Strikes & Gutters: Week 9 Fantasy Advice

This NFL season has been one of the most difficult to endure both as a Dolphin fan and fantasy player. Being a football fan is downright depressing a good deal of the time. My fantasy team lost a starting wide receiver to a serious knee injury for the 3rd week in a row (Randall Cobb, Reggie Wayne, and Brandon Gibson). The Miami Dolphins seem content to play only one half a game of decent football every week. The night is always darkest just before the dawn, they say. It's also true that without disappointment, happiness would mean nothing. So let's keep our collective chins up and move forward. After all, sometimes my fantasy advice is helpful! 

Recapping last week's strikes shows that once in a while I know what I'm talking about. The Broncos passing game continued to explode, and Knowshon Moreno had big game. Also, Reggie Bush produced one of his best performances in a PPR format, and it looked as though Brandon Gibson was going to have a decent game until he suffered the knee injury. The Redskins Passing game was a huge whiff, but Jordan Reed did put up decent numbers (mostly in garbage time). Rob Gronkowski had a long TD called back (the only call that went the Dolphins way on Sunday). I'll give myself 2 out of 4 on the strikes with my Dolphins prediction getting an incomplete. 50% seems to be pretty much par for the course for me this season. I did a little better with the gutters, I'll take a 3.5, the half point coming on MJD's semi solid performance and the miss coming on the Dolphins running game which produced great numbers before having the game taken away from them by the coaching staff. I'd like to say live and learn, but that phrase seems to be completely lost on Mike Sherman these days.

via www.reactionface.info

Strikes:

Keenan Allen: My affinity for WRs playing against the Redskins is well documented. I think the Chargers passing game has a good day in Washington on Sunday and that this kid is for real. Bonus points, I recently traded him from my team, so you know he's prime to explode.

Terrance Williams: It's the time of year when rookie WRs begin to heat up. Minnesota is ripe to get torched this weekend on the road at Dallas. Dez Bryant will have a monster game, but I expect the Williams to be a beneficiary of this favorable matchup as well.

Stevan Ridley: The Steelers defense isn't the rugged run stuffing unit it once was. The Patriots passing game isn't the dynamic fast break, pass first unit we've seen over the past few years either. Ridley is running hard and not fumbling lately. I predict he has a nice game against Steelers and continues to quietly re-assert himself into the RB2 discussion this season.

Russell Wilson: Tampa Bay has been getting thrashed by Quarterbacks of late. A  long trip to Seattle doesn't appear to be the cure what is ailing the Buccaneers. Expect big things from Danger-Russ both through the air and on the ground this week.

Courtesy Dolphin start of the week, Brian Hartline: I think the Dolphins will be passing a lot on Halloween. I think a familiar face shows up and has a big game for his struggling Quarterback this week. He played well against them last year, and I predict a decent game this time around.

Gutters:

Fred Jackson: This guy has been surprisingly effective all season, especially in PPR formats. Kansas City is a brutal matchup for the Bills though. Stay away from their RBs and their entire offense if you can.

Marques Colston: Not sure what the deal is with Colston this season, but he doesn't look right. Even though the Jest were finally exposed last week and got torched by the mighty Bengals and the Ginger Laser last week, I don't see Colston putting up numbers in this game.

LeSean McCoy: Yeah, I know, you will not be benching him under any circumstances. But with the unsettled QB situation (Holy crap Matt Barkley is awful!), and a Raider Defense that is stopping the run this season, I don't predict Shady busting out with a big game on the road this week.

Andrew Luck: First game without his security blanket, on the road against a tough pass defense. I see the Colts winning in grind it out fashion. I'm not expecting a big game for Luck through the air.

Courtesy Dolphin sit of the week, Lamar Miller: Nice game for Miller last week. He's played well when he's been given the opportunity, but the Bengals defense is legit and he'll be splitting carries with Daniel Thomas again.

These picks are a little more under the Radar than most, I'm hoping for some high-risk high reward results here, although I haven't had much luck with that this season. As always take this with a grain of salt, and even though my fantasy teams are effectively done already at only the mid point of the season, I will continue fighting the good fight. I wish you all the best of luck and hope that my advice pays off this week. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will get to them as soon as possible. Thanks for sticking with me!

"Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you."