The week's average score was lower than normal in Week 7, but the big guys were still the big guys.
It was a bad week across much of fantasy. One of my fantasy teams that had averaged almost exactly 100 points a week through six weeks goes into Monday with 44 -- and color me pessimistic, but I don't expect Andre Johnson to score 56.
Across the league, there were only a few scores that would normally be the week's "bests," and the drop off was steep. For example, last week's third best quarterback score was 30 fantasy points; this week it was 24. Last week's No. 3 tight end had 15 points; this week was 12. Scores were down.
But they weren't down everywhere. Let's look at the good ones:
Best quarterbacks in Week 7
Russell Wilson, SEA (313 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, 106 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 36 fantasy points)
Wanna just pretend Week 6 didn't happen? If you put together Week 5 and 7 for Wilson, he has 314 yards passing, four touchdowns, 228 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, no turnovers and 70 fantasy points. (Just for funsies, I traded him away the Friday before his Week 5 game. Sigh). Unfortunately, (a) you can't ignore Wilson's 10-point game in Week 6, and (b) the Seahawks have lost two straight to fall to 3-3. Still, when Wilson is on, holy crap is his ceiling high.
Next game: The Seahawks travel to Carolina for Week 8. Whatever has happened to Seattle of late, they are no longer the every-week-dominant team we're used to, but with Wilson capable of these crazy-good games, he'll be firmly inside starting territory.
Peyton Manning, DEN (318 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, -1 rushing yard, 28 fantasy points)
I mean ... congratulations, Peyton. That's really the only takeaway from a heck of a game, in which he broke the all-time record for passing touchdowns. If you want more than that, I got nothin' for ya.
Next game: Nope, didn't look. It's Peyton Manning. Good job, homey.
Aaron Rodgers, GB (255 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, 21 rushing yards, 24 fantasy points)
Remember when Rodgers told Green Bay fans to "relax"? After a nine- and a 10-point fantasy day within the first three weeks of the season, Rodgers has put up at least 24 in three of four since, averaging 24.3 in that time. And it's not even looking hard for him -- the Packers jumped out to a 28-0 and 38-3 lead in Sunday's game, and Rodgers spread the ball around, with three different receivers and two different running backs scoring touchdowns.
Next game: Green Bay plays at New Orleans Sunday night. Rodgers is firmly a QB1, and you could argue him inside the position's top two.
Best running backs in Week 7
Shane Vereen, NE (43 rushing yards, 71 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns, 23 fantasy points)
As soon as Stevan Ridley hit injured reserve, we all started wondering. "Brandon Bolden?" "James White?" "Jonas Gray?" Well, for one game at least, the answer was just "all the Shane Vereen." Vereen had 11 of the 14 carries given to running backs. White was inactive for Thursday's game, while Bolden's only touch came on a pass. Vereen led the Patriots in rushing and receiving Thursday, including a touchdown less than 90 seconds into the game. The Patriots are unpredictable enough that the entire situation could change for next week, but Vereen certainly was the bell cow Sunday.
Next game: The Patriots host the Bears Sunday. The Bears are better against the run this year than last year, but that's saying almost nothing. Vereen will need to be in almost every lineup.
Matt Forte, CHI (49 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, 60 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown, 22 fantasy points)
A couple of seasons ago, I went through and found every player in the last five seasons who had led his team in rushing and receiving in the same game. It was a short list -- about 10 guys, if I recall. I'm not going to go through and do it again right now (though I probably will sometime soon, because it's fun), but rest assured it's not frequent enough that there was any reason to predict two guys, in Vereen and Forte, to do it in the same week. Or heck, for Forte to have done it three times this season already. He's a machine.
Next game: And then Vereen and Forte play each other. That's funny. Forte's right at the top of the running back rankings.
Ronnie Hillman, DEN (74 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns, 29 receiving yards, 21 fantasy points)
Everyone assumed the Broncos would tally up plenty of passing yards against a San Francisco defense that kept losing players to injury. But the San Francisco run defense was supposed to be largely intact, so the team's struggles against Hillman were far more surprising. Through two games as the Broncos' start, Hillman has looked really good -- we might not be hearing much from Montee Ball after this.
Next game: The Broncos host the Chargers on a short week. Hillman will still be in the lineup, so he'll still be a solid RB2 at worst.
Best wide receivers in Week 7
Demaryius Thomas, DEN (171 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns, 29 fantasy points)
That's just a hair under 27 fantasy points a game the last three weeks from Thomas, who has placed himself right at the top of the league's wide receiver rankings. He had 47 yards a game through Week 3. He has 174 a game since. We're running out of superlatives.
Next game: Look up an inch or two. Broncos, Chargers, Thursday night. Thomas? In your lineup.
Sammy Watkins, BUF (122 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns, 24 fantasy points)
My brother has Watkins, Kelvin Benjamin, T.Y. Hilton and Pierre Garcon on his fantasy team, where you start three receiver. Watkins drew the short straw this week, which meant my brother spent Sunday yelling and screaming at his TV. This is why I always say to get a stout player at each position rather than loading up at one and getting a bunch of middle-of-the-road guys at another; you stress less. Anyway, Watkins caught a touchdown early in the game Sunday, then followed it up with the game-winner with one second left. His fantasy scoring by game this season: 3-17-1-9-8-2-24. Not even Fibonacci could find a pattern there, so it's tough to predict Watkins week-to-week.
Next game: The Bills take on the Jets next week. I'm sure you read the sentence just above this, where I said Watkins is unpredictable, but the Jets' defense is so bad, that I feel fine predicting a good game in that one.
Golden Tate, DET (154 receiving yards, 1 touchdown, 21 fantasy points)
This performance makes Tate's four-point fantasy day from a week ago all the more frustrating. But the new Lion has three games of 11-plus fantasy points in his last four, and however long Calvin Johnson is out or limited, Tate looks like a strong fantasy play. Tate now sits at 649 receiving yards through seven games, a pace of almost 1,500 yards for the season. That'll tail off, to be sure, when Johnson returns, but Tate is a virtual lock to surpass his career-high of 898 yards.
Next game: The Lions travel to London to play Atlanta (at 9:30 a.m. ET!) next Sunday. A London game means a bye the next week, and that means it might make sense for the Lions to give Johnson another week off to let him heal through the bye. Good things for Tate.
Best tight ends in Week 7
Gavin Escobar, DAL (65 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns, 18 fantasy points)
Well, sure, why not? Escobar hadn't had more than one catch or 7 yards in any game this season; why wouldn't he go for 65 and two touchdowns Sunday? You obviously started him. Look, I don't know what happened there. Escobar was only targeted twice Sunday. Jason Witten is still the tight end in Dallas (though he only had two targets). For now, I'm calling this game a fluke for Escobar, though a heck of a good fluke.
Next game: Were you paying attention? Fluke. Don't start Escobar. Don't add him. But sure, pay attention, see what happens.
Cooper Helfet, SEA (61 receiving yards, 1 touchdown, 12 fantasy points)
So, as of 6:25 p.m. ET Sunday, this was true:
And just like that, Escobar has unseated Cooper Helfet as the highest scoring tight end of the week.
— Rich Hribar (@LordReebs) October 19, 2014I can't tell you much (anything) about Helfet; I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard of him before Sunday, and I didn't see any of his three catches until everyone showed the highlight of his touchdown. I can tell you that Helfet's usage was because Zach Miller and Luke Willson were both inactive for Sunday, and that probably won't continue. Congratulations on a good week, Cooper.
Next game: Seahawks at Carolina, and at least one of Miller and Willson will likely return. Helfet will always have Oct. 19, 2014.
Antonio Gates, SD (61 receiving yards, 1 touchdown, 12 fantasy points)
So Gates has settled in now. He started the season good-then-great before falling off a map for a couple weeks, but he's now averaged almost 13 fantasy points a game the last three weeks, and he has seven touchdowns in seven games. Gates belongs firmly in the TE1 territory.
Next game: The Chargers travel to Denver on a short week. You're starting Gates.
Best kicker in Week 7
Nick Folk, NYJ (4/5 FG, 1/1 XP, 14 fantasy points)
Man, how close Folk came from a great day Thursday. That last field goal, the one that got blocked, would have given him a huge fantasy day and the Jets a huge win (probably flip those for order-of-importance reasons). Still, two weeks after he never saw a field-goal opportunity because of the Jets' awful shutout, Folk's big game had to be nice.
Best defense/special teams in Week 7
Jacksonville Jaguars (6 points allowed, 1 interception, 2 fumbles recovered, 3 sacks, 15 fantasy points)
This is the no doubt winner of the week's out-of-nowhere award. The Jaguars had seven fantasy points in six weeks coming into Sunday, and hadn't put up more than six fantasy points in a game since Week 1. They were able to completely shut down the Cleveland offense, and for the life of me I don't know how. On top of that, the Browns had allowed only three total fantasy points to opposing defenses all season. This is just inexplicable.