Sunday Night Football Fantasy Versus: Packers vs. Texans Preview 

Raise your hand if you had Aaron Rodgers ranked as the number one quarterback in fantasy this season. Probably a lot of you. Now raise your hand if you thought Rodgers would only be the sixth ranked QB in fantasy points this season after five weeks, definitely not a lot of people.

If you’ve watched any of the Green Bay Packers games this season, you could clearly see that something isn’t right with Rodgers. Whether it’s that he hasn’t been on the same page as his receivers or that maybe he’s hiding some sort of injury. Whatever it is, he needs to rebound in a big way tonight.

It won’t get any easier for Rodgers and his fantasy owners tonight, as he goes up against the Houston Texans who are giving up the third fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks this season.

Let’s take a look at some of the key match-ups for tonight’s game in our Sunday Night Football Fantasy Versus Decision Maker for Week 5:

Quarterbacks

Aaron Rodgers (Packers) vs. Matt Schaub (Texans)

 Green Bay’s defense has been average in terms of yardage given up in the passing game this year, and the Texans prefer to run the ball more, so Schaub is always going to be limited in the passing game.

Rodgers has a nasty match-up, but the Jets did make some plays against them last week, and the Texans best linebacker Brian Cushing (knee) is out for the season.

I’ll take Rodgers all day over Schaub.

Running Backs

Ben Tate (Texans) vs. Alex Green (Packers) vs. James Starks (Packers)

Arian Foster over all of these guys, in case you didn’t know.

Green is supposed to draw the start tonight over Starks, but many people involved with the Packers say that they will go with the hot hand moving forward. It’s tough to trust Starks, considering he hasn’t played a snap this season, and wasn’t overly impressive last year when he played. Green looked decent enough last week with 9 carries for 55 yards and a big 41 yard run to boost those numbers.

I still like Tate (toe) over either of the Green Bay running backs, even with him missing last weeks game. I’ll rank them Tate, Green, and Starks tonight.

Wide Receivers

Jordy Nelson (Packers) vs. Andre Johnson (Texans)

Johnson has failed to do anything in three of the past four weeks. Last week he had only one catch for 16 yards, while receiving six targets. Not good.

If any Green Bay receiver is going to have a big game against the vaunted Texans defense tonight, it’s going to be Jordy Nelson. Although he hasn’t produced like he did last season he did have a 15 points two weeks ago, and should have caught a touchdown last week.

I think it’s close, but I’ll favor Nelson over Johnson.

James Jones (Packers) vs. Randall Cobb (Packers)

With Greg Jennings (groin) out once again, it’ll be up to Cobb and Jones to shoulder the load behind Nelson this week.

Cobb had a nice game last week with four catches for 82 yards and his first touchdown of the season. He could see more targets out of the backfield as well this week.

Four touchdowns in two games for Jones, which has amounted to 33 fantasy points, not too shabby. I don’t think he will get two more tonight, but he will still see plenty of balls thrown his way.

I’m going with the upset here and say Cobb has the better game.

Tight Ends

Jermichael Finley (Packers) vs. Owen Daniels (Texans)

 Finley (shoulder) is a game-time call tonight, however he is expected to play. He’s too much of a risk to start in fantasy this week regardless, and he has failed to score a touchdown this year, or even top the 60 yard mark.

Daniels should be a top-5 tight end this week considering he has a touchdown in three straight games, and is developing into Matt Schaub’s favorite weapon.

It’s Daniels over Finley.

Kickers

Shayne Graham (Texans) vs. Mason Crosby (Packers)

Crosby struggled last week in missing two field goals against the Colts. He should have a few chances tonight however.

I don’t think you can go wrong with Graham or Crosby, but I’ll go with Graham.

Team Defenses

Green Bay Packers D/ST vs. Houston Texans D/ST

 The Texans defense/special teams have scored the second most fantasy points this season, while the Packers defense has scored a total of 1 point over their last three games.

Texans all the way.