Andre Johnson owners are sweating bullets about now as AJ may have suffered a multi-week hamstring injury last week, although the jury is still out on whether he’ll miss substantial time.
If you are either an AJ owner or just short on receivers, Houston’s return specialist Jacoby Jones may not be a bad filler as he’ll get substantial time in the offense if AJ doesn’t play. On a lighter note, Michael Vick finally did what everyone has been expecting of him. This week he put up nearly 500 all-purpose yards and scored two touchdowns.
Moving on, here are this week’s picks:
Up:
Stevan Ridley, RB, New England Patriots
Ridley, a rookie out of Louisianna State University, is beginning to make quite the splash in Foxborough. Last week on 10 carries Ridley went 97 yards and scored a touchdown in New England’s victory over Oakland. The Patriots are one of those odd teams that will put the highest producer on the field more often than the biggest name, and with Ridley producing a 9.7 yard per carry average last week it looks like Ridley could be in line for a lot of touches alongside BenJarvus Green-Ellis, especially with Shane Vereen nowhere in sight and Danny Woodhead offering little competition.
Victor Cruz, WR, New York Giants
I almost put Eric Decker of Denver in this slot, but with the combination of Denver having such an unpredictable offense and Eli Manning being a better quarterback than Kyle Orton, I decided to go with Cruz. The week before last, Cruz had a hellacious game, recording 110 yards receiving and two touchdowns on just three receptions. Last week he did not disappoint, and in my opinion had a more confidence-inspiring performance, with six catches for 98 yards. This shows Cruz will continue getting more work in terms of volume and hopefully not be another one hit wonder like Torrey Smith, or better yet Vanilla Ice (Is he in jail? Or even alive?).
Down:
Devery Henderson, WR, New Orleans Saints
After week one I had Henderson in the "Up" section but now its time to move him back down as his gap for production has closed for the time being. With Lance Moore fully healthy and Marques Colston coming back from injury last week, Henderson’s barely getting the crust off of the New Orleans Saint receiving pie. There are just too many fish in the pond when you also throw in Robert Meachem, Jimmy Graham, Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and of course Mark Ingram. So this isn’t a reflection of poor performance, it’s simply the fact that there just isn’t enough to go around. Henderson is a home-run hitter and every once in a while will get the 70-yard touchdown catch, but it's not something a person should bank on week-in and week-out. But if the Saints suffer another stint with multiple skill guys being hurt then Henderson is a great filler and/or handcuff.
Cowboys D/ST
The Cowboys had a couple solid performances in weeks two and three but were torched by the Lions last week. They have a bye this coming week but after that they face New England week six and Philadelphia week eight, two of the most high-powered offenses in the league. I say drop the Cowboys until further notice.
