Week 5 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: Exploit and Avoid These Sunday Matchups

Week 5 of the NFL season is almost too much fun from a fantasy football standpoint. 

Where to start? New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady returns to beat up on the Cleveland Browns. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz gets to thrash the Detroit Lions secondary.

Elsewhere, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston gets to throw all over a leaky Carolina Panthers defense on Monday Night Football. Oh, and Sunday Night Football boasts a fantasy wonderland, when the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers get together.

Those are all matchups to exploit, by the way. The following is a look at matchup comparisons and notable situations to either take advantage of or avoid.

           

Quarterback

Matchup to Exploit: Ben Roethlisberger, PIT (vs. NYJ)

Share Tweet Embed

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger joins Brady, Eli Manning of the Giants, Wentz of the Eagles and Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers among the signal-callers with must-play matchups in Week 5.

Fantasy’s third-biggest scorer at quarterback so far, Big Ben gets to take on the New York Jets in quite a juicy encounter.

While known for its defense, New York has been a goldmine for quarterback production. The unit has allowed eight passing scores over four games this season.

Making this even more attractive is the news corner Darrelle Revis has a doubtful tag for Sunday, per Kimberley A. Martin of Newsday.

        

Matchup to Avoid: Andrew Luck, IND (vs. CHI) 

Other than a 35-point outburst to start the season, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has been one of the bigger fantasy disappointments this year. 

At first glance, Luck looks like a great play against the Chicago Bears. But Luck hasn’t scored more than 17 points in an outing since this season’s opener behind a line that can’t protect him, and it’s not usually quarterbacks hurting the Bears.

Case in point: Chicago held Detroit’s Matthew Stafford to seven points in Week 4 and has only allowed four passing touchdowns so far. Given the situation around Luck, the fact he was on the injury report ahead of the game and Chicago’s performances against quarterbacks, there’s no reason to trot him out simply on name power.

       

Running Back

Matchup to Exploit: Melvin Gordon, SD (at OAK) 

Share Tweet …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com