Sunday fantasy takeaways: Welcome back, Odell Beckham Jr.
Fantasy owners have been waiting all season for Odell Beckham Jr. to explode. In Week 6, the New York Giants wide receiver finally did.
A consensus top-3 fantasy pick in this year's drafts, Beckham had been targeted at least eight times in every game this season, but rarely managed to come up with big plays. That changed Sunday when he burned the Baltimore Ravens on touchdown receptions of 75 and 66 yards.
Beckham finished with eight catches for 222 yards as his fantasy owners could at last breathe a sigh of relief.
OBJ wasn't the only receiver with a pair of TD catches on Sunday, but the others were far less predictable: Cole Beasley, Kenny Britt and Terrelle Pryor.
A Gronk we remember
Along those same lines, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is officially among the fantasy elite again. With a healthy hamstring and quarterback Tom Brady back in the saddle, the Gronkowski owners spent a high pick to draft was on full display against the Cincinnati Bengals.
He caught seven of his nine targets for a career-high 162 yards and a score. Meanwhile, the Pats' other tight end, Martellus Bennett, had just five catches for 48 yards after a three-TD eruption last week. Both are every-week starters at a thin position, but there may only be room for one of them to have these kinds of monster games each week.
Eye-opener
Perhaps it only took the return of Arian Foster to the Miami Dolphins backfield to light a fire under second-year running back Jay Ajayi. After rushing for a total of 113 yards over the season's first five weeks, Ajayi exploded for 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Foster, who missed the past three games with a hamstring injury, carried three times for 3 yards and caught two passes for 12 more. If there was any doubt as to which back is the Dolphins' No. 1, those have been erased.
Knee to know
In that same game, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger briefly left with a knee injury, only to return and play the entire second half. What we didn't know at the time was that Big Ben had suffered a torn meniscus, which will require surgery on Monday. He's already been ruled out for next Sunday's home game against the Patriots.
Fortunately, the Steelers have a bye the following week (Week 8), so it's possible Roethlisberger could miss only one game. In the meantime, fantasy owners have to be concerned with how much production they'll get out of an offense led by backup Landry Jones. Wideout Antonio Brown, in particular, struggled last season when Roethlisberger was out.
Broad Shoulders Award
Our weekly honor for the player who single-handedly carried his fantasy owners to victory goes to Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy. Even though Ajayi scored more fantasy points in standard-scoring leagues, only a fortunate few had him in their starting lineups. McCoy, on the other hand, is a No.1 running back every week -- and he proved it again vs. San Francisco by rushing for 140 yards and three touchdowns.
In leagues that award points for receptions, McCoy's two catches were enough to make him the week's most valuable running back with 34.2 fantasy points.