chargers.
Flavorful Forecast: 8 carries for 50 yards rushing, 7 catches for 68 yards receiving and 1 TD.
Brandon LaFell, WR, Cincinnati Bengals vs Washington
The Cincinnati Bengals passing game has been all about A.J. Green in 2016. Green has been absolutely dominant and has seen a ton of the team’s targets to this point in the season.
Brandon LaFell hasn’t been bad in his role as a secondary receiver in 2016. He’s averaged 53 yards per game and has four touchdowns.
In week eight against Washington, LaFell will have an opportunity for a big game.
If Josh Norman plays, odds are they’ll use him to shadow AJ Green. If Norman doesn’t play, LaFell will likely play against Washington’s third corner.
Coming off a game where LaFell had 80+ yards and a score, I’d be willing to plug him in again this week.
Flavorful Forecast: 5 catches for 75 yards, 1 TD.
Week 8 Weak Sauce
Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers vs Arizona Cardinals
Cam Newton is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. There’s no denying it.
If you watched the Arizona Cardinals play against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night, you saw what the Cardinals defense is capable of.
The Arizona Cardinals defense has allowed less than 200 yards per game on average in 2016. They’ve only given up five passing touchdowns, but have nine interceptions. That’s pretty stinking good.
Cam Newton isn’t dealing with injuries like Russell Wilson is, which is inhibiting Wilson’s ability to run, but the Cardinals aren’t going to allow much through the air.
Flavorless Forecast: 178 yards passing, 1 TD, 2 INTs, and 30 yards rushing.
Melvin Gordon, RB, San Diego Chargers @ Denver Broncos
Yes, I got BURNED by Melvin Gordon in the week seven Hot Sauce/Weak Sauce, but we’re going back to the well again in week eight.
Gordon has been average on the ground this season but has been scoring a lot of touchdowns from goal line carries. He has the fifth worst yards per carry average of all NFL running backs with at least 50 carries.
The Denver Broncos have allowed 4.0 yards per carry in 2016, but I expect them to bottle up Gordon and the San Diego offense.
Flavorless Forecast: 16 total touches for 60 yards.
Isaiah Crowell, RB, Cleveland Browns vs New York Jets
Isaiah Crowell continues to hang around the top ten in the NFL in rushing yards despite really poor week five and week six performances.
In week eight, Crowell and the Cleveland Browns face the New York Jets, who currently rank fourth in the NFL in rushing yards against, allowing only 74 rushing yards per game.
With a passing game that has been inconsistent, the New York Jets will focus on Crowell and the running game.
Flavorless Forecast: 18 touches for 46 yards, 0 TDs.
Alshon Jeffrey, WR, Chicago Bears vs Minnesota Vikings
Alshon Jeffrey has been relatively consistent in 2016. In week 7 he had only his second game failing to tally at least 70 yards receiving.
At the moment, it sounds like Jay Cutler will be back in the lineup for the Chicago Bears. This is not the week that I would want to return, facing the Minnesota Vikings who are third in the NFL in passing yards against, rank 7th in sacks, and third in interceptions.
Alshon Jeffrey is likely going to have to play a lot of his day against standout cornerback Xavier Rhodes.
In six games this season, they have held opposing “Number One” wide receivers to an average of 39.67 yards per game. They held Kelvin Benjamin and Odell Beckham Jr. to 23 yards receiving and zero touchdowns in back to back weeks. In week seven, they held Jordan Matthews to 10 receiving yards.
Jeffrey will have a tough time this week, along with the rest of the Chicago Bears.
Flavorless Forecast: 2 catches for 30 yards and 0 TDs.
Allen Robinson, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee Titans
As someone who was the beneficiary of Allen Robinson’s 2015 season and a heavy investor in 2016, I’m sitting here wondering, “where’d he go?”
The third year wide out has only topped 60 yards receiving in one game this season; the first one. He’s averaging 49 yards per game and only has three touchdowns on the year.
I’m not watching many Jacksonville Jaguars games, so I’m not sure what’s going on with him, but the whole offense seems to be struggling. The emergence of Marquise Lee and Allen Hurns aren’t helping Robinson’s cause either.
The Tennessee Titans are allowing 250 yards passing per game, but they have only allowed nine touchdown passes on the year.
With the season Allen Robinson has been having, I might recommend sitting him until he is able to break out of his funk, but with the matchup, I’m definitely recommending a sit.
Flavorless Forecast: 3 catches for 63 yards and 0 TDs.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @john9williams and send me your Sit/Start questions for week 8.
