Dein erstes Forum » challenging matchup on Sunday, as he was active in 6

RICHMOND, Va. -- After seven months and 28 races, NASCAR has hit that part of the season that really matters. The start of the playoffs signifies a shift in attitude and aggression, and if there was any doubt the mindset had changed, Kevin Harvick posted a warning about his mood for the next 10 weeks.It was a video of an angry bull charging into the grandstands.And so the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship begins Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway with 16 drivers laser-focused on the big prize. Its 10 races, three rounds of elimination, and every man for himself.So dont be surprised if tempers boil over, paint is traded on the track, angry words are exchanged. Its already started, to a degree. Tony Stewart has intentionally wrecked drivers in two consecutive races, including Saturday nights regular-season finale with contact that officially ended Ryan Newmans shot at making the Chase.A frustrated Newman called his former boss bipolar and said Stewart had anger issues. Stewart was nonchalant, said Newman had it coming after running into him three times at Richmond.Remember, the Chase and this format can bring out the worst in even the most mild-mannered driver. Matt Kenseth tackled Brad Keselowski in a very un-Kenseth-like attack in 2014, then he earned a NASCAR suspension last year for an intentional crash that ruined Joey Loganos title chances.Denny Hamlin, who won Saturday night at his home track to give Joe Gibbs Racing three consecutive victories at Richmond and wins in nine of the last 15, said the jockeying for the final spots in the Chase field led to some of the recent aggression. He also speculated the length of the season could be a contributor, especially for drivers not battling for the title.Some guys have a care factor thats really low right now, Hamlin said. I think things get a little bit tamer in the Chase because people are aware of the Chase cars. Whether they say so or not, they definitely race a little bit more careful around those guys, especially when youre not racing for a win.As for the Chase drivers themselves? When the field will be trimmed by four at the end of each round, Hamlin expects to see tense racing.As guys get eliminated, it could definitely ramp back up again, he said.Harvick certainly plans to live up to his word.The 2014 champion, the first winner under the elimination format, has never backed down from anyone or anything. His scathing assessment of his pit crew led to two changes to his race team last week. When he was flagged for speeding on pit road, driver error instead of team error, it could have been seen as a bit of karma working against Harvick for being less than politically correct about his own crew.He doesnt care what it takes, though, he just wants results.You just have to be selfish. You have to do whats best for your team, worry about the consequences when all the dust settles, he said. You have to be narrow-minded, not listen to anything, and do whatever it takes to figure out how to make the best performance. Every point matters. This is a minute-by-minute battle.You just try to think of dotting every I and crossing every T because thats what its all about, and you have to get everything out of every person that touches everything on that car at another level to win this deal.So now its about strategy and how each driver plans to attack each round.For some, like Chris Buescher, just getting into the 16-driver field was the prize. Last years Xfinity Series champion made the Chase by winning a rain-shortened race at Pocono, but he doesnt want to settle for a happy to be here attitude.We look at this first round, and we want to make it past that round. We want to move through the Chase, Buescher said. Then we can re-evaluate from there. If we can keep going farther and improve our program each and every weekend, thats always going to be what were aiming to do.Stewart is also assessing his final Chase appearance before he retires at the end of the year. He slumped his way into the 2011 Chase and said his team didnt even deserve a spot in the field.Then he won the whole thing, his third NASCAR title.So hes just going to play this one by ear.Who knows whats going to happen? he said. All I care about right now is getting ready for Chicago. Once we get through that, Ill worry about Week 2. This is a stressful 10 weeks and you take it one week at a time. Thats what we did in `11, and it worked. Larry Johnson Hornets Jersey . Thousands of fans at Mosaic Stadium will be cozying up to each other in an effort to stay warm in chilly temperatures and block the Prairie wind that locals say can knock your socks off. Percy Miller Hornets Jersey . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. https://www.hornetslockerroom.com/Devonte-Graham-City-Edition-Jersey/ . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. Jalen McDaniels Hornets Jersey . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. PJ Washington Jersey . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Welcome back, Tom! Your fantasy owners have missed you.Fresh off a four-game suspension, Tom Brady had himself a monster fantasy day, as he victimized the Cleveland Browns defense. Yet he wasnt the weeks top scorer, as it was a week of big games by several quarterbacks, a breakthrough day for a rookie running back, pleasure and pain for owners of a Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and -- gasp -- a kicker making headlines.As we do each Sunday, we will recap the weeks winners and losers from a fantasy perspective, complete with applicable game and historic data. Check back after the conclusion of the 1 and 4 p.m. ET (and, when applicable, Sunday Night Football) games for our picks of the weeks best and worst.WinnersTom Brady, QB, New England Patriots: Brady was the top storyline, considering he was the most started quarterback in his 2016 debut, residing in lineups in 94.7 percent of ESPN leagues. Granted, it was a no-brainer for his owners to start him against a Browns team that had afforded a minimum of 16 fantasy points to a quartet of lower-profile passers than Brady, but his 29 fantasy points Sunday were one shy of the weeks lead and represented his most in a game since 2015 Week 13 (30).Brady also became the third-oldest NFL quarterback since 1950 to score at least that many fantasy points in a game, trailing only Doug Flutie (30; 2003 Week 10; age 41 years, 17 days) and Warren Moon (32; 1997 Week 9; age 40 years, 342 days). George Blanda (36; 1968 Week 10; age 41 years, 55 days) had a game in the AFL with that many fantasy points.Martellus Bennett, TE, Patriots: With Rob Gronkowski drawing increased defensive attention despite playing a healthy number of snaps -- 66 of the Patriots 77 plays, per Pro Football Focus Nathan Jahnke -- Bennett dominated Sunday, despite being on the field less than his teams other tight end (54 snaps). Bennett scored a career-high 24 fantasy points -- not only the most by any tight end in Week 5 but also the most by any tight end in a game this?season. Bennett, incidentally, hasnt scored more than six touchdowns in any season, but he scored three on Sunday alone, which is as many as any tight end in the league has all season. Bennett was started in only 58.4 percent of ESPN leagues, perhaps frustrating Rob Gronkowskis owners, who started him in 93.3 percent, but in Gronkowskis defense, he managed 10 fantasy points of his own on Sunday.Marcus Mariota, QB, Tennessee Titans:?At a time when his fantasy owners were seemingly beginning to give up on him -- his ESPN ownership percentage at kickoff time was a season-low 32.0 percent -- Mariota rewarded those who were patient with 30 fantasy points, tops among all players. Its the third time in Mariotas career that he has reached the 30-point threshold, and that ties him with Cam Newton and Robert Griffin for the most by any quarterback before his 23rd birthday (Mariota will turn 23 on Oct. 30).Perhaps more importantly, though, the performance gave Mariota 271 fantasy points through his first 17 career games, which ranks ninth among quarterbacks through that many career games. The full top 10 is in the chart to the right.Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys: For the fifth consecutive week, Elliott scored double-digit fantasy points, putting him in an exclusive club of only eight running backs to have done so in each of their first five NFL games (Alan Ameche, Derek Brown, Joe Cribbs, Robert Edwards, Chuck Foreman, Adrian Peterson and Ricky Watters are the other seven). In fact, Elliotts 28 fantasy points ranked second at the position for the week, and they also brought his career total to 87 through his first five games. That earned him a place in the top 10 running backs through that many career games, since 1950:Adam Vinatieri, K, Indianapolis Colts: Kickers need love too! Vinatieri soared to an early position lead in fantasy points, culminating with a 23-point performance that captured the kickers No. 1 weekly spot. That got Vinatieri within nine points of the single-game record of 29, set by Rob Bironas in 2007 Week 7, and it gave Vinatieri four double-digit efforts and 66 fantasy points through five games. That puts him on a staggering 211-point fantasy pace, which would easily shatter David Akers single-season record of 182, set in 2011.Through five games in 2011, incidentally, Akers had 48 fantasy points. Since 2001, only Robbie Gould (70, 2006), Neil Rackers (69, 2005), Jason Hanson (68, 2012), Jeff Wilkins (67, 2006) and Matt Prater (67, 2013) had more fantasy points than Vinatieri has through five games.Sammie Coates, WR, Steelers:?Although itll go down in the history books as an outstanding fantasy day -- his 25 were most among wide receivers -- Coates game was as frustrating as it was gratifying. The 25 fantasy points were two shy of his career total in 10 games entering the day, but he also committed three gaffes -- well soon know whether theyre all credited as drops -- and that means he couldve provided his owners much more. Coates, the weeks second-most added wide receiver, might see his 40.1 percent ownership in ESPN leagues increase as a result of this effort, but dont be overzealous with your expectations, considering the depth of the Steelers passing game and Coates history of drops.Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Steelers: Coates success helped fuel a similarly big day for Roethlisberger -- or should that be vice versa -- as Roethlisberger scored 29 fantasy points to finish tied for second among quarterbacks. Its something you might not notice unless youve owned him for a good chunk of his career, but Roethlisberger certainly seems to be the kind of quarterback who hits hot streaks such as this one: He has 63 fantasy points in consecutive weeks (34 in Week 4, 29 in Week 5). Its the fourth time since the beginning of 2014 that he has scored at least 50 fantasy points in consecutive weeks -- 79 in 2014 Weeks 8-9, 54 in 2015 Weeks 12-13 and 53 in 2014 Weeks 13-14 -- but he also has six single-digit performances in that span.Jordan Howard, RB, Chicago Bears: Hes off to a solid start as the Bears new starting running back, as he filled in for Jeremy Langford (ankle) with 21 fantasy points on Sunday after 13 in his first career NFL start in Week 4. The two most recent running backs who recorded more than Howards 34 fantasy points in his first two career starts were Javorius Allen (35, 2015 Weeks 12-13) and Langford (38, 2015 Weeks 10-11).Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman, RBs, Atlanta Falcons: For the second time in the past three weeks, both Coleman (22 fantasy points, third among running backs) and Freeman (17, sixth) finished among the top 10 scorers at their position. For the season, that gave Coleman 73 fantasy points and Freeman 67 through five games played, though strangely enough, Freeman (83.9 percent) was started in a significantly greater percentage of ESPN leagues than Coleman (17.7 percent), and neither ranked among the 10 most started running backs.Coleman is now on pace for 234 fantasy points and Freeman 214, paces that would make the 2016 Falcons only the second team since 1950 to have two different running backs score at least 200 fantasy points.dddddddddddd The other was the 1961 Green Bay Packers, and keep in mind that one of their two running backs, fullback Paul Hornung, amassed nearly half of his 211 fantasy points while also serving as the teams placekicker.Hunter Henry, TE, San Diego Chargers: Though his 13 fantasy points fell shy of the position lead for Week 5, Henry warrants a lot of credit for his fill-in work these past three weeks. He scored five and 12 fantasy points as the Chargers starter in pace of the injured Antonio Gates in Weeks 3-4, then set the bar even higher with Gates available (and absorbing five targets for seven fantasy points of his own) on Sunday. We always caution about the long learning curve rookie tight ends face, but this gives Henry two double-digit fantasy performances in his first five NFL games, something only 14 other NFL tight ends have done since 1960. In fact, he is the first to do it since Randy McMichael in 2002.Adam Thielen, WR, Minnesota Vikings: Few fantasy owners were willing to chance this fill-in starter, as Thielen was active in only 0.35 percent of ESPN leagues for his 18-point fantasy effort on Sunday, which shattered his previous career best of 12 (2014 Week 17). Thielen got the call for what was his sixth NFL start to fill in for Stefon Diggs (groin), so if Diggs returns after the bye in Week 7, dont expect a repeat.LosersJulio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons: Jones owners -- they started him in 99.2 percent of ESPN leagues, third-most among wide receivers -- certainly are not happy, not after he followed up his 36-point fantasy outburst of Week 4 with a two-point stinker on Sunday. Matt Ryan simply couldnt deliver him the football with accuracy in this one, and the teams early lead minimized the need to pass; Ryans 28 pass attempts represented his fewest since 2015 Week 4 (27). Most frustrating is the fact that Jones has now sandwiched a great game with two awful performances, as he had only one fantasy point in Week 3. Its the first time that Jones has been held to two standard and four PPR fantasy points or fewer in two of three games since Weeks 10 and 12 of 2011, when he departed the former game with a hamstring injury.Will Fuller V, WRs, Houston Texans:?Although DeAndre Hopkins rescued a seemingly lost game with a pair of final-drive, garbage-time receptions (one for a touchdown) that boosted his fantasy point total to 11, Fullers Sunday didnt go quite so smoothly. The rookie, who managed double-digit fantasy point totals in three of his first four career games, was shut out on the fantasy scoresheet on six targets. Surely owners of either Texans wide receiver were disappointed, considering Hopkins was started in 89.8 percent and Fuller 52.7 percent of ESPN leagues, though they shouldve been aware of the treacherous matchup against a Minnesota Vikings defense that had afforded just 50 fantasy points to opposing wide receivers through four games, second-fewest behind the Denver Broncos (45 through four).Lamar Miller, RB, Texans: Perhaps more frustrating than Fullers day was Millers, as he managed only two fantasy points for his owners, who started him in 92.3 percent of ESPN leagues. It was a performance that might remind them of Millers Miami Dolphins days, as in his 32 games played for the Dolphins from 2014-15, he amassed double-digit touches nine times when his team trailed by at least one touchdown, and this was the second consecutive Texans game in which Miller played nearly the entirety of the game from behind (17 of his 22 touches in Week 4, all nine touches on Sunday). Incidentally, only three times did Miller score as few or fewer than two fantasy points for the Dolphins from 2014-15.Isaiah Crowell, RB, Cleveland Browns: After he scored exactly 20 fantasy points in two out of three games, Crowell earned a decent share of his owners trust, with his 58.6 percent start rate on Sunday representing a more than 7 percent increase. Unfortunately, he was able to muster only three fantasy points, tied for his second fewest in any game in which he had at least 10 rushing attempts. His owners cant even claim that the opposing Patriots captured an early lead they held for the majority of the game, taking the run out of the equation, as Crowell had 13 carries, his 12th-most in 37 career games played.Kenneth Dixon, RB, Baltimore Ravens: He wasnt heavily started, but he was one of the weeks more popular pickups, and he is now owned in 34.2 percent of ESPN leagues. Unfortunately, Dixons four-touch, zero-point fantasy performance might cause him to shift to the most-dropped list come Week 6, though thatd be a mistake considering his anticipated role in his NFL debut on Sunday.Matt Jones, RB, Washington Redskins: He was started in 57.5 percent of ESPN leagues on Sunday, despite facing a Ravens defense that had allowed only 44 fantasy points to opposing running backs through four games entering the day (fourth-fewest). Predictably, Jones struggled and totaled three fantasy points on 16 total touches.Jerick McKinnon, RB, Minnesota Vikings: What an awful day to be a running back. McKinnon was yet another running back who let his fantasy owners down, as he scored only four fantasy points for those who started him in 66.1 percent of ESPN leagues. Worse yet, he managed only one reception, which gave him a terrible five-point PPR fantasy day. Bear in mind that he had 21 total touches in the contest, while backfield mate Matt Asiata managed 15 standard and 18 PPR fantasy points. It was McKinnons second-worst PPR score in any of the 13 games in which he had double-digit touches.Jeremy Hill, RB, Cincinnati Bengals: After he ran the football 21 times in Week 4, Hill was a popular start among fantasy owners despite the challenging matchup on Sunday, as he was active in 63.3 percent of ESPN leagues. Unfortunately, he was held to one fantasy point and only four carries, as the opposing Cowboys grabbed a big, early lead and never let go. Its the sixth time in his 37 career games that Hill has been limited to one fantasy point or fewer.Jarvis Landry, WR, Dolphins: For only the sixth time in his 37 career NFL games, Landry was held to two standard and five PPR fantasy points -- he finished with exactly that many of each -- and keep in mind that four of his previous five such instances happened during his rookie year of 2014, when his role wasnt nearly as sizable as it is today. He was one of the 10 most started wide receivers of Week 5, active in 90.5 percent of ESPN leagues.Kyle Rudolph, TE, Vikings: In what was another predictably poor matchup -- the opposing Texans entered having allowed only eight fantasy points to opposing tight ends through four weeks -- Rudolph delivered his first real stinker of 2016 to his fantasy owners. He scored only one standard and three PPR points. ' ' '