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.
Viking at Falcons: I think I've underestimated the Vikings all along. This time I'm giving them enough credit that I'm sitting down Matt Ryan (for Philip Rivers) and not excited about using Devonta Freeman. For Minnesota, I'm not really sure what to expect; think you have to use Thielen and Diggs and that's it. Expecting Falcons to pull out the win, but like I said I've underestimated Minnesota.
Lions at Ravens: Not an ideal matchup for Matthew Stafford and company, but any offense they manage will come through the air, especially with Ameer Abdullah very questionable. I sat down Marvin Jones a couple of weeks ago and cost myself some money, so I won't do that any more. For Baltimore they'll cobble together some offense, but they don't have a lot of appealing options; I guess just the running backs (but three possibilities there). Huge playoff implications for both conferences.
Patriots at Bills: Upset special! Nah just kidding. Patriots will go in and do their thing. Make sure LeSean McCoy is active; if he is he'll be busy. If he's not I guess it'll be a lot of Travaris Cadet. No special insight on Rex Burkhead-Dion Lewis beyond regularly starting the wrong one. No Kelvin Benjamin. A lot of Bills personnel moves look like the guy in your league who regularly makes lousy trades.
49ers at Bears: Ah yes, Jimmy Garoppolo versus Mitchell Trubisky. Years from now I'm sure we'll look back on this as the classic battle along the lines of Favre-Young and Manning-Brady. Or not. Jordan Howard should be awesome. Hard to get terribly interested in either passing game. I'm starting Carlos Hyde in a playoff game.
Bucs at Packers: I don't have much respect for either defense so I'm starting a lot of players in this one in various spots. Going ahead and gambling on Jameis Winston, who seems to be healthy against a poor pass defense. DeSean Jackson is banged up though, Cameron Brate too. And no Doug Martin, so probably a committee of lesser running backs. Surprised to see Aaron Jones possibly back, just making it easier not to use Jamaal Williams in a flex spot (if Jones inactive, I really like Williams). Davante Adams and maybe Randall Cobb have value, Bucs defense tends to be awful on the road.
Colts at Jaguars: Not much to say here. Don't have high hopes for Colts offense, which got shutout in the home meeting six weeks ago. Things change, but not sure how you can be happy about starting any Colts. Jack Doyle in PPR looks safe enough. Jaguars should be OK and I like Fournette, but the Colts D hasn't been totally awful of late.
Broncos at Dolphins: Couple of lousy teams playing out the string. Kenyan Drake should be very good with Damien Williams out. The Dolphins receivers should be helped by Aqib Talib being out. It was so long ago that some have maybe forgot that this is Jay Cutler facing the team that drafted him. Tough to ever be enthusiastic about Cutler. For Denver the wide receivers might be OK, and I like Devontae Booker best among the running backs.
Kansas City at Jets: A lot of anger about Kareem Hunt. Kansas City's offense has fallen apart in general of late, of course, and he's just the highest profile disappointment. I think they'll be decent here but man, I thought they'd be good when they played at this very stadium against the Giants two weeks ago, and they weren't. So, yeah. Jets passing game looks fine, Kansas City offense gets a favorable matchup, that's about all you can say. If I had Hunt I'd use him.
Texans at Titans: Hard to figure how the Titans have won so many games this year while continually disappointing and frustrating fantasy teams. "We have two starting running backs," says Mike Mularkey. I guess it's better than having three like Philadelphia. Great matchup for the passing game, but Rishard Matthews won't be 100 percent. For Houston, DeAndre Hopkins should be excellent as usual, but beyond that you don't want much to do with the offense. Both defenses better against the run than pass.
Browns at Chargers: Somebody remarked last week that this is exactly the kind of spot for the Chargers to get upset. Probably not, but it's just unlikely enough that it's possible. Cleveland suddenly has two good wide receivers. But the Chargers defense is playing awfully well and is really good. Should be lots of sacks and turnovers, just hopefully they'll let the offense do some scoring (seeing as I'm counting on Philip Rivers in a couple of playoff matchups). Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry and Melvin Gordon are all in the discussion. Would I start Josh Gordon this week? I'd think about it, but this is still DeShone Kizer against a strong pass rush and secondary.
Panthers at Saints: Really big game, but I'm thinking the Saints offense will have the advantage at home. I'd rather be using Alvin Kamara than Mark Ingram; in one league I'm using both. Saints passing game looks best. For Carolina, there's a shoulder issue for Christian McCaffrey, but as long as he's active I'm thinking he'll be pretty much fine, regardless of how Ron Rivera has been hedging all week. Devin Funchess too. I want no part of Greg Olsen, though, who I think needs to get through a game healthy before I commit a lineup spot to him. Both quarterbacks should be productive, even if their main targets happen to be running backs and a single wideout.
Rams at Cardinals: So Adrian Peterson is iffy for this game. Gotta make sure he's active if you want to use him, and it's a 4 p.m. game. Nobody really would want to use Kerwynn Williams. No Robert Woods for the Rams, making Cooper Kupp more appealing (I'm using him over Sterling Shepard). Sammy Watkins probably dealing with Patrick Peterson. Starting Larry Fitzgerald, too, he owes me after last week. Though I suppose he doesn't see it that way. Rams should be better, but Arizona refuses to totally go away.
Giants at Raiders: Didn't think anything could happen in the NFL with a veteran quarterback that could make the Packers trading Brett Favre seem like less of a big deal, but benching Eli Manning for Geno Smith does the trick. No offense to Geno, who has some ability to pass the ball in a reckless, error-prone way (sort of like every other recent Jets quarterback). But I'm not expecting maximum effort or focus on the part of the Giants for their lame-duck coach, so I'm shying away from Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram, the only Giants anyone should be considering. Raiders don't have Crabtree or Cooper, so you're looking at Cook, Roberts and Patterson as Derek Carr's main options. And Marshawn Lynch should be pretty good, actually; kind of like him here.
Eagles at Seahawks: Great Sunday night game. Funny to think that Seattle is actually in danger of missing the playoffs if they don't put together a few wins. Bizarre to think that the Seahawks are actually a 5-6 point underdog at home. When has that last happened? Shocking. I think Seattle beats that spread and it's a good, fairly high-scoring game between two of the NFC's best teams. Mike Davis starts at running back for Seattle. Better than Rawls-Lacy. I'll pass on Eagles running backs, like both passing games. Thrilling Ertz-Graham matchup.
Steelers at Bengals: Antonio Brown showed up with a toe injury. I'm worried not at all about his availability for this game. Steer clear of non-A.J. Green Bengals. I know Joe Mixon comes off a big game, but better defense here by far. At least he should play close to full-time and if there is a rushing touchdown, will likely be him. But the Steeler half of things looks better. Juju Smith-Schuster returns, clouding the wideout situation for Pittsburgh.
Enjoy the games.
--Andy Richardson