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.
Our official rankings and projections are in Fantasy Index Weekly. That's the content you're paying for. My goal here is to answer questions on players who are close, and on occasion I will have opinions that clash with the rankings -- sometimes I like a player a little more than Ian. Or a little less.
Steelers at Ravens: I had it in my head that whenever these teams play the final score is 23-20. So I looked it up, and found that five of the last seven meetings have had scores of 23-20, 23-20, 20-17, 22-20 and 19-17. So yeah, that's the kind of game I'm looking for. Sounds like Steve Smith will return. Players I'm using include Bell, Brown, Pitta, Wallace, and that's about it. As discussed in the Weekly we're a little wary of Roethlisberger.
Cowboys at Browns: Browns starting Cody Kessler. I'm not picking an upset here, BUT I do see it as a possible letdown game for Dallas; they aren't gonna go 15-1. But I love Elliott and Bryant against this sorry defense. I just think maybe the Brown make a game of it. Maybe. Starting Crowell, I think, who's been a pretty nice player this year.
Jaguars at Kansas City: This is one of my two Survivor Pool picks. What's worrying is the Jaguars just changed coordinators, so maybe they get a brief little bump out of that, and Kansas City is starting its third-string running back (Charcandrick West, who I wish I hadn't dropped in most leagues a month ago) and backup quarterback. Still, love West and like KC to win. Jaguars I'm using Hurns, Robinson, Thomas, mostly because there are no better options. Maclin is questionable for Kansas City -- as if anyone needs another reason to bench the disappointing Maclin.
Jets at Dolphins: I don't actually have Jay Ajayi anywhere. If I did, it would be hard to bench a player coming off back-to-back 200-yard rushing games, even against the league's best run defense. Maybe he busts a long run, or the ball ends up on the 1-yard line after a penalty (like with Isaiah Crowell last week). But not a great matchup. Like the passing game a lot more. Matt Forte should be great. Brandon Marshall and Quincy Enunwa look fine. Loser in last place in the AFC East, so kind of a big game.
Lions at Vikings: Vikings defense has taken on water after loss to Chicago, but it's still great, it's home, and the Lions are one-dimensional. I'm not using any Detroit players except maybe Marvin Jones and Eric Ebron, but neither one happily. Theo Riddick in PPR, I guess, though he showed up on the injury report as questionable, so we'll see. Basically not excited about Detroit and avoiding them where I can. For Minnesota, there's Rudolph and Diggs and that's about it. McKinnon may or may not return, no interest in him or Asiata anyway.
Eagles at Giants: I don't have a great feel for this game; I haven't had a great feel for the Eagles all year. They were actually fairly impressive in their loss at Dallas (I'd expected they'd lose easily; lost in OT). Nothing would surprise me here. Giants offense hasn't looked great and I don't know if they know what they're doing at running back. Eagles will use a committee at running back and seem to have one decent receiver. I have nothing to add beyond the rankings, go with those.
Panthers at Rams: Carolina is going to get things rolling any day now. I like their offense fine in this matchup, Newton and Stewart and Benjamin and Olsen. For the Rams, well, Carolina's pass defense has been pretty bad all season. Almost like they should have worked things out with Josh Norman or something. Whatever. Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt have some value in what should be a higher-scoring game, though I can't fully get behind Case Keenum. Todd Gurley still a starter for most teams. What can you do, just hope he gets a few chances near the goal line.
Saints at 49ers: Is the Saints defense bad enough to make Colin Kaepernick look like a viable NFL quarterback? We'll see. Probably not, and you can't rule out an in-game switch at some point. As for players of greater fantasy value, I think you can use both Saints running backs, all three wideouts and of course Drew Brees. For San Francisco, if no Hyde I'm casting my lot with DuJuan Harris. Said out loud that doesn't sound too great, but better him than a receiver. Shootout and I can't see the 49ers keeping up for long.
Colts at Packers: Speaking of shootouts. I made the Packers the pick in my main Survivor Pool. Guess I just had a feeling that at home against a bad defense they'd score in the 30s at least and win by 10 points. Doesn't sound good for Randall Cobb, but Nelson-Adams and probably Janis should be fine, with Ty Montgomery handling most backfield/slot receiver duties.
Titans at Chargers: Some discussion to making the Chargers a Survivor pick. They're better than their record with some talent on both sides of the ball. But what if the Titans just run and run and run? They were just blowing Jacksonville off the ball last week and I think they can run on San Diego, too. I might be grudgingly using Derrick Henry somewhere, but it's not a safe choice by any means. Running backs hard to come by in that league. Sounds like Tyrell Williams is fine, Hunter Henry not, and Travis Benjamin expected to play through a knee injury -- not a player I'd happily use.
Broncos at Raiders: My young son loves the Broncos, and he takes their games very seriously. As in, when the other team picks up a first down he gets upset and yells at them. On the one hand, I remember being a passionate fan about an NFL team when I was younger, so in a way I'm kind of happy he cares. On the other hand, other teams are going to get first downs on occasion! Whatever, I like it better when the Broncos aren't the night game, because we get into the "time to go to bed" discussion, and try to time it after a good series, not a bad one. Where was I? Oh yeah, don't like the Raiders passing game, even though no Aqib Talib for Denver. Not sure I'd bench Cooper or Crabtree for just anyone, but I'm not rushing to start them either. Broncos offense looks OK, except Trevor Siemian has proven to be about as mediocre as you'd expect of late (not the early-season star he was at first). Should be a good game, just maybe lower-scoring (like both games last year).
Bills at Seahawks: LeSean McCoy, if he plays, is in my lineup; I'm thinking he'll be fine. And so I can't use Mike Gillislee, oh well. In fact, I will not be using any other Bills, at all, pretty much the rest of the season I imagine. I expect the Seahawks to win, but it will probably be a lower-scoring affair -- Seahawks have not proven they can just march up and down the field like they were late last season.
I'll check back in over the course of the day to answer questions. Enjoy the games.