Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

- Written by Lane Rizzardini
- Edited by Marc Caviglia

Welcome to this week’s Touch Me, Baby, where young players dominate the headlines. In life it is inevitable that at some point the old make way for the new and youthful, a theme we’ve seen over the course of the NFL season. It has been most obvious in Green Bay and Pittsburgh as former fantasy football mainstays such as Donald Driver and Hines Ward have fallen to the wayside in favor of younger talent such as Jordy Nelson, James Jones, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders. We’ll cover some of the other newbies that have captured the hearts of fantasy fanatics everywhere in this edition of Touch Me, Baby.

Youth is fleeting, so slip into something comfortable and get ready to be touched in this Week 9 edition of Touch Me, Baby.

**Stat Note: the stat referred to as “Plays” is found by calculating (Carries + Targets)/Total Team Plays**

**BEAT THE BRUNO BOYS $350 WEEK 10 FREE CONTEST - TOP 20 PAID** 

We’ve partnered with DraftStreet.com to provide our fans an opportunity to play WEEKLY salary cap fantasy football against the Bruno Boys Staff.  Through the first nine weeks of the NFL season we have given away over $3,700 in cash prizes. This week, we are offering a $350 free roll in which the TOP 20 win prize money.  Make sure to sign-up now for a chance to win money and take on the Bruno Boys… IT’S FREE!!

Please use this link to enter:  Week 10 $350 Contest  (click to register)

Running Backs Touches & Targets

	Players	Team	Plays	Carries	Carry%	Season Carry%	Targets	Receptions	Target%	Season Targets	Season Target %	RZ Plays
1	Steven Jackson	STL	31	29	83%	57%	2	1	5.50%	26	8.50%	1
2	Matt Forte	CHI	29	24	71%	73%	5	3	16.00%	56	21%	7
3	DeMarco Murray	DAL	28	22	76%	40%	6	4	19%	16	5.50%	3
4	Michael Tolbert	SDC	28	19	90.50%	29%	9	4	19.50%	44	14.50%	3
5	Roy Helu	WAS	27	10	67%	20%	17	14	36%	33	11%	2
6	Fred Jackson	BUF	26	18	82%	69%	8	3	26%	41	16%	5
7	Arian Foster	HOU	26	19	47.50%	49%	7	5	30.50%	41	15%	4
8	Marshawn Lynch	SEA	25	23	77%	55.50%	2	1	7%	19	7%	3
9	Ray Rice	BAL	25	18	67%	64%	7	5	15%	56	18%	3
10	Brandon Jacobs	NYG	23	18	62%	28%	5	4	13%	13	5%	3
11	Frank Gore	SFO	22	19	59%	65%	3	1	12.50%	20	9.50%	3
12	Michael Bush	OAK	22	19	73%	32.50%	3	2	8.50%	14	6%	1
13	LeSean McCoy	PHI	21	16	69.50%	63%	5	5	13%	38	13%	3
14	Michael Turner	ATL	21	19	46%	70.50%	2	1	8%	13	5%	7
15	Cedric Benson	CIN	20	20	67%	61%	0	0	0%	7	3%	4
16	Chris Johnson	TEN	20	14	70%	68%	6	4	15%	41	14%	2
17	Willis McGahee	DEN	20	20	91%	54.50%	0	0	0%	17	7%	0
18	Donald Brown	IND	19	16	76%	24%	3	1	9%	6	2%	0
19	Shonn Greene	NYJ	19	19	49%	61%	0	0	0%	15	6%	3
20	Reggie Bush	MIA	16	13	54%	41%	3	3	13%	26	10.50%	0
21	Jackie Battle	KCC	16	14	41%	32%	2	1	5%	7	3%	0
22	LeGarrette Blount	TBB	16	13	65%	48%	3	2	8%	11	3.50%	0
23	Chris Ivory	NOS	15	15	53.50%	9%	0	0	0%	0	0%	2
24	Rashard Mendenhall	PIT	15	13	65%	52%	2	1	5.50%	17	5%	2
25	Chris Ogbonnaya	CLE	14	13	62%	14%	1	1	4.50%	14	4.50%	0
26	James Starks	GBP	14	13	50%	46%	1	1	4%	25	9%	0
27	Danny Woodhead	NEP	13	7	29%	18.50%	6	3	12%	17	5%	2
28	BenJarvus Green-Ellis	NEP	13	12	50%	54%	1	1	2%	6	2%	0
29	Ben Tate	HOU	13	12	30%	35%	1	0	4%	10	4%	0
30	Pierre Thomas	NOS	13	8	28.50%	27.50%	5	4	14%	33	9%	2
31	Beanie Wells	ARI	12	10	59%	65%	2	2	6%	9	3%	1
32	Dexter McCluster	KCC	11	7	20.50%	22.50%	4	1	10%	31	13%	0
33	Jacquizz Rodgers	ATL	11	10	24%	12%	1	1	4%	16	6%	2
34	LaDainian Tomlinson	NYJ	10	5	13%	18%	5	3	18%	32	12%	1
35	Darren Sproles	NOS	10	4	14%	20.50%	6	5	17%	72	19%	1
36	Marion Barber	CHI	10	9	26.50%	16%	1	1	3%	4	1.50%	2
37	Joe McKnight	NYJ	10	9	23%	9%	1	0	3.50%	3	1%	2
38	Ricky Williams	BAL	10	9	33%	24.50%	1	1	2%	8	2.50%	0
39	D.J. Ware	NYG	9	7	24%	10%	2	0	5%	7	2.50%	3
40	Jason Snelling	ATL	8	8	19.50%	6%	0	0	0%	16	6%	1

Running Back Notes:

1. Roy Helu firmly established himself as the Washington Redskins’ feature running back on Sunday, totaling 27 plays against the San Francisco 49ers and playing nearly every snap. What jumps off the stat sheet is that 17 of those plays were passing targets, which the rookie out of Nebraska converted into 14 catches for 105 yards. Head coach Mike Shanahan, in true form, wouldn’t anoint Helu the starter after the contest, but considering how poorly Ryan Torain has played lately and the results of this game it is pretty clear who the top dog is in Washington.

2. Ben Tate is a backup to one of the best running backs in the league in Arian Foster, but that didn’t stop him from totaling 17 fantasy points on 115 yards rushing and a touchdown in Week 9. The Cleveland Browns defense was pretty easy pickings for the Houston Texans rushing attack, but with 100 plus yards rushing in two of his last three games Tate is managing to maintain fantasy value despite playing second fiddle in the ground game. The Texans have been running a lot with the loss of Andre Johnson, however even if he returns Tate makes for a nice option against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers No. 26 rushing defense in Week 10.

3. After doing very little in his first game off the PUP list, Chris Ivory picked up a majority of the carries for the New Orleans Saints in Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rushing 15 times for 67 yards. The bruising back was named the starter with rookie Mark Ingram out with a heel injury and played well, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. With zero skills as a pass catcher in a pass-happy offense he has limited upside, but he figures to get a majority of the goal line work until Ingram returns, giving him moderate upside and someone worth picking up in medium-sized leagues.

4. Jacquizz Rodgers makes his first appearance here in Touch Me, Baby with his ten rushing attempts and one target in Week 9. With Jason Snelling moving to fullback for the Atlanta Falcons, Rodgers becomes the backup to Michael Turner, opening up a much bigger workload for the rookie. Turner will still dominate the carry count unless he gets hurt, but Rodgers just became an important handcuff as the team’s change-of-pace back and No. 2 on the depth chart to a running back who takes a lot of punishment and slowed down substantially as the season wore on in 2010.

5. Rookie Delone Carter has been all the rage for fantasy owners trying to anticipate who will supplant Joseph Addai as the feature back for the Indianapolis Colts, but it was Donald Brown who received a vast majority of the workload Sunday. He was handed the rock 16 times and targeted an additional three times by quarterback Curtis Painter, totaling 71 yards against the Atlanta Falcons. The return of Addai to something more than just an emergency role will surely cap his value, but this prevents us from totally writing off Brown as a fantasy-relevant back like so many have been tempted to do.

 
Wide Receivers Targets

	Players	Team	Targets	Receptions	Target%	Season Targets	Season Target %	RZ Plays
1	Brandon Lloyd	STL	13	5	36%	71	23%	0
2	Vincent Jackson	SDC	12	7	26%	64	21%	2
3	Denarius Moore	OAK	12	4	34%	47	19%	0
4	Larry Fitzgerald	ARI	12	4	34%	70	26%	2
5	Brandon Marshall	MIA	11	8	28%	78	31%	1
6	Victor Cruz	NYG	11	6	28%	53	19%	1
7	Steve Breaston	KCC	11	7	28%	44	18%	0
8	Antonio Brown	PIT	11	5	30%	74	23%	1
9	Jerome Simpson	CIN	10	3	26%	53	20%	3
10	Wes Welker	NEP	10	9	20.50%	93	29%	0
11	Dwayne Bowe	KCC	10	6	26%	73	30%	3
12	Anquan Boldin	BAL	10	7	21%	73	24%	0
13	Dez Bryant	DAL	9	4	29%	47	16%	0
14	Jeremy Maclin	PHI	9	4	23%	63	22%	0
15	Torrey Smith	BAL	9	5	19%	43	14%	0
16	Andre Caldwell	CIN	9	5	23%	45	17%	2
17	Roddy White	ATL	9	4	37.50%	78	28%	1
18	Greg Salas	STL	9	7	25%	38	12%	0
19	Sidney Rice	SEA	8	3	27%	48	17%	1
20	DeSean Jackson	PHI	8	2	20.50%	58	20.50%	0
21	Greg Little	CLE	8	2	36%	59	19%	0
22	Mike Williams	TBB	8	6	22%	71	23%	1
23	Damian Williams	TEN	7	4	17%	36	12.50%	1
24	Lavelle Hawkins	TEN	7	5	17%	40	14%	2
25	Andre Roberts	ARI	7	5	20%	38	14%	0
26	David Nelson	BUF	7	4	22.50%	51	19.50%	2
27	A.J. Green	CIN	7	7	18%	65	24%	1
28	Mario Manningham	NYG	7	3	18%	52	18.50%	2
29	Steve Johnson	BUF	6	3	19%	65	25%	1
30	Roy Williams	CHI	6	3	19%	25	9.50%	0
31	Jacoby Ford	OAK	6	5	17%	28	11%	1
32	Early Doucet	ARI	6	6	17%	54	20%	0
33	Reggie Wayne	IND	6	4	18%	77	25%	0
34	Jerricho Cotchery	PIT	6	3	16%	10	3%	2
35	Jeremy Kerley	NYJ	6	4	21.50%	21	8%	0
36	Mike Wallace	PIT	6	4	16%	64	20%	1
37	Nate Washington	TEN	6	3	15%	54	19%	0
38	Doug Baldwin	SEA	6	3	20%	44	15.50%	0
39	Pierre Garcon	IND	6	3	18%	75	25%	0
40	Jordy Nelson	GBP	6	5	23%	41	15.50%	1
41	Joshua Cribbs	CLE	5	5	23%	36	12%	1
42	Jonathan Baldwin	KCC	5	1	13%	18	7.50%	2
43	Austin Pettis	STL	5	4	14%	15	5%	0
44	Laurent Robinson	DAL	5	5	16%	33	11%	1
45	Plaxico Burress	NYJ	5	5	18%	50	19%	0
46	Austin Collie	IND	5	4	15%	45	15%	0
47	Michael Crabtree	SFO	5	5	21%	51	24.50%	0
48	Eddie Royal	DEN	5	2	23%	31	12%	1
49	Brandon Gibson	STL	5	5	14%	42	14%	0
50	Earl Bennett	CHI	5	5	16%	10	4%	1

Wide Receiver Notes:

1. He didn’t make the list, but Julio Jones’s performance Sunday is worth noting. The rookie out of Alabama returned from a hamstring injury in a big way, totaling 131 yards and two touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts. He looked like the elite receiver he was billed as coming out of college, diving for a 50-yard touchdown in triple coverage and blowing by the Colts secondary for an 80-yard touchdown on a slant later in the game. He only had four targets, but that number is sure to go up now that he fully recovered from his injury and can be treated as a WR2 going forward.

2. Earl Bennett was another wide receiver who made his presence known in his first game coming off an injury. He caught all five of his targets for 95 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Philadelphia Eagles and was the first read on a majority of third downs for former Vanderbilt teammate Jay Cutler. Keep in mind that Bennett isn’t an elite receiving talent but considering his chemistry with Cutler is worth a pickup in 12-team and deeper leagues.

3. Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore made the chart this week with 18 combined targets, but the story is Darrius Heyward-Bey, who despite being listed as the starter played just 12 snaps behind the aforementioned names along with Chaz Schilens and the recently signed T.J. Houshmandzadeh. This brought about questions of whether the third-year player out of Maryland was benched during the game, something head coach Hue Jackson denied, but the numbers are there. He should be benched if not dropped considering this game and his history of disappointing play.

4. The Tennessee Titans boast three players on the wide receiver board this week but give us little clarity on who leads this receiving core, as Lavelle Hawkins, Damian Williams and Nate Washington each totaled between six and seven targets Sunday. Washington, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a hip pointer, is still considered the No. 1 receiver but it was Hawkins and Williams that caught touchdown passes. Washington should be owned in most leagues with the others to be considered as waiver pickups, but it remains to be seen who will emerge (early signs lean toward Williams) as the dominant pass catcher each week.

5. DeSean Jackson continues to post mediocre numbers for fantasy owners, catching two of eight targets for just 16 yards against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The patience with Jackson is beginning to wear thin as despite massive upside Jackson has posted only a few useful fantasy totals this season. He continues to blame defensive schemes, but much of the problem stems from Jackson’s mediocre hands and unwillingness to go over the middle, limiting him to little more than a deep threat decoy which opposing defenses routinely take away. Until he comes around and starts running more than just Go routes, he will be a very risky play each week.

Tight End Targets

	Players	Team	Targets	Receptions	Target%	Season Targets	Season Target %	RZ Plays
1	Rob Gronkowski	NEP	15	8	31%	62	19%	3
2	Antonio Gates	SDC	11	8	24%	39	13%	1
3	Brent Celek	PHI	9	7	23%	48	17%	0
4	Dennis Pitta	BAL	8	5	17%	31	10%	1
5	Jimmy Graham	NOS	8	6	22%	82	22%	0
6	Jared Cook	TEN	8	4	19.50%	34	12%	1
7	Fred Davis	WAS	7	4	15%	51	17%	0
8	Jake Ballard	NYG	7	4	18%	31	11%	2
9	Jacob Tamme	IND	7	2	21%	9	3%	0
10	Vernon Davis	SFO	7	4	29%	38	18%	0
11	Dustin Keller	NYJ	7	4	25%	53	20.50%	1
12	Jermichael Finley	GBP	7	5	27%	44	16.50%	3
13	Jason Witten	DAL	7	4	22.50%	71	24%	1
14	Tony Gonzalez	ATL	6	4	25%	58	21%	1
15	Kellen Winslow	TBB	6	4	16%	64	20.50%	3
16	Heath Miller	PIT	6	5	16%	46	14%	0
17	Dallas Clark	IND	5	2	15%	50	16.50%	0
18	Ed Dickson	BAL	5	2	11%	54	17.50%	0
19	Owen Daniels	HOU	4	3	17%	52	19%	1
20	Donald Lee	CIN	4	3	10.00%	9	3%	0
21	Jake O’Connell	KCC	3	1	8%	6	2.50%	1
22	Jim Dray	ARI	3	2	8.50%	3	1%	0
23	Anthony Fasano	MIA	3	2	13%	22	9%	1
24	Scott Chandler	BUF	3	3	10%	21	8%	0
25	Kellen Davis	CHI	3	1	9%	20	7.50%	0
26	Leonard Pope	KCC	2	1	5%	20	8%	0
27	Benjamin Watson	CLE	2	2	9%	47	15%	0
28	Evan Moore	CLE	2	2	9%	25	8%	0
29	Anthony McCoy	SEA	2	2	7%	18	6%	0
30	Joel Dreessen	HOU	2	2	9%	22	8%	0

Tight End Notes:

1. Dallas Clark sustained a major leg injury that is expected to keep him out for a substantial amount of time and could possibly end his season. If it does, 2011 will go down as his worst year to date as he was on pace for just 49 catches and 510 yards and was routinely exposed in pass blocking duties. His usefulness as a tight end in fantasy is may be coming to a close. Jacob Tamme will replace him in the starting lineup, and while productive last season replacing Clark will be far less effective with Curtis Painter at the helm, making him an unattractive fantasy option.

2. Jermichael Finley caught five balls on seven targets for 44 yards and a touchdown against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, his second touchdown in as many games. The freakishly-talented tight end has had a bit of an up and down season due largely to the amount of targets available to quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but considering his routine usage in the red zone he remains a strong TE1 option in all leagues.

3. Donald Lee has appeared on the tight end chart the last two weeks, totaling seven targets over that span in the absence of Jermaine Gresham. His usefulness will come to an end soon though, as Gresham is expected to return to practice this week. The second-year tight end out of Oklahoma was averaging 4.1 catches for 38.5 yards per game and had caught three touchdowns as the team’s clear starter before going down with a hamstring injury.