ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp to Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: Among Week 9's biggest offensive performances (Patriots, Steelers, Eagles, other) which one is a mirage?
ALAN SATTERLEE
To be honest, I am sort of buying all of them. In particular, I think Tom Brady is set to get close to being Tom Brady again (getting Shane Vereen back will also help). Nick Foles could be a little inconsistent but I think he is also going to improve in this offense with more reps. Case Keenum's success is highly-dependent on play-action so all those backs can't get hurt for his success to continue and last week's game was a little bit of a fluke, but Keenum is very athletic and he is a nice upgrade over Matt Schaub. That said, an injury to Andre Johnson (and he has been known to miss time) would quickly derail him. I also like Ben Roethlisberger to keep up his strong play - not 400-yard, 4-TD strong play, so his stats could be more of a mirage, although Roethlisberger has a passing TD in every game this season and Pittsburgh has a nice schedule coming up (they only face two top-10 pass defenses down the stretch). If I had to pick one it would be the Houston offense however.
Satterlee is Co-Owner and Chief Editor/COO of FantasyFootballWarehouse.com. FFW features comprehensive profiles for all the major 2013 skill-position rookies, its Trading Spaces series, the team Deep Dives, the Speed Bump competition plus draft strategies, rankings, projections and more. FFW runs in tandem with its dynasty site DynastyFootballWarehouse.com.
PRETZEL MAY
This one has to be the Steelers. Nothing on their team really changed they just happen have a good game when they ran into a bad defense and a team that put up 55 points on them, making them more aggressive. The Eagles obviously are not going to put up almost 50 points every game but if they can get some consistency at the QB position they can put up some points. Tom Brady finally has an almost full complement of weapons and assuming they can stay health they will produce. And Houston found a QB that can deliver the ball and isn't afraid of losing his job so he is out there slinging it.
The May brothers have more than 20 years of combined fantasy football experience and are the co-founders of FantasyDraftMaster.com. In FDM's first 3 years as part of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll, they have amassed 1st- and 2nd-place finishes. The cornerstone of FantasyDraftMaster.com is the UberRank which is a revolutionary approach to the traditional fantasy football cheat sheet. FantasyDraftMaster.com also offers insightful and humorous commentary and recommendations on waiver wire pickups, lineup submissions and weekly pick em' pools. For more info on FDM, visit the web site or email info@fantasydraftmaster.com.
SAM HENDRICKS
The Steelers are likely to see a drop in fantasy production for several reasons. First, their production this week was fluky since they played NE and their "bend but don't break" defense in a shootout. Second, Pittsburgh's schedule is tougher (BUF, CLE, BAL, CIN and GB late in the season by the time Aaron Rodgers makes it back) than the other teams so the road to maintain such greatness is steep. Finally, Roethlisberger just looks a little beaten up this year. He does not seem to be as fresh or innovative as past seasons. Don't get me wrong Big Ben is still going to put up impressive FF numbers but not in shootouts like Sunday.
Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 20-plus year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall (out of 228 competitors) in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.
NICHOLAS MINNIX
The two teams with inexperienced QBs running the show are likelier to fall in this category, in my opinion. I'll pick Houston's O. Case Keenum has given the Texans a spark thanks to his willingness to take risks, and he's been on the money often. But unless he turns out to be something extremely special that this organization unearthed after the draft, those risks will result in big negatives at some point. He's going to see plenty of stuff he hasn't yet before this campaign ends. The same could be said for second-year man Nick Foles, and the Eagles' style of O under Chip Kelly is still an experiment, but health -- along with, seemingly, general misfortune -- has been a greater problem for Houston. Both teams have enticing schedules for the rest of the season, so players on their offenses will be hard to discount, regardless.
Since 1996, KFFL.com has been combining its award-winning news service with fantasy analysis. KFFL.com offers services including daily news, draft guides and in-season advice. Completely free, KFFL.com is your destination for fantasy baseball, football and NASCAR cheat sheets, tips, sleepers and much more. KFFL.com has won more than a dozen expert championships and was listed as "One of the 10 essential sports-related online destinations for fans, athletes and fantasy owners" by Time.com. KFFL.com is property of USA TODAY Sports Media Group.
IAN ALLAN
The Panthers have been putting up big numbers, but I think they’ll be hurt by scheduling the rest of the way. So far, their schedule has been one of the easiest. Going forward, it’s one of the hardest.
Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He's been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at www.fantasyindex.com.
ERIC CATURIA
Owners in all formats have been underwhelmed by the output of players that are annually relied upon to guide them to league championships, particularly those from organizations such as the Patriots (Tom Brady), the Steelers (Ben Roethlisberger), and the Texans (Andre Johnson). Both New England and Houston sit among the top-11 offenses in the league, thereby ensuring at least a handful of options from each team are relevant from week to week. However, the offense residing in Pittsburgh seems hard-pressed to uphold their outburst from Week 9 for the remainder of the season due to sitting in the bottom half of the league in yards per game (18th to be exact). Everything starts (and stops) with their quarterback, and Roethlisberger has been notably off his game in 2013, as he ranks tied for 13th in touchdown passes with 12, while only five signal callers have been picked off on more occasions than his nine. His teammates haven't fared much better, with just two receivers achieving 100-yard days through the air and no backs reaching that benchmark on the ground. Speaking of the Steelers' backfield, a bare-bones running game has been a prime issue throughout the year, ringing in as the fifth-least productive (73.6 yards per contest) in the league, which has placed the majority of the onus on Roethlisberger to direct a passable scheme. All indications prior to Week 9 indicate that the Steelers will regress to their, at best, modest mean and continue to irk fantasy players everywhere.
Caturia is a writer/editor of NFL, MLB, and NBA content for RotoWire. He can be found on Twitter @etcat30.
MICAH JAMES
Of these teams I think the Steelers' offensive performance is most likely to fade. New England is dealing with a lot of defensive injuries right now, on a unit that wasn't very good to begin with. Additionally, for the past few seasons Ben Roethlisberger always seems to come up with one big passing game (four TDs in 2012 at Oakland, five TDs in 2011 versus Tennessee) during the year, and this one feels like it will be his 2013 contribution.
Micah James, the FFMagicMan, won the FSTA Accuracy Rankings Challenge in 2012, finishing first out of 61 expert entries with an unprecedented Top-9 finish in each of the four measured skill positions. You can frequently hear him on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and every week on his fantasy football podcast, Trick Plays, with co-host Coach Dennis Esser. Find James on Twitter and on Facebook, and check his website every week for the latest up-to-date player rankings.
ANDY RICHARDSON
Perhaps it is resentment over the tough loss I took thanks to Andre Johnson's 49-point night against me last week, but I don't see Case Keenum and the Texans maintaining that kind of production the rest of the way. Throwing it up for your receiver to make a play is something to be commended, but going forward I think we'll see more of those heaves come down in the hands of defenders. I'm not entirely sold on Nick Foles, either.
Richardson has been a columnist and contributor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and web site for 12 years. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.