FANTASY FOOTBALL STUDS
Drew Brees, QB, Saints. Brees dissected the Bills on Sunday for 332 yards and a season-high five touchdowns with no turnovers. Brees' fantasy performance narrowly beat out that of the Bengals' Andy Dalton, who also threw five touchdowns against the Jets, Brees' next opponent. Good luck, Gang Green. Speaking of Dalton, he has 11 touchdown passes in the past three games and is emerging as more than just a backup fantasy QB.
Marvin Jones, WR, Bengals. The main reason for Dalton's success Sunday was Jones, who caught all eight of his targets for 122 yards and four touchdowns. That's right, four scores; and Jones has six TDs in the last three games. He's stepping up as Cincy's No. 2 receiver across from A.J. Green and is a solid fantasy WR3. As good as Jones was Sunday, he was still outscored in standard fantasy leagues by Calvin Johnson, who rolled up 329 yards with a TD.
Andre Ellington, RB, Cardinals. Ellington made the most of his start with Rashard Mendenhall (toe) out, rushing 15 times for 154 yards, including an 80-yard TD sprint. The explosive rookie may have locked up the starting job with that performance even when Mendenhall returns, but we won't know that for sure until Arizona emerges from the Week 9 bye.
Jimmy Graham, TE, Saints. Graham, who was questionable to play because of a partially torn plantar fasciitis, was only able to line up for 18 snaps, but he made the most of them by catching three passes for 37 yards and two touchdowns. That qualifies as a studly performance in what was an overall disappointing week for fantasy tight ends.
MORE FANTASY FOOTBALL: Week 8 injuries | Upon Further Review (premium) | DraftStreet: Week 9
FANTASY FOOTBALL DUDS
Robert Griffin III, QB, Redskins. RG3 flopped in what was supposed to be a fantasy fiesta against Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Griffin completed just 15 of 30 passes for 132 yards, had one TD pass and committed three turnovers. What's more frustrating is that the Redskins weren't calling many designed runs for Griffin, who was taking a beating all day. Griffin's accuracy has been missing all season, and if he's not running, he's not a QB1.
Marques Colston, WR, Saints. Brees tops 300 yards and throws five TD passes, Graham is limited and Darren Sproles is a nonfactor, and Colston still walks away with only three catches for 18 yards? It's not a fluke, either. In his last three games, Colston has just six catches (11 targets) for 44 yards and he hasn't scored since Week 1. It's time to bench Colston until he gets going.
Darren Sproles, RB, Saints. We're not letting Sproles off easy with just a mention in Colston's blurb. The scatback didn't get a single carry Sunday, which isn't all that unusual, but even Kenny Stills had a carry. What's more concerning is that Sproles had just four targets and caught all four for a total of zero yards. That's a goose egg in non-PPR leagues. There will be much better games for Sproles, but he has been extremely hit-or-miss this season and isn't a must-start in standard formats.
Tony Gonzalez/Jason Witten. It's tough to narrow it down to even two TE duds this week, but we're calling out the two veterans. Gonzalez caught just three of his eight targets for 26 yards in what was a dream fantasy matchup against Arizona. But, he saw more double teams with the Falcons' top receivers out and has just five catches for 56 yards since Julio Jones went down. Meanwhile, Witten had just two targets, catching both for 15 yards, as he took a backseat once again to Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams. Witten has reached 50 yards since Week 5, and has actually done accomplished that feat just three times all year.