Is TE Zach Miller developing into JaMarcus Russell's favorite target?

Welcome to another season of Fantasy Forecast®! Mighty Max and I will strive to keep the good times rolling; if you’ve struggled a bit, my silicon-chip friend and I will be here every week to help you turn the corner on the way to your league’s trophy.

 

Teams on bye this week: Browns, Jets, Raiders and Rams.

 

Top Fantasy Performers for Week 4

 

QB

• Brett Favre, Jets (24-34-289, 6 TD): Favre simply shredded the Cardinals on Sunday. Between the Chargers game and last week, it looks like Favre is starting to get into a flow with the Jets, and with the Jets on a bye this week he gets some extra time to continue to build a rapport with his receivers.
• Matt Schaub, Texans (29-40-307, 3 TD, 5-24-0 rushing): With rumors swirling that he might be benched, Schaub came up with a really solid performance against a tough Texans squad.
• Drew Brees, Saints (23-35-363, 3 TD): Brees started the season on fire, and he continues to shine brightly. He makes every receiver on that team look like a star… Lance Moore being the latest receiver to look good at the hands of Mr. Brees.
• Kurt Warner, Cardinals (40-57-472, 2 TD): If you watched that Jers-Cards game, you got the feeling that Warner was beaten to within an inch of his life and that his performance suffered because of it ( 3 INT, 2 fumbles). Then you looked at your fantasy team, and the guy went for 36 points in most formats. Oh… 57 attempts with a 70% completion rate? Amazing.
• Tony Romo, Cowboys (28-47-300, 3 TD): Forget the stats, which were top-notch. The biggest story coming out of the Cowboys’ loss to the Redskins was Terrell Owens bitching about the game plan and not getting the ball enough. Reports later in the week had Romo and Owens professing their football love for each other… but who really knows?

RB

• Larry Johnson, Chiefs (28-198-2 rushing, 5-0-0 receiving): Johnson is starting to heat up, having topped 100 yards rushing in his past two games, 319 to be exact, with three TDs. Do you think that Herman Edwards still wants to try someone else at RB? For his sake, and fantasy owners’, I hope Edwards has come to his senses.
• Steven Jackson, Rams (24-110-1 rushing, 5-78-0 receiving): Jackson finally looked like his old self. Unfortunately for Scott Linehan, the Rams still lost the game; Linehan lost his job.
• Adrian Peterson, Vikings (18-80-2 rushing; 4-21-0 receiving): Peterson owners must be starting to sweat a bit. Even with his Top Performers appearance, this was a very unPeterson-like performance.
• Steve Slaton, Texans (10-33-0 rushing; 8-83-1): Thanks goodness for PPR scoring! Slaton had little luck running against the Jaguars defense, but served as a decent outlet for Schaub.
• LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers (20-106-2 rushing; 2-9-0 receiving): As we expected, Tomlinson is starting to round into shape… in Week 4. The Raiders did a good job of shutting down LT in the first half, but LT showed some resilience and had a strong finish to the game.

WR

• Laveranues Coles, Jets (8-105-3): Think Coles is still complaining about Pennington being cut loose? There were passes thrown to him the past two games that Pennington is physically incapable of making. As good as Coles has been these past three seasons, he’s only going to be better now that he and Favre are on the same page.
• Lance Moore, Saints (7-101-2): It’s official. Moore is a legit option in the Saints’ offense. He’s a really good option while Marques Colston is sidelined; he’ll be a good option once Colston gets back.
• Greg Jennings, Packers (6-109-2): It’s clear that Jennings will be the focus of the packers’ passing game, while Donald Driver sits and wonders what happened to his career.
• Mushin Muhammad, Panthers (8-147-1): If Jake Delhomme can keep this up with Muhammad, Steve Smith becomes even more of a deep threat, which will in turn open things up for the running game. In other words, this is a good thing.
• Anquan Boldin, Cardinals (10-119-1): Boldin isn’t playing like someone who wants out of Arizona. A crushing, borderline dirty hit by Jets safety Eric Smith will keep Boldin out of this week’s game, and may have a negative effect for several weeks. Keep an eye on Boldin’s health.

 

TE

• Zach Miller, Raiders (5-95-1): It’ll be interesting to see if Miller becomes JaMarcus Russell’s “go-to” receiver as the season wears on, a la Gonzalez in KC.
• Antonio Gates, Chargers (5-58-1): Gates continues to be a top TE play, but that is more reflective of the position’s weak production this season than Gates’ former prowess.
• Owen Daniels, Texans (7-87-0): Daniels may not be a household name, but he is a solid receiving TE that can grab around five catches a game for some solid points.
• Tony Gonzalez, Chiefs (3-47-1): With Larry Johnson starting to rev up, it remains to be seen if Huard will start looking to Gonzo or Dwayne Bowe off the play action.
• Greg Olsen, Bears (4-35-1): Olsen should be a bigger part of Kyle Orton’s passing attack, but for some reason, he’s not.

 

Mighty Max Says…

 

Mighty Max is the Sports Grumblings supercomputer, running an advanced, proprietary ranking system which takes several factors, both common and unique, into consideration to identify the strong fantasy plays of the week.

For Week 5, here are the top strong plays identified by Max:

QB

• Chad Pennington, Dolphins (vs. Chargers)
• Jay Cutler, Broncos (vs. Bucs)
• Philip Rivers, Chargers (Dolphins)
• Eli Manning, Giants (vs. Seahawks)
• Donovan McNabb, Eagles (vs. Eagles)

RB

• Matt Forte, Bears (vs. Lions)
• Frank Gore, 49ers (vs. Patriots)
• Michael Turner, Falcons (vs. Packers)
• Marion Barber, Cowboys (vs. Bengals)
• Adrian Peterson, Vikings (vs. Saints)

WR

• Brandon Marshall, Broncos (vs. Bucs)
• Calvin Johnson, Lions (vs. Bears)
• Santana Moss, Redskins (vs. Eagles)
• Greg Jennings, Packers (vs. Falcons)
• Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals (vs. Bills)

TE

• Anthony Fasano, Dolphins (vs. Chargers)
• Jason Witten, Cowboys (vs. Bengals)
• Antonio Gates, Chargers (vs. Dolphins)
• Tony Gonzalez (vs. Panthers)
• Owen Daniels, Texans (vs. Colts)

 

For the complete list of Mighty Max’s Strong Plays of the Week, please visit Sports Grumblings.