With Cooper Kupp out, Woods should have a nice performance. Photo via LA Rams/Facebook
Week 7 is fast approaching and I have more sleeper plays for you. Let’s take a peek at how I did last week, and then look ahead to this week’s slate of games. My standard for a good fantasy game is around 100 total yards and/or a TD, and this is for PPR scoring. Of course, the bar is a little lower for TEs.
Week 6 Results
RB
Sony Michel (JAX): Right, great game! He was my play of the week.
Aaron Jones (SF): Wrong, he scored but it was overturned.
Alfred Morris (PIT): Wrong! Shanahanigans strike again. The dude didn’t even get a touch and Breida decided to play at the last minute. Let me say this again, I write this on Wednesday or Thursday. Make sure you check who’s active before the games.
Marshawn Lynch (TEN): Wrong, the revenge factor hasn’t been a big theme in 2018 for some reason. Of course, the Raiders were getting destroyed and had to give up on running the ball.
WR
Calvin Ridley (ATL): Wrong, he hurt his ankle and had to leave the game.
Sterling Shepard (NYG): Wrong, bad Eli showed his ugly face.
Julian Edelman (NE): Right, over 60 total yards and a TD.
Emmanuel Sanders (DEN): Right, 7 catches for 115 and a TD. I liked him more than most analyst.
Sammy Watkins (KC): Wrong, all the love went to Hill with three TDs.
Tyler Boyd (CIN): Right, big-ass game! He got in the end zone twice.
TE
Austin Hooper (ATL): Right, he did it again! He’s gone from unusable to a weekly starter in two weeks. That’s how bad TE is.
Cameron Brate (TB): Right, he scored! I didn’t think O.J. Howard would play and Brate still came through.
QB
Jameis Winston (TB): Right, Huge first game back as the starter for Jameis!
Andy Dalton (CIN): Right, 2TDs and no interceptions.
I went 8-5 this week or 8-6 if you count Alfred Morris against me. I said in last week’s article that I liked Morris because of opportunity with Breida out, not for any other reason. Once Breida was active, all bets were off. Still, it was another good week picking sleepers. Let’s take a look at Week 7. These players are in no particular order.
Week 7
RB
Kerryon Johnson (DET): It's a great matchup and I just have a feeling.
David Johnson (ARI): It’s crazy to think Johnson would be in a sleeper article, but he hasn’t been as good as expected this year. Plus, the Broncos have given up two consecutive 200-yard rushing games over the past couple weeks. Yes, 200 yards to Gurley and Crowell.
Frank Gore (MIA): The Lions are allowing over 30FPTS/G to RBs over the last month, so he’s definitely worth a shot with several teams on bye this week.
LeSean McCoy (BUF): This is good week to use McCoy, and I think he makes an impact in the passing game.
WR
Jarvis Landry (CLE): He has a fantastic matchup playing the Bucs who are giving up over 51FPTS/G to the WR position over their last three games. He’s coming off a down week, but at least he was targeted heavily in his poor performance.
Robert Woods (LAR): The 49ers’ secondary is nothing to be afraid of. San Francisco gives up almost 39FPTS/G to the position in their last 5 games, and he should get a bump in targets with Cooper Kupp out.
Marquis Goodwin (KC): The Rams are getting killed by WRs. Over the last month they average giving up over 50FPTS/G to the position. He’s worth a shot this week, for sure.
Julian Edelman (NE): He should continue to produce, and Brady will most likely have to get the ball out against the Bears defense.
Tyler Boyd (CIN): He was great last week, and I think he’s worth using again against the Chiefs underwhelming defense. The Chiefs are the 10th best matchup for WRs this season.
TE
David Njoku (CLE): There’s a reason the Bucs fired their DC. This defense it horrible, and they give up the most points to TEs over the last four games.
Trey Burton (CHI) The Pats have allowed 4 TDs to TEs in the last 5 games, so he’s worth using this week.
QB
Kirk Cousins (TB): Have to love the matchup here with the Jets allowing over 24FPTS/G to the QB position over the last 5 games, and his WRs are great.
Andy Dalton (CIN): He’s a great guy to use this week with so many players on bye, and there should be a lot of points scored here.
That’s all I have for this week. For more fantasy info, make sure you check out my show Moneyline on ESPN 97.5 every Sunday from 10-noon. Jerry Bo and I will get you ready for kickoff and answer any questions you may have. Also, follow us on Twitter.
Good luck in Week 7!
Sengun has 32 points and 14 rebounds as the Rockets beat the Grizzlies
Jan 10, 2025, 2:32 pm
Everyone raved about the leadership of second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud this week as the Houston Texans prepared for their wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Everyone, that is, except the man himself.
“I don’t think I’m a great (leader),” Stroud said sheepishly. “I don’t know. That’s probably a bad thing to say about yourself, but I don’t think I’m all that when it comes to leading. I just try to be myself.”
But the 23-year-old Stroud simply being himself is exactly what makes him the undisputed leader of this team.
“C.J. is authentic, he’s real,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It’s not only here, it’s in the locker room around the guys and that’s what leadership is to me. As you evolve as a leader, you just be authentic to yourself. You don’t have to make up anything or make up a speech or make up something to say to guys. C.J. is being C.J.”
Sixth-year offensive lineman Tytus Howard said he knew early on that Stroud would be special.
“He has that aura about him that when he speaks, everybody listens,” he said.
Stroud has helped the Texans win the AFC South and reach the playoffs for a second straight season after they had combined for just 11 wins in the three years before he was drafted second overall.
He was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, when Houston beat the Browns in the first round before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.
His stats haven’t been as good as they were in his fabulous rookie season when he threw just five interceptions. But he has put together another strong season in Year 2 despite missing top receiver Nico Collins for five games early and losing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to season-ending injuries in the second half of the season. He also started every game despite being sacked a whopping 52 times.
“He’s taken some crazy shots,” Howard said. “But even if he’s getting sacked and stuff like that, he just never lets that get to him. He just continues to fight through it, and it basically uplifts the entire offense.”
He also finds ways to encourage the team off the field and works to build chemistry through team get-togethers. He often invites the guys over to his house for dinner or to watch games. Recently, he rented out a movie theater for a private screening of “Gladiator II.”
“He’s like, ‘I want the guys to come in and bond together because this thing builds off the field and on the field,’” Howard said. “So, we need to be closer.”
Another thing that makes Stroud an effective leader is that his teammates know that he truly cares about them as people and not just players. That was evident in the loss to the Chiefs when Dell was seriously injured. Stroud openly wept as Dell was tended to on the field and remained distraught after he was carted off.
“It was good for people to see me in that light and knowing that there is still a human factor to me,” he said. "And I think that was good for people to see that we’re just normal people at the end of the day.”
Stroud said some of the leaders who molded him were his father, his coaches in high school and college, and more recently Ryans.
His coach said Stroud has been able to lead the team effectively early in his career because he knows there are others he can lean on if he needs help.
“Understanding that it’s not all on him as a leader, it’s all of our guys just buying in, doing what they have to do,” Ryans said. “But also, C.J. understanding a lot of guys are looking up to him on the team and he takes that role seriously. But it’s not a heavy weight for him because we have other leaders, as well, around him.”
Stroud considers himself stubborn and though some consider that a bad quality, he thinks it’s helped him be a better leader. He's had the trait as long as he can remember.
“That kind of carried into the sport,” he said. “Even as a kid, my mom used to always say how stubborn I was and just having a standard is how I hear it. It’s stubborn (but) I just have a standard on how I like things to be done and how I hold myself is a standard.”
And, to be clear, he doesn’t consider himself a bad leader, but he did enjoy hearing that others on the team consider him a great one.
“I just don’t look at myself in that light of just I’m all-world at that,” he said. “But I try my best to lead by example and it’s cool because I don’t ask guys and to hear what they have to say about that is kind of cool.”
Though he doesn’t consider himself a great leader, Stroud does have strong feelings about what constitutes one. And he’s hoping that he’ll be able to do that for his team Saturday to help the Texans to a victory, which would make him the sixth quarterback in NFL history to start and win a playoff game in both of his first two seasons.
“That would be making everybody around you better,” he said of great leaders. “Kind of like a point guard on the offense, the quarterback on the football team, the pitcher on a baseball team — just making everybody around you better.”