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 every so often 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 are the ones that subscribers are paying for. Sometimes players are very close in the rankings, and if I get questions like that, I'll offer opinions. Sometimes I like certain players more or less than Ian, and sometimes I have different risk tolerance with injuries/weather issues, etc.
Titans at Bills: Does anybody not think about the Music City Miracle when these teams meet up? Titans just beat the Eagles while the Bills just got shut out in Buffalo, hinting at the relative potential of these two things. Going forward we might just not talk about the Bills; you shouldn't have drafted any of their players and shouldn't be starting them. For the Titans I like Derrick Henry this week, Dion Lewis also an option, and Corey Davis should be getting a ton of targets.
Giants at Panthers: Panthers are a lot better but I worried that the point spread was a little high because Giants can play some defense and it might be a lower-scoring game. But New York's offense has been generally bad and it's hard to feel good about using anybody, even though you kind of have to use Beckham and Barkley, and I'm generally starting Shepard. For Carolina, Newton and McCaffrey about covers it.
Dolphins at Bengals: Considered the Bengals as a Survivor pick and probably should have gone with them. Miami just doesn't do much well; they look overmatched on a talent basis. I'm benching Kenyan Drake and not even for a great option. I can't really understand how Miami thinks a Drake-Gore committee is a good idea. Gore's had a great career, but the fact that he's still upright and running hard doesn't mean he should be getting half the work. Whatever. Avoid Dolphins, even in a good matchup. Giovani Bernard is out and Joe Mixon is back in and should be very good. Also Dalton-Green-Boyd. Rolling the dice on C.J. Uzomah in a TE-friendly scoring system where Engram is hurt and Burton is on bye. It was him or Rhett Ellison.
Ravens and Browns: (Have already used Ravens in Survivor.) But they should win, they're pretty good and the Browns are coached by Hue Jackson. Both teams pretty much healthy, using regular starters, keeping Nick Chubb on the bench in hopes he'll eventually earn a larger role. Alex Collins, sure, and Javorius Allen a flex possibility. John Brown starting for me everywhere.
Packers at Lions: Here's where the injuries crop up. Marvin Jones questionable for the Lions. The last time this happened he had a good game against the Patriots and scored, so you don't bench him for just anyone unless we hear negative stuff tomorrow. I like Stafford, Tate, Golladay, and Kerryon Johnson against a lesser Green Bay defense. Then you've got the Green Bay injuries. Davante Adams (calf) should be fine and I'm using him. Geronimo Allison (concussion) will either clear the protocol or he won't. We'll know tomorrow; he'll be either be active (fine to use) or not. I like Marquez Valdes-Scantling if Allison is out. I like Aaron Jones a lot, though you're taking the risk of Green Bay featuring him (but I think it's a fair gamble).
Jaguars at Kansas City: Tough Jacksonville defense, but I'd be using Mahomes, Hunt and Hill (and of course Kelce) anyway. Maybe you sit Mahomes if you have one of the few guys ranked higher. For Jacksonville, they're facing a lousy defense, so you can use Yeldon definitely (with Fournette out) and maybe a wideout in deeper leagues. Should be higher-scoring than most Jacksonville games.
Broncos at Jets: I'll be attending this one, my first live football game in a couple of years. It's a comically expensive venture, between the tickets, the parking, and then eating food while you're there. You pay it and hope you get some good memories out of the experience. No defending it, though. Quincy Enunwa seems to be the only usable Jets. For the Broncos, you have a couple of good running backs and a couple of viable wide receivers, with Emmanuel Sanders looking much better. Not a lot of high-powered players. I'll be wearing my Jets Favre jersey and my son will be wearing Elway, in case you were wondering.
Falcons at Steelers: Shootout. Neither team playing much defense right now. Devonta Freeman returns. Key starters for both are in lineups.
Raiders at Chargers: Another probably high-scoring game. There are lots of them this year, with a lot of teams who don't play a lot of defense, you've probably noticed. Seems likely to be a good game for receivers on both sides, and quarterbacks and running backs. Jared Cook tearing it up this year.
Vikings at Eagles: That's some schedule for the Vikings, who in the first five games played the Packers, Rams and now Eagles, all on the road. Makes losing at home to the worst team in the league even more damaging. Minnesota won't run the ball so the Cook-Murray issue isn't overly interesting to me; I wouldn't use either (and it sounds like Cook probably won't play). But the receivers look viable, as do the key Eagles, albeit in a tough matchup. No Corey Clement probably, should be an Ajayi-Smallwood tandem. Alshon Jeffery viable.
Cardinals at 49ers: Two teams already playing out the string in Week 5. David Johnson and George Kittle the only sure starts in this game. Larry Fitzgerald and Marquise Goodwin banged-up, also Matt Breida. Dante Pettis is out. Fitzgerald at least gets a good matchup, and he played pretty much full-time last week, so he should be usable. But not an automatic start at less than full health with a rookie quarterback.
Rams at Seahawks: Maybe the Seahawks make a game of this one, at home. But more realistically their defense isn't too good right now and the Rams are on fire. Should be plenty of points for the Rams and you go ahead and start their passing game. Seattle could pick up some points in extended garbage-time. Should be a Carson-Davis committee at running back. I bid big in desperation for Davis this week, so I wouldn't have to start Kenyan Drake anymore. I often follow up winning a player like Davis by starting him, even though it's not an appealing situation. Long story short, I'm personally starting Davis, even though I do not recommend it.
Cowboys at Texans: Decent primetime matchup I suppose, although neither team very good. Tough matchup for Deshaun Watson with a really good defense. Sounds like Will Fuller and Keke Coutee should play? But hard to be 100 percent certain. Lamar Miller, I don't really care if he plays, not using him anyway. Should be the Ezekiel Elliott show, as always.
Washington at Saints: I made New Orleans my survivor pick in this game. I don't feel great about it. But they're home, they're healthy (except for Ted Ginn), they get Mark Ingram back. Washington has Adrian Peterson who I'm not crazy about facing New Orleans; they're better defending the run than the pass. Washington might not have Josh Doctson, who cares. Probably a high-scoring affair, I think the Saints will do more of it.
Enjoy the games.