Every Saturday morning, I'll take a quick look at all the week's games, offering my own take on what I think will happen, as well as touching on significant injury news since our Weekly came out. I'll check in every so often over the course of the day to answer questions, too.
A rainy Saturday here on the East Coast, so what better time to talk some football. I admit to getting kind of reeled in to the debate in Ian's Mailbag about whether it's OK to bench a player to protect a lead rather than risking negative points. I can see both sides of the argument (it's what I do), but I feel like you should be able to make any decision you want as long as it's in the interest of winning. Start a defense on a bye or bench someone rather than risk negative points and a loss? Hey, my team, my strategy.
In the leagues I manage, incidentally, I have the settings so that there are no negative points for things like missed field goals, interceptions, or fumbles. To me it seems unfair, especially when so much is arbitrary. A Hail Mary at the end of the half doesn't penalize the NFL team if it's picked off, so why should it hurt a fantasy team? If a player fumbles, negative points or not come down to which team falls on the bouncing ball. Eli Manning's end-zone interception on a pass to Rueben Randle a week ago was a fine throw (so was Charlie Whitehurst's to Justin Hunter). Why should those quarterbacks, and any fantasy team curiously starting either player, be punished?
OK, enough of that. On to the games.
Bears at Panthers: The key injury situation here is the Panthers' running backs. I don't want to start any of them but think I might be trying Darrin Reaves in one running-back thin league, because he's the best bet for carries. But Fozzy Whittaker and Chris Ogbonna...Ogbonnay...uh, not gonna be working here anymore.... are also possibilities. Neither defense has been good lately.
Texans at Cowboys: Sounds like Arian Foster is playing, so you can't use Alfred Blue. Foster, he's a guy probably best to use in PPR leagues, since you can get some decent numbers even if he split carries and runs for 40-50 yards or something. No other noteworthy injuries. This might have been a decent week to pick Dallas in the suicide pool, but I didn't.
Bills at Lions: Kyle Orton is in, which makes Sammy Watkins slightly more appealing. Detroit won't have Joique Bell or Theo Riddick, so I think Reggie Bush should get a full workload. Though I'm going to go snag George Winn in my dynasty league for the hell of it. There, done. Calvin Johnson is the tricky player here, but I expect I'd use him if I had him. He should be out there doing more than he did last week. Should.
Ravens at Colts: Maybe this is where the Colts offense slows down. Andrew Luck and Ahmad Bradshaw and perhaps the top two wideouts are OK to use. Colts are using three tight ends, so I wouldn't start any. Pretty much similar story with the Ravens running backs. I opted for Jerick McKinnon over Taliaferro in one league, which probably won't work out for me, but that's how picked over the running backs are in that league.
Steelers at Jaguars: Jacksonville doesn't seem to know what it's doing on defense, so I'd start all the Steelers I can. Pittsburgh's defense isn't particularly good, either, so Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns, and Clay Harbor have spots in some of my lineups. Harbor in particular after he caught 8 passes last week. No thank you to Jaguars' runners.
Bucs at Saints: Made the Saints my suicide pool pick. They've got to get things together this week. I like their passing game more than their ground game. Hurry back, Mark Ingram. For the Bucs, I would only want to try Doug Martin and Vincent Jackson, otherwise forget it.
Falcons at Giants: Atlanta's entire offensive line has been replaced, if you needed a reason not to use one of their running backs. Roddy White says he's going to score this week and Julio Jones might be the league's best wideout, so those guys and Matt Ryan have interest. For New York, well, they're home against a bad defense. Rashad Jennings, Larry Donnell, Victor Cruz, maybe Rueben Randle.
Rams at Eagles: My wife's suicide pool pick. Surely the Eagles will bounce back this week at home against the Rams, right? I also picked up the Eagles Defense for a spot start. Gotta trust my rankings. Am hoping Stedman Bailey does something so my dynasty hold proves worthwhile. No injuries of note unless you count Tavon Austin. Should we?
Browns at Titans: The big one. I've got West in one league and Crowell in another. I kind of think Crowell will be the better player, but neither can reasonably be used unless Ben Tate is inactive. Which sounds possible. Definitely don't use Tate, but I wouldn't want to use the others if Tate is active. A shame because the matchup is fine. I think the Browns win this game.
Cardinals at Broncos: Two teams coming off a bye facing each other, always a little unusual. I think. Cardinals won't have Carson Palmer. Broncos won't have Matt Prater, evermore. I am using Andre Ellington. Cardinals defense has been better than expected, but here's the ultimate test. Will be interesting to see how big Wes Welker's role is in this game.
Jets at Chargers: Maybe the Jets can run the ball and control this game. San Diego's defense is ordinary. But I'm betting on San Diego's passing game. Not using Donald Brown. Would use Keenan Allen and consider Antonio Gates.
Kansas City at 49ers: San Francisco isn't certain to have Vernon Davis. KC won't have Donnie Avery. I think that's basically it. Interesting game between two teams who were supposed to have really slipped this year but haven't shown it so far.
Bengals at Patriots: Suspect the Patriots will bounce back in this game, but respect the Bengals enough that the only New England players I'm using are Edelman, Vereen, and Gronkowski. No Tom Brady. For Cincinnati, I like A.J. Green and Giovani Bernard, and that be it. No Marvin Jones, so Mohamed Sanu is a dice roll if you subscribe to the idea that New England will have success taking away Cincinnati's best player, Green.
Seahawks at Washington: Washington's secondary is pretty inept, so here's a week to go with Percy Harvin, maybe Russell Wilson too. Marshawn Lynch should be fine although Washington slightly better against the run. I wouldn't want to use any Washington players. They've got the tight end issue, don't know how you can safely consider either Reed or Paul this week. I've been holding Reed in one league, so it would be nice to see him back out there healthy.
Enjoy the games.
--Andy Richardson
