Bruce Arians lied to us all. He lied right to our faces, and didn't even feel bad about it.
“It’s not hard, because the young guy (David Johnson) sits down," Arians said last week regarding who will take a back seat with Ellington back in the fold.
Johnson finished with just three attempts for six yards. This enabled him to finish ahead of both Andre Ellington and Chris Johnson in fantasy points on Sunday. The reason, you may ask? Well, two of Johnson's three attempts went for touchdowns.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Arians:
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski didn't do us any favors either. Going up against a Dallas Cowboys defense that was without Sean Lee, Gronkowski finished Sunday as the 10th-best fantasy tight end. After that dud, he might just need to buy us all a ticket on his party cruise. All would be forgiven then.
Eli Manning completed a New York Giants record 41 passes in a 441-yard performance against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football. Eight of those 41 completions went to Shane Vereen, who caught all the passes thrown in his direction. A PPR stud thus far this season, Vereen's pass-catching ability was made possible by a shoddy defensive scheme San Francisco threw the Giants way in a close win for the home team.
That same game saw Odell Beckham go down with a hamstring injury. Seen laid up on his back with the trainers working on his hammy in the fourth quarter, the fantasy football gods pretty much told us all we couldn't have good things. While Beckham eventually returned to the game, there's no telling how much this injury might nag him moving forward.
The Baltimore Ravens are a hot mess on defense. Gary Barnidge put up eight receptions for 139 yards and a touchdown against this team on Sunday. That was good enough for the Cleveland Browns tight end to finish the day as the second-best fantasy player at his position.
Gary Barnidge. Yes, I had to actually Google his name to make sure it was spelled correctly. Google got about four clicks out of that.
The Oakland Raiders decided that Sunday was the day they were actually going to cover tight ends. After yielding the most fantasy points to this position in each of the first four weeks, the Ken Norton Jr-led defense allowed ZERO catches on five targets. Yeah, that Owen Daniels as a value play thing? Some of us are none too happy about this development.
Oh, and Charles Woodson intercepted Peyton Manning. Twice. That was pretty cool.
The top-10 fantasy receivers from this week.
There's a lot to look at here.
Andre Johnson, Jaelen Strong and Marquess Wilson all had more fantasy points in Week 5 than they tallied in the first four weeks of the season. Anquan Boldin had yet to put up a top-20 fantasy ranking thus far this season. Meanwhile, Brandin Cooks headed into Sunday's action losing out touches to Willie Snead.
If you went for value and hit here, good for you.
Though, those expecting huge production from elite receivers were left wanting for more.
A.J. Green, Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, Randall Cobb, Demaryius Thomas and Amari Cooper all finished outside of the top-20 among receivers in fantasy points.
Doug "Don't Call Me Muscle Hamster" Martin looks to be back dominating defenses after a two-year hiatus. Martin put up 100-plus rushing yards against the Houston Texans, this former first-round pick ran the ball 24 yards for 123 yards and two scores while adding another touchdown through the air. This was good enough for him to put up the best fantasy week among running backs heading into Monday night.
Devonta Freeman tallied another touchdown in a 197-yard performance against the Washington Redskins on Sunday. As we all wait for the second-year player to flame out, all he's done is dominate the fake football world, leaving Tevin Coleman owners wondering what could have been. Through five games, Freeman has 34 more fantasy points than any other running back and is on pace for over 2,000 total yards as well as 26 touchdowns. There's a record here somewhere.
Josh McCown threw for 457 yards and scored three touchdowns against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. That has him as the week's top fantasy quarterback heading into Monday.
Two things:
1. Why is this happening to Johnny Manziel?
2. Start every fantasy quarterback against the Baltimore Ravens moving forward, even if Tim Tebow finds himself under center somehow.
As you know, fantasy football defies all possible standards of reality. McCown's 35-point performance on Sunday is a prime example of this.
If you watched the Detroit Lions horrible performance against Arizona on Sunday, this photo makes perfect sense. After throwing three interceptions in less than three full quarters, Stafford was benched in favor of Dan Orlovsky.
Yea, that Dan Orlovsky.
What makes this even more amazing is the fact that Stafford (8.72 points) finished as a better fantasy quarterback than Peyton Manning (8.64 points) and Matt Ryan (8.16 points)
Face meet palm.