Fabs Five: Breece Hall's Failures, Fantasy Quarterbacks Joe Flacco, Kirk Cousins Headline Week 5 Storylines

Michael Fabiano | Oct 6, 2024

Oct 6, 2024; London, United Kingdom; New York Jets running back Breece Hall (20) carries the ball against the Minnesota Vikings in the second half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

What a wild Week 5!

In terms of “real” football, there was no shortage of storylines. Heck, every early-window game seemed right down to the wire, as we saw some amazing finishes in Cincinnati, Jacksonville, and Houston!

Many of those crossed over into the fantasy realm, for better or worse, including a five-touchdown performance in the Jungle and a potential changing of the guard for another “cat” team that kills the value of a former fantasy superstar.

With that said, here’s my Fabs’ Five Storylines from Week 5 that stood out the most. For all of the latest news and fantasy advice, be sure to check out Fantasy Dirt five days a week!

Breece Hall is on his way to “Bustville”

Remember when I said Bijan Robinson could be heading for Bustville? Well, he might have some company in Hall.

The second running back picked in most drafts, he posted another stinker in a loss to the Vikings. One week after scoring just 3.8 points against the Broncos, Hall posted a mere 6.7 points in London. He has now averaged a disgusting 1.5 yards per rush in those two games, and he’s averaging just three yards per rush on the season.

This week’s lack of success had nothing to do with Braelon Allen either, as he had just five totes for 13 yards (2.6 YPC) in what was a negative game script. Maybe things will get better for Hall against the Bills, but he’s not living up to his average draft position (ADP) right now.

The quarterback position is upside down

No one ever said fantasy football was easy! Heading into Sunday night, the top 12 fantasy quarterbacks for the week include Kirk Cousins, Joe Flacco, Caleb Williams, Baker Mayfield, Bo Nix, Daniel Jones, Geno Smith and Trevor Lawrence. They all scored over 20 fantasy points! Just how we drew it up, right? How many of those guys were drafted in the top 10 at the position? How about … none! Heck, some of them weren’t even drafted and still aren’t rostered in some leagues. What’s even crazier is that all of them scored more points than Josh Allen, C.J. Stroud, Jayden Daniels and Brock Purdy this week.

Josh Allen has hit the statistical skids

Speaking of Allen, arguably the best quarterback in the league, looked like one of the worst in Sunday’s loss to the Texans. He completed nine of his 30 passes (not a misprint), which equated to a 30.0 completion percentage. That’s the worst total he’s posted in that category in his NFL career.

Allen has now been held under 15 fantasy points in three of his last four contests, and he’s been held to single digits in two of those games. That is very un-Allen like. Maybe he misses Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, but he’s also had one or fewer touchdown passes in three of those four games, too.

I’m not telling you to sit Allen, but he does have a brutal matchup against the Jets at MetLife Stadium next on the schedule.

Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase go wild in loss

One of the great fantasy quarterback-wide receiver duos in fantasy football, Burrow and Chase made mincemeat of the Ravens pass defense. Joe Cool threw for 392 yards and five touchdowns, totaling a season-high 33.8 points, and Chase went for 10 catches, 193 yards and two touchdowns. That was good enough for 41.3 points.

Not to be outdone, Tee Higgins had two touchdowns and scored 29.3 points, so it was a great day for the Bengals passing game (at least statistically). Cincinnati still lost the game, 41-38, but at least we’re starting to see that explosive Bengals offense we all expected this season.

One side note … Burrow is only the 20th quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least five scores and lose.

Jacksonville, we have a backfield committee

Travis Etienne was the third-best running back in fantasy football last season, so it’s not a surprise he was a top-30 pick in 2024 drafts. Unfortunately, his fall from fantasy grace has been quick and demoralizing for those managers who picked him.

In Sunday’s win over the Colts, Etienne Jr. played one fewer snap (per PFF), saw two fewer touches and scored 13.9 fewer points than Tank Bigsby. This isn’t just a one-week thing either, as Bigsby has seen more and more work as the season has rolled on. He’s been a more effective runner too, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see this backfield become a 50-50 split the rest of the year. That is great news for Bigsby, who will be a hot waiver-wire add, but it doesn’t bode well for Etienne in the stat sheets. In fact, he’s no longer a RB1 in fantasy even if the matchup is great.