Week 5: Fantasy Football In-Review - a podcast by Jonny and Donny

Happy Week 5 everybody! Before I jump into anything, I would like to offer the chance to my readers to get their name and questions into next weeks Fantasy Football In-Review blog. If you have any questions about pickups, starts, sits or matchups for the following week (it would be week 7), send them to be either by Twitter (@DBraemer), Facebook or to my email (colts10@hotmail.com). Just like Jon and I do on the podcasts I will include you and your questions on the blog. Now that I have got that out of the way...

The season is starting to get on a role and teams not only in the National Football League but Fantasy Football Leagues around the world are separating themselves from the pack and solidifying themselves as serious contenders at the top of the standings. As all you anxious readers of this blog know, I was unable to get a piece on here for Week 4. I have been under the weather for the past week and it simply will NOT GO AWAY. However, there is no excuse to be absent any longer and I am determined to keep this show running.

Week 5 was quite the week for myself. I won my first proline of the season (Big shout-outs to the Bills, Raiders, Packers and Lions), I pulled out another come from behind victory on Monday night over a division rival in Zach (@ZacharyAllard) in our league all thanks to Megatron and am 5-0 to start the season sitting atop our league standings, and the Colts are one week closer to acquiring Andrew Luck in next years draft. Like I said, it was a good weekend. All those stunning headlines aside, one tops them all, and that is the Oakland Raiders putting up a 'W' in Houston for their late owner, Al Davis. Davis passed away on Saturday at the age of 82. I am obviously not old enough to truly understand first-hand Davis' accomplishments, antics or the much deeper things he did for the NFL, but from what I have heard, read and have been told, the man was great for the game, love him or hate him. He was a rebel, just like the label his team is often given. He was famous for controversial decisions, for example: In the 2000 NFL Draft, under Al Davis' command, the Oakland Raiders selected placekicker Sebastian Janikowski 17th overall, making him the only kicker to ever be taken in the first round. At the time, yes, it seems crazy. However, this past weekend, Janikowski went 4-4 on his field goal attempts and 3 of those 4 converted were 50-plus yards. The man has a cannon for a leg. Not to say that Davis envisioned this 10 years ago, but obviously he saw something inside that crazy, old, experienced and intelligent mind of his. The Raiders did go on this weekend to beat the Houston Texans and do like their owner once and always said (you know where this one is going), Just Win Baby.

Lets now shift gears from the Raiders winning to the Lions moving closer to an undefeated season! I cannot believe I just said that. It is true though, the Detroit Lions are 5-0 for the first time since 1956 and are doing it in style. The Lions are arguably the biggest surprise of the season (we cannot forget about the Buffalo Bills) and are showing no signs of slowing down. Matthew Stafford looks healthier than ever and is playing the quarterback position at a pro-bowl level. Calvin Johnson is on pace to SMASH Randy Moss' receiving touchdowns in a season record already pulling down 9 in the first 5 games of the season. And let us not forget about the Lions defense. They are playing at an elite level and are led by the front four of Suh, Vanden Boesch, Williams and Avril. The return of their first round draft choice Nick Fairley will only improve the solidity of that line. Their pass defense has been questionable at times but as a whole the defense is getting to the quarterback, forcing turnovers and putting a seal on games late when it matters most. This team is full of young players on their way to stardom and have the experienced players where needed. I believe it is safe to say that the Detroit Lions are serious Super Bowl contenders this year if they can continue to play the way the have been going forward into the season.

Moving on the the meat and potatoes of this blog, fantasy football. After a rough start in our ESPN league, Jon and I were able to pick up a much needed win this weekend. Now, normally in fantasy football you tend to rely on your playmakers week-in and week-out. Whether it be your star quarterback, your endzone hunting running back, or your ball-hawking wide receivers. This week, Dwayne Bowe (7 REC, 128 YDS, 2 TD's) aside, we relied on the leg of the aforementioned Sebastian Janikowski. In our league his 4 field-goals (54, 55, 50, 42) and 2 extra points were worth an obvious season high 20 points. He single-handily... or LEGily led us to victory this weekend. Next week we are without the likes of Dwayne Bowe, Mike Tolbert and the Chargers DST. But as far as I'm concerned, as long as we got Janikowski, the championship is ours.

It should also be noted that in our Yahoo! league certain players were able to make an equal impact as they did in our ESPN league. As I am watching the Raiders-Texans game on Sunday, admiring these BOMBS of kicks Janikowski is making I shoot Jon a text saying how MONEY he is for us right now and could not help but wonder who has him in our Yahoo! league. Jon's response: "The guy you are facing". FML. Mr. Zachary Allard. My division rival. Not only did he have Sea Bass, but Pierre Garcon (5 REC, 125 YDS, 2 TD's) as well in his flex spot. Once the Packer game was over I went into Monday night down 19+ points to Zach. He still had Brian Urlacher (2 STKL, 1 ATKL) whereas I was still sitting on Jason Hanson (7 PTS) and Calvin Johnson (5 REC, 130 YDS, 1 TD). As previously mentioned I was able to capture my fifth win of the season and remain undefeated. I love me some Megatron. Next week I take on my "arch-nemesis" and divisional rival in Tyler who also sports a very nice 4-1 record and dominating victories over the last 3 weeks. I am without a banged up V-Jax and Beanie Wells in Week 6, nothing my team cannot overcome. Bring it on 6-0.

Jon on the other hand suffered a defeat that looked to be quite painful. Not only was it to Dan (@dannysuperstar) who was able to pick up his first win of the season, but it also came on the heels of an amazing performance by Jon's first-round keeper, Adrian Peterson (122 RUYDS, 3 TD's). Not to mention it was also a divisional match-up. That being said, there still is 5 more divisional match-ups throughout the regular season and still a small amount of time to make-up that ground in a VERY weak division (combined W-L record, 6-14). Flumpy is the only person standing in your way Jon. Hammer on your keyboard next time you go to set your lineup, you never know what could happen.

Time to get into the Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups of the week.

BOOMS:
BEN ROETHLISBERGER (PIT-QB): Normally I avoid choosing quarterbacks for this section but it is hard to avoid Jared's (@JPDClinton) favourite quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (24 COMP, 228 YDS, 5 TD's) for several reasons. One being that he threw 5 touchdown passes and the other that he was playing on a bum ankle. I know Roethlisberger has a record of making injuries seem bigger than they are so he can play the hero role, but this one was hard to argue against considering the news and information we did have leading into the game. And probably for the first time this season, the offensive line was able to keep him off the turf for the majority of the game.

ADRIAN PETERSON (MIN-RB): Like I had already stated, Peterson had an incredible game scoring 3 touchdowns all coming in the first quarter leading the Vikings to their first win of the season over the Arizona Cardinals. It was a little unfortunate to not see Peterson hit pay-dirt again in the remaining 3 quarters but regardless of the final stat line, I would take a 3 touchdown game from any of my players any day, ALL DAY.

Honorable Mentions: Matt Cassel (KC-QB), Dwayne Bowe (KC-WR), Doug Baldwin (Sea-WR) (Needs a consistent quarterback)

BUMS:
DARREN MCFADDEN (OAK-RB): Although the Raiders were able to pick up an emotional win in Houston this past Sunday, until second half where he picked up 40 yards, Darren McFadden (2 REC, 68 TOTAL YDS) was nowhere to be found against a Houston defense that he had all the potential to run wild on. As a McFadden owner this output was extremely discouraging but nothing you should be putting a warning sign up for. Michael Bush (9 YDS) was also extremely ineffective so we could chalk this one up to a good showing on the ground by the Houston defense.

JOSEPH ADDAI (IND-RB): Not to imply that Joseph Addai (1 REC, 25 TOTAL YDS) should or normally does put up eye-popping numbers, but the Kansas City defense is futile this year and Addai should have put up much better numbers than he was able to manage on Sunday. He aggravated his hamstring in the game so this opens the door for Delone Carter (2 REC, 34 TOTAL YDS, 1 TD) to carve his way into some consistent reps out of the Colt backfield. Addai may be safe once Peyton comes back but performances like this do not help his cause with the team or fantasy owners.

Honorable Mentions: Matt Ryan (Atl-QB), Josh Freeman (TB-QB), Brandon Lloyd (Den-WR) (1 REC, 20 YDs... Welcome to the Tim Tebow era Bronco fans)

WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS:
DOUG BALDWIN (SEA-WR): I know it is hard to justify a Seahawk wideout as a pickup in fantasy football but I truly think that if Seattle can find consistency at the quarterback position and Baldwin is able to find chemistry with that quarterback, he could end up having a big year considering what he is valued at now and was at the beginning of the season, next to nothing. This is the third game this year he has had if not a big game but a very respectable one and should be on everyone's watchlist going forward especially if Charlie Whitehurst ends up becoming Seattle's long-term quarterback.

MALCOLM FLOYD (SD-WR): Can comeone please explain to me why this man is only owned in 57% of Yahoo! leagues?! I understand he only has 1 touchdown this season and Philip Rivers is struggling somewhat, but once this San Diego offense starts going full-speed, Malcolm Floyd (3 REC, 100 YDS, 1 TD) will become the forgotten man by defenses across the league and is bound to have monster numbers every week he takes the field. This past week playing opposite a banged up Vincent Jackson (3 REC, 34 YDS), Floyd provided solid stats for a guy that is probably a WR3 on most fantasy teams. Go grab this guy if he is available in your league.

Honorable Mentions: Curtis Painter (Ind-QB), James Jones (GB-WR), Jackie Battle (KC-RB)

That wraps up this weeks in-review, be sure to send me your fantasy football questions to either Twitter (@DBraemer), Facebook or my email (colts10@hotmail.com) and I will answer them in next weeks blog. YES there will be one next week. This weekend I am loving Aaron Rodgers against the St. Louis defense (who isn't?), a bounce back from Darren McFadden against the Browns, BJGE against the Cowboys HORRENDOUS run defense and Brandon LaFell as a sleeper pick against the Falcons. As always you can find us (@TheSportsReps) or myself on Twitter, Facebook, iTunes or as always here on our website. Good luck in week 6 and especially because of the bye weeks...

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