Bye weeks: Eagles, Packers

Lions at Bears (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Key question: Will Jordan Howard make all his new owners happy?

The Chicago rookie, a fifth-round pick out of Indiana, was at or near the top of every waiver-wire article this week, so plenty of folks will be anxious to see a return on their investments. With Jeremy Langford not exactly earning a “Sweetness 2.0” label from Bears fans before suffering a high ankle sprain, Howard could possibly keep the starting RB job all season if he takes full advantage of this opportunity, especially with Kadeem Carey hamstrung (literally, he has a hamstring injury). Kevin White owners (i.e., everyone who didn’t jump ship after his slow start) would love to see something along the lines of the 14 targets he got last week, but with a teensy bit more in the yardage department than 62.

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Those who picked up Dwayne Washington last week couldn’t have been overjoyed with his line (10 carries for 38 yards), but then again, Theo Riddick got out-gained by Matthew Stafford (11-9) despite eight more carries, so there’s that. With the Lions likely to flip the script from their loss at Green Bay and take an early lead, Washington should get a longer look as the team’s early-downs hammer.

Meanwhile, Marvin Jones gets a chance to solidify his place among the WR elite, or, perhaps, fall back to Earth. Coming off of a monstrous outing (205 yards, two TDs), he currently ranks as the top fantasy producer at his position, and there’s no doubt now that he’s his own team’s top option, but there is still some question about how highly he should be valued. Golden Tate’s value has plummeted, to the point where it’s a case of drop (a big game on the Bears) or be dropped.

Panthers at Falcons (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Key question: Is Tevin Coleman Atlanta’s goal-line back?

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It sure looked like it against the Saints, when he got almost all the carries near the goal line, resulting in three touchdowns on five red-zone touches. Meanwhile, Devonta Freeman, who had a much better outing in terms of rushing yardage (14 for 152, as opposed to 12 for 42), got three red-zone looks but just one inside the 9, and his score came on a 13-yard reception. Still, owners of both players will be delighted if they remain the twin focal points of the Falcons’ offense.

While Coleman and Freeman were racking up the fantasy points in New Orleans, Julio Jones got just one catch for 16 yards. He did get seven targets, but that’s in keeping with a pace for 107 on the season, almost half of what he had last year (203) and a reason to try and sell high, if he doesn’t start seeing more balls come his way.

Another supposed stud held to just one reception last week was Kelvin Benjamin, and Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula has promised to get him more involved this time. This also looks like a good spot for Ted Ginn, who is due for his first touchdown of the season and should see 10 targets, if his current pattern holds (one in Week 1, then four, then seven — #math!). Cam Newton will try to shake off a somewhat rough outing, his second in three games this season, and if his offensive line can’t protect him from the Falcons’ anemic pass rush, owners may have reason to worry a bit.

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Giants at Vikings (Monday, 8:30 p.m.)

Key question: Who will get the carries for New York, and how often?

It’s only Week 4, and we’ve already reached the “Orleans Darkwa” portion of the season. Rashad Jennings has an injured thumb and may or may not play, while Shane Vereen (triceps) is out for at least two months, leaving some combination of Darkwa, Bobby Rainey and/or rookie Paul Perkins to take handoffs from Eli Manning. It’s certainly worth seeing if anybody emerges from this mess, although given that Minnesota’s tough defense is involved, the Giants RBs may simply take turns crashing into a brick wall.

The Vikings’ two top pass-catchers, Stephon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph, have opposite questions hanging over them. Whereas with Diggs, who had just 40 yards receiving in Week 3, it’s, “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be a WR1?” With Rudolph it’s, “Wait, are you really a TE1?” The latter is second in fantasy points at his position and, after a disappointing 2015, may be having his post-hype breakout.

Colts at Jaguars in London (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.)

Key question: If Jacksonville’s offense can’t look good this week, when can it?

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The Jags’ attack has proven to be a frustratingly resistible force, but it gets quite the movable object in Indy’s D. Chris Ivory is banged up (stop me if you’ve heard that before), but fellow RB T.J. Yeldon has no excuse for not improving upon his current 2.5 yards-per-carry average. WRs Allen Hurns (yet to score) and Allen Robinson (yet to top 72 yards in a game) should both look more like their 2015 versions, and TE Julius Thomas should feast on the Colts.

Of course, if we’re getting into “shoulds,” Blake Bortles should have looked more competent already this season. Well, he can always hope that Andrew Luck stakes his squad to a big lead, allowing Bortles to do his patented garbage-time thing.

Raiders at Ravens (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Key question: What to make of the committees?

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For Baltimore, this may be the last chance for either Justin Forsett (3.2 YPC) or Terrance West (3.6) to impress before Kenneth Dixon gets healthy and puts them both on the bench. On Oakland’s side, Latavius Murray appears to be in much more of a committee than his owners expected; last week, he had 10 carries, averaging 3.7 yards, while DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard had six each and did more with them (9.5 and 4.7 YPC, respectively).

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Titans at Texans (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Key question: Is Tajae Sharpe just a fifth-round pick out of UMass, after all?

The unheralded rookie took Tennessee’s training camp by storm, even causing his team to trade away Dorial Green-Beckham. Sharpe started his NFL career with a solid seven catches for 76 yards. But Sharpe has just seven for 81 over his past two games combined, and Coach Mike Mularkey said the WR took a “step back” last week. Sharpe will be stepping back from starting lineups until he gets things sorted out for a team that desperately needs production from his position.

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Seahawks at Jets (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Key question: Are you the Jimmy Graham we once knew?

Not only did Graham look like the 2011-14 version last week, he also looked like Seattle’s No. 2 receiving option (6-100-1), behind only Doug Baldwin. If we get some corroboration at the Meadowlands, owners who took a flier on him after drafting a higher-ranked TE can look to trade away the other guy and roll with a rejuvenated Jimmy. Well, maybe after the Seahawks get through their Week 5 bye.

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Chiefs at Steelers (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.)

Key question: Will Le’Veon Bell be a ball-hog?

Those who drafted Bell despite his three-game suspension, especially those who have gotten off to 0-3 starts (cough, cough, like me in one league, cough), want nothing more than for the Steelers to do what they did last season, when they told DeAngelo Williams, “Thanks for looking so good in Le’Veon’s absence — now go find a comfortable seat over there.” In his five full 2015 games, Bell hogged the work, but with Williams again showing some fuel in his 33-year-old tank, Pittsburgh may opt for a different approach this time.

Browns at Redskins (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Key question: What WON’T Terrelle Pryor do?

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Against the Dolphins, Pryor was like a Swiss Army knife through butter, collecting 200 yards and a touchdown as a WR/RB/QB, in a performance the likes of which hadn’t been seen since before anyone with a TV ever saw a presidential debate. There’s no debating that he’ll be Cleveland’s go-to guy on Sunday, but then Josh Gordon returns in Week 5 and Corey Coleman should do the same a few weeks after that, so Pryor will need to make himself very useful if he wants to keep a major role all season.

Dolphins at Bengals (Thursday, 8:25 p.m.)

Key question: If you have four RBs, you don’t have any, right?

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Arian Foster has been ruled out, which whittles down Miami’s choices nicely — now the team can just focus on Kenyan Drake, Jay Ajayi, Isaiah Pead and Damien Williams. Oy. Still, there’s a lot we don’t know about all of those guys, whereas we know that Foster has trouble staying on the field like Mike Francesa has trouble staying awake, so there’s plenty of reason to keep tabs on this quartet.

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Saints at Chargers (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)

Key question: Can Melvin Gordon do what an actual good RB is supposed to do?

That would be, you know, trampling the Saints’ sorry defense, something with which the aforementioned Freeman and Coleman had no trouble at all last week. But just when we were ready to believe in Gordon, he stumbled for 35 yards on 16 carries against the Colts’ less-than-stellar crew (he did add a touchdown and 43 receiving yards, salvaging his fantasy day). Come on, Melvin, make the layup.

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Broncos at Buccaneers (Sunday, 4:05 p.m.)

Key question: How fluky were those four touchdowns Trevor Siemian threw?

The Broncos’ QB went from game manager to game-breaker in an unlikely spot, at Cincinnati, and now he’ll be in a place where it makes even more sense to attack through the air. If Siemian can prove capable of preying on favorable matchups, he’ll at least be a nice option during the bye weeks, and possibly someone to stream against the other soft secondaries on Denver’s schedule (Saints, Falcons, Raiders, Chargers, Jaguars).

Rams at Cardinals (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)

Key question: Is Michael Floyd going to fall behind not one, but two J. Browns?

John Brown shook off concussion issues to lead Arizona in receiving (6-70) in a loss at Buffalo, while Jaron Brown chipped in with 49 yards on three catches. Floyd’s line (4-65) looks okay, but it took 11 targets to get there, and he’s hauled in just nine of 24 during a poor start. Floyd reportedly is now coping with his own concussion, so he might not even play Sunday, but in any event, he may be a lot closer to being the Cards’ fourth WR (including Larry Fitzgerald, of course) than the top dog many predicted before the season.

Bills at Patriots (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

Key question: Will Julian Edelman do his best Terrelle Pryor impersonation?

New England’s two non-suspended QBs are injured, and there is a possibility that Edelman, a former college QB, will be employed there, at least occasionally, against the Bills. Those looking to acquire a WR1 on the cheap should hope that, wherever he lines up, Edelman goes a fourth straight game with a mediocre, touchdown-less line, because that will keep his price low just before Tom Brady returns.

Cowboys at 49ers (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)

Key question: Can Carlos Hyde stay in the RB1 zone?