Fantasy Football Sunday Surprises | Week 6 

We’re slowly wrapping up Week 6 of the 2012 NFL regular season, which means that we’re also wrapping up another great week in fantasy football.

There were some surprises today in the NFL, with the Cleveland Browns getting a big win at home against the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as the Lions coming back to force overtime against the Eagles and pulling that game out.

The Indianapolis Colts could do nothing to stop Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets offense, while Andrew Luck had his worst performance of his young career.

We write this Sunday Surprises article not only to present what seem to be fun facts, but to also make owners aware of who could be breaking out in fantasy.

Alas, we present Week 6′s biggest Sunday surprises in fantasy football.

10. Ahmad Bradshaw, RB, New York Giants

Am I personally surprised to see Ahmad Bradshaw succeeding? Not really. But I am surprised that he managed 116 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries despite facing one of the leagues toughest rushing defenses.

Of course Bradshaw is coming off of a 200 yard performance in Week 5, but for a few weeks there, it looked like he could possibly be losing his job thanks to injuries and the play of Andre Brown.

With Brown out of the picture thanks to injuries himself, Bradshaw is the man again and had no problem ripping through the 49ers defense in a 26-3 route of arguably the best team in a very tough NFC West.

9. Josh Gordon, WR, Cleveland Browns

Like Bradshaw, Gordon also had a huge Week 5, catching two passes for over 82 yards and two touchdowns against the Giants.

I said that we shouldn’t expect for him to repeat that, but he has quickly shut me up after having three catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.

Gordon seems to be emerging as a deep ball threat, getting behind the secondary often in the last two weeks as he had a 71 yard touchdown reception to start the second quarter.

8. Sam Bradford, QB, St. Louis Rams

Bradford enjoyed some success in Week 2 against the Rams when he threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns, but other than that, has been a very below average fantasy quarterback.

Against Miami, however, Bradford completed 26 of his 39 attempts for 315 yards. Shockingly, he managed to score 23 fantasy points without throwing a touchdown, but perhaps the 34 rushing yards and rushing touchdown had something to do with that.

Bradford gets New England and Green Bay over the next two weeks and is a QB2 for those match-ups.

7. Doug Baldwin, WR, Seattle Seahawks

Baldwin flashed potential in 2011 and had a few solid fantasy performances that forced adding him to quite a few teams.

However, with the plethora of mediocre receivers on that team, it’s hard for him to see a lot of action. Not to mention his quarterback isn’t the most savvy passer in Russell Wilson.

But against the Patriots, Baldwin capitalized on a 24 yard touchdown pass from Wilson, and then added a 50 yard reception later in the game. He finished with just two receptions, but accumulated 74 yards receiving.

6. Daryl Richardson, RB, St. Louis Rams

Richardson has been quite the surprise all season long for the Rams, stealing plenty of carries from Steven Jackson.

Jackson is still an excellent back, but is aging and seems to be slowing down just a little. Richardson came in and had 76 yards rushing on just 11 carries, including a 44 yard rush.

Best of all, he did it against one of the best rushing defenses in the NFL, making it look easy.

5. Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins

Tannehill seems to producing just about every other performance in fantasy football. He opened the season with a terrible two point finish after throwing three interceptions against the Texans, but then had a 19 point performance against the Raiders in Week 2.

He has followed with weeks of five, 17, and eight point performances before getting 15 today against a St. Louis secondary that has caused many issues for opposing quarterbacks.

Tannehill looked solid completing 21 of 29 passes for just 185 yards, but the two touchdowns got him to 15. He gets a bye in Week 7, before going on the road to New York (Jets) and Indianapolis.

4. Marlon Moore, WR, Miami Dolphins

We’re still not quite sure where Marlon Moore came from, considering he has not caught a pass in the first five games for the Dolphins.

But Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins coaching staff were happy that he emerged this week. He didn’t do anything too flashy, but he still caught three passes for 46 yards and a touchdown, which was the difference maker in the win against the Rams.

I don’t expect Moore to come out and make many plays over the course of the season, but he’s a guy to watch out for if he starts seeing more playing time and targets.

3. Cleveland Browns Defense

Outside of Week 1 where the Browns forced five turnovers against Michael Vick and the Eagles, the Cleveland defense has been virtually non-existent.

Of course, they still managed to give up 24 points in their first win of the 2012 season against Cincinnati, but they intercepted Andy Dalton three times and recovered a fumble.

Sheldon Brown sealed the deal halfway through the fourth quarter with a 19 yard interception return, while Usama Young finished the game with a last minute interception on a hail mary.

2. Shonn Greene, RB, New York Jets

Greene just really is not that great of a running back overall, and I’ve never been crazy about him in fantasy. This year he has been a disaster outside of his Week 1 performance against the Bills where it still took him 27 carries to get 94 yards.

I’m not completely sure what got into him in Week 6, however, perhaps the talk of Bilal Powell replacing him, or maybe the Indianapolis rush defense is just that bad.

Regardless, Greene exploded carrying the rock 32 times for 161 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. It’s not often that a fantasy player scores more points in one performance than his previous five combined, but his 34 points definitely helped a few owners this week.

1. Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks

I started the New England Patriots defense in a few leagues this week, expecting them to get pressure on Russell Wilson, and force some turnovers.

In Wilson’s first five games he has thrown for 153, 151, 130, 160, and 221 yards respectively. His five touchdowns combined in those games is one of the lows for all quarterbacks in the NFL, and there was nobody that could have predicted his performance in Week 6.

Wilson made it look easy against the Patriots, completing just 16 of his 27 passes for 293 yards, three touchdowns and most importantly zero interceptions.

Perhaps the most impressive was a 46 yard hookup with Sidney Rice in the last two minutes of the game, giving the Seahawks the 24-23 advantage that would soon become the final score.

Congratulations to the 2.3% of owners that started him in fantasy for Week 6, as you were rewarded with a very solid 22 points, which is half of what Wilson has scored through his first five games.