Week 6 Recap: Welcome back loyal 5th Down Fantasy readers! We’re through six weeks of NFL football and the standout performances seem to become more and more impressive by the week. We’ve got a genuine slug fest for the league rushing title brewing in LA, an MVP candidate re-emerging in the city of brotherly love and a little known receiver pushing for national acclaim in the midwest. Let’s take a look at some of the players that really stuck out in Week 6.
Carson Wentz (Philadelphia Eagles)
The Eagles bounced back in a big way in Week 6 against the hated rival New York Giants. They dominated on both sides of the football, and the conductor leading the orchestra was none other than last year’s MVP favorite Carson Wentz.
While it took a few weeks for him to fully round back into form, Wentz found his groove and looked every bit as poised as he did during his 2017 campaign at Metlife Stadium. The 3rd year quarterback threw for 278 yards and 3 TDs on the road in a game the Eagles needed to win. Since his return from a torn ACL, Wentz has been brilliant, throwing for over 1,000 yards with a TD:INT ratio of 8:1.
His performance this week also tied him for 6th place in franchise history for touchdown passes (57), tying him with Mike Vick and Bobby Thomason. With No. 11 seemingly back to MVP-form and most of their offensive weapons fully healed from last season, the champion Eagles are starting to look dangerous again, and that’s a scary thing for opposing defenses.
Tyreek Hill (Kansas City Chiefs)
What Tyreek Hill did to the Patriots IN FOXBORO on Sunday Night Football: 7/142/3.
The fastest man in football lived up to that moniker and then some in a bonafide “Game of the Year” contender. This is a man that was largely looked at as a “gadget player” when he entered the league. He was written about as a kick returner in the same vein as Percy Harvin or Tavon Austin. He has 6 TDs and Julio Jones still hasn’t gotten into the end zone once (don’t judge a book by it’s cover, kids).
This game was a joy to watch, not just because of the playoff implications, but because it was a genuine clash of styles. The Patriots wanted to march methodically down the field, eating clock and imposing their will slowly. On the flip side, the Chiefs were scoring on massive momentum-swinging plays courtesy of Hill and Kareem Hunt. A late touchdown from Hill saw him beat the coverage effortlessly and sprint into the end zone in a walk-off performance that would have netted the Chiefs a win in any other game.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, their lack of a reliable defense cost them the game and their undefeated record on a last-second field goal, but the legend of Tyreek Hill continues to grow on the national stage. Some say he’s still running towards the end zone, deuces up for everyone to see.
[Also See: Week 6 #ICYMI: Eight NFL Things You Should Have Noticed]
Melvin Gordon/Todd Gurley (Los Angeles Chargers/Rams)
What haven’t I said about these two? Honestly, they’ve made an appearance of some kind in nearly every article I’ve written for 5th Down Fantasy so far, and that’s because they’re unbelievable. I wrote a few weeks back that LA is the place to be for running back dominance in 2018, and I feel like that statement becomes truer by the carry for each of these players. Both men are surefire fantasy football juggernauts that can lift a team to victory both in real life and on the virtual field. Their teams rely on them to carry their offenses and it shows up in a major way on the stat sheets. I mean, just look at these performances from Week 6:
Todd Gurley: 33 Touches/225 combined yards/2 TDs
Melvin Gordon: 22 Touches/150 combined yards/3 TDs
If you were lucky enough to draft Gurley first and somehow/someway lucked into Gordon in the 2nd round, you’re likely 6-0 right now based off of just these two. They’ve been that dominant. Gurley’s 11 TDs (9 rushing/2 receiving) lead the league heading toward the halfway point, but Gordon is just two scores behind him with 9 (6 rushing/3 receiving). There’s a legitimate battle for the league rushing title brewing out West, and it only promises to pick up steam as the season wears on. Neither man is going to slow down anytime soon, so I suggest you all grab some popcorn and kick back because the show’s only getting started.
Saquon Barkley (New York Giants)
While we’re on the subject of freakishly dominant running backs, we need to discuss what rookie RB Saquon Barkley did this past Thursday night against Philadelphia. The Giants may have lost the game in blowout fashion, but Barkley won the national media’s heart with one of the most impressive athletic performances the leagues seen in years.
Barkley erupted for 130 yards/TD on the ground and came within a single yard of joining the 100/100 club. He’s the youngest player in NFL history to have over 130 rushing yards/90 receiving yards in a game and his 229-yard total is the most yardage ever in a Giants loss. He did all of this against the No. 1 ranked run defense in the league. The pundits may hate on the pick, and some Giants fans may wish they took a quarterback (who could blame them), but in Barkley they’ve found a supernova that will light up the Big Apple backfield for years to come. Plus, they get the added benefit of possibly picking in the top 10 again in 2019, so they can have their superstar RB and get their QB too.
Tyler Boyd (Cincinnati Bengals)
Oh damn, whaddup it’s DAT BOY-D! I’m sorry, I really had to put that in writing and I don’t regret it a single bit.
I wrote about the Bengals dynamic 2nd year wideout a few weeks back and told fantasy owners to buy shares in him anywhere he was available. Well, if you followed that advice you were likely jumping for joy during his 7 Rec/62 Yard/2 TD performance against the Steelers. Boyd was targeted 9 times in a game that started off slowly and later devolved into a thrilling shootout. Those 9 targets matched his average total per game so far in 2018 and further showed the trust that he has with Andy Dalton and the offensive coaching staff.
Boyd is a legitimate WR2 with an even higher ceiling in PPR leagues, and he looks to be locked in as a focal point of a high-octane Cincinnati offense that scores points every week. Don’t let the fact they can’t seem to beat the Steelers deter you from playing Boyd each week moving forward. He’s a reliable 2nd option in any match-up.
Andrew Luck (Indianapolis Colts)
There are plenty of great “come from behind” quarterbacks in the NFL. You’ve got names like Stafford/Rodgers/Brady, but for fantasy purposes there’s one man I’ll take above them all, and he wears No. 12 for the Colts.
Andrew Luck’s career was rumored to be over; if you watched any national coverage of the situation you’d be forgiven for thinking the man’s arm had fallen off. All of the great memories of garbage time superstar production for fantasy owners seemed destined to stay just that, memories. But then he returned!
The Colts got their quarterback and promptly threw him into a terrible offense with no offensive line help (just like old times). Fantasy owners got their garbage man back and embraced him with the warmth of a long-lost family member, and he rewarded them with vintage production. Indy may have lost to the Jets on Sunday, but Luck gifted his fantasy owners with a 30-point performance (301 Pass Yards/4 TDs/3 INTs), and proved that while his organization may not properly value him, he’ll always produce for the fantasy fans. God bless you, Andrew Luck, you’re far too kind to be treated so poorly.
Adam Thielen (Minnesota Vikings)
I’ve seen a ton of great articles online this past week talking about Adam Thielen’s humble beginnings in football. They talk about his Division II start, his walk-on role with the Vikings, and his absurd work ethic. However, few of them come right out and say what needs to be said: Thielen is a top-5 receiver in the NFL.
His performance speaks for itself, and his consistency is unrivaled by anyone at the position through the first month and a half of the NFL season. This past week marked his 6th straight game with over 100 receiving yards. He also caught Kirk Cousins’ only touchdown pass of the day and continued to absolutely dominate the target share with 11 receptions on 15 targets.
He’s a genuine target monster with the most reliable floor in the league at the wide receiver position, and he’s set himself up for a potential date with football immortality if he can continue his streak until the end of October. Thielen is just 1 game away from tying former record holder Michael Irvin, and 2 away from tying current holder Calvin Johnson for the most consecutive 100-yard receiving games in NFL history.
With two matchups against lower-level pass defenses on deck (Jets/Saints) it feels like even the schedule Gods are on his side. Everything about this guy’s just been inspiring so far this year, and he has a real chance to cement his place above two Hall of Famers if he can keep his level of play this high. I can’t wait to see him do it.
O.J. Howard (Tampa Bay Bucs)
Sprained MCL? What sprained MCL? That’s what O.J. Howard had everyone thinking this past Sunday as the dominant 2nd year tight end blew up in his return game from injury. Howard defied both logic and the injury reports and victimized a battle-beaten Falcons defense for 4/62/1 in Atlanta.
I don’t need to tell fantasy owners how bad the tight end position has been so far this year for fantasy, you either have Gronk/Kelce/Ertz or you’re sitting on the floor praying for a TD. In a year that’s reduced men to starting Rhett Ellison and Geoff Swaim, O.J. Howard has emerged as a sophomore-year savior. His weekly fantasy totals of 5/15/7/12 make him a fringe top-5 option at the position and his target share (averaging 5 targets per game) is due for an uptick after this past week’s performance. If you have Howard, hold onto him and thank him for saving you from the hell-scape of bad TEs. He’s a top option on an offense with a bad running game, so you can bank on Jameis Winston looking for No. 80 downfield on the regular.
MY TAKEAWAY FROM WEEK 6:
Something’s wrong with Rob Gronkowski, and people aren’t talking about it for some reason.
Wasn’t Sunday night’s game incredible?! Everyone produced for fantasy, everyone seemed to have a big play, and yet it took until the fourth quarter for Gronk to put together anything resembling a good fantasy performance.
The national pundits are talking about his injuries — his ankle is banged up, his back is banged up — but we’ve seen Gronk play through injuries before and still produce.
So what’s different this year? Where is the dominant Goliath that fantasy fans have grown to adore and draft way above a reasonable spot?
I’m genuinely asking you guys, because I seriously have no idea what’s going on. Cards on the table, I was all set to make a trade to pick up Gronk going into Week 6. He was facing the Chiefs! Their defense is terrible, in general, and they’re particularly bad against tight ends. How could it go wrong?
Thankfully, the other owner got cold feet and we decided to wait until after the games this week. I’ve never felt so relieved to avoid a trade for a player of that prestige. It feels weird to not want Gronk on my team, because for the majority of the past decade he’s been THE premiere tight end in fantasy football. Kelce is great, Ertz is a rising star, but GRONK SMASHED THEM ALL!
Some fantasy owners still love him and value him insanely high for his name value, but you need only look at his weekly point totals to see why I’m so freaked out. So far on the year Gronk has scored 16/1/5/4/7/9 since Week 1 against the Texans. His line in that game was vintage Gronkowski (7/123/1), but since then he’s seen his target share cut in half (8 targets in Week 1, 4 targets this week).
Maybe I’m overreacting, and maybe Gronk will roar back to life in the second half of the year, but I’m worried about him being viewed as a locked-in, week-winning player in fantasy right now. He hasn’t shown the production to match his name value so far this year and he couldn’t exploit one of the league’s worst defenses in a game where his team scored 43 points. He’s not producing like his normal self, and that’s something that should trouble fantasy owners everywhere, regardless of ownership.
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