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.
What follows is a brief look at all the games with how I'd react in my own lineups to injury developments or other news. The official rankings are the ones in the Weekly. Those are the ones that subscribers are paying for. Sometimes players are very close in the rankings, and if I get questions like that, I'll offer opinions. Sometimes I like certain players more or less than Ian, and sometimes I have different risk tolerance with injuries/weather issues, etc.
Saints at Bills: There's a slight chance of snow in the morning, a reminder that we're getting to that time of year. But nothing that should cause you to start or sit players you'd otherwise be using or not. Bills won't have Zay Jones, so don't build your Week 10 lineup around him. Hoping Mark Ingram gets a little more of the production this week, but Alvin Kamara looks a little better right now. Maybe this is the week Michael Thomas gets in the end zone. I'll keep saying it until it happens.
Packers at Bears: I was feeling pretty good about having Ty Montgomery early on, and THEN about scoring Aaron Jones in a blind-bidding situation. Now they're both holding down spots on my bench and I don't want to use either one. Montgomery is the one I'd consider this week. Jones blew a pass protection last week, but the two passes Brett Hundley flailed his way were poor, so I feel like he kind of got a raw deal here. Panicking Packers. Jordan Howard your best bet in this game, for either team. I think I'm benching Jordy Nelson for somebody like Austin Seferian-Jenkins, that's where we're at right now with Green Bay's passing game.
Browns at Lions: Welp. You have to go well down the rankings to find a Browns starter at any position, so that should take care of any of those questions. With Detroit, they prefer to pass it and the Browns are good at stopping the run, so the Lion to avoid is Ameer Abdullah if you can. And that's not a really painful choice. Not sure we could rank Jones and Tate much higher, but fewer raised eyebrows than early in the season.
Steelers at Colts: I'm making the maybe bold move of starting the Steelers defense over the Jaguars defense. Trusting the rankings, even though Jacksonville's D has been gold this season. We'll see. I like the Steelers offense a lot in this game, but no Colts except Jack Doyle. Tough to sit down T.Y. Hilton if you've got him, but expectations should be modest. If Ben Roethlisberger is going to throw multiple touchdowns on the road at some point again this year, here's the game.
Chargers at Jaguars: Both of these teams are weak defending the run. The Jaguars don't want to pass, and the Chargers don't want to pass against Jacksonville's elite pass defense. So there should be a lot of Gordon and Fournette, and I personally am sitting down the likes of Rivers and Keenan Allen for guys like Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jason Witten. Jacksonville has Marqise Lee playing well, but Chargers will need to stop the run for that passing game to do much.
Jets at Buccaneers: Ah, the fun Josh McCown versus Ryan Fitzpatrick matchup. Bucs seem to be a total dumpster fire right now and with Mike Evans suspended, hard to feel totally confident about using anyone on the team. I am using Fitzpatrick in a league, Jets give up a lot of TDs through the air, and we've got Cameron Brate ranked very favorably. Jets won't have Matt Forte, so Bilal Powell main back and Elijah McGuire also an option -- somebody to pick up, definitely, with indications the Forte injury is a down-the-road concern. Robby Anderson and Austin Seferian-Jenkins look like the main pass catchers.
Bengals at Titans: My favorite options here are A.J. Green for the Bengals and the Titans defense, plus both tight ends. Tennessee wide receivers are an iffier bunch since there are a lot involved. The Titans should use a committee at running back, so neither one makes it terribly high in the rankings, but both are options. I've kind of given up on Joe Mixon, though at least there's no Jeremy Hill getting the ceremonial start this week.
Vikings at Washington: In my dynasty league a few weeks ago, three quarterbacks were added. 1. Brett Hundley. 2. C.J. Beathard. 3. Teddy Bridgewater. Looks like the No. 3 choice was the best one. As for this game, two pretty good defenses, so not a high-scoring game. Some interest in the Minnesota wideouts, and Kirk Cousins. But Jamison Crowder and Jordan Reed are both questionable, so tough to feel much confidence in using a Washington receiver (i.e., Vernon Davis looks good IF Reed inactive, not as good if otherwise). Jerick McKinnon best running back option.
Texans at Rams:Houston's defense has fallen apart with its various personnel losses, so thumbs up on the Rams. For Houston, I think you can use Lamar Miller and DeAndre Hopkins, but I can't trust Will Fuller with Tom Savage at quarterback. High on all Rams receivers, Goff and Gurley too.
Cowboys at Falcons: So no Elliott. If you've been hanging onto Alfred Morris, well, this is the time to use him. (Typo in the Friday night update; where it says "Week 15-16" in the Elliott text it should say "Week 14-15.") I have Elliott in a league and am saving him out of the prospect of having him available in Week 16, even though no guarantees I'll be playing then (but I feel good about it). Dez Bryant should play, I'm a little nervous, will be watching the Sunday morning reports. Am hoping this is the week for Matt Ryan to have the big game he nearly had last week.
Giants at 49ers: Not sure what to think of this one. The only really compelling Niner is Carlos Hyde, even with the Giants playing lousy defense all year. For the Giants, I'm using Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard, in a couple of cases both of them in the same league. But I also have Orleans Darkwa, and am wondering whether I should use Darkwa in the flex over Shepard. Certainly possible Darkwa goes for 100 yards and a TD against this lousy defense. I place no stock in the idea of the Giants benching Eli Manning at any point. For Geno Smith? Please. I'm recommending Eli over some other QBs, like Philip Rivers this week.
Patriots at Broncos: The league has had some crummy luck with putting bad teams on primetime this year. But is it really that shocking that the Broncos offense is bad and that the Dolphins are a dull, crummy team to watch? Denver didn't have a good quarterback situation, we knew that. Miami wasn't going to be fun to watch even with Tannehill. And this is their third straight week as a spotlight game! As for this one, my initial lean was to very well downgrade all Patriots. But the Broncos just gave up 51 in Philadelphia, so how far can you really drop Tom Brady and company? No Chris Hogan, so I kind of like Amendola (who should play), not quite as much Brandin Cooks (who will see the toughest coverage). No desire to wade into either running back situation, although C.J. Anderson might be OK.
Dolphins at Panthers: Think I already covered the ugliness of the Dolphins' presence in this one. Carolina's defense is really good and I want no part of Miami's running game. I like DeVante Parker but Miami has three good wideouts, and Jay Cutler at quarterback. For Carolina, there's Cam Newton and Devin Funchess and Christian McCaffrey, and appealing options dry up after that. Probably a lower-scoring game, if you need less reason to watch.
Enjoy the games.
--Andy Richardson