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.
Here's the drill: our official rankings and projections are in Fantasy Index Weekly. That's the content you're paying for. My goal here is to answer questions on players who are close, and on occasion I will have opinions that clash with the rankings -- sometimes I like a player a little more than Ian. Or a little less. OK, on to the games.
Giants vs. Rams: Game starts at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, so make sure you've got those players in or out of lineups. Uh, no Josh Brown. Ben McAdoo, clearly not savvy in public relations, said yesterday the Giants aren't turning their backs on him. I'm thinking he'll regret that quote. As for the game, Odell Beckham Jr. had the hip issue but he'll be playing. Not a great situation for the Rams offense.
Browns at Bengals: Made the Bengals one of my two Survivor Pool picks (my second choice). Browns could surprise, but so could anyone. A talent-thin team. Sounds like Terrelle Pryor will be playing, but check the inactives to be certain. I'm using both Hill and Crowell in lineups, but not with much enthusiasm. With Bernard, as we've noted in the past, he's better if you think Bengals will be playing from behind a lot. The Bengals are playing coy with Tyler Eifert. My usual advice with players like him coming off injury is, I'd like to see him healthy and playing before using him in a lineup. Probably limited snaps.
Washington at Lions: Love both passing games in this one. Lions don't have any running backs (probably be Dwayne Washington as the main guy), both defenses soft in the secondary. Tricky in that both teams have three good wide receivers, but there's potential in all of them. Jordan Reed out again, so Vernon Davis a solid choice. No Eric Ebron, again.
Raiders at Jaguars: Stay well away of both running back committees, that's my advice here. Give the main wide receivers a shot (I'm giving Allen Hurns one more week), because the matchups are solid. Expecting passing and not much pass defense.
Saints at Kansas City: You never want to underestimate Drew Brees, but I do think this could be a tough one for the Saints offense. I'm avoiding them in daily leagues; there are better options at similar or cheaper prices. The way the Saints bleed points I'm happily using Ware, Kelce and even Maclin. This is the week, people. Ware looks even better with Charles apparently iffy with soreness in his surgically repaired knee; uh oh.
Bills at Dolphins: Ah, the LeSean McCoy quandary. Best guess he's not going to play, and the Bills are just clouding the issue so Miami needs to think about it. I'm hoping he's inactive, so I can happily use Mike Gillislee and let the points roll in. At least it's a 1 p.m. game, but most of us have seen "active" players be limited or sidelined entirely (Will Fuller, anyone?). Anyway, don't use McCoy, that's the advice. I think you have to use Jay Ajayi coming off a 200-yard game, but keep expectations modest. No Robert Woods for the Bills, so ex-Dolphin Charles Clay is the only receiver to even consider.
Ravens at Jets: I loaded up on the Ravens D in so many leagues I'm concerned about it. But I'm not a believer in Geno Smith. Ravens defense does have some holes, though, so I'm still using Brandon Marshall (and Quincy Enunwa, even, on one ridiculously injury-gutted team). Ravens should have Joe Flacco (shoulder), but won't have Steve Smith, so Mike Wallace and to a lesser extent Kamar Aiken merit consideration. Don't love Terrance West against New York's run defense, but healthy, full-time running backs are hard to come by.
Vikings at Eagles: Not sure how the Vikings are 5-0, but it's not because they have a lot of great offensive choices. This should be a low-scoring game, where the best bets are Kyle Rudolph and...I'm not sure who else. Running back committees on both sides, Stefon Diggs seems to be healthy enough, but not a player I'm excited about. Minnesota's defense is great. Just not a spot to find a highly productive player.
Colts at Titans: No Dwayne Allen, so Jack Doyle looks good. No Colts run defense, so DeMarco Murray looks good. I usually expect Andrew Luck will find a way to pull out games against the Titans, so I'm fine using him and especially T.Y. Hilton. No Phillip Dorsett, making Chester Rogers your desperation No. 2. Avoiding the Titans passing game (except for Delanie Walker), since I don't get any of Kendall Wright's numbers from last week.
Chargers at Falcons: Gone back and forth as to whether I like Atlanta's passing offense or San Diego's passing offense more in this game. Ah, I like both of 'em! Should be a relatively high-scoring game with lots of good prospects and no noteworthy injury issues (besides all the Chargers already on IR, that is). Really impressed by Hunter Henry thus far and am using him everywhere this week.
Buccaneers at 49ers: Really had no inkling that Carlos Hyde was even hurt until he showed up with his arm in a sling on Wednesday and was ruled out. So it's Mike Davis and Shaun Draughn, and the risky deal here is that Davis got more of the snaps last week, but looked really ordinary/bad and Draughn is the better player. So I'm not keen on using either one, even though the matchup is fine. In contrast, I love Jacquizz Rodgers, because that San Francisco defense is just awful. Mike Evans, too.
Patriots at Steelers: No Big Ben Roethlisberger, which makes everything associated with the Steelers offense less appealing. I don't think anyone can or should consider shying away from LeVeon Bell or Antonio Brown, I'm certainly not, but they'll be less productive (as will the whole offense) with Landry Jones in there. For New England, fire up all the usual suspects, and just hope they're not looking ahead to their revenge game in Buffalo next week.
Seahawks at Cardinals: The risk of having too many teams is you occasionally make mistakes. So while I was here on Thursday telling everyone not to use Knile Davis, I left him in one of my own lineups when I could be using Christine Michael. The sacrifices I make! Anyway, I respect both defenses a ton and am shying away from everyone I can. Using the running backs and Larry Fitzgerald, yes. No John Brown, which does help Michael Floyd a little. Jimmy Graham popped up on last week's injury report, but it sounds like he's OK. Carson Palmer not 100 percent (and not looking particularly good even when healthy).
Texans at Broncos: Made the Broncos my Survivor Pool pick; really can't see Brock Osweiler leading the Texans to a win in this game. Denver has been shaky against the run and I'd use Lamar Miller and grudgingly start DeAndre Hopkins, but he's unlikely to do much (Hopkins, that is). Kind of like C.J. Anderson, who feels Devontae Booker pressuring him and gets a matchup with a Texans run defense that has struggled, but there's the risk that Booker gets more work. Still, I'm using him.
Rainy day here in the East so I'll check for questions semi-regularly. Enjoy the games.