TFR: Week 9

TFR: Tap’s Fantasy Report Week Nine

Here at SnoTap, we will be helping you weekly throughout the football season. We will recap what happens each week on Tuesday, and also give you some advice on how to use these happenings to win your league. If you have any questions, put them in the comments below, or email SnoTap12@gmail.com, and we will answer them in a future post.

Aaron Rodgers:He’s hurt, how long we don’t know yet. If he’s on your team, he likely was your first or second round pick. A loss like this hurts, and you might not have a backup on your roster since the Packers bye week was so early. Try to find someone in your league that has a couple of nice matchups coming up, or has performed well, Case Keenum, Terrelle Pryor, and Nick Foles come to mind. For any team that has a couple of Packers on it, the value of these players will drop as Rodgers makes everything go. Eddie Lacy showed that he can still get some yards and touchdowns, but players like Jarrett Boykin and Andrew Quarless aren’t big play threats any more. Jordy Nelson and James Jones are still playable, but their expected production decreases dramatically.

CJ Spiller: Spiller has been fighting an ankle injury for much of the season, and the time share with Fred Jackson is very real, and will stick around. However, there are few players that can break a big play against any defense like Spiller finally did this week against the Chiefs. If Spiller can get fairly healthy, he can approach becoming the player that teams drafted, just in time for the stretch run. Watch the injury reports each week, but if there are positive signs of Spiller playing each week, feel free to start him.

Pierre Thomas: New Orleans has long been an enemy of fantasy owners with Saints running backs on their teams. This year, the Saints are starting to show some separation. Thomas has been getting a ton of work, both running and catching the ball, and this workload is making him a viable fantasy option finally. Add in the fact that Mark Ingram is still on the team, and Darren Sproles is fighting injuries. Even when Sproles has been healthy, Thomas has been getting more work than expected. Feel free to use Thomas going forward, until he stops producing points.

Andre Johnson: Each week, one wide receiver breaks out and absolutely dominates the fantasy week. This week it was Andre Johnson, who scored a whole lot of points with Case Keenum at quarterback. If the trade deadline has not yet passed in your league, sell high on Johnson. Johnson has long been a receiver with great physical tools, and is better in real life football than he is in fantasy. He is an injury risk, and his production is up and down. If someone in your league is willing to give up a true, reliable number one receiver for Johnson, take that deal. Johnson may be dominant to end the season, but there are still too many questions in my opinion.

T.Y. Hilton: There was a lot of discussion on who would step up in Indianapolis with the injury to Reggie Wayne. Many assumed that Hilton’s role would increase slightly, but someone like Darius Heyward-Bey or Coby Fleener would receive a large amount of targets as well. It turns out that Hilton is taking all of the production. Watching the game, it seemed like Hilton was the one player that Andrew Luck truly trusts. Fleener and DHB both got some targets, but Hilton is the guy you want to play moving forward.

Seattle’s Run Defense: We don’t talk about defenses a lot here on SnoTap, but it’s important to talk about Seattle’s run defense right now. They have the reputation of a defense that you only start studs against, but Zac Stacy and Mike James have had back-to-back productive weeks against the Seahawks. Moving forward, keep this in mind while selecting running backs. If you own a running back that gets a lot of carries, perhaps the Seahawks aren’t as scary as we originally thought.