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.
Texans at Panthers: Eventually the Panthers are going to win a game, probably. Home against a young team, maybe. But Carolina can't stop the run, opposing rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud isn't playing like a newbie, and Houston just seems better. But Carolina does have Adam Thielen playing out of his mind, and Miles Sanders is back healthy, so maybe. Wary of the Houston backfield, how they'll divide things between Dameon Pierce and Devin Singletary, but the matchup is favorable.
Rams at Cowboys: Cowboys defense has sometimes been lights out and sometimes looked vulnerable. I think Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua are sure starts, the running back committee (likely Darrell Henderson and Royce Freeman) a little dicier. The Cowboys offense should be pretty good. Teams are mostly healthy (other than Kyren Williams being on IR, natch).
Vikings at Packers: Aaron Jones isn't on the final injury report, suggesting he might finally be healthy. But the Vikings have played the run pretty well, so for the most part you're starting Jones, if you are, for his all-around rushing and receiving potential. But the way Green Bay's offense has struggled, hard to get too high on these players. For the Vikings, Hockenson and Addison and even Kirk Cousins -- leading the NFL in touchdown passes entering Week 8, no joke -- look good.
Saints at Colts: Zack Moss (elbow/heel, that's an unusual injury designation) didn't practice on Friday. He's questionable, but doesn't sound like he can be used. If he sits, big boost for Jonathan Taylor. For the Saints, they're getting Juwan Johnson back, increasing the chance that those who start Taysom Hill will get burned, like everyone else who's started Hill off a good week or two in the past. Saints can play pretty good defense at times, but I'd be starting Pittman and probably Josh Downs too. Chris Olave, maybe.
Patriots at Dolphins: I'm a little surprised by the point spread on this game, with Miami favored by somewhere from 8-10 points depending where you look. New England has played credible defense in most games, Miami is a little banged-up. I'm still starting their starters, but spread seems high. Not enough to get really excited about investing in a Mac Jones offense, but Kendrick Bourne and Rhamondre have some appeal. And of course regular Dolphins starters. Not chancing whoever the No. 2 running back ends up being, though.
Jets at Giants: I'm sure some clueless executive somewhere was lobbying to get this game into primetime. "We'll get DOUBLE the ratings with two New York teams!" What there probably won't be are lots of points. The running backs, the defenses, the top players (Darren Waller and Garrett Wilson) in each passing game, those are the interesting ones.
Jaguars at Steelers: Steelers have been doing it with mirrors, it's hard to figure how they've won a couple of games they've won. Jaguars are tough on the run and soft against the pass, so I'm interested in George Pickens and Diontae Johnson and steering clear of the running backs. Jacksonville's main players look fine, with the Steelers defense better in terms of opportunism than limiting offensive production.
Falcons at Titans: This game is intriguing just to see how the Titans use their young quarterbacks -- apparently they're planning to use both Will Levis and Malik Willis. As they say, when you have 2 quarterbacks, you have none (not true of the Joe Montana-Steve Young 49ers, though), but I'm interested in seeing Levis certainly, might be the team's next quarterback. Prefer not to use DeAndre Hopkins in what should be a run-heavy game plan. Falcons also risky in some respects (if they run a ton, London/Pitts et al might not do much), but I think we can at least assume they'll use Bijan as normal this week after last week's frustration.
Eagles at Commanders: This is not my Survivor pick, but I considered it. Yes the Eagles were taken to overtime by Washington in Week 4, and were upset by Washington last year. But to me that means they won't make the mistake of looking past a team they're a lot better than this time. I like the Eagles key offensive starters. I like Terry McLaurin and Logan Thomas and perhaps Curtis Samuel for the Commanders. That's about it. Cost myself a win benching Trevor Lawrence for Sam Howell last week, a mistake I won't be making again.
Browns at Seahawks: Probably lower-scoring, though I said that a week ago about Colts-Browns. I'll avoid injured Tyler Lockett, start now-healthy DK Metcalf, and consider Kareem Hunt (but would be nice if Jerome Ford was inactive, if he's playing through what's been termed a high ankle sprain, both backs iffy). Browns making the intelligent decision this week not to play a quarterback with an injured throwing shoulder, stay tuned to see how they handle their franchise passer with the fully guaranteed contract a week from now.
Ravens at Cardinals: We went the Ravens in our Survivor Pool this week. I don't love the choice, because I hate picking road teams and the Cardinals do have some talent. But in general their offense hasn't done much lately and the Ravens defense is great, so if Baltimore just shows up and takes care of the football they should be fine. (Lions at home on Monday Night football against the Raiders, coming off a one-sided loss to these Ravens, were my other choice.) Again, I'm not a professional gambler and your Survivor guesses are as good as mine, just passing along my choices. As for the game, Baltimore's starters look good, Cardinals have Hollywood Brown against his former team and Emari Demercado as their starting running back, plus Trey McBride getting all the work at tight end with Zach Ertz on IR. No Kyler Murray, btw.
Kansas City at Broncos: I was so wrong about the Broncos offense in their nightmare loss at Kansas City two weeks ago I'm not really keen to be too bold about them here. I think they'll do more (they could hardly do less) but I won't be recommending them. Kansas City's offense, use as normal, your regular starters should be in lineups.
Bengals at 49ers: Brock Purdy has to clear the concussion protocol to play. We should find out today, otherwise it will be Sam Darnold. I don't love the Bengals offense in this matchup, but I'm starting Burrow-Mixon-Chase-Higgins where I have them anyway, because my other choices are much lesser players, better matchup or no. And San Francisco hasn't been lights out defensively the last two weeks anyway. Thumbs up on Aiyuk and Kittle with Deebo out. I'll mention McCaffrey just for the jokers who might say "Hey you didn't mention McCaffrey, are you avoiding him?"
Bears at Chargers: No offense to the Chargers, but shouldn't it have been possible to flex this game out of primetime? Or maybe not even schedule it on Sunday night in the first place, what with the Bears being 3-14 a year ago and it not being surprising that they're bad? Last week I guess I was complaining about the Giants always being in primetime, at least it's not them. But seriously, Chargers-Bears? Might have been a good game in 1984. Anyhoo, supposedly Justin Fields will return next week. We'll see. As for this one, the Chargers offense should have a better game than Chicago's. Joshua Palmer is iffy, and the late start means you need to have a backup option to switch to, or just don't use him.
Raiders at Lions: As noted, Lions seem like a good Survivor choice. They're going to bounce back from last week's debacle in Baltimore. But the Raiders should get Jimmy Garoppolo back, and limited though he may be he's way, way better than Brian Hoyer, who's clearly cooked. Lions are tough to run on, so you're starting Josh Jacobs for his passing game role, not for rushing numbers. And I'll sign off on Davante, Jakobi and to a lesser extent Michael Mayer too. I like Jahmyr Gibbs here, will pass on Craig Reynolds.
Enjoy the games.