Friday Edition
September 6th, 2013
David’s Daily Digest
What We Learned Thursday Night
Well it’s easy to see what we learned Thursday if you can
read a simple box score; seven touchdowns should tell you all you to need know
about quarterback Peyton Manning. When it comes to fantasy football and the
NFL, it doesn’t get much better than Manning.
With our first taste of Manning-to-Welker, fantasy owners
found out there is plenty of Mile High Magic in this new dream connection. Nine
receptions and two touchdowns make Welker a fantasy must start in all standard
leagues as well as a fantasy darling in PPR.
We always knew Demaryrius Thomas was a great talent and
special fantasy player, but Thursday night we found out the kid is also a
beast. What we didn’t know was that his cousin tight end Julius Thomas (no real
relation) was going to join the show.
The Broncos’ tight end is big, physical, and athletic and it appears he’s
already a Manning favorite. I like the looks of the kid and believe he will
remain a nice compliment (low end TE1) to all of the other toys Manning and
Broncos offense already possess.
While the Broncos passing game was all good Thursday
night (42 pass attempts), we did also learn their offense is not perfect. The Broncos ran the ball just 21 times and
none of the three backs (Moreno, Hillman, and Ball) posted fantasy worthy
numbers. The convoluted Broncos backfield may not offer any solutions anytime
soon and would appear to be something fantasy owners should avoid for the time
being.
On the other side, we may not have expected to see quarterback
Joe Flacco to put the ball in the air 62 times, but he really had no trouble
making plenty of strong throws (he just needed more of his teammates to make
some grabs). Flacco’s play indicated a strong QB2 fantasy option, but we also
learned he doesn’t have weapons quite like Peyton or reliable options he can
trust.
While Torrey Smith was respectable with 92 yards
receiving he still needs to elevate his game some before he can be counted on
as a WR1 fantasy option; he’s more of a mid-high WR3. Tight end Dallas Clark
was a surprise and disappointment (with costly drop) all wrapped into one, but
Ed Dickson was absolutely forgettable. Both need to be more consistent and lose
the drops. Dickson has the potential, but Clark is clearly the safer play.
The only fantasy star for the Ravens was less than
spectacular, but if this was a bad game for him then Ray Rice owners can
breathe heavy sighs of relief. Rice was still effective with 71 total yards and
a score and his 8 receptions will keep owners in PPR leagues happy.
While fantasy owners learned much from the Ravens offense
on Thursday, we can only hope their coaching staff will learn Rice needs more
than 12 carries to be effective and Flacco needs some help on the outside
(hint, hint, Brandon Lloyd, Laurent Robinson).
We’ve still got 15 more games left in week one, so there’s
still plenty more to learn.
That’s my take.
~David Ortega
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