NFL Fantasy Football 2012: Week 5 In Review.

Week number five of fantasy football is one of those weeks that begins to separate the good teams from the elite ones. Playoff participants begin to form, and fantasy football players can normally gauge how the rest of their season is going to go by now. Not to mention, the bye weeks really start to come into play. Fantasy football players also become more interested in injury reports, and keep a watchful eye out for them. An injury to a key player can have a huge effect on how the rest of your season turns out. After having a clean sweep of winning my games in all three leagues I'm participating in during week 4, I was hoping that week 5 would treat me well also. Unfortunately, that luck didn't come my way in two leagues, but luck really helped me in one of the leagues. Here is my week 5 review of NFL Fantasy Football 2012. I hope you enjoy.

Out of the three leagues that I'm participating in, I'll admit that this league is the one I would want to win most. The desire to win in this league comes mainly because it's so competitive. I've been playing with these players for 3 years now, and my final rankings over that time have been less than stellar. Like always, the projections had me narrowly picked to defeat the guy I was playing. Since my third round pick, New York Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks was ruled out, I went to the waiver wire to grab Giants receiver Domenik Hixon. Hixon started in place of Nicks during week 4, and had a solid game. However, since another one of my players, Cowboys receiver Miles Austin was on a bye, I had to find someone else to fill the gap. Hixon produced 5 fantasy points, which I was happy to receive. Being that he isn't a regular starter, I couldn't expect too much from him. Packers running back Cedric Benson was expected to do well against a poor Colts defense. However, Benson went down with an injury during the game, and only gave me 4 fantasy points. I had a 26 point lead heading into Monday night's Texans vs. Jets game. On my opponent's team, he had both Matt Schaub and Arian Foster playing. Texans receiver Andre Johnson was the only player I had left playing. Arian Foster had a big game against the Jets, scoring 22 fantasy points. Foster's big game, along with Andre Johnson failing to reach his project numbers gave my opponent a 93-86 win over me. If it weren't for Tom Brady and the Bears defense, I wouldn't have had much of a shot at winning anyway. Nonetheless, it's still a disappointing loss, especially after doing so well in week 4. With Benson being out, I've got to find someone to fill the void. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

I had been on a 2 game win streak in this league coming into week 5. The pregame projections had me predicted to lose coming into this match-up. The low ranked prediction wasn't only based on the fact that my opponent had solid players and favorable match-ups for this week. I had several players I had to sit out because of their respective teams being on byes during week 5. Just like always, I was expecting the worst, and hoping for the best. We all know that fantasy football is a game of luck, and I think that luck was on my side this week. I was able to come away with a very very narrow win by the final score of 125.00-124.50. Yes the margin of victory was by only half of a point. The top three fantasy contributors for me in this league for week 5 were Aaron Rodgers, Ahmad Bradshaw, and the Chicago Bears defense. Rodgers put up 30 fantasy points, which was a 24 point difference from my opponents quarterback Cam Newton. New York Giant running back Ahmad Bradshaw had a big day with 200 rushing yards. Bradshaw also scored a rushing touchdown, and finished the week with 27 fantasy points. The Chicago Bears defense/special teams finished with 37 fantasy points to lead my team this week. Drafting the Bear defense has really paid off for me in this league, and the Screwshop league as well. I'm now on a 3 game win streak in this league, and I've moved into sixth place in the standings. Lets see if this momentum can continue in week 6.

After earning my first win in this league during week 4, I suffered a blowout loss in week 5. The final score was 79-129. My chances of winning were already slim, but things got even worse due to injuries suffered by key players. First, Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III suffered a concussion, that forced him to leave the game. I only got 3 points from Griffin III, which was well short of the 27 points he was projected to put up. Secondly, Saints tight end Jimmy Graham suffered an ankle injury against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday night football. Graham was projected to score 15 fantasy points, but he finished with a big fat goose egg of 0. The only bright spots on my team from this week were Stevan Ridely (27 fantasy points), Julio Jones with 16, and the Vikings defense/special teams with 24 points. In all fairness, I have to give credit to all of my opponents players in week 5. Every single player on his team scored in double digit points except one. The loss I suffered pushed me back into last place once again. I guess there's no where to go but up from now on.

Now that week number 5 is in the books, here is what my standings are looking like:

• ESPN: The Screwshop 2012: 1-4 (9th place) out of 10
• NFL.com: The Turf 13: 3-2 (6th place) out of 12
• Yahoo: Da League: 1-4 (8th place) out of 8

Week number 6 of the NFL season begins tonight with the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Tennessee Titans tonight. I'll be back next week with another review. Thanks for reading, and good luck to all fantasy football players in week 6.