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.
Ravens at Falcons: I'm a believer in the Ravens defense, so I'm a little cool on the Falcons offense. I'd be using Julio and am starting Hooper, but I was planning on sitting down Tevin Coleman (until yesterday; hmm what happened yesterday that will have people starting running backs they'd prefer to bench?). Lamar Jackson should be a productive runner and maybe serviceable passer, though I'd avoid all the pass catchers; every one. Sounds like Gus Edwards is good to go.
Broncos at Bengals: Denver on the outskirts of playoff contention and has an easy schedule down the stretch after playing a really tough one thus far. So naturally they'll come out and lay an egg against a bad Bengals team. Still, love Phillip Lindsay, like Emmanuel Sanders, was glad to grab likely starting tight end Matt LaCosse in dynasty. A.J. Green returns, he and Joe Mixon should be fine. Wonder if TMZ is still searching for a Mixon video that they can release the next time the Bengals are any good.
Rams at Lions: Rams should put up big offensive numbers in this one, as usual. Maybe the Lions make a game of it, but how? No Tate, no Jones, no Kerryon Johnson, just Matthew Stafford forcing it into Kenny Golladay all game. Some PPR appeal for Theo Riddick and Bruce Ellington, I think I have to use Ellington somewhere. You shouldn't need help to start Woods and Cooks, Gurley and Goff. Tight end production could be split, that's a downer; they won't both be good every game.
Cardinals at Packers: Weather.com indicates it will snow all morning in Green Bay tomorrow, into this game. I admit to being a little confused about the distinction in the hourly between "snow", "light snow" and "snow showers." But it's going to be doing all those things tomorrow. Should be an Aaron Jones game and I'm using him where I'm lucky enough to have him. Not as keen on the passing game though I think I'm forced to use Rodgers. For Arizona, David Johnson, the two main wide receivers if you must.
Browns at Texans: My two cents on Baker Mayfield's comments about Hue Jackson. First, yeah, I do like Mayfield's willingness to speak his mind. Second, Jackson spent much of his Cleveland coaching career passing the buck and stabbing other people in the back, so it's hard to feel bad about him getting criticized for anything. You don't have to follow the Browns too closely to realize yes he is a real fake. I can't fault a fired coach for taking a job, however (Jackson should be well aware he doesn't have the luxury of turning down jobs the rest of his life). Oh yeah, the game. Houston's offense should be very good and I'd be starting the key player. For the Browns it's not a great matchup but I'm using Nick Chubb anyway.
Colts at Jaguars: The way things have gone south in Jacksonville, I'm comfortable starting Colts I never imagined I'd be glad to use. Looks iffy for Jalen Ramsey. I'd certainly use Luck and (assuming final concussion clearance) Mack, and also Hilton and Ebron. For the Jaguars, Yeldon the best bet at running back, but we can't really be certain they won't give Carlos Hyde a lot of work. Evaluating players for next year in Jacksonville, don'tcha know. Wrestling whether to cut Blake Bortles in dynasty or not. Is he on the Brandon Weeden career track now? Certainly won't be handed a starting job anytime soon. Again, this guy was just a play or two from taking Jacksonville to the Super Bowl last year.
Bills at Dolphins: Miami was favored by 5.5 when this point spread came out. I would have been less surprised if Buffalo was favored by that much. Better defense and more exciting quarterback, to be sure. Better use of its running backs. Bills should win outright and put the dull Dolphins out of our misery, stick a fork in the Adam Gase era.
Bears at Giants: New York isn't very good and they've got a really tough matchup for their offense. Pass rush should be all over Eli and secondary pretty good too. You start Barkley and Beckham, I think, but recognize they won't be as good. Evan Engram is out and I'd have benched him anyway. Go ahead with the Sterling Shepard rips, I can take it (I still like him, but not this week). Bears have Chase Daniel at quarterback so I'm cool on their offense too. I'm done starting Trey Burton. Frustrating. Giants run defense not good, so it's a week you can use Jordan Howard, but he's also been really disappointing. Prefer Tarik Cohen. A low-scoring affair and maybe rainy too.
Panthers at Bucs: This in contrast should be a higher-scoring affair. Thumbs up on McCaffrey and Moore. Apparently Devin Funchess will play coming off a back injury. For the Bucs, no DeSean Jackson. I don't want to use Peyton Barber but have to, due to circumstances beyond my control that cropped up yesterday. Newton, Winston, Evans, Brate, Olsen, yes. Must-win for Carolina I'd say.
Kansas City at Raiders: So, anything happen related to this one since Wednesday? Start Spencer Ware, he won't be as good as Hunt but he'll be good. Mahomes, Hill, Kelce. Chris Conley more hit or miss with Sammy Watkins out. Only Raider I'd even consider is Jared Cook and maybe Doug Martin, although Jon Gruden has shown a willingness to go committee for no apparent reason, so I'd rather use Jalen Richard (will catch a lot of passes once Kansas City takes a 20-point lead). Kansas City defense, sure.
Jets at Titans: With no teams on bye, you end up with a lot of games, including sucky ones like this. Jets use a running back committee and seem to favor a different pass catcher each week. Titans are the Jekyll and Hyde team that has the potential to spring up with a great game every now and then, and this is the opposing defense that makes it possible to use the likes of Lewis, Henry and definitely Corey Davis. Maybe Jonnu Smith, given the overall underperformance of the position this year. Probably Josh McCown at quarterback for Jets.
Vikings at Patriots: So how good are the Patriots actually? They've lost to some suspect teams and haven't looked great in some games. Vikings have a good defense, too. But I'm not too worried about New England's offense, I just think it will be more of a James White than Sony Michel game. For the Vikings, I think Cousins and Thielen should be fine. Cook in PPR. I expect Stefon Diggs (knee) will play, but it's not certain, and he might be limited. Matchup is OK at least. Should be an interesting game for gauging the legitimacy of a couple of playoff teams. (Vikings will probably get there, although it's not certain.)
49ers at Seahawks: I am all over the Seahawks in this game. Their defense looks like a great choice, and their offense should also put up good numbers. A little hard to decide which wideouts to use, since there are three different possibilities, and Doug Baldwin is playing through injury, but a couple of them should be good. Chris Carson should be the main running back, also looking good. For San Francisco, Breida and Kittle and that be it.
Chargers at Steelers: Thank heaven for flex scheduling that puts this big AFC game into primetime to be enjoyed over what originally scheduled, San Francisco at Seattle. Boy, a lot of wild optimism back when the schedule was being worked on about the Jimmy Garoppolo era, I guess. Anyway, Steelers offense should be fine in this one. For the Chargers, I love Austin Ekeler with Melvin Gordon out and the offense likely to be playing catch-up for at least some of this one. I'm OK using Rivers and Allen, but they're on the road against a tough defense. Rivers has certainly proven worthy of some trust this season. Steelers probably win but the Chargers have shown they can play with anyone.
Washington at Eagles: I think the Eagles will take care of business this one, but I've thought that a lot in recent games when they've let me down. But they're definitely better on offense and their pass rush can give Colt McCoy some problems, I think Washington's defense has slipped so Josh Adams should be OK. Wary of AP, running behind an injury-riddled line. Suspect I'll have an important matchup relying on Ertz for this one...
Enjoy the games.