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. If I don't answer your question, either I missed it (it happens) or the rankings are very clear. An important note: I have more agency with the rankings than in the past. What this means is that if one guy is ranked 4-5 spots over another, it's very unlikely I'll sabotage the rankings by recommending the lower player. But I will offer thought processes on why one guy is higher or lower. OK, on to the games!
Panthers at Falcons: Cooper Rush at quarterback is not good. Neither is Carolina's defense, it seems, so just maybe Drake London and Kyle Pitts will bounce back a little. But I'm pretty sure they're ranked low, given the quarterback they're working with. Carolina has two good wideouts and Chuba Hubbard, and maybe Bryce Young has been underrated by me in the past.
Saints at Ravens: Baltimore won't have its top 2 wideout from last week. We had to assign production somewhere but whereas I'd use Mark Andrews, I want no part of Rashod Bateman. It's just easier to sign off on him than the total unknowns catching passes like Elijah Sarratt, Devontez Walker and maybe even LaJohntay Wester. Veteran journeyman Chris Moore might catch some passes. And should be a big game for Derrick Henry, again. Chris Olave (hamstring) is also dicey, but I think he's playing, and I like Devaughn Vele again.
Vikings at Bears: Chicago played a shootout last week and suddenly they're unstoppable on offense and all their games are going to be similar. I'm preaching a little bit of caution: Vikings defense is good, and Minnesota has Carson Wentz and Aaron Jones at quarterback and running back. Jones (featured with Jordan Mason out) is a nice option and obviously we're all starting Jefferson, but I'm not personally going to be putting Wentz in a lineup. Bears offense, yes, but I'm scaling things back a little from 59 points, that's all.
Bengals at Texans: No Nico Collins, unfortunate with the Bengals in town. Hutchinson, Boutte and Noel are not a fearsome top 3. Joe Burrow has a sore back. He's fine, start the guy. Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins also should bounce back. I picked up Mike Gesicki this week and may use him, but the long history of Gesicki is following up good weeks with not so good weeks, so we'll see. Dalton Schultz is the Houston receiver I'm most interested in, and fine week to use David Montgomery.
Steelers at Patriots: Couple of lousy offensive outings by these teams last week. New England was at Seattle, what's Pittsburgh's excuse beyond Aaron Rodgers being washed and Mike McCarthy not actually being a great coach, just fortunate to always be working with a top quarterback his entire career, which he doesn't have now. Michael Pittman might not play. I think New England's offense will bounce back some. The Steelers, I'm wary about.
Packers at Jets: Jets D gets a tougher matchup than last week. New York with Geno is better than last year, and I'm in on Garrett and Breece here, but I think Love and company should be scoring more. Interesting to see if MarShawn Lloyd can take advantage of his starting opportunity, next week some time we'll find out how long Josh Jacobs will be out. Probably. Watson, Golden, Kraft look promising.
Browns at Bucs: Baker Mayfield against the team that drafted then gave up on him, that's fun. Bucs offense should be good. Browns offense run by Deshaun Watson, for now, so it probably won't be. Moving on.
Eagles at Titans: Tough spot for the Titans, who are offensively challenged anywhere and here face one of the best defenses. I like Saquon Barkley to have a big game. Hurts and Dallas Goedert and probably DeVonta Smith all fine. I don't usually pick road teams in Survivor but here's a matchup where it's reasonable to make an exception.
Jaguars at Broncos: The way Denver got pushed around on both sides of the ball Monday night, I was a little surprised they were favored here. They also got smoked by Jacksonville late last season. In general though, I like their offense to bounce back here. Jacksonville very impressive last week but a below-average situation for them. Lots of weapons though. Should be a good game. Denver's got a rough early schedule, and this is part of it (Rams, Niners, Chargers and Seahawks in the next four). If they start out 3-3 they're doing well. They may not. RJ Harvey (hamstring) iffy here.
Raiders at Chargers: Raiders come off a win, Chargers an upsetting loss to the Cardinals. Most believe the Chargers will take care of business and I agree, but we'll see. Possible Jim Harbaugh not a great NFL coach? Just thinking out loud here. So Ladd McConkey has a rib injury. I think he'll play, but might be limited/affected by the issue, accounting for his conservative ranking. Omarion Hampton should be good, Ashton Jeanty too. No Brock Bowers. Madison Beer should be around to attract some cameras. Speaking honestly here, aside from looking good I have no idea what she does.
Seahawks at Cardinals: Drew Lock manages this one. I'm a little concerned about Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who I drafted in one league over Amon-Ra St. Brown despite my own rankings to the contrary. Hopefully it works out, but I'm not really confident in Drew. Seahawks defense really tough so I'm sitting or otherwise avoiding most Cardinals. Maybe they'll surprise, but a tough matchup. Another week of intrigue with the Seahawks backfield, the matchup seems favorable.
Commanders at Cowboys: Neither defense is too good and both teams have some offensive talent, so I'm expecting a track meet kind of game. Dallas owes us all for that dud they put up at MetLife last week. I would and am using key starters from both teams here. My lack of enthusiasm for Jayden Daniels in general has doubtless been noted by his preseason spot in the rankings where it would be impossible to actually draft him anywhere, but should be good here. Washington won't have Chig Okonkwo, but has three good wide receivers catching passes, along with a capable running back, both running (JCM) and catching (Rachaad White).
Dolphins at 49ers: Made San Francisco one of my two Survivor Picks. The other was Tampa Bay hosting the Browns, obviously. You get people talking about "saving teams." Not my strategy. I just want to move on to next week and will take whatever my favorite bet is and worry about next week, next week. I should point out that I don't usually win these things so maybe my approach sucks. But I don't save teams. As for this game, I think San Francisco should be scoring plenty and Miami might get some numbers out of Caleb Douglas and hopefully DeVon Achane in defeat.
Indianapolis at Kansas City: Kansas City getting its first two games at home in primetime kind of makes it look like the league wants them to be back in the championship teams discussion. They should be pretty good again here, Kenneth Walker particularly. For the Colts, Jonathan Taylor and Alec Pierce should be OK, and hoping for Tyler Warren since I have him on multiple teams. I assume Taylor Swift will be there.
Giants at Rams: People talking about the Giants maybe making a game out of this one as if we didn't all see how lousy the Rams looked in Week 1. Yes, I think a lot of teams might be able to make a game of things with a Rams team that doesn't have its biggest defensive addition, and has an old quarterback and No. 2 wideout and its No. 1 wideout apparently has a hip injury. Nabers and Skattebo and Kyren look fine. Puka, not sure what's going on there, I'm sure we'll find out more the next couple of days.
Enjoy the games.
