On yesterday’s podcast I talked a bit about Brandin Cooks: http://www.wralsportsfan.com/football/asset_gallery/15976444/. I’m hearing a lot of frustration from people
who were counting on him last week.
Believe me; I get it. I just lost
in large part because Julio Jones and Amari Cooper averaged four receptions for
29 yards and no scores.
The fact is, sometimes elite players are completely shut down. And sometimes great players—top 25 WRs like
Cooks—are completely shut down. Whether
it’s two fantasy points out of Julio or zero from Cooks, the result is
basically the same: disappointment.
The four-part question we need to ask is the same four-part question
I’ve highlighted before on this blog:
- Is the player hurt?
- Is he past his prime?
- Has he been demoted?
- Has the offensive scheme shifted?
If each answer is “no,” then I’m not getting hung up about it. So Amari had his worst game of the
season. Will he be contained two weeks
in a row? Everything points to his Week
12 performance being a fluke. The same
is true for Cooks.
Sterling Shepard also wasn’t targeted this past weekend. Cooks is getting all the attention, but
Shepard—a hit-or-miss WR3 this year—earned the same result (though he did run
the ball once).
I’m big on Cooks in Week 13. 80+
yards and a score. There are a few NFL
teams that have enough talent to spread the ball around. New Orleans and New England lead the
group. Sunday was Michael Thomas’s
turn. This Sunday against a porous Lions
D, Cooks will get some love.
That’s how things usually work in the NFL.