Fantasy Friday: Week 5 Team Scouting Reports From SB Nation

The 49ers defense remains the best start on the 49ers. I have them in another league and over the last two weeks, they’ve scored 4 touchdowns and a combined 50 or so points. Even when they give up a good number of points (as they did at Minnesota), they force turnovers which are always huge for fantasy defenses. I think they remain an every week start no matter who they’re facing.

This week the 49ers offense gets a bit of a break against a Falcons defense that is not that solid. The safest bet to put up decent points on the 49ers is TE Vernon Davis. Davis is fast approaching start every week status. He and Shaun Hill seem to have some solid chemistry, particularly in the red zone. Davis is the best red zone threat on the 49ers offense so roll with it.

Pride of Detroit takes on Detroit’s fantasy situation, but the availability of Matthew Stafford is still up in the air.

QB Matthew Stafford – Chances are Stafford isn’t in your starting lineup anyway, but just in case he is, I am warning you to move him to the bench. It doesn’t look like he will play on Sunday after suffering a knee injury last week, and even if he ended up playing he would probably suffer a beating at the hands of the Steelers defense.

RB Kevin Smith – Despite being listed as questionable against Chicago, Smith played and scored a pair of touchdowns. His overall production was not very good, as the Lions struggled to run the ball effectively all game long, but he still reached the end zone twice. He will go up against a tough Steelers defense this week and is still a bit banged up, but if you need a starting running back, Smith shouldn’t be too bad of an option.

WR Calvin Johnson – Megatron suffered an injury against the Bears, but it looks like he will play on Sunday. Considering Daunte Culpepper is probably going to get the start, Johnson’s numbers could see an increase this week. I say that because Culpepper seems to like to lob the ball downfield in the direction of Calvin, hoping he will simply out-jump the person covering him. We saw that quite a bit when Culpepper played last year, and I expect we will see a few bombs on Sunday.

Pride of Detroit is all over the rebounding Lions.

Follow all Colts news, everyday, at Stampede Blue.

Fantasy Friday gets off to a good start this week with some advice about the Redskins from the pig-pen, Hogs Haven.

Start