First and foremost, my thoughts are with those in the Chicago area who were impacted by today’s tornadoes. The few photos I’ve seen looked devastating. The Bears and Ravens eventually played through the wind and rain, which brought with it the 2012 version of Ray Rice. Granted, the Bears defense gives up big games to basically everyone on the ground. But hey, gotta start somewhere. Sure, Rice probably just bought enough trust to find his way back into lineups only to disappoint again. But at least we know the old Rice is still in there somewhere.

 

I did pretty well at the top of my rankings this week, but fell victim to my own high hopes for both Jordan Reed and Andre Ellington. Reed was lost early due to a concussion, while Ellington was held in check by a Jaguars defense that decided to get beat by the pass this week instead of the run. Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd obliged. Floyd continues to be a borderline WR2, hampered only by the inconsistency of Palmer.

 

I noted on Fantasy Football Sunday my expectation that Bobby Rainey would take the lion’s share of the work in Tampa’s backfield and noted him in my Ballsy segment. I never expected this. The good news is that if you picked up Rainey you’re sitting pretty, not having to wonder week-to-week if it’ll be Leonard or Rainey getting more of the work. It’ll absolutely be Rainey. Doug Martin owners gotta be just livid, as he was forced to play through Hurricane Freeman, and got hurt before Mike Glennon got comfortable in the offense. First Mike James and now Rainey look just fine in that backfield.

 

Ben Roethlisberger looked just fine as well, tossing four touchdown passes in his best game of the season. That’s four TDs in two of his last 3 games. Expect Roethlisberger near or in my top 10 for next week in what’s shaping up to be a rough week for quarterbacks based on byes and matchups.

 

Matt McGloin will NOT be in my top 10 next week, but damn was that a nice debut from the undrafted rookie. I benched Rashad Jennings (much to my later dismay) thinking the Raiders wouldn’t move the ball at all, but the Texans proved that their terrible defensive season wasn’t a product of opponents in this one. At home against McGloin, there’s no excuse for what they did. And for me picking them up and playing them. Matchups are important for position players in fantasy, but for defenses it keeps being proved time and again that it doesn’t matter. A bad to mediocre defense doesn’t get better against a bad offense. It just makes that bad offense look better. Hopefully I’ve finally learned my lesson.

 

Joe Haden struck again this week, scoring a touchdown and holding AJ Green to two catches. Giovani Bernard led the Bengals with four catches. Someone Andy Dalton managed three touchdown passes with just 93 yards passing and two interceptions, which was a weird way to get to right around where I thought he’d be this week.

 

EJ Manuel showed Geno Smith who the premiere rookie quarterback in the AFC East is despite missing two of his primary weapons in Robert Woods and Stevie Johnson. So Marquise Goodwin and TJ Graham stepped right up, combining for 155 yards and a touchdown each. If CJ Spiller were only healthy and/or effective, the Bills might actually have something here.

 

On the other side, Santonio Holmes had just an OK return with two catches but did manage 71 yards. More importantly, Chris Ivory got 15 carries for 98 yards and a score. That’s 15+ carries for Ivory in three of his last four games. The days of Bilal Powell taking a significant chunk of work appear to be over.

 

Remember when Andre Brown was supposed to snipe touchdowns from David Wilson? How about Brandon Jacobs sniping scores from Andre Brown instead? With Brown needing a ton of carries last week to be effective and generally in his career being touchdown-dependent, this is going to definitely impact Brown’s ranking next week.