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Week 6 Rankings: Standard | PPR

Matchups and home/road splits weigh heavy in the minds of Fantasy owners, but how do they apply to the top offenses in the league?

Generally speaking, I don't bench my studs. That will be tested in Week 6 with the Falcons in Seattle and the Steelers trying to prove that they can be just as elite in road games against a putrid Dolphins team.

Speaking of putrid, Tom Brady and the Patriots didn't skip a beat in their trouncing of the lowly Browns, but what happens when the level of competition stiffens? Surely someone is getting squeezed out.

I'll tell you who and cover the top stories of the weekend, but first, let's start with Week 6 games in a tweet:

Top QBs returning to great matchups.

Carson Palmer and Cam Newton both missed Week 5 with concussions and they're both returning Week 6 to favorable conditions. Newton is a clear start and arguably the No. 1 quarterback this week in a matchup with the Saints in the Superdome.

Last year in New Orleans Newton threw for 331 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for 49 yards as well. The year before, Newton threw for 226 yards and three scores but also ran for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Carson Palmer is a slightly different story as he has been less than his 2015 self when he's been healthy. Still, the Jets secondary provides a great matchup. I'm starting Palmer with confidence and expect him to get healthy figuratively as well.

Jamaal Charles says he's taking off the training wheels.

I was able to be excited about this for about 24 hours. Then ...

So we're right back where we started, with no idea how to rank Charles and Spencer Ware. No one has any reason to feel confident in projecting playing time but I see Charles somewhere in the 40-60 percent range in terms of touches this week. For me that's enough to rank him as a No. 2 running back against a great matchup. Ware is more of a borderline No. 2 or flex option but it's possible that both Chiefs backs could be good against this defense.

Ezekiel Elliott faces his toughest challenge yet.

Elliott has been phenomenal this season but he hasn't faced a test like this Packers run defense. The Packers are allowing 2.0 YPC and have only given up one touchdown on the ground. Their numbers look even better if you only consider designed runs with the running back.

On the flip side, the Packers haven't faced a test like Ezekiel Elliott. They've faced Rashad Jennings, T.J. Yeldon, Theo Riddick and a partial game from Adrian Peterson. It's certainly possible they get exposed as merely good instead of great.

Either way I think the pressure is on Dak Prescott. He has done a phenomenal job of managing games but it will be interesting to see him in a hostile environment if the running game can't get going. Prescott has only been forced to throw more than 32 times once this season and that was by far his least efficient game.

Dez Bryant would help, but if the Packers bottle up Elliott I'd expect the first interception of the Prescott Era and the Packers DST to be a solid start in Fantasy.

One more week of doubting Falcons.

Benching your Falcons worked for the most part in Week 5 against the Broncos. The running backs were still really good, but I don't trust in the way Tevin Coleman is producing Fantasy points. You just can't have the little volume he does and be a consistent success, especially against a defense like the Seahawks.

Matt Ryan was OK considering the defense he faced but I would bench him again this week. The Seahawks have been the league's best against quarterbacks and I don't believe they'll be as susceptible to pass-catching RBs as the Broncos were. I'd rather start streamers like Brian Hoyer, Alex Smith and Marcus Mariota.

The one Falcon I wouldn't ever recommend benching is Julio Jones. Yes, he was bad in Week 5 but a lot of that was due to game script. I expect the Seahawks to come out firing early on offense and I don't believe the Seahawks will be able to hold him in check for an entire game.

Do the Steelers stumble on the road?

Listen, the Steelers are one of the best offenses in the NFL. The Dolphins are quite clearly one of the worst teams in the NFL. This should be a blowout. But there are those pesky Steelers road stats to consider.

In his career, Ben Roethlisberger has thrown 42 more touchdowns at home and 13 more interceptions on the road. That continued last year and early in 2016 with his QB rating being nearly 40 points lower in road games. Not even Antonio Brown is immune to this trend.

I'm not saying you should bench your Steelers -- far from it. Well, maybe Sammie Coates, depending on what we hear about his hand. But this is a major factor in DFS, where the Steelers studs are found near the top of the price range.

Colin Kaepernick makes his first start of 2016.

I mean, it's not like you haven't heard plenty about Kaepernick already this year. Now you'll actually get to see him on the field. But will it matter?

Chris Towers wrote about Kaepernick this week and discussed how much more the 49ers are running read option than they did in 2015. You would have to guess this will only increase with Kaepernick under center. I don't know what his presence will mean for the passing game but I expect a positive impact in the running game. This should be a small boost to Carlos Hyde and there's a chance Kaepernick becomes a startable option in two-quarterback leagues.

As for the wide receivers, I've cooled on Jeremy Kerley. I want to see the target distribution with a new quarterback under center. If anyone gets a boost from this it should be Torrey Smith. Smith has been a non-factor but Kaepernick may look deep more often than Gabbert did, and Smith still has the ability to beat the defense deep -- especially when they're preoccupied with the running game.

Does the squeaky wheel get oiled?

This wasn't the first week we saw Alshon Jeffery get overlooked in the passing game but we did get a more public reaction out of the Bears' star receiver. And who could blame him?

Jeffery has been no higher than third in the pecking order since Hoyer took over at quarterback. He was out-targeted by Kevin White before he got hurt and by Cameron Meredith, Zach Miller and Eddie Royal in the last three weeks. He has every right to be furious.

The squeaky wheel theory holds that when a receiver shows frustration with a lack of targets one week he generally gets fed the next week. I'm giving Jeffery one more week in my top 12 receivers but if he doesn't see an uptick this week he'll free fall in my rankings. The upside is huge if he's targeted like a No. 1 receiver again. Let's hope he is.

The Patriots face an NFL team.

No offense to the Browns ... oh, what am I saying? Of course I mean offense to the Browns. Listen, Cleveland got a championship from the Cavs and their Indians are in the ALCS, they can deal with the Browns.

It's not that I don't believe the Patriots are one of the best teams in the league, but I want to see Brady and this offense function against a competent defense. The Bengals have really struggled against the run and against inside wide receivers. Does that mean it's a LeGarrette Blount and Julian Edelman game?

This is going to be a frustrating offense if they don't score 35 points a game. This week I'd bet on Chris Hogan getting squeezed out, at least.

The obvious shootout in the Superdome, but where else?

Injuries and bye weeks have you down? Turn to these games for instant points. You already know to start the studs so I will focus on the lower-end guys.

Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints: With Jonathan Stewart back I'm not really excited by any of the Panthers running backs. In fact, the only Panther I'd consider as a borderline play is Ted Ginn. Ginn is a boom/bust play but it's alway nice to know that a guy could score 12 points in one play.

On the Saints side I consider Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead pretty close to must-starts and I don't hate Michael Thomas as a flex. We may not get a good grip on the shares of this passing game for a while, so for now they're all in play. Even Coby Fleener could be used as a streaming tight end.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Oakland Raiders: I'm fading the Raiders running backs unless I'm really desperate. There are just too many questions as to how they'll be used. On the Chiefs side, Ware is right in that same range but I'm rolling with Charles. If you're looking for a super-deep sleeper take a look at Tyreek Hill. With Hill's speed and the Raiders' poor secondary play, a big play may be in order.

Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans: This is the game where you can really find value. Frustrated with Lamar Miller? He'll get healthy against this defense? Struggling with your No. 2 running back? Ageless wonder Frank Gore should be solid. I also love Will Fuller as the Texans receiver most likely to not be covered by Vontae Davis. The Colts have been outstanding against No. 1 wide receivers but the rest of their corners are not good. The one borderline guy I would not start in this game is Dwayne Allen. The Texans have been the stingiest in the league against tight ends this year.

Cardinals wide receivers vs. maybe the worst secondary in the league.

The weekend ends with a talented receiving corps against one of the worst secondaries in football. I hope we've gotten to the point where you know you're starting Larry Fitzgerald. But the other Cardinals receivers could be really interesting this week. The Jets don't have any cornerbacks that grade well on ProFootballFocus and the Cardinals have plenty of receivers who could take advantage of them.

John Brown has solidified his role as the Cardinals' No.2 wide receiver and is a solid No. 2 Fantasy receiver overall for me this week. Brown has great speed and should have an excellent chance to get behind this defense for one of those long touchdowns the Jets have been so adept at surrendering.

Finally, I know a lot of you dropped Michael Floyd and I don't blame you. But against this secondary either he or Jaron Brown could be a very sneaky flex play in a deep league. I don't believe the Cardinals have completely given up on Floyd and still expect him to have a hot streak at some point this season.