4for4 Mailbag: Week 7
Welcome to the weekly 4for4 Mailbag, where I answer your questions about all aspects of fantasy football including redraft leagues, DFS strategy, advice on handling angry football widows, and even some pop culture. Since it will be published on Thursdays throughout the season, I won’t be tackling waiver wire advice, so be sure to check out 4for4’s valuable articles on streaming and the like, to aid with your weekly roster decisions.
To submit a question for consideration, tweet me @themondaymommy or simply use the hashtag #4for4mailbag.
Gwen R on Facebook: Should I play Andy Dalton or Russell Wilson this week?
JE: Based on their matchups alone, Dalton gets my vote for the starter here, as the Bengals get the Cleveland Browns at home in Week 7. According to 4for4’s schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed metric (aFPA), the Browns give up the second-most fantasy points to the QB position with 23.1, while Seattle’s opponent, the Arizona Cardinals, are averaging only 13.6.
If we look at track record so far this season, Dalton is currently sitting as QB9 with an average of 17.6 fantasy points per game while Wilson, as QB24 is averaging just 14.6. Throw in Wilson not being even close to 100% healthy, Dalton potentially getting Eifert back and it appears all signs point to the Ginger Ninja as your guy.
@ffben2000: Is it time to give up on Arian Foster or do I give it one more week?
JE: This is a question I am personally facing in one of my leagues and it’s very disheartening. I, like many other fantasy players out there, grabbed Arian Foster on the later side of drafts hoping he would pan out in Miami and by some miracle remain healthy for at least a decent chunk of the season, in order to make the pick worthwhile.
Then Week 2 Foster goes down with a hammy and a groin injury, only to sit out for the next three weeks. In his absence, the Dolphins were utilizing a committee of RBs that were mostly unsuccessful. While he was sidelined, there was hope for a valiant return, due to the lack of production by the Miami offense as a whole.
That was of course until the Week 6 explosion of Jay Ajayi. Scoring a whopping 33.7 PPR fantasy points, Ajayi ran all over the Pittsburgh Steelers and earned himself the role of the starter in the Dolphins backfield. While I feel it may be tough to say goodbye to Foster, it is the time if you need the room, or need a RB to plug in. However, if the space is available on your roster to ride it out another week until he is at full strength, I suppose it can’t hurt.
@KDKmonster: I am hurting at QB and don’t want to play Brock Osweiler against the Broncos Monday Night. Any advice for a good streamer this week?
JE: First, I will refer you to 4for4’s Joshua Lake, who pens a weekly column on the site, with the best QB streamers for the week. Aside from his three suggestions, I will also throw one of mine in the mix.
Cleveland’s Cody Kessler is facing a Bengals' defense that has given up the fourth most aFPA to QB’s this season with 20.9. They have also allowed multiple touchdowns to five of the six QBs they have gone up against. If you’re really in need of a warm body to plug into your lineup that has the potential to actually score, give Kessler a shot.
ER on Facebook: What’s your favorite NFL memory from childhood?
JE: Considering I do not remember a time when the NFL was not a big part of my life, narrowing it down to one memory is really hard to do. So, I’ll delight you all with a few random ones that stick out, both in a good and bad way.
First, the biggest heartbreaker. This is probably going too far back for most of you fantasy youngsters, but the AFC Divisional playoff game in 1982 between the Miami Dolphins and the San Diego Chargers left a scar that took many decades to heal.
A little backstory: I grew up in Miami, lived the first 18 years of my life there and spent my youth at the Orange Bowl, as my family was and still are original franchise season ticket holders. We spent every winter break in Colorado, where I now reside and have for many years. On January 2nd, 1982 my family who at that time traveled with several other families who all spent breaks together, was on a flight from Denver to Miami, heading home from our yearly ski trip.
Bummed that we were missing a huge playoff game between the 11-4-1 Dolphins, who won the AFC East and the 10-6 Chargers, champions of the AFC West, we asked the pilot if he would be willing to put the game on the plane’s radio. Of course, at that time, headphones were free and there were a variety of music stations to listen to while in air.
Known to some as “Epic in Miami”, that playoff matchup was one of the most exciting in pro football history. Without going into a play by play of the entire crazy four quarters, a trip to the AFC Championship came down to overtime. So, there we sat, on the edges of our airplane seats somewhere over Middle America, listening to a series of missed field goals by both teams through crappy airline headphones.
With both teams severely dehydrated and fatigued, Dan Fouts eventually led the Chargers 74-yards down the field to the Miami 10-yard line, where a successful 29-yard field goal ended the game and with it, the Dolphins chances at a Super Bowl run.
Aside from the pain of my team being eliminated from the post season, I will never forget the highs and lows of that game being lived out by a plane full of rabid football fans some 30,000 feet in the air.
Now, to a football memory with a happy ending -- for me at least. It was November 25th, 1993 and I was home from college for Thanksgiving break. A tradition in my large family was to always eat our turkey day dinner at halftime of the second game. This was of course before the NFL Network, and their addition of a third game to the Thanksgiving slate.
Coming into this matchup, the Dallas Cowboys were 7-3 and Miami was 8-2, with both teams looking to solidify their playoff berths for that year. In the first ever snow game at Texas Stadium, the score was 14-13 in favor of Dallas with just seconds remaining. Dolphins’ kicker Pete Stoyanovich lined up for the game-winning field goal, then this happened:
Watching that play never gets old for me, and it takes me right back to myself and about 25 of my relatives, all screaming as loud as we possibly could, eating turkey, cranberries and stuffing, while giving thanks for a Dolphin miracle.
As always thanks so much for all your submissions this week. See you all next Thursday for the 4for4 Mailbag!
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