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 versus Chargers across the pond: 9:30 a.m. start on this game, so don't sleep in and forget to get your players in and out of lineups. Not that you should be that excited to start any Titans, coming off a game where they punted every time they had the ball. As mentioned in the Weekly, I'm higher on the Chargers ground game than its pass game, though I'm using Rivers (other QBs on bye or with even worse matchups).
Patriots at Bears: I look for the Bears to make a game of this one. I see all this hype about the Patriots being back because they won three home games over the Dolphins, Colts and Kansas City (on a last-second field goal). Go on the road and do better than you did in Detroit and Jacksonville and I'll be sold. Patriots are great, but too soon to say they're headed to a Super Bowl again. Like Tarik Cohen more than Jordan Howard.
Bills at Colts: Still alive in my Survivor Pool and went with the Colts. I think they're better than their 1-5 record, and the Bills aren't as good as their 2-4 one. I had kind of given up on Andrew Luck but have come back around on him. Though I think fantasy-wise he's better when team falls way behind, which probably won't happen here. I guess Derek Anderson could surprise, but he's seldom been in such an over-matched offense. I guess if you accidentally drafted LeSean McCoy or Kelvin Benjamin, this is the week to use them. T.Y. Hilton returns, I'd use him.
Texans at Jaguars: I don't totally understand the Carlos Hyde trade from Jacksonville's perspective. I guess it's a low-cost move (5th-rounder). Is he better than T.J. Yeldon? Is Fournette really going to miss that much time to make Hyde necessary? As for this week, fairly certain Hyde won't be active and should not be considered. I'm happily using Yeldon. All bets are off for next week. Houston, I'd be fine using DeAndre Hopkins and maybe Keke Coutee, but otherwise best to steer clear of their offense, including Deshaun Watson. Should have maybe made Jacksonville a Survivor pick, but they could lose a low-scoring one.
Lions at Dolphins: The Brock Osweiler fondness surprises me. Nobody who watched last week's Dolphins-Bears game could have really been impressed by his 380 yards, hugely influenced by Albert Wilson taking short throws long distances. He's Brock Osweiler. Miami should run plenty in this one and I'm using Drake over Nick Chubb, though I'm tempted to switch that one. Similar projections. I like the Lions offense, and with Theo Riddick out, am all over Kerryon Johnson, who should pick up those snaps. Hey, Ameer Abdullah might even be active. But not usable. If the Lions can't win this one they don't deserve to be a playoff contender. Miami is 4-2, should be 2-4 or worse.
Vikings and Jets: The Jets are giving away a Hulk bobblehead at this game. I...have no idea what the tie-in is with the Hulk. I mean, I want one! But I've seen my Jets game for the year so I'll miss out. As for the game, risky to use Isaiah Crowell, but probably he'll be active. Tough matchup for the Jets, but can consider both Robby Anderson and Jermaine Kearse with Enunwa/Pryor out. No Dalvin Cook, but hard to get excited about Latavius Murray against a better run defense than he saw last week. Passing game looks better.
Panthers at Eagles: Should be a fun game, with players from both teams healthy unless you count Darren Sproles (I do not). Carolina's offense intriguing because fewer players involved. Eagles have more committee situations going on but Ertz and Jeffery fine, and the quarterbacks. Think I'm using Wentz for the first time all season (also have Rivers and Newton in that dynasty league, really should trade someone...tough to make trades).
Browns at Bucs: Bucs offense looks good, I'm using Peyton Barber for the second straight week. Crazy the Browns would go through practice all week with Hyde as their starting running back and then ship him out. Nick Chubb takes over, and he should be the main runner, although Bucs are worst against the pass. New coordinator, though, who should show little adherence to the previous, abominably bad schemes. Browns are pulling receivers out of the stands and still nobody has signed Dez Bryant, telling.
Saints at Ravens: This is a tough game for those with Saints players. Not that Baltimore shutting out Tennessee means they'll be similarly tough on New Orleans. But I'm sitting down some good options to keep Michael Thomas in the lineup, and it's at least worth considering not doing so. Same with Mark Ingram and (gasp!) Alvin Kamara. They're great, but they're facing a great defense. End of the day I'm starting Thomas and hoping he catches a bunch of passes and maybe a touchdown. But the matchup seems really bad, and I might regret it. For the Ravens, I'm avoiding the running backs, but John Brown and Michael Crabtree look fine.
Cowboys at Washington: Lot of banged-up Washington players, and a tough defense they'll face. Jordan Reed and Adrian Peterson grade out favorably because they're the healthy players. For Dallas, good luck investing in their passing game. I'll take Ezekiel Elliott and pass on the rest. Maybe Cole Beasley in a really deep league, but he's starting at zero like everyone else and I'm not buying last week as some kind of template for the future.
Rams at 49ers: Debated with a friend how secure the Rams are to move to 7-0 here. Their defense hasn't been as tough since losing Aqib Talib; they'll give up some production. And San Francisco can move the ball. So just maybe they have a puncher's chance of winning a higher-scoring affair, assuming they didn't use up all their fight in the tough loss at Green Bay on Monday night. No Cooper Kupp, but other Rams look great, as usual. For San Francisco, Matt Breida, George Kittle and Marquise Goodwin have value. I guess C.J. Beathard make some lineups in a likely loss.
Bengals at Kansas City: My first Survivor pick (sorry if I'm talking about this too much, but it's Week 7 and things are getting tense) was Kansas City. I backed off it because I could see the Bengals winning a shootout with a soft K.C. defense. I'm a little higher on Dalton et al than Ian is/was. Certainly no reason to back off the Kansas City offense; they've been carrying you, you stick with them. I realize this game was flexed into primetime but I can't really agree with giving the same team back-to-back Sunday night games. They couldn't flex Saints-Ravens or Panthers-Eagles? Anyway, start all your key players here.
Giants at Falcons: Speaking of primetime, this is the third Giants game in primetime and it's only Week 7. A little bit ridiculous. Yes, I've got a problem with the schedule-makers these days. Sure sure, it's a tough job. But nobody needs to see Eli this often. Great matchup and I'm using Shepard and Engram (returning from injury), but can't blame anyone who doesn't trust Eli anymore. Falcons have a Tevin Coleman-Ito Smith combo at running back. In a high-scoring game, both have value. The receiver situation is dicier. Mohamed Sanu (hip) probably won't play, helping Calvin Ridley -- but he's not certain to play through an ankle injury, either. Gotta have backup plan in the same game if you want to use Ridley.
Enjoy the games.