Week 6 of the NFL season will long be remembered in sports circles as the week when DeSean Jackson was nearly decapitated by Falcons CB Dunta Robinson. What that means in fantasy terms is that Jackson is in danger of missing multiple games as he recovers from one of the most vicious hits I've ever seen on the field. The Eagles play the Titans this weekend and then have their bye in Week 8. I said five minutes after the hit on my Facebook and Twitter pages that he was out for Week 7 and there is talk about him missing additional games after the bye.
As if my bad news couldn't get any worse, Jermichael Finley was placed on I.R. Monday, officially ending his season. This news hurts many owners since TE is a feast or famine position in fantasy football, but you should be able to snag a Mercedes Lewis or Benjamin Watson off the waiver wire and get some sneaky points. I bet you didn't know that Watson is 6th in targets for TEs with 44 this season did you? I also bet you didn't know that of the 23 receptions Lewis has this season, five of them went for touchdowns and he has caught 70 percent of the balls thrown his way did you? But, that is why you read these articles… to know those kinds of things!
Winners
Kevin Kolb: Kolb sat on the waiver wire in many leagues as owners have no idea if they should pick him up or leave him alone with Michael Vick getting healthy. And, instead of having a bad game, he went out and lit up the Falcons for 326 passing yards and 3 TDs. This is what you get when you are fighting to save your job in the NFL.
Matt Cassel: Cassel only makes this list because he is owned in 24 percent of all leagues, making him a strong candidate for a waiver wire addition this week by many. Look, he threw for 220 yards and 3 TDs, but it was against the league's worst pass defenders (Texans). Don't fall into the trap of adding him and trying to catch lightning in a bottle… you're liable to just get a note inside saying "better luck next time".
Ryan Torain: Torain finally came through as the Redskins feature back as he rushed 20 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Torain isn't going to break the century mark in yards most weeks, but he is a solid flex play or bye week filler in any format should he still be on your waiver wire.
Christopher Ivory: Ivory filled in for injured RB Pierre Thomas and finished the game with 158 yards on the ground. The reason I wouldn't get too excited about this is because he ran the ball just 15 times, which means he had a ridiculous 10.53 YPC average and that is never going to happen again.
Jeremy Maclin: Many people had Maclin on the bench this weekend, but I can't fault you since I did too. But, he proved us all wrong as he hauled in seven passes for 159 yards and two TDs. His value is likely to remain high as long as Jackson is out, but know that it ends when he comes back… so sell high during their bye if you can.
Benjamin Watson: Watson is not a name that comes to mind when many of you think of a fantasy TE, but I explained why you should think of him with Finley lost for the season now. This weekend he managed to catch six passes for 88 yards and a score, but understand that the Browns are probably the worst team in the NFL and he is likely to be all over the map in terms of production.
St. Louis Rams Defense: Are you one of the 11 percent of people who actually own the Rams defense? Don't lie… you probably laughed when you saw them on the winners list because the Rams are not one of the better teams in the NFL. But, this weekend against the Chargers they managed to rack up seven sacks and one INT, while giving up just 17 points. Enjoy the spotlight Rams fan, because you won't have many more chances to stand in it this season.
Losers
Philip Rivers:Put aside the fact that the Chargers are in possibly the weakest division in football and still may miss the playoffs; put aside that Ryan Mathews has hardly looked like the next coming of LaDainian Tomlinson; just concentrate on how you drafted Rivers with one of your first two picks and how he put up just 249 passing yards with one TD and one INT, while taking a whopping seven sacks on Sunday. Now, maybe you are a fraction of how frustrated I am since I had both Mathews and Rivers starting in a few of my leagues this weekend.
Brett Favre: Favre is not what he used to be and I am proud to say I don't own him in a single league I am in. Why… because he went out and put up 118 yards and a single touchdown on Sunday. I had to make sure I was looking at his stat line and not Adrian Peterson's when I looked at the boxscore!
Jahvid Best: Best has been up and down all season long for fantasy owners, and this was certainly one of the down weeks. Best ran the ball 12 times for 16 yards, but he was able to add six catches for 31 yards for those in PPR leagues. The Lions are not a very good team, so expect to not know what you will get from Best most weeks.
Michael Turner: As we all know, the Falcons/Eagles game was full of shocking plays, but none of them came from Turner as he finished the game with an empty 45 yards on the ground. Turner has two 100-plus yard games this season, but he has just one TD to show for his efforts and owners are getting frustrated.
Miles Austin: Anyone else done with the Cowboys yet? Austin was taken as a WR1 in most formats and this weekend he put up bye numbers as he caught two passes for 12 yards and no endzone visits. Maybe Jerry Jones will finally make an in-season coaching switch and they can get the offense back on track for fantasy owners.
Hakeem Nicks: What a worthless play Nicks was this week as he finished with three catches for eight yards. That is a 2.6 YPC average… not even the worst RBs in the NFL have that average! This is why I am not an Eli Manning fan, but I also think Nicks won't have another week like this again this season.
Antonio Gates: If your QB makes this list, chances are you are going to make it too player X. This week player X is Gates as he finished with two receptions for 12 yards and no scores. To make it worse, Gates suffered a toe injury that is putting the questionable tag on Gates for Week 7 as of right now.
Green Bay Packers Defense: The Packers defense was rated as one of the top fantasy defenses this pre-season. To date they are ranked 7th in fantasy points, but this weekend they ranked outside of the top 20 after allowing 23 points to the Dolphins and getting just one INT, no sacks and no touchdowns.
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