The Weekly Weakling: Reggie Wayne – FantasyFootballCafe.com

Posted by Scott P in Upgrades/Downgrades, Week 3 2011, WR Upgrades/Downgrades No Comments »

As we continue to feature articles from the experts participating in the Fantasy Football Crystal Ball Accuracy Challenge, here is a weekly piece from our friends at Fantasy Football Cafe pointing out a player sure to disappoint…

Last week I mentioned it might be a good time to sell high on Jamaal Charles. In retrospect I wish I had taken my own advice, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20. Nobody can predict injuries with great accuracy, or even slightly better than bad accuracy for that matter. There’s no telling whether I would have been right or wrong in going with Charles as my Week 2 pick. If you followed with my advice and benched him, then at the very least you didn’t get burned in Week 2, even if it was pure coincidence.

So far this season I’ve gone with running backs, but for this week’s weakling I’m switching gears to the WR position. This is harder to do in my opinion, considering the nature of the game these days and rule changes in recent years that have made the NFL a pass-heavy league. Even so, there is one top WR that I have a bad feeling about in Week 3.

Week 3 Weakling

Reggie Wayne

Despite the absence of Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne hasn’t had a very bad start to the season. In their opening week loss to Houston, he managed an impressive six catches for 106 yards and a TD. To me that’s impressive, simply because of the fact that Manning was not throwing the ball. He didn’t fare quite as well in Week 2, only posting a mediocre 4-66-0 stat line, which would probably be O.K. in a PPR format but a little anemic in most other leagues. The fact is that even without his usual QB at the helm, he’s put up decent enough numbers for some fantasy owners to trust him more than they probably did heading into Week 1. This week, however, you might want to check that trust and go with somebody else.

The Colts host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3. There’s an interesting stat that I dug up on this matchup. Indianapolis’ offense currently ranks 27th in the NFL for passing yardage per game through the first two weeks while Pittsburgh’s defense ranks fourth against the pass. The interesting part is that both of them average exactly 174 yards/game. Looking at that, there are three different possible outcomes. Indy could surpass their average on offense while Pittsburgh slips a little, or Pittsburgh could improve their defensive rank while Indy slides down a notch or two. The third possibility is that the Colts pass for exactly 174 yards. If I were a betting man, and sometimes I am, I’d place my chips on option number two.

If we were to go strictly by the stats, one could argue that Indy has had a tough schedule to start the season…. You know where to find THE REST