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.
A note: answers might be slightly delayed today, but I will get to questions eventually.
Bucs at Falcons: A little stressed about Matt Ryan having benched Philip Rivers in favor of him on Thanksgiving. Don't let me down. But the Falcons really ought to be good in this game. Devonta Freeman is out again, so it should be Tevin Coleman's in close to a full-time role. The Bucs defense hasn't tended to travel well, something a win in Miami doesn't really alter. Not overly interested in the Bucs beyond Mike Evans.
Browns at Bengals: Bengals have rolled up big points in most recent games in this series, but that's why they play the games -- would anyone really be surprised if the Bengals were to suddenly lay an egg? Realistically though, Dalton and Green and Kroft should be great, and maybe Joe Mixon will start to look like an NFL running back; he hasn't so far. Browns ground game is their best chance for success, though I think I'm using Corey Coleman somewhere, since he's produced in both healthy games this year, and against better Pittsburgh and Jacksonville secondaries, too.
Titans at Colts: Jacoby Brissett has cleared the concussion protocol with plenty of time to start against this suspect pass defense and put up good numbers with T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle. Might make sense for the Colts to feature Marlon Mack the rest of the way, but instead it will probably remain mostly Frank Gore (and the Titans have played the run well). Colts defense has also been better than expected, but no reason to shy away from the Titans offense. It looks like Rishard Matthews (hamstring) might sit out, which helps Corey Davis and Eric Decker. Important game for Tennessee.
Bills at Kansas City: Starting to believe the Chargers can rise up and steal this division (which probably means they'll lose to Cleveland next week). Kansas City should do whatever it wants against a Bills team that has eerily sabotaged its own season with inexplicable trades and benchings along the way. But I'll sign off on LeSean McCoy. For Kansas City, this is the week Kareem Hunt gets in the end zone again.
Dolphins at Patriots: So Jarvis Landry has a nice history in this matchup, and the Patriots have been pretty soft against the run, so either Kenyan Drake or Damien Williams will likely be usable. But in an even committee, tough to guess which one, and it's seldom ideal to start running backs on teams that should get the snot beaten out of them. Like Miami this week. Lewis and Burkhead seem like the best running backs to use, and the Patriots passing game -- Cooks Gronk Amendola. Fun game to watch if you're a Patriots fan. No Jay Cutler, it'll be Matt Moore, as expected.
Panthers at Jets: Reasonable enough matchup for Carolina, with the Jets nothing special on defense. Newton, McCaffrey, Funchess, and I guess Greg Olsen, though maybe there's some rust to shake off there. For the Jets, it's a tough matchup. Carolina very strong defending the run, and not bad against the pass. Not a great week to stream Jets, though I'm using Austin Seferian-Jenkins.
Bears at Eagles: Carson Wentz is another guy I benched Philip Rivers for this week; he's got some pressure to live up to. But Wentz has been so good, and the Bears D has been mediocre enough at home, that I'm feeling OK with it. Eagles might lay an egg eventually (no pun intended) but they just feel like a steamroller. Good luck starting an Eagles running back though. I'm benching Jordan Howard, just hard to see the Bears offense doing much at all, especially with conventional runs. Zach Ertz owes us a big game, I think.
Seahawks at 49ers: 49ers are sticking with C.J. Beathard, which is fine. I never really cared for them trading for Jimmy Garoppolo in the first place, and I guess it's a tough offense to learn and blahdy blah. Yes maybe I'm bitter because I used my waiver spot on Beathard in dynasty. In any case, Seattle's secondary is really banged-up, too bad the Niners don't have any viable receivers unless you're hoping Goodwin or Robinson hits on a long bomb -- not a great fantasy strategy for most. Starting Carlos Hyde. For Seattle, I hope you don't need me to tell you that believing in Thomas Rawls or Eddie Lacy is a bad idea far more often than it's good. San Francisco run defense is pretty bad but my team won't be the one to pick up Rawls and hope he doesn't disappoint. J.D. McKissic is the one I'd use, though I prefer the passing game.
Saints at Rams: This might be the fantasy game of the week, with lots of big names on both sides. Weather should be beautiful, offenses are great, defenses give up plenty of production against good offensive players. No Robert Woods, so you can rank Cooper Kupp and Sammy Watkins a little higher. Big NFL game, too.
Jaguars at Cardinals: Word came down this week that we're probably not going to see David Johnson or Carson Palmer again. We probably shouldn't see much value out of Arizona's offense, either. I'm starting Larry Fitzgerald somewhere because he's been so good for so long, but tough matchup. No other Cardinals interest me. For Jacksonville, the Cardinals defense hasn't been that great, and it's energy level will probably be down what with the towel being more or less thrown in on the season. Fournette should be good, Marqise Lee gets Patrick Peterson, Jacksonville Defense gets Blaine Gabbert. No Jalen Ramsey, he injured a hand in practice, that's unfortunate, but a plus for Arizona's passing game overall. Though I'm not sure anyone's looking to use Jaron Brown or J.J. Nelson.
Broncos at Raiders: Brand new quarterback matched up with brand new defensive coordinator. I really want to pick up the Oakland Defense and use them, but a team not intercepting a pass by Week 12 kind of gives you pause. I'm intrigued to see if Paxton Lynch is any good but not expecting much. I suppose C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker merit some consideration. For the Raiders, tough matchup against a defense that's still pretty strong (games against Eagles and Patriots notwithstanding).
Packers at Steelers: One of these teams is really good and cruising to a likely divisional title and first-round bye. The other is the Packers, who've made a nice career for Ted Thompson even though his major claim to fame was being fortunate enough that 20-some odd teams passed on Aaron Rodgers back in 2005. Building a roster that's not competitive whenever that quarterback isn't available isn't anything to be really proud of. Oh yeah, JuJu Smith-Schuster is out with a hamstring injury, a plus for Martavis Bryant. I'd start him, and of course Brown, Roethlisberger and LeVeon Bell. No interest in Jamaal Williams or pretty much any Packers who are in uniform. Or watching this one-sided eyesore.
Texans at Ravens: As so often seems to be the case with primetime matchups this year, you wonder how this happens. Maybe it'd be fun if Deshaun Watson were available, but instead we've got a great defense matched up with Tom Savage, and Baltimore's dull offense. But nice situation for your Ravens, and for Houston you probably only want to chance DeAndre Hopkins and maybe Lamar Miller despite a lesser matchup. Not a lot of star power here, though. Will Fuller will be out again.
Enjoy the games.
--Andy Richardson