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Week 4 Raiders Fantasy Outlook

Quarterback

In one of the toughest match-ups, and one of the most historical, on the Raiders' schedule, Jason Campbell has a lot on his shoulders. The vast majority of the sports world has Brady in the top NFL quarterbacks of all-time, let alone this season. However, their D was shown up by the Bills' offense, and they're on the road. Campbell has been steadily improving, but when it comes to Fantasy numbers, this won't be his best week. The Raiders like to run the ball, which they will do a lot, but this means most of Campbell's passes will be short tosses to McFadden. He'll put up standard numbers (150-200 yards) in a fairly low scoring game. Look for some consistent points from him this week, but nothing earth shattering. Belichick has said they studied the Raiders very hard since the teams haven't met in four years, which means Campbell may need a few tricks up his sleeve.

Running Backs

Play Darren McFadden! Unless you've been living under a rock, this is obvious. The Patriots' run defense is ranked tenth in the NFL, but he's the number one rusher overall in the league. He'll get decent yardage, but the big points will be scored on short passes, which he's been working on this week in practice. The tightness in his groin from Sunday will be nothing to worry about. Michael Bush is a good number three running back on your roster, if you need one for your WR/RB. He's been getting carries, but once converted to Fantasy points, it's nothing to write home about.

Wide Receivers

Denarious Moore is a star in the making. The question coming into Week 4 is how he will grow into the role with Jacoby Ford back in the fold. Know this about Moore: he is the second offensive playmaker behind Darren McFadden. If you own Moore in one of most of your leagues and are fretting about his depth chart position or targets, take comfort in the fact that many teams will try to limit Run DMC’s effectiveness and that can only benefit Moore. In my eyes, he is a low end WR2 and a WR3 with a ton of upside. If you’re looking for that extra punch in your lineup plug and play him without hesitation.

The other Raiders WRs are better left alone for now. If you drafted or invested early on in Jacoby Ford, monitor his progress closely this week against the Patriots.

Tight Ends

Kevin Boss’ role within this offense will continue to grow. However, this week there are better options in fantasy. This year especially, the TE position is fairly deep and you can gain value in how other teams are utilizing their tight ends. Boss helps the run game tremendously and his pass-catching abilities will be slowly introduced.

Defense/Special Teams

I would caution against using the Raiders D/ST this week against the Patsy Patriots. QB Tom Brady will put the points on the board with relative ease the same manner that Ryan Fitzpatrick did in Week 2. There are great options out there such as Tampa Bay vs. the Colts on Monday night. Curtis Painter gets the start in that game, enough said.

Kicker

Nothing to see here, Sebastian Janikowski is a fantasy must start every week the Raiders play. No dirt this week bumps his value up just a little more.

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