Just how legit is DeAndre Hopkins' breakthrough? (USATSI)
Just how legit is DeAndre Hopkins' breakthrough? (USATSI)

Apologies to Knile Davis and Julian Edelman, Jamaal Charles and Rob Gronkowski. I can't sit around and wait for Monday night. I need to start poring over the box scores now.

It's a ritual for me in every sport -- what I consider the most important part of playing Fantasy, short of the initial draft. How can you know you're making the right moves if you don't know what all's going on?

It's such a simple step, but one so many people skip because ... well, I guess they just don't have the time (imagine that).

So I got to thinking ... if it's so important, why keep it all to myself? Why not take you along for the ride, relating to you anything that might influence my waiver claims, trade pursuits or lineup decisions? It seems the only proper thing to do.

With that, here are my biggest takeaways for Week 4:

• I was disappointed Rashad Jennings couldn't follow up his monster Week 3 with something close to respectable in Week 4. I drafted him with an enthusiasm normally reserved for one's own offspring, and I want to see him succeed accordingly. Most likely, the score dictated the distribution of carries between him and Andre Williams, so other than securing Williams as a handcuff option if I can do so on the cheap, I'm not changing my approach to Jennings.

• I don't know what to make of Kirk Cousins' four interceptions, so I don't even want to go there. I still like him, but more as a backup than a starter in a 12-team league. What's more concerning to me is that even though he threw for 257 yards, only 9 of them went to DeSean Jackson. The former Eagle's week-to-week inconsistency has always driven me batty, and the change in scenery doesn't seem to have resolved it. Maybe his best value is as a trade chip immediately following his next big game.

• Were we too quick to write off Eli Manning? I've got to say, three straight multi-touchdown games counts for something, especially in a year when Drew Brees still has yet to deliver three in a game. I'm still taking Cousins over him -- let's not do anything crazy here -- but Manning is now part of a beautiful bounty of backups.

• Of course, that doesn't mean Larry Donnell is catching three touchdown passes every week. He's a fine Fantasy option, but not the second coming of Jimmy Graham. Let's nip that in the bud right now.

• I'm starting to get really worried about Eddie Lacy. He had the matchup this time and once again averaged just 2.8 yards per carry. Every-down backs don't grow on trees, so I don't know that unloading him makes sense at this point in time, but I'm considering running back a position of need if I own him in Fantasy.

• I'm not quite to that point for LeSean McCoy, though two straight games with less than two yards per carry is a red flag.

• Martellus Bennett has somehow emerged as Jay Cutler's favorite in a receiving corps that includes Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery. In every way you could want a tight end to deliver -- targets, catches, yardage, touchdowns -- he has, so I'm not interested in selling him short. The law of averages says he has to come down a little, but you shouldn't be so eager to move him in a sell-high scenario.

• I made this joke on Twitter Sunday afternoon:

Nobody seemed to get it.

• I understand he's scored a touchdown in three of his first four games, but something about DeAndre Hopkins' emergence just doesn't sit right with me. I don't know if it's the presence of Andre Johnson, the overall lack of targets or the fact that Ryan Fizpatrick is the one throwing the ball -- I suspect all of the above -- but I wouldn't be opposed to shopping him right now.

• I thought Andrew Luck was overrated coming into the year because I didn't think the Colts would allow him to throw so much. Now that I've been proven wrong, here are my top five quarterbacks: Peyton Manning, Brees, Luck, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers and -- OK, a bonus sixth -- Philip Rivers.

• You can forget about Shonn Greene. If the Titans ever develop a consistent running game, he won't be a major part of it.

• I wish I could say the same for Trent Richardson with the Colts, but the heart wants what it wants. Ahmad Bradshaw has become a staple for me in FanDuel with his ever-low salary, but the Colts' fixation with Richardson could quickly put an end to that. Bradshaw, through no fault of his own, came dangerously close to giving me bupkis Sunday.

• If you haven't cut Justin Hunter yet, please do.

• Though I'd like to see him actually finish a game, Cam Newton has been a fairly efficient passer this season, completing a high percentage of his throws for about as many yards per attempt as Luck. He can't run like he used to on a bad ankle, but if he keeps throwing like he has, he'll see better results, especially with the emergence of Kelvin Benjamin. I'm not giving up on him, at least as a backup.

• All the media outlets liked to play the revenge angle with Steve Smith's monster performance against the Panthers -- and Smith didn't exactly discourage it -- but the fact is he's been that good just about every week this season, ranking third among wide receivers with 42 targets and delivering three 100-yard games already. Can you say must-start?

• Incidentally, despite scoring his first touchdown, Torrey Smith had only three targets on a day when Joe Flacco threw the ball 31 times. He has eight catches in four games and may not be beyond dropping if you're feeling a roster crunch.

• By cannibalizing one another's opportunities, Justin Forsett and Lorenzo Taliaferro are only making it easier for the Ravens to go back to Bernard Pierce when he's fully recovered from a thigh injury. Or maybe they'll end up with a running back situation much like the Saints'. Either way, I'm not investing much in either right now.

• Golden Tate gave us an idea what to expect from him if Calvin Johnson's ankle continues to bother him. At least for the short term, I like him.

• Bobby Rainey may have gotten only four carries to Doug Martin's 14, but there's no way I'm letting go of him after what Martin did with those carries. The touchdown was nice, but he's now averaging just 3.4 yards per carry since the start of last season.

• I'm beginning to have some concerns about Vincent Jackson. New quarterback Mike Glennon clearly preferred Mike Evans to him and then turned to Louis Murphy after Evans went down. Jackson also has a perpetual case of the dropsies, tying with Victor Cruz for the NFL lead.

• Antonio Brown, you're my hero.

• I'd like to get more excited about Heath Miller's 10 catches, but we've seen him do it in spurts before. He had two eight-catch games over a span of three weeks last year, remember? Same old, same old.

• Lamar Miller's two touchdowns were encouraging to see, but with Knowshon Moreno talking like he could be back in Week 6, his time as the go-to running back in Miami may be nearing an end. With the Dolphins on bye in Week 5, I'd be shopping Miller right now.

• Of Andre Holmes' 12 targets in Week 4, seven came in the little more than a quarter of play with Matt McGloin under center -- the same quarterback responsible for Holmes' 136-yard performance on Thanksgiving Day last year. It's a match made in Black Hole heaven and reason enough to put in a claim for Holmes if you don't mind taking on a little risk in the hope of greater upside. Derek Carr is going to be out for a while.

• But make sure you've picked up Eddie Royal first. I mean, that's just common sense at this point.

• Based on the way Donald Brown ran the ball against a Jaguars defense that entered the day ranked 32nd against the run, I've decided the Chargers are only throwing from here on out, hence my ranking of Philip Rivers earlier. OK, so maybe when Ryan Mathews returns, it changes, but only slightly.

• Thank goodness I didn't tell anyone to cut Keenan Allen.

• Er ... well, thank goodness I didn't tell anyone to cut Frank Gore.

• I'm encouraged by Colin Kaepernick's consistency but still prefer touchdown passes to rushing yards, believing them to be a better indication of an offense's design and, thus, more sustainable from week to week. In other words, I'm still ranking Nick Foles ahead of Kaepernick despite their diverging paths Sunday.

• If you buy into things like chemistry between a wide receiver and quarterback, Jarius Wright's emergence could be a direct result of the Vikings switching to Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback. The two spent plenty of time on the field together in the presesaon. I'm still prioritizing Royal and Holmes over him, though.

• I wouldn't say I'm buying into Bridgewater himself -- not because I doubt his ability, but because I doubt I'll have reason to start him with quarterback being as deep as it is. I can make better use of a roster spot in a 12-team league. Anything deeper is a different story.

• If I owned Matt Asiata in Fantasy, I'd be thankful for what he's already given me and wouldn't hold out for much more. The Falcons defense had more than a little something to do with his three touchdowns Sunday, and rookie Jerick McKinnon looked way more explosive with a nearly equal number of carries.

• Something about Devin Hester's performance makes me think Harry Douglas is still going to matter in Fantasy. If he was healthy, the majority of those targets likely would have gone to him.

• Terrance Williams certainly answered the question of whether or not he deserves to be on your roster (see my post from Sept. 25), but given the Cowboys' reliance on the running game this year, I'm still skeptical Tony Romo will have enough games where he's able to sustain both Williams and Dez Bryant while still giving Jason Witten and DeMarco Murray their usual share of the targets. And if that's the case, Bryant will come out ahead nine times out of 10.