Every Saturday morning, I'll take a quick look at all the week's games, offering my own brief take on what I think will happen, as well as touching on significant injury news since our Weekly came out. I'll check in 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 take precedence. But sometimes players are very close, and in those cases I'm glad to offer opinions on how I'd approach those situations. Sometimes I like certain players more or less than Ian, and sometimes I have different risk tolerance with injuries etc.
Bills vs. Jaguars across the pond: A reminder, this game starts at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday. Not sure why they have the Jaguars playing here in back to back weeks. Team preference (get the international travel over with)? Anyway, one theory is they'll have an advantage over Buffalo, another is they'll be pretty wiped out from two England games in a week. I feel like in general scoring might be down a little here, certainly it's a tough matchup for Jacksonville's offense, and they've been a little off anyway. For Buffalo I like the big names but don't think it will be like last week.
Texans at Falcons: The Falcons have been more vulnerable to the pass than the run to this point. So we're a little higher on Dameon Pierce than the passing game components. But I think if you've been enjoying Nico Collins and perhaps C.J. Stroud, depending on who else you have, you're taking your chances. For Atlanta, Bijan Robinson seems to be the only sure option.
Panthers at Lions: Amon-Ra St. Brown is doubtful, and those guys almost never play. Jahmyr Gibbs is questionable, and he'd be an iffy choice even if he were fully healthy. That leaves us with David Montgomery and Sam LaPorta as sure starters. Carolina doesn't have any of those types of players, but I suppose you consider Miles Sanders and Adam Thielen. Detroit was the most popular Survivor pick in my pool this week (not my choice, and the St. Brown absence is a negative).
Titans at Colts: Anthony Richardson has moved into my starting lineup in the league I drafted him as a backup to Joe Burrow. Jonathan Taylor will probably return for this game. There are a range of possibilities for what could occur -- featured Taylor, featured Zack Moss, even committee -- and I think the latter is most likely, and against a very good run defense, so I'm avoiding both. Michael Pittman, Derrick Henry and perhaps D'Andre Hopkins are the players I'd consider.
Giants at Dolphins: This was my Survivor pick; if you can't count on the league's top scoring offense at home against the league's softest defense (leaving out the team Miami scored 70 against), what can you count on. I'll sign off on all of Miami's key starters. New York will presumably put up some points in a loss, but they've actually defied that in most games so far. Kind of need to see them do something before counting on it. Saquon Barkley is questionable. If I'd drafted him and he's active, I'd use him as ranked.
Saints at Patriots: Game should be very low-scoring. The only offensive players I'd feel particularly good about are Alvin Kamara (PPR), Hunter Henry (New England's leading receiver) and maybe Michael Thomas (because those are the throws injured Derek Carr seems comfortable making. Chris Olave is a talented guy and I realize everyone drafted him in the second round, but it's hard to feel good about using him. The defenses look promising.
Ravens at Steelers: Oh joy, another low-scoring game. Every week we get Ravens-Steelers, Ravens-Browns, Steelers-Browns or one of those teams against the current version of the Bengals. I hate the AFC North these days. Viable players...er. Gus Edwards. Lamar Jackson. Mark Andrews. Zay Flowers I suppose. Justin Tucker. Have I missed any points bonanza-type player? I doubt it. Even George Pickens is on my bench these days. Najee Harris (who again I'll note did look good last week) is iffy. It's just difficult to invest in an offense that seems likely to score only 13-17 points.
Bengals at Cardinals: I like the running backs. Marquise Brown, JaMarr Chase, and I'd consider Zach Ertz and Michael Wilson. Arizona's offense has exceeded expectations, in the same way that Cincinnati's has painfully underachieved. If you start Tee Higgins, you run the risk of taking a zero. We laid out how his game went when he played hurt a year ago. I understand your alternative might also be bad. But I'm not using Higgins.
Eagles at Rams: Should be a good, higher-scoring game. I agree with the rankings of Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. Kupp isn't ranked higher because there is some risk in him playing full-time, I think. He's ranked where he is because his upside is greater than the guys ranked behind him, and his risk is greater than those ranked ahead of him. Hope that's helpful. With his return. I'm less inclined to use Tutu Atwell or even Tyler Higbee. But I'm not sure how anyone could sit Nacua down. For the Eagles, start the usual guys and I think Dallas Goedert should have one of his better games.
Jets at Broncos: The Nathaniel Hackett angle doesn't mean much to me. Sean Payton was out of line, sure, he's said and done plenty of out of line things over the years. Hackett actually was memorably, distinctly bad as a head coach last year -- I've never seen an offense so incapable of merely getting the ball snapped before the playclock expired, 5-6 weeks into the season. In this one, it's a tough matchup for Denver's offense, and the fact that Javonte Williams might be active cools me on Jaleel McLaughlin (if Javonte is inactive with his hip/quad issue, I'm using McLauhglin). Jeudy and Sutton are possibilities. For the Jets, I like Breece Hall and would probably use Garrett Wilson, considering the matchup. But let's not get too high on Zach Wilson simply because he wasn't godawful last week.
Kansas City at Vikings: Should be a lot of yards and points in this one. Something funny about Taylor Swift. Start your key players on both teams (this doesn't include any Kansas City wideouts, too uncertain who might be the No. 1 or 2 or 3 in a given week).
Cowboys at 49ers: Game of the Week and it's the Sunday night game, very seldom does that actually work out, so yay. I'm a little nervous about using banged-up Deebo Samuel, but otherwise I'd start key Niners against Dallas's strong defense that it must be said hasn't faced a good or perhaps even mediocre offense yet. The best offense San Francisco faced, the Rams, did fine against it too. So I guess the point is don't be scared to use players in this game.
Packers at Raiders: Better offenses than defenses. I'm assuming Aaron Jones is good to go. I'm further assuming that Davante Adams will not miss this matchup. But just in case, I'd try to be lining up an alternative in this Monday game (either Meyers, or Doubs, or perhaps a player at another position in the flex) just in case. But you know Davante will do everything he can to be out there. Jimmy Garoppolo returns so at least the Raiders shouldn't take 7 sacks and fumble it a bajillion times. Josh Jacobs looked good last week and should be the clearest start here.
Enjoy the games.