The Scoop

By Dalton Del Don

Cedric Benson has to currently be viewed as a top-10 if not top-five fantasy back. As crazy as it sounds, at least to this previous non-believer, there’s no denying it now. He just gashed a Ravens defense that entered Sunday allowing fewer than 3.0 YPC for 120 yards, meaning he’s matchup proof, which is rare for a RB not overly involved as a receiver…After opening the season with three straight wins, Baltimore has now dropped back-to-back games, and its next three opponents have a combined record of 14-1…Because of his work at the goal-line, Willis McGahee can still be used as a flex in favorable matchups, but his rushing attempts have dropped from 15 to 7 to 5 to 1 over the past three games, so it’s clear this is Ray Rice’s backfield. Rice, who leads the NFL with 233 yards after the catch, can easily finish the season as a legitimate RB1 despite modest touchdown numbers. He’s easily Baltimore’s best weapon on offense.

If you watched the Bills/Browns game, you saw two quarterbacks combine for 3.6 YPA. If you didn’t see it, I’m jealous. Seriously, that was ugly. Derek Anderson was pretty awful, but Cleveland had nine drops and it was windy, for what it’s worth…Trent Edwards, now nicknamed “Captain Checkdown,” doesn’t look like much of a franchise quarterback right now, and the next Terrell Owens blowup is imminent…As a Jerome Harrison apologist, it’s hard to fault Eric Mangini turning back to Jamal Lewis too much, as it did appear the time off resulted in a fresher Lewis who ran hard. Of course, even when impressive, it resulted in just 3.8 YPC…I wouldn’t give up on Mohamed Massaquoi just yet, but an awful lot of owners are wishing they had their FAAB back…Buffalo committed nine false starts Sunday. That’s not very good…The Browns aren’t any good, but it’s worth noting they just won on the road (albeit in ugly fashion) and nearly beat the Bengals the week before. Moreover, the combined record of their opponents during their four losses is 17-3, so maybe they aren’t a complete doormat.

I don’t care if they ended up winning, Carolina was at home coming off a bye playing a Washington team that has faced only winless teams all season and yet, was down 17-2 in the second half. I’m already writing off the Panthers in 2009…I’m not all that optimistic about a big bounce back from DeAngelo Williams, but at this point, he may truly qualify as a realistic buy-low opportunity. That said, it’s frustrating watching John Fox continually turn to Jonathan Stewart at the goal-line, ostensibly just because he’s physically bigger…After taking the first carry of the season for 34 yards, Clinton Portis hasn’t had a single run for even 15 yards over his next 90 (and counting) rushing attempts.

Listen, you won’t find a bigger Calvin Johnson supporter than myself, and I drafted him aggressively this year. But it’s officially time to start worrying about his ability to stay healthy. He suffered a back injury during his rookie season that effectively limited the rest of his year. He damaged his thumb that cost him time during the preseason. He followed that up by dealing with a thigh injury, only to leave Sunday’s game early with a knee injury. And while I’m obviously hoping he can play in Week 6, it raises questions about his toughness if he’s able to return so soon from his latest injury after it cost him 3.5 quarters last week. That said, Johnson really does make for a good trade target…Daunte Culpepper took seven sacks, but he got 7.6 YPA against a solid Pittsburgh defense with Bryant Johnson and Dennis Northcutt as his main receivers. He also showed surprisingly good speed with 44 additional yards on the ground, so he was better than expected…I’m a big Kevin Smith fan, and his ability to contribute in the passing game means he’s a viable fantasy option even against tough defenses, and Detroit’s schedule actually starts to really ease up soon. He’s on pace for 362 touches this season despite missing the second half of the Washington game…After erupting Week 1 following a dominant Super Bowl performance, Santonio Holmes has underwhelmed, even “leading” the NFL with five drops. Still, Pittsburgh appears to be a team that will rely on the pass much more than usual this season, and Hines Ward is sure to regress from his current pace (1,408 receiving yards) while also a candidate to miss 2-3 games. Holmes’ talent is undeniable, so he’s someone to target right now…Rashard Mendenhall is going to be a major part of a lot of winning fantasy teams this year.

I made a pretty ballsy trade last week with Scott Pianowski in the Yahoo! Friends & Family league, giving up Kevin Smith and Jerome Harrison for Marion Barber. While Harrison looks expendable now with Jamal Lewis playing and dominating the carries, Lewis is still a pretty big health risk moving forward, and Smith probably has at least a 50/50 chance of being better than Barber from here on out as well, so while I’m not totally regretting the move, it wasn’t too fun watching Barber still clearly limited by his thigh injury Sunday. Hopefully, the bye week gets him 100 percent healthy, but he’s going to cede some carries to both Tashard Choice and Felix Jones regardless. Still, if you prorate the four games he’s played in (none of which he’s gotten even 20 carries), Barber is on pace for 1,420 yards and 12 touchdowns, and he was hobbled throughout two of those. I’ll probably live to regret the trade, but if he can get healthy, I’d consider Barber a top-10 fantasy asset…Matt Cassel has somehow thrown six touchdowns over the last three games while getting just 5.2 YPA. That isn’t sustainable…It’s worth noting just how unproductive Miles Austin was before Sunday’s outburst, but there’s also no denying just how big of an outburst it was. Targeted a staggering 15 times, Austin has to be the No. 1 add in fantasy leagues this week, assuming he was unowned to begin with of course. The Chiefs’ tackling was a disgrace, and it’s doubtful the conditions will ever be more favorable (no Roy Williams, facing a terrible secondary, overtime), but then again, no one is counting on another 250-yard performance. 250 yards! Austin is 6-3, 214 lbs, yet extremely fast. He simply has to be in the starting lineup over Patrick Crayton moving forward, and there’s little doubt he’s a superior athlete to Roy Williams. There’s at least a chance he could be a difference maker.

I really don’t know what to say about the Raiders, but it seems so long ago that this team essentially outplayed the Chargers to open the season on Monday night. Don’t be surprised if they are 20-point (or more) underdogs at some point this season (actually, they basically are this week, as 14-point dogs at home). Not good…Eli Manning has a 147.5 QB rating in the fourth quarter this season, easily leading the league. The upcoming Giants/Saints tilt has to be the game of the week…There must be something physically wrong with Brandon Jacobs. Here is a back who has averaged 5.0 YPC over the past two seasons playing for arguably the best Giants team of his career, yet he’s gotten just 3.6 YPC in 2009, including only 3.2 YPC at home against Oakland last week. There were rumblings he was previously dealing with a knee problem, and considering how sluggish he’s looked, it wouldn’t surprise if it were still an issue…As a result, Ahmad Bradshaw is by far a superior option right now. He leads the NFL in first downs/per carry, with a 34.5% mark (20/58) and don’t think he’s a product of abusing worn down defenses after Jacobs has battered them, because Bradshaw easily leads the NFL with 7.7 YPC during the first half of games in 2009. He’s a solid flex play regardless, but if Jacobs were to suffer a serious injury, Bradshaw would be a top-10 fantasy back.

Josh Johnson got just 4.8 YPA and was picked off three times Sunday, but the Tampa Bay receivers dropped a bunch of passes and he was under constant pressure from a fierce Eagles’ defense. He deserves a couple more starts…I don’t have a problem with the Bucs making Carnell Williams their feature back, but I’ve seen Derrick Ward dropped in a few leagues, which means he’s a must-add in that case. Williams was a long shot to stay healthy regardless, but he’s even less of one if the Bucs try to give him a heavy workload. Ward is now healthy, and once Jeff Faine returns, don’t forget Tampa Bay has a decent offensive line. Ward could still make a big impact over the second half of the season…GM Mark Dominik should be fired simply for the ridiculous contract he gave Michael Clayton this offseason…Kellen Winslow has been a frustrating tight end to own in fantasy leagues this year, but it’s worth noting he’s been targeted 42 times this season – eighth most in the NFL…Jeremy Maclin is definitely worth a pickup this week, but this offense will continue to spread it around, and the rookie will remain inconsistent throughout. Still, as a starter, he’s in a pretty good situation in Philly’s offense.

There’s no doubting what the Vikings have done so far, but don’t be surprised if some bumps in the road start to occur, beginning this week with Baltimore. After all, this is a defense that allowed 400 yards to the Rams last week. Although it certainly wasn’t Jared Allen’s fault, as that trade has gone down as a clear winner for Minnesota…Fun stat: St. Louis fullback Daniel Fells has two touchdowns through five games. Steven Jackson has zero. By the way, Jackson is on pace to finish the year with 1,738 total yards…Donnie Avery probably shouldn’t have celebrated his TD catch last week, which brought the score to 31-9 at the time, quite like he did, but the fact remains he’s a decent WR3 option moving forward.

Maybe the 49ers aren’t quite ready to be considered among NFC contenders. It wasn’t an ideal situation facing an Atlanta team coming off a bye last week, but at home, a 35-10 deficit at halftime was a disgrace. As was Dre Bly pulling a “Deion” 60 yards from the end zone in a blowout only to lose a fumble…And that’s why you never bench studs like Roddy White…Michael Turner had as many touchdown runs in San Francisco on Sunday (three) as he did on the road all of last season…If only to be a fly on the wall during Mike Singletary’s post-game speech.

Steve Slaton seems to be getting killed in fantasy circles, and while he’s no doubt been a disappointment, he’s on pace for 1,315 yards, 54 receptions and 6.5 touchdowns, yet everyone seems to view him as some sort of colossal bust. Didn’t LaDainian Tomlinson have a higher ADP? Are Steven Jackson, Brian Westbrook, Frank Gore, DeAngelo Williams and Matt Forte owners pumped with their early picks? Slaton hasn’t been all that bad, although Gary Kubiak’s insistence on losing games by putting Chris Brown in at the goal-line has been frustrating, no doubt…Andre Johnson’s second touchdown catch Sunday was one of the best plays of the season, breaking three tackles on his way to paydirt. He’s a man amongst boys…Over his last four games, Matt Schaub is on a season pace of this: 5,008 passing yards and 40 touchdowns…I stubbornly remain a Chris Wells supporter (he doesn’t deserve a “Beanie” tag at the moment, however), but if he can’t pass protect, that offense becomes quite predictable whenever he’s in the game…Kubiak’s playcalling at the end of Sunday’s game was easily the worst of Week 5. Forget the decision to run Brown right up the gut against a Cardinals’ front seven that has allowed just 2.9 YPC this season (second lowest in the NFL) with an offensive line that’s soft, even worse was when Houston elected to call a timeout with 1:27 left in the game after picking up a first down at Arizona’s 6-yard line. Really, 90 seconds wasn’t enough for four plays with six yards to the end zone? Shouldn’t the exact opposite have been the goal? In fact, the decision looked even more foolish when the Cardinals called a timeout themselves after the next play was over. What were the Texans thinking?

While Kyle Orton’s style may limit Denver’s long-term potential, it’s certainly been a perfect fit so far. With a strong defense and offensive line combined with two talented wide receivers, he’s in a very good situation, and his ability to protect the football is important. In fact, Orton has just one interception on the season, coming on a hail mary that Randy Moss caught. Orton is now 19-2 in his career during home games…Call me crazy, but I’m guessing the Broncos’ past coaching regime wasn’t utilizing Elvis Dumervil correctly…I still rank Randy Moss as a clear-cut top-five fantasy WR, but it’s telling to see him targeted just four times compared to Wes Welker’s 15 looks Sunday…Nice to see Eddie Royal is still alive…Sammy Morris won’t be a truly reliable option week-to-week, but he looks like New England’s RB1, with Laurence Maroney remaining a disappointment. Morris isn’t a bad flex option.

I knew Mike Sims-Walker was valuable, but man, I never thought his absence would result in a 41-0 drubbing. Of course I’m kidding, as the loss ran much deeper than Sims-Walker being unavailable, but a surprise inactive during the 4 pm EST games isn’t cool in fantasy circles. Still, start Sims-Walker with confidence this week against the Rams…In the two games Matt Hasselbeck has started and finished, the Seahawks have won by a combined score of 69-0. While that’s obviously misleading, he really is the most important part of this Seattle team without question.  Nate Burleson ranks second in the NFL in targets this season with 49, while teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh ranks seventh with 45 looks. Both can remain plenty valuable from here on out…Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Julius Jones…John Carlson owners need to remain patient. He’ll come around.

What Peyton Manning is doing is almost unfair. So far this year he’s become just the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for 300 yards in each of a season’s first five games. His current 9.1 YPA mark is close to the level it was (9.2) when he threw for 49 TD passes in 2004. The Colts have now won 14 straight regular season games…Continuing a theme from last season, Chris Johnson has both the most “stuffs” this year (15) as well as the most carries for 10-plus yards (14), as he’s truly a boom-or-bust type running back…The Titans have already allowed more passing touchdowns this season (13) than they did all of last year (12).

What a terrific Monday night game, highlighted by 35 points scored in the fourth quarter. In fact, the Jets allowed as many offensive touchdowns (three) in the final quarter as they had all season combined…For the first time since Dan Marino, it certainly appears Miami has a true franchise quarterback, as Chad Henne is the real deal…New York has a very good defense, and its secondary has been especially impressive, allowing just 5.7 YPA with a 3:4 TD:INT ratio this season. However, the team’s four sacks is the lowest amount in the NFL. It was fairly shocking to see Darrelle Revis get burned for that long score to Ted Ginn…Ronnie Brown has to be considered a top-five fantasy player right now. And if Ricky Williams were to suffer a season-ending injury tomorrow (remember, he’s 32 years old), there would be a legit argument to rank Brown as the No. 1 overall player.