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.
Eagles and Jaguars in Merry Olde England: Game starts at 9:30, make sure you get your running back committee guys in and out of lineups before then. Eagles should continue Jacksonville's tough season here. Saw an observation online that it's funny the Jaguars acquired Carlos Hyde from Cleveland and not the capable veteran quarterback they're not using, Tyrod Taylor. No Leonard Fournette, and no A.J. Bouye for Jacksonville, helping the Eagles passing game. I don't mind these early starts, although I also won't miss them when they're gone.
Ravens at Panthers: Biggest injury note is that Torrey Smith won't play, so Carolina will need to give more chances to rookie D.J. Moore, and perhaps Jarius Wright and Curtis Samuel (though Moore should be the main beneficiary). John Brown and Joe Flacco look good with Baltimore unlikely to do much on the ground in this one. Tough matchup especially for the Carolina offense.
Jets at Bears: Went back and forth on my Survivor choice (Bears? Steelers? Kansas City?) before sticking with my first thought, the Bears. Chicago has lost two tough games in a row, and can't see them dropping a third, at home, against a banged-up Jets offense led by a rookie. New York has Isaiah Crowell and Jermaine Kearse as its main offensive players. Chicago should be able to move the ball and score on the Jets. Traded away Jordan Howard in dynasty this offseason, no regrets yet. Tarik Cohen better in this offense. Allen Robinson questionable, make sure he's active if you're hoping to use him.
Bucs at Bengals: So which defense is worse? It's an important question for those of us debating whether to start DeSean Jackson or C.J. Uzomah in a flex spot. Made the wrong decision last week and wound up losing by .20 -- that's 2 yards. A tough loss. For now I'm going with Uzomah, with the idea being that Cincinnati seems to have fewer viable targets, just him and the main two wideouts, while Tampa Bay has three wideouts, two tight ends, etc. Joe Mixon looks good, I'm steering clear of what should be a Tampa Bay committee at running back.
Seahawks at Lions: Both teams 3-3 after rough starts. Should be a good, close game with two gritty quarterbacks. Love the Lions' acquisition of Damon Harrison to help their run defense. Giants building for the future by trading away their best run defender for...a fifth-round pick? Yeesh. Kerryon Johnson looks great with Theo Riddick out. Seattle might use three running backs, not particularly useful in fantasy.
Broncos at Kansas City: No Royce Freeman, so Phillip Lindsay looks great. No reason to shy away from usual Kansas City stars, Denver's defense not quite as tough this year (blowing out Arizona doesn't count). Was kind of interested in Chad Kelly as a future Broncos quarterback, but that's all over with after his arrest and release last week. So guess it will be Case Keenum all year. And Broncos say they aren't trading Demaryius Thomas...I'm not sure why.
Washington at Giants: A week to avoid using Giants; I mean, not Barkley or Beckham, but I'm sitting down Shepard and Engram where I can. Washington defense has been mostly solid and their offense tends to play conservative and keepaway...unlikely we'll see lots of garbage-time Giants production again. With every Eli Manning game there are fewer stories about Manning possibly being traded to Jacksonville. Though I suppose you never know. Nice game coming for Adrian Peterson with the Giants shipping off defensive starters (Alec Ogletree also hurt). Chris Thompson playing, but he's more appealing in games Washington should fall behind in.
Browns at Steelers: Pittsburgh looks pretty good in this game against a Browns defense that puts up some nice fantasy production but also gives up plenty of yards and points. Roethlisberger, Conner, Brown, Smith-Schuster, perhaps even McDonald, sign me up. For the Browns, well, Landry and Njoku, and I'm starting Nick Chubb even with the Steelers being generally solid against the run. Just have a good feeling about the youngster. These teams tied back in Week 1 but I'd be surprised if Pittsburgh didn't win big this time. Every once in a while I see questions about trading for LeVeon Bell. I wouldn't do it. Barring injury to Conner, whenever Bell shows up he's not going to be LeVeon Bell.
Colts at Raiders: I'm starting Derek Carr with Philip Rivers on a bye. Picked up Carr two weeks ago for this week and seemed like a good idea at the time. Not a better option available. But Colts should win this game 'cause they're a lot better and are actually trying to win games. For the Raiders, Jordy Nelson-Jared Cook and probably Martavis Bryant. I don't really want to use Doug Martin, starter or no. Marlon Mack should be very good for the Colts. Jack Doyle returns if you're desperate for a PPR TE who catches some short passes. Could have had Andrew Luck for a song in dynasty last offseason, alas.
49ers at Cardinals: Sad thing about divisional schedules is you have to have two teams play twice sometimes when just one game between them is way more than enough. San Francisco will apparently have Matt Breida (ankle) trying to play. This one messed me up big-time in the Friday Update, and here's why. The injury report at the team web site said Breida got in a full practice on Friday after not practicing at all Wednesday or Thursday. But the official injury report released by the league said he got in a limited practice on Friday. Now, both places get their info from the team. So who screwed up? My guess is the team website screwed up, and Breida was in fact limited. But can't be 100 percent sure. Anyway, Breida might play. I wouldn't use him, Raheem Mostert, who's healthy, looks like the better bet. No Pierre Garcon, but Dante Pettis returns to take those chances. Two teams playing out the string in Week 8.
Packers at Rams: Randall Cobb is questionable and Cooper Kupp is doubtful. Those are the key skill guys NOT to use in what should be a high-scoring shootout. And Green Bay running backs, all three of whom will likely play around a third of the time. Moving on.
Saints at Vikings: Vikings are banged-up on defense and don't have Dalvin Cook on offense. Their passing game should be very good, as should all of New Orleans offense. I mean, not a great matchup, but no betting against Drew Brees these days, really. Entertaining Sunday night game, though it will be hard to top the playoff meeting.
Patriots at Bills: Lots of streaming appeal in the New England defense. I guess I'd use Kelvin Benjamin for garbage production, although obviously I don't have him in any leagues. Hopefully we'll have some idea after the injury reports comes out whether the Bills will have LeSean McCoy available or not. Right now he's still in the concussion protocol, so who knows. Pats should have a lot of James White and a little of Kenjon Barner. Kind of a dog for Monday night, but that would be true whenever the Bills play anyone. Be a nice night to carve a pumpkin or two.
Enjoy the games.