Houston Texans Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 5

Week 5 – vs Indy – L 20-27

QB: Mallett benched after bad start.  Hoyer played extremely well until final inexplicable throw that was a reminder he isn’t that good.  Just a mess.

RB: Foster looked like he was moving really well but line did him no favors.  Had good game as a receiver.  Back to being a must-start now.

WR: Hopkins a big game and is a stud, especially considering the QB situation.  Continues to look like one of the top 5 most talented WRs in the league right now.  Rookie Strong nabbed 2 TDs but both were fluky in their own way (hail mary, blown coverage).  Have to see more.

TE: Ignore.

OL: Did nothing for run game.  Has to be a bit of a concern right now.  Protected fairly well but QBs helped mask it a bit.  Doesn’t look good as a unit at the moment.

Def: Got run on easily.  Just looks like a terrible run D at times.  Coverag on WRs was bad.  Pass rush held in check in this one.  Gave up good games to RB and #1 and #3 WRs.  Good job on TEs.

Houston Texans Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 4

Week 4 – @ Atlanta – L 21-48

QB: Mallett was awful and benched.  Hoyer came in and played well but it largely came against prevent D and backups.  Fantasy headache for now.

RB: Foster a few touches but was mostly shutdown.  Was pulled once game was out-of-hand.  Will be fine.  Polk a nice game in relief time.  Still think he could be the best behind Foster.

WR: Hopkins was blanketed early but exploded later.  Edging into top 10 and maybe top 5 conversation in terms of talent.  Continues making incredible plays rather quietly.  Shorts a good game burning the D on a long TD.  Worth considering with the right match up.

TE: Continue ignoring.

OL: Didn’t do much for run game.  Decent in pass protection but not great.  Tough match up and hopefully they’ll be better for run game later.

Def: Didn’t stop or do much.  Run on almost at will, even by third stringer.  Did shutdown elite #1 WR but game flow helped with that.  Burned by #2 and receiving RB.  Pass rush wasn’t doing enough early on.

Houston Texans Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 3

Week 3 – vs TB – W 19-9

QB: Mallett an average game as run game dominated.  A few drops hurt but not devastating.  Looked pretty good throwing it.  Accuracy was pretty good most of the way.

RB: Blue a huge game and showed great vision and good patience.  Ran his best in this one.  Grimes the better PPR game again.

WR: Hopkins a big game and continues to look phenomenal.  Will undoubtedly be drafted as a #1 WR next season.  He’s just too good.  Shorts the better game than Washington.  Appears to be the #2 at this point and could be usable in right match ups.

TE: Nada.  Forget it.

OL: Strong game, especially for run game.  Protection was solid as well.  Starting to look like a pretty good unit.

Def: Fairly strong game.  Helped by some key drops and a little luck.  Looked decent against the run.  Pass rush was not as good as expected.  Gave up good game to #1 WR.  Held rest mostly in check.

Last Minute Fantasy Football Pickups of Week 3 – Jones and Hurns

Been a crazy week away from fantasy football so I’ll be getting my grades for last week’s picks up…eventually.  As for this week, tough to find any RBs I like.  Other than that, loving some of these match ups.  All ownership percentages will be taken from CBS Sports this season as they are typically the highest.  So, if you play on another site, these guys should be more readily available.  Let’s plug and play!

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20%-50% Owned

Pickup of the Week – WR Marvin Jones – Cincinnati Bengals – Owned: 25%

Gets the Ravens this week who haven’t been stopping WRs for quite a while now.  The game is at Baltimore so hopefully the Bengals will not win in a blowout and let their run game do all the work.  Jones had a nice long TD grab last week and I think he gets another TD this week.  If this game turns into a shootout, he could be in for a monster.  I don’t expect that so I’m tempering my projection for him.  (Projection: 5-95-1)

Honorable Mentions

QB Ryan Fitzpatrick – New York Jets – Owned: 23%

Has been playing much better than people who haven’t seen him probably realize.  Obviously, the Jets will want to run against Philly but Fitz will probably find Marshall for plenty.  (280-3)

RB Lance Dunbar – Dallas Cowboys – Owned: 25%

A PPR play here.  Atlanta just got tore up by Vereen’s receiving so the door is open for Dunbar to do his damage this week.  (75 total yards-1)

TE Crockett Gillmore – Baltimore Ravens – Owned: 48%

One of the hot pickups of the week and with good reason.  Flacco needs players to throw to and I think it’s clear he found a good one.  Tough match up with the Bengals but he should still get his share. (4-60-1)

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Owned 20% or less

Pickup of the Week – WR Allen Hurns – Jacksonville Jaguars – Owned: 17%

At New England this week which is probably a dream match up as the Pats have been explosive on offense and atrocious on defense so far.  That should equal the Jags playing from behind and throwing a ton allowing Hurns to have a rather strong game.  And with the youth in Jacksonville, it’s not real likely they pull anyone to save them no matter how ugly the game gets.  They need the experience and Hurns could end up as a top 15 WR this week. (6-110-1)

Honorable Mentions

QB Ryan Mallett – Houston Texans – Owned: 7%

Yes, Tampa did ruin the fantasy dreams of everyone starting Saints players last week but I’m not buying that.  I think Mallett takes advantage of the match up and plays his way into the top 12 QBs this week.  (270-3)

WR Nate Washington – Houston Texans – Owned: 15%

And Mallett will need someone to throw to other than Hopkins every once in a while.  Washington should show his savvy veteran moves this week and snag a TD.  (5-65-1)

TE Gavin Escobar – Dallas Cowboys – Owned: 3%

With Witten banged up but apparently playing, Escobar looks like a really sneaky play this week.  Witten could be playing a bit of a decoy for his talented backup and give him a nice fantasy week against the Falcons. (5-45-1)

Houston Texans Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 2

Week 2 – @ Carolina – L 17-24

QB: Mallett was shaky at times but had a lot of passes dropped.  Also, a few miscommunications as well.  Should get better as he gets more playing time.

RB: Committee wasn’t great.  Blue, Grimes, and Polk all ran but none did much as blocking was awful.  Talent between them is roughly the same.  I’d like to see more of Grimes until Foster returns.  He had nice receiving game.

WR: Hopkins and Washington decent.  Hopkins just wasn’t getting great throws but did show guts by catching quite a few slants over the middle.  No fear in him and should have no problem being consistent this season.

TE: Continue ignoring.  Graham did make a great TD grab on his one reception.  Still not a big enough part of the offense to consider.

OL: Couldn’t open up anything for run game.  Pass protection wasn’t bad but still shaky at times.  Certainly far from elite.

Def: Not great considering opponent.  Got killed by running QB.  Couldn’t contain.  Hit with a few big plays.  Held RB to average game.  Gave up good games everywhere else.

Houston Texans Fantasy Football Analysis – Week 1

Week 1 – vs KC – L 20-27

QB: Hoyer just awful.  Way off target.  Didn’t handle pressure.  Baffling stupid throws.  Was benched late.  Mallett looked decent.  Stay away for now.

RB: Blue, Grimes, and Polk all okay but none great.  Good backups but not very appealing as starters for now.

WR: Hopkins a monster game despite the bad QB play.  Just so good right now.  Washington also strong.  Definitely earned the #2 spot over Shorts.  No controversy there for now.  Could be decent play considering team doesn’t really utilize TE.

TE: Same story as last season in this one.  Just not being used to catch the ball.

OL: Had some trouble with great pass rush.  Bad QB play made them look worse than they deserve but they definitely are not elite.  Run blocking was solid and means good things for Foster’s return.

Def: Elite pass rush with Watt continuing to be unstoppable.  Run D was strong against tough opponent.  Torched by TE.  Gave up decent games to #1 WR and receiving RB.

Houston Texans Week 12 Fantasy Analysis

Week 12 – vs Cincinnati – L 13-22

QB: Mallett not great in this one as accuracy just wasn’t there.  Should have had at least 1 TD, if not 2.  Played the whole game but is hurt.  May have been the reason for some of his play.

RB: Foster DNP.  Blue held in check as blocking wasn’t as good as previous week.  Just not much room to run but still looks fine.

WR: Hopkins and Johnson held to average games.  Suffered because of QB play.  Still made good plays and will be fine if QB improves.

TE: Graham another decent game and starting to look like a usable option with Mallett at QB.  Have to wonder if game-planning has changed a little.

OL: Run blocking average in this one against struggling D.  Expected better.  Pass blocking was strong.

Def: Run on for a ton and lost TOP badly because of it.  Not much of a pass rush.  Did get TD but didn’t play that well otherwise.  Gave up big games to RBs and WRs.  Average games by QB and average TE.

Houston Texans Week 11 Fantasy Analysis

Week 11 – @ Cleveland – W 23-7

QB: Mallett okay in his debut but missed some throws kind of badly.  Has a cannon for an arm but accuracy was shaky.  Hopefully, just nerves.

RB: Blue a huge game running as O-line dominated.  Showed extremely good vision and patience and took what was given.  Looked great all-around.

WR: Hopkins and Johnson both decent games.  Hopkins should have had a TD but bad deep throw went for INT.  Good to see they were both on same page with new QB.

TE: Graham finally showed up and had good game but both his catches and the TD came on one drive.  Still not believing they are using the TE in this offense.

OL: Dominated, especially on the ground.  Was blowing D off the ball at the snap and giving RBs a ton of room.  Excellent game.

Def: Bad QB play helped.  Average against a struggling run game.  Had trouble covering small, fast WRs.  Gave up big games to WRs and decent game to QB but held everything else in check.