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Well the Vegas fix was in last Sunday in full force. More importantly, I will consider my pick a win since I was picking in a rigged week. Exhibit A can be see here:

via GIPHY

This Duke Johnson phantom fumble undermined my premonition of the Browns first win. In all my years watching football I have never seen a play more baffling than this fumble. Duke insta pops out of the pile with the ball as the ref signals Redskins football.

The second fix came in the 4^th quarter of a tight Rams Cardinals game. The powers that be made the call that Carson Palmer had to come out of the game because he took a big hit and could have a concussion. Surely somebody bet the house on the Rams money line and stood to make a fortune on the 8.5 point dog. I have no doubt that a brain-dead Carson Palmer would have outperformed Drew Stanton and led the Cardinals to a 4^th quarter comeback win at home.

As it stands 128 of the 163 eliminated this week were on that Cardinals pick, trimming the survivor total list down to 314 from the original 871. This coming Sunday I will be fully endorsing the pick against Cleveland strategy. The New England Patriots should be a no brainer. An angry Tom Brady will be making his 2016 debut as a 10.5 point favorite on the road vs the Browns.

Cheers, Drink Five!

Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters.

157 Yards

Thursday night, David Johnson set the season high for rushing yards with a 157 yard, 2 TD performance - adding 3 catches for 28 yards. Johnson was the focus of the offense with Carson Palmer out, running the ball 27 times. The Cardinals were able to roll over the 49ers and start to right the ship. They'll get 11 days to recover before playing next Monday night, so look for Palmer to be back and the team to continue to improve.

3 Punt Return TDs

I complained after two weeks that we weren't getting enough returns. Things have started to average out, but the totals are still below where they should be. This week, Red Zone watchers were treated to three punt return TDs in the first half of the noon games. The Dolphins, Redskins and Vikings all rewarded their fantasy owners (probably just Vikings owners out there) with a return TD. This brings us to 7 of the most exciting plays in football we've seen this year.

406 Yards

The Tom Brady Middle Finger Tour 2016 kicked off with a bang in Cleveland. Brady lead the week in passing yardage, getting his 8th career game over 400 yards. This game also featured the proper 2016 return of Rob Gronkowski, going over 100 yards, though Gronk owners squirmed while Martellus Bennett got 3 TD's. The Bengals are the next victim on Brady's list, as he gets some good home cookin' against a team that just can't catch a break.

81 Years

The two top kickers this week have a total of 81 years between them, and they are outperforming all of their younger counterparts. Adam Vinatieri was the first kicker to pass the 20 point mark, going 5/5 with 2-50+ yarders and tacking on an extra point as well. Meanwhile, Sebastian Janikowski went 4/5 after having only 4 attempts through the first 4 weeks. Congrats gentlemen, you're the best fantasy kickers this week.

5-0

The Minnesota Vikings are the last undefeated team in the 2016 season. This is a team that has replaced it's starting QB before the season started, lost its hall of fame running back, yet they're just rolling over everyone in the NFC. Minnesota is on bye for week 6 and has a big matchup against the Eagles coming off the bye. The Bears and Lions in the following weeks means that at least a 7-1 start is all but wrapped up for the Vikings.

It's always an exciting week in the NFL! Week 5 brought us a little more stability as far as fantasy performances, but there were still plenty of upsets going on in the league. As offensive lines gel a little more and the players that you're starting each week solidify, rankings such as these take on even more importance in setting your lineups each week. Some guys that I'm targeting to start when possible this week (and that I like a little more than other experts) are: Phillip Rivers, Andy Dalton, Tarik Cohen, Wayne Gallman, Randall Cobb, Sammy Watkins, Hunter Henry, and the Detroit Lions. Best of luck this week!

It's the end of another exciting week of football which means it's time to put your claims in for available free agents in your fantasy league to strengthen your team. I'll be going over who I think are the top five picks for you to target this week so don't miss out on them. Good luck!

Note: %owned is based on Yahoo! leagues at the time of publication.

5) Thomas Rawls/Eddie Lacy/C.J. Prosise (SEA) - 29%/20%/16% owned - With Chris Carson going down with what appeared to be a season-ending leg injury someone will step up to take his starting role. I have no idea who is going to carry the mail for the Seahawks, but whoever it ends up being will have immediate fantasy relevance. I like them in the order I have listed, but Pete Carroll has been unpredictable in regards to RBs ever since Lynch left town.

4) Deshaun Watson (HOU) - 34% owned - Watson looks like the real deal and has seemingly improved every week this season. What's really good to see for Watson's fantasy outlook is the Texans kept passing even with a huge lead against the Titans last week. Look to add for a bye-week replacement or to stash and play in favorable matchups.

3) Will Fuller V (HOU) - 32% owned - Fuller's season debut was quite productive catching 4 of 6 passes for 35 yards and 2 TDs. The Texans don't really many passing options outside of Hopkins at the moment so Fuller should have a decent weekly floor.

2) Alvin Kamara (NO) - 46% owned - It looks like the Saints have finally come close to a Darren Sproles replacement in Alvin Kamara. Kamara had 5 rushes for 25 yards and 10 catches for 71 yards and a score last week against the Dolphins. He is a must add in PPR formats and is probably flex status in standard leagues. Saints are on a bye this week but if you don't take him now someone else will.

1) Latavius Murray (MIN) - 17% owned - With Dalvin Cook going down with a season-ending ACL tear Murray will step in as the lead back for the Vikings. He will most likely cede passing downs to Jerick McKinnon but will see work on first and second downs as well as receive goal line carries.