The New England Patriots are 4-0 this season and on Sunday they will play against a tough team in the Cincinnati Bengals, who are 2-2 and coming off of a tough loss to the Cleveland Browns in the NFC North, while the Patriots will be looking for win number five already on the year.
The Patriots are coming into the game after defeating the Falcons in a close matchup and now the team will have to do so once again without Rob Gronkowski, who is still not back after getting surgery in the offseason. The team has two straight games on the road including the Falcons game from last week and next week the team will play against the New Orleans Saints in what could be a matchup of 5-0 teams if the Saints can win against the Chicago Bears on the road on Sunday. The team has a bye in Week 10 and then has a hard matchup against the Panthers in Week 1 on MNF.
Check here for the Patriots and Bengals live stream coverage or for more on the schedule or fantasy football in the NFL for Week 5.
Here is a look at the fantasy football season for the Pats from before Week 1, oh boy how things change. The New England Patriots have had themselves quite the offseason after signing Tim Tebow, although now he is gone and dealing with the Aaron Hernandez murder situation and now that the regular season is right around the corner, it's interesting to see how the offense is shaping up and what players will be the best in fantasy, including Tom Brady, Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski.
Brady is usually a very safe pick when it comes to quarterbacks in fantasy and this season the team can ill afford to lose him after already losing a top playmaker in Aaron Hernandez. Brady put up stellar numbers in 2012 again after passing for nearly 5,000 yards and 34 touchdowns and he only threw eight picks during the year. Brady is smart with the ball and while many people feel that losing Hernandez and Wes Welker as well as having rob Gronkowski injured could hurt Brady, but he has shown in the past that he can throw to any group of receivers and be successful.
With Welker gone, Amendola will have a big role and Julian Edelman should get some more looks as well, making him a sleeper pick in deep leagues. Aaron Dobson and other young players are expected to step up and that should keep Brady's numbers in line with what he did over the past few seasons. While Brady is not as prolific as fantasy quarterbacks like Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, there is now reason to think he won't put up numbers again. Brady had a knee injury scare in practice in the preseason, but as long as he stays healthy he is a dynamic option for fantasy owners at the position.
The running backs for New England are an interesting mix with Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen and Brandon Bolden and after losing Gronkowski, head coach Bill Belichick has said he plans to use Vereen in a similar way that he used the tight end. Anyone who drafts Ridley would be wise to grab at least one of the other backs as a handcuff and this season all three should have better stats after Danny Woodhead left as well. Ridley led the team with 12 scores and 1,263 rushing yards and while he wasn't prolific in the passing game, Vereen may get those looks.
Vereen is considered by many to be the ultimate sleeper in PPR leagues due to the way Belichick said he wants to use him and he comes in after rushing for 251 yards and three touchdowns last season, while Bolden had two scores and over 270 yards. All three backs should have plenty to do this year. Amendola comes in to replace Welker and that will be rough after he had 118 catches for 1,354 yards and six touchdowns and while he was injured with the Rams last season, the Pats feel he can stay healthy.
Speaking of staying healthy, Gronk may be the biggest value sleeper in the draft, as he is dropping since many people see him as injured and now he could end up being one of the best TEs this year, Last season he missed a bunch of games and still put up filthy numbers, including 79 catches for 790 yards and 11 touchdowns and while he may miss games again, he is still looked at as one of the best tight ends in the league. Tim Tebow is now out of the league and other players to possibly look at in regards to Hernandez includes Zach Sudfeld and Daniel Fells.
