Dietz: What's happened to Brees?
It's time to file a missing person's report on Drew Brees. The Saints' quarterback has been nothing short of mediocre from a fantasy perspective all season as his owners keep waiting on more of those monster 350-yard, 3-4 TD games we're used to getting.
Last week, in a 27-10 loss to the Bengals, Brees had his worst fantasy game of the season with 255 yards and 1 lone touchdown. While it's true that Cincinnati has allowed the fewest passing TDs this season (11), that never used to matter to Brees — he almost always found a way to shred any team at any time.
Brees may approach 5,000 passing yards again, but the problem is he only has two games in which he's thrown for 3 TDs and he's on pace for a mere 31 TDs as well as 19 turnovers.
Compare that to the last three years when he's averaged 8.3 3-plus-TD games and 44.3 total TDs and you can see why his fantasy owners aren't exactly thrilled.
The reasons for his “struggles” are many — from injuries to Jimmy Graham and Pierre Thomas to Marques Colston being a shell of his former self to losing the reliable Lance Moore in free agency to Mark Ingram's emergence in the running game.
And of course, standout rookie Brandin Cooks broke his hand Sunday and is likely out for at least a month.
Fantasy-wise, it's not like you can really bench Brees, who ranks seventh in fantasy points through 11 weeks. There's no QB on the waiver wire who you would dare even play matchup roulette with in pairing him with Brees.
So ride out the mediocrity and hope that the police find the real Brees and put him back in whomever has taken over the impostor running the team right now.
As for the Saints, who lost to the Niners and Bengals at home the last two weeks, they are 4-6 yet tied for first in the pathetic NFC South. Baltimore comes to town this week, and Brees believes his team can get the train back on the track.
“I'm confident we (will be) able to come out this week with an extra day being that it's Monday Night Football … to really come out and make a statement as to how we see the rest of our season going,” Brees said.
As a Brees owner, I certainly hope he's right.
Extra points: The injury to Saints WR Brandin Cooks means that Kenny Stills should see more targets. Stills (58 yards per game last 5 with 2 TDs) makes a decent WR3 moving forward. … Arian Foster owners smart enough to back their oft-injured RB with Alfred Blue got a huge surprise when Blue tore through the Browns' defense for 156 yards on 36 carries. If Foster's out again, that bodes well moving forward. … As you'll see below, there's no way I'd trust Larry Fitzgerald this week. I own him and he'll be riding the pine in favor of the Titans' Kendall Wright. … Here's a tip for searching for potential free agents: Don't just look at a player's performance in the past week. Most websites allow you to search for top performers over certain time frames. So when I search for a player, I like to used a 4-5 week window to see who is putting up consistent numbers. For instance, some top-25 WRs of the last 3-5 weeks include Cleveland's Andrew Hawkins, Seattle's Doug Baldwin, Arizona's John Brown, St. Louis' Kenny Britt and Jacksonville's Allen Hurns.
Good bets
• Niners QB Colin Kaepernick and WR Michael Crabtree vs. Washington. After four straight blah weeks, it's time to dust off Kaepernick and prepare for a top-5 performance as he's facing a Skins defense that opposing QBs have done quite well against the past six weeks. Especially encouraging is this: In Week 6, Seattle's Russell Wilson — who just happens to possess a similar skill set to Kaepernick — piled up 122 rushing yards and 3 total TDs.
• Browns WR Brian Hoyer at Atlanta. Few of you will consider this option, but Hoyer's getting the dynamic Josh Gordon back from suspension, and he's facing an Atlanta team that allows a league-worst 281 passing yards per game.
• Colts RB Trent Richardson vs. Jacksonville. With Ahmad Bradshaw out, T-Rich is a near lock for 10-plus points.
• Broncos RB C.J. Anderson vs. Miami. It's tough to ignore Anderson's 12 catches for 159 yards the last two weeks. He's a solid RB2, even facing a tough-as-nails Dolphins D.
• Eagles RB Darren Sproles vs. Tennessee. Those of you who can play three RBs should seriously consider Sproles. The Eagles will mix him in with LeSean McCoy as he hits double-digit touches for the first time since Week 2.
• Falcons WR Roddy White vs. Cleveland. Don't look now but White is averaging 78 yards a game and has 3 TDs in the last four games.
• Eagles WR Jordan Matthews vs. Tennessee. You'll see what I think about Mark Sanchez in a minute … but I still think Matthews (12-245-3 last two) puts up starter-worthy numbers.
• Titans WR Kendall Wright at Philadelphia. No team has given up more fantasy points to wideouts than the Eagles. They've also allowed a league-high 12 passes of 40-plus yards.
• Cowboys Jason Witten at N.Y. Giants. Only the Bears have allowed more fantasy points to TEs than the Giants. Combine that with the fact Witten has scored in three of Dallas' last five games and you've got a sweet play.
Bad bets
• Chargers QB Philip Rivers vs. St. Louis. You saw what the Rams did to Peyton Manning last week, right?
• Eagles QB Mark Sanchez vs. Tennessee. Get ready for a heavy, heavy dose of LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles. That means mediocre numbers for Sanchez.
• Patriots RB Jonas Gray vs. Detroit. No running back has had a better fantasy game all year than Gray (201 yards, 4 TDs) had last week, so this may seem like an odd prediction. But the bottom line is that Bill Belichick is an extremely smart coach and will utilize Shane Vereen as Tom Brady goes to the air to topple the Lions, who just happen to have the league's best run defense.
• Skins RB Alfred Morris at San Francisco. Considering he has 80 touches in his last four games, this is a risky call, but Washington's reeling and only four teams have allowed fewer fantasy points to RBs than the Niners.
• Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald at Seattle. A top-25 WR the last six weeks, Fitz is theoretically going to play despite a Grade 2 MCL sprain. It's a high-risk, low-reward play if you bank on him.
• Dolphins WR Mike Wallace at Denver. You essentially need Wallace to score to be fantasy-relevant as he hasn't gone over 70 yards since Week 3.
• Titans TE Delaine Walker at Philadelphia. One things the Eagles D is good at is shutting down opposing tight ends.
Follow John on Twitter @johndietzdh