Week Five Hits and Misses: 2013 Fantasy Football

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The only way to know if you are good is to review your work. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at what I got right and wrong in fantasy football in week five.

Jay Cutler

Cutler surpassed my expectations for him last week. I predicted that he would throw for around 250 yards and a touchdown with an interception. He had a very good game against an underrated defense, going 24-33 for 358 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. With Alshon Jeffery emerging as a legit number two receiver, Culter has the potential to flirt with QB1 numbers by season end.

Kiko Alonso

Alonso left week five with around nine points depending on scoring settings. He did not have an interception, but factored in on 12 total tackles and finished the week outside of the top 25 in linebacker scoring. The Buffalo Bills linebacker corps had a solid night Thursday, when Alonso, Jerry Hughes and Manny Lawson combined for 29 fantasy points. Alonso’s potential remains unchanged, although fantasy owners should keep an eye on his production now that teams are beginning to game plan around him.

Justin Blackmon

Fantasy owners who drafted and stashed, or who recently picked up Blackmon were rewarded this week. Blackmon went off in his first game with only five receptions (on nine targets), but turned them into a whopping 136 yards and a touchdown. I’m still hesitant to put him in the WR1 group, but clearly has the potential to get there.

Atlanta Falcons D/ST

Full disclaimer, I haven’t had a chance yet to watch a single snap from this game, so the following is based off what raw data I can find. I assumed that with no Stephen Hill or Santonio Holmes that the New York Jets would be in trouble facing a desperate Atlanta Falcons team. I failed you on this one fantasy owners and I apologize. The Falcons managed only seven and a half fantasy points. The four sacks were encouraging, but only 45 total return yards and no interceptions or turnovers comes as a shock to me.

Austin Collie

I didn’t think that Collie would make an impact in week five and he didn’t. Collie was a healthy scratch in week five with Danny Amendola active. As long as Amendola, Juliuan Edelman, Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins are healthy, Collie will have minimal fantasy value.

Dallas Cowboys

I called on you to start your Cowboys and if you did, odds are you had a solid fantasy day. The Denver Broncos at Dallas Cowboys game was the fourth highest scoring game in NFL history. Tony Romo scored almost 52 fantasy points. Terrance Williams and Dez Bryant each had 23. Jason Witten had 18 points, and DeMarco Murray and Cole Beasley each finished with 10 points. While you won’t be able to count on that production every week, the Cowboys have that kind of scoring potential.

As always, I welcome your comments. If you think I’m wrong, I’m willing to listen. Just back it up with some facts and solid evidence. Thanks for reading and good luck this season.

Dustin Manko is an author at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustinManko, ”Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google