NFL Fantasy Football, Week 7 Review

We definitely had some surprises this week in real football and with guys that may or may not have been in our lineups (you all started Kirk Cousins, right?). Without the pressure of a Bears game this weekend, hopefully you were able to relax, sit back, and enjoy watching some games. However, if you were like me, the absence of a Bears game sent me to the stat tracker early, and I spent the entire day miserably watching my phone, waiting for updates. Maybe I need to lock that phone up on Sundays. Let's hit the recap:

QUARTERBACKS

- Kirk Cousins did unspeakable things to the Tampa Bay defense this weekend, putting up 317 and 3 plus another score on the ground. If you started Kirk Cousins, please, discuss below.

- I know a guy who has been waiting for this Ryan Tannehill performance all year, but 18 or 19 for 282 and 4 scores is just silly. Tannehill's receivers did a lot of the work by taking short passes for long TD scores. I don't know what happened in Houston, but I don't see Bill O'Brien surviving this season.

- My high hopes for Philip Rivers ended up being met but the route he took there was anything but fun to follow. Rivers started the game in the hole, pitching two picks and putting his real team in a hole. Rivers fought through to the end of the game and salvaging a nice game statistically with another 58 pass attempts. That's 123 attempts in the last two weeks...

- Similar to Rivers, Andrew Luck saved his day in a comeback attempt against the Saints. Facing Luck and TY Hilton this weekend would've been enough to send you over the edge as their long scores likely sunk a lot of teams. If you're looking for positives out of Luck, his Week 15 opponent will be the Houston Texans at home. If you can get to the playoffs, you'll be in good shape.

RUNNING BACKS

- I like Lamar Miller but 175 yards and a score on the ground and another 60 yards and a score through the air is a career day. The fact it came in one half of football makes me think was actually a video game played by a Dolphins fan turned down to the rookie difficulty level. If you held onto Miller through those first 5 weeks, you've got yourself an RB1 until further notice.

- Here's the annual Darren McFadden fire drill. With 152 yards on 29 carries and a score, McFadden will be the top add this week if he is still on waivers. I don't want to buy this in the least but maybe you can get some useful games out of him before he gets injured. I'm filing this under "you might as well" so go grab him.

- Arian Foster gave his fake teams one last effort before tearing his Achilles and leaving our game for the rest of the year. Foster is one of the more interesting personalities in the league and had the ability to be an all-time great, but he could never stay healthy for long enough stretches. I admire him for fighting back from the groin injury to help a bad team but I think this might be it for Foster. He's a smart guy and I can absolutely see him walking away from the game before the game takes an even greater toll on his body.

- Mark Ingram notched his first truly big day of the season with 143 yards and a score. I like Ingram a lot and while he won't give you 25 carries every week (or ever), there's enough volume to be relevant. This could've been an even bigger day had Khiry Robinson not vultured two scores. Ingram has Detroit and Jacksonville in the fantasy playoffs so he could prove very useful in your championship run.

WIDE RECEIVERS

- Mike Evans, welcome to the party. 8 grabs on 12 targets for 164 and a score. And the fantasy owners that sunk a high pick into Evans give a collective sigh of relief. Let's see if he can keep it going against Atlanta. I like his chances.

- Stefon Diggs came through with a nice day against the Lions, hauling in 6 of 9 targets for 108 yards and a score. The word was out on Diggs last week but if you can still pick him up, do so. Diggs plays our Bears this coming week and will be a nice option.

- Jarvis Landry, the last Dolphin I'll bring up this week, scored twice on only 5 targets. Landry is a shifty player who does a pretty good Antonio Brown impersonation and projects as a useful player for the rest of the season under this new regime. Don't expect a lot of scores but he'll happily sit in your WR3 slot and be an asset.

- Robert Woods turned in 9 catches on 13 targets this week for the Bills, delivering his most useful line of the season with 84 yards and a score. Woods is a talented player but don't read into this too much as EJ Manuel got the start and Sammy Watkins was hurt. On the other side of the bye, I expect Woods to settle back into the 3 catch / 5 target guy he's been all year.

TIGHT ENDS

- Jordan Reed was inserted late into a lineup against me and delivered the death knell with a huge 11 catch, 72 yard, 2 score game. Don't be fooled by Jordan Reed. He will almost certainly get hurt again in a few games and he doesn't get to play Tampa Bay every week.

- Eric Ebron looked pretty good against the Vikings this week, turning 5 catches into 89 yards and a score. Ebron is a highly talented player and we may be seeing the signs of a productive one. If you're desperate, make the add, but I think he's more for the 2016 radar as tight end seems to be a position that takes time.

- I have to mention Rob Gronkowski, friend of the column, to close out this week. 16 targets for a tight end is ridiculous. He's tied for the league lead with 6 scores and sits 13^th in yards. Keep in mind he's already had his bye week and we're comparing him to wide receivers. Plus, he's easily the most fun tight end to have on your squad.

BEARS TRACKS

- On bye this week so check back next week for more adventures of Matt Forte and company

How's your squad holding up half way through the year? Did you start any Dolphins on your path to victory this week?