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.
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.
Cowboys at Panthers: Fan of both running backs and the top wideouts in this game, CeeDee and yes even Thielen. Neither defense that good. Ferguson also, he should be catching a bunch of passes. With Bryce Young playing a little better and Cooper Rush a conservative type of quarterback, we have the defenses ranked as middle of the pack options.
Kansas City at Browns: Rain and wind could be a factor in this game. I think I'll be inclined to use guys like Jerry Jeudy, Travis Kelce and DeAndre Hopkins, but wouldn't go too deep into the receiving corps (I'll pass on Njoku, who I don't even think will play, and any replacement). Jameis Winston will probably get his yards and 1-2 TDs (Nick Chubb won't do much), and I kind of like Isiah Pacheco, even though Hunt/Perine will get some. Would use Mahomes as ranked (i.e., some teams will have a better option).
Dolphins at Texans: The Texans tend to give up most production (especially touchdowns) through the air, and the Dolphins have absolutely no running game. So I'm in on Tua, Tyreek, Jonnu and Waddle, and PPR gem Achane. I think just Nico and Mixon for Houston, with the rest of the offense underperforming more often than not.
Jets at Jaguars: So Breece Hall is apparently playing, unexpectedly. I think it might be a little more of a committee than in the past, with the game meaningless, but would use him as ranked, and don't think either Braelon Allen or Isaiah Davis or viable (if Hall winds up inactive, the two should split time). With him active, I think he gets 60 percent of the snaps. Rodgers, Adams and Wilson option against a bad Jaguars D, but a meaningless game. Brenton Strange replaces Evan Engram at TE, making him and of course Brian Thomas options. Cool on the underperforming running back committee.
Commanders at Saints: Thumbs up on Jayden Daniels, Brian Robinson, Terry McLaurin, Zach Ertz and one Saint -- Alvin Kamara. I want nothing to do with the New Orleans passing game. Some have probably seen these weird glamour pictures of Jake Haener posing. Are they intended to be humorous? Not sure. But I don't want to bet on him being any good, and won't be surprised if Spencer Rattler gets in the game.
Ravens at Giants: As we saw with Carolina at Philadelphia, you can't assume a huge underdog is going to just get rolled. But I love Baltimore's offense in this game, especially Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. Little cool on the wide receivers because they might require the Giants to make things competitive. For New York, Nabers in PPR and Tyrone Tracy (for receiving work and maybe a short TD) are viable. otherwise I'll pass. Ravens defense, thumbs up.
Bengals at Titans: Not too much to say here. Bengals key starters, they should be in lineups. Titans have one viable player, Tony Pollard, but he's got an ankle injury and is questionable. I'm injury cautious and would prefer to go with a similarly ranked option even if he's active, and he might not be. If he's actually inactive, I'm interested in Tyjae Spears.
Patriots at Cardinals: New England D not good, so we're high on most key Cardinals. For the Patriots, Hunter Henry and Drake Maye (who will run some and be involved most likely in any scoring) get the most love. Some probably have to start Rhamondre, but in general the less invested you are in Patriots this week, the better.
Colts at Broncos: Big game for the bottom of the AFC playoff picture. Broncos have the edge, but this is their most favorable remaining game (others are the Chargers, Bengals and Kansas City). Colts should have been left for dead long ago, but thanks to a couple of narrow wins they're still in the hunt. Their defense isn't great so I'm pretty high on Nix and Sutton. I don't think we need to further discuss Denver's running back committee -- you're taking a gamble starting any of them. No. 2 wideout, too. Jonathan Taylor against a tough Broncos run defense with Anthony Richardson stealing goal-line carries, also risky. Richardson's passing game and receivers, I mean, you can see the low rankings. We're not fans.
Bills at Lions: Both teams have good defenses, but both have strong offenses. I'm not sure how you sit key fantasy starters on either team, just send them out there and hope for the best. Lions should do more with the run, Bills with the pass.
Bucs at Chargers: Similarly, both passing games should lead the way. I have both Bucs running backs and am not willing to chance Bucky Irving after getting burned badly by him last week. Would rather Irving be inactive so I can happily start Rachaad White. Even if Irving is active, I'd rather use White. Decisions like these, I'll offer advice, but like with Guerendo the other night, people need to decide for themselves how much risk they're willing to take on. Nothing bugs me more than starting a guy who leaves early, like Irving in Week 14. Obviously we've got the same situation with Ladd McConkey, but if he's active, I feel like it will be for his usual role and would use him. Otton and Evans are the Bucs receivers to consider. Oh yeah, Stone Smartt as the starting TE, sure, I'd use him as ranked.
Steelers at Eagles: Somebody asked me about benching Jalen Hurts the other day. No. Hurts, Brown, DeVonta, obviously Barkley. Steelers have a very good defense but I'm not benching key Eagles. (Calcaterra is the iffy guy.) For Pittsburgh, well, it's a tough matchup, and they don't have their best wideout. I would not use the other ones, I would use Najee-Jaylen-Freiermuth as ranked, they'll be doing most of the work in the offense. But it's a tough matchup.
Packers at Seahawks: No Kenneth Walker (doubtful almost always means not playing), so thumbs up on Zach Charbonnet. For Green Bay I'll start Love, Kraft and Jacobs obviously, but prefer to pass on the wide receiver carousel. Seattle, Metcalf and JSN also have value, but not a great matchup for those guys. Rain could potentially be a concern but when I look at the hourly I see just a small (less than 10 percent) chance, it's supposed to mostly be after the game is over.
Bears at Vikings: Two Monday night games, hurrah. I'll pass on whatever the Bears cobble together at running back and think DJ Moore is the only trustworthy component of the passing game -- of the offense at all, really. For the Vikings, their offense should be fine, playing at home and healthy and all. Sent away Cooper Kupp in a dynasty trade involving Jordan Addison a few weeks ago and feeling good about that these days.
Falcons at Raiders: With this being a showcase game, I think the Raiders will come to play and am interested in new starter Sincere McCormick and Jakobi Meyers and obviously Brock Bowers. Yeah the quarterback will be Desmond Ridder, but going from Aidan O'Connell to Ridder isn't necessarily a steep decline. Raiders defense also terrible so key Falcons (Bijan, London, Mooney -- those are the ones) look fine too. Not sure how this game got scheduled on Monday to be honest, but it happens sometimes this time of year.
Enjoy the games.