Storm in a Teacup - Week 6 Notes

I was feeling pretty good about myself after just a couple of minutes of the Jags-Titans matchup as Storm Johnson rushed for his first NFL touchdown.  Big day coming – “Stoooooooorm Joooooooohnson” was my contribution on a Whatsapp group for our fantasy leagues, striking fear into my fantasy opponents.  Come the end of the game and Storm had barely doubled his yardage, finishing with 21 yards rushing on 10 attempts for a poultry 2.1 yards per carry, ouch.  The touchdown was really his only saving grace.  So having gotten a little carried away on the podcast I thought it might be worth explaining my thinking on using Storm Johnson.

Lets be clear, I wasn’t advocating starting Storm Johnson over Demarco Murray.  Storm was an “if you’re desperate and need a chance at a big score” type of call.  Running back has been brutal this year with all the suspensions and committes, and with some tough matchups for other possible waiver wire adds there were some things going for Storm Johnson.  Namely:

1. He was looking like having a shot of being “the guy” in what was an ok (though not great) matchup
2. He had looked good in very limited work the week before
3.  I was willing to risk that Jacksonville’s previous issues running the ball were something to do with Toby Gerhart not being very good.

So with those things in mind I preferred him to the Minnesota guys due to the strength of Detroit’s D.  I preferred him to the Baltimore guys, because that whole situation makes me uncomfortable.  I preferred him to the New England guys, because while Ridley and Vereen have both shown they can put up big fantasy points, im not sure you can really be sure on which week either is going to do it.  I preferred him to any of the Denver backs, who faced a good Jets front seven.  I preferred him to the Oakland guys, because, well…its Oakland.  I certainly preferred him to anything you could find in the NFC South with the Carolina mess (so many injuries), the Atlanta mess (ineffective other than Smith who gets 4 touches a week – im not starting that, sorry) and the Tampa mess (they are just a mess). 

That works out at 20 names*, and some of them were a lot safer than Storm (I figure the Johnson is optional) for getting some points, but I felt like he had the biggest potential for a huge day.  I was wrong about the size of his day, but at least a touchdown bailed me out to the extent that only six of the 20 matched or beat him for fantasy points, and some of those are scoring dependent.  So overall, not a great call, but, assuming you didn’t do anything stupid, it didn’t hurt you either.

Things to note Sunday:

• Allow me a moment to gloat (my fantasy weekend was so bad it was carted off the field with a severe knee injury – you’ll see why a few points down – so give me this one good moment)… I was soooooo right about Bernard and the Bengal’s running backs who had huge day.  Sadly Hill had a second long TD called back, otherwise he would have been a great standalone call.

• Ronnie Hillman did a good job starting from the Broncos in a tough matchup for running backs at the Jets.  Montee Ball had struggled badly when he was healthy, so if Hillman can keep this up I expect him to keep the job.  At the very least it’s the start of yet another committee nightmare.

• I like Jerick McKinnon, and his 82 yard on 17 touches day was one of the few bright spots for the Vikings offence.  Asiata may keep the starting gig a little longer as he’s a good blocker, and will therefore continue to vulture touchdowns, but McKinnon is the more talented back and at some point should take over the job.

• Im throwing out basically everything from an offensive point of view for Baltimore after their demolition of Tampa as the home team looked like they had spent the week at Oktoberfest.  One thing I am taking with me is a final confirmation that Bernard Pierce is not a good starting running back.  I may have to get on the Justin Forsett bandwagon.

• I said on the podcast I like Miami’s D, and for that reason im still giving Eddie Lacy a pass.  At this point his value is so low you may as well hold on and hopes he goes off, but hes looking like a matchups play.

• Victor Cruz tore a tendon in his knee (serves me right for lauding it over Daz on the podcast for successfully trading him Doug Martin for Cruz).  He’s probably done for the season.  I already liked Randle and he is probably owned, but O’Dell Beckham joins him as a must own.

• Gronk picked up a knock but returned to action.  Usually I wouldn’t note it, but its Gronk and he’s an injury waiting to happen.  Wright, who had another TD Sunday, would see his value go through the roof if anything happens to keep Gronkowski off the field for any sort of time, and should be owned by Gronk owners and in deeper leagues.

• For those in IDP leagues, Mayo’s injury looked bad and was yet another knee injury (I own him and traded for him – im beginning to see a pattern here!).  May have to look elsewhere.

Oh and in other news Aaron Rodgers is insanely good!

Listen out for episode 2 of the More Than A Game podcast, which should be up late Monday evening.  Make sure you follow us on Twitter @mtaguknfl and join our Weekly Pickemleague at NFL.com where you can continue to humiliate me by crushing me - and the rest of the guys for that matter (More Than A Game Podcast is the name of the league).  You can email us at mtaguknfl@gmail.com.  Finally you can also follow me, where now and then I spout nonsense about football and baseball in addition to NFL, @superbluemad

*For those that are interested, the backs that met that description are listed below, with those in bold the ones that matched or beat Storm:

Forsett (BAL)

Pierce (BAL) – almost identical day to Storm

Taliaferro (BAL)

Mckinnon (MIN) – ok PPR scoring day

Asiata (MIN)

Vereen (NE)

Ridley (NE)

Hillman (DEN) – though the fumble hurt a bit

Thompson (DEN)

Whittaker (CAR)

Reaves (CAR)

Jackson (ATL)

Smith (ATL) – another TD, just 6 touches

Freeman (ATL)

Rodgers (ATL)

Martin (TAM)

Rainey (TAM)

McFadden (OAK)

MJD (OAK)

Reece (OAK)