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 lineup 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, and should take precedence. But sometimes players are very close, and in those cases I'm glad to offer opinions on how I'd approach those situations. Sometimes I like certain players more or less than Ian, and sometimes I have different risk tolerance with injuries etc.
If a guy is 20 spots higher in the rankings, that's a question you probably don't need to ask. Trust the rankings. If I don't get to your question right away, fear not -- I'll get to it by the end of the day Saturday. Sunday morning might be too late, sorry; we try to post news if there's a surprise inactive/suspension etc. OK, on to the games.
Bengals at Bills: In one league (auction) I have Mixon and Conner. Tough to feel good about starting either player at possibly less than 100 percent. Tough matchup here for Mixon, but if he's healthy, he's probably in a lot of lineups. Tough situation for Cincinnati's offense though. Frank Gore will start and get most of the carries for Buffalo. Allen, Gore, John Brown, those are the guys. Woke up in the middle of the night to add Tyler Kroft in a TE-premium league. He got hurt in practice the next day.
Dolphins at Cowboys: I don’t understand why some are reporting Josh Rosen starting is a big deal. He played in each of the first two weeks. Decent chance Fitzpatrick finishes this one just like Rosen finished the first two. Dan Marino in his prime would struggle in this offense. I don't see the wisdom in using any Dolphins. I'd roll the dice on Devin Smith for Dallas, but Elliott-Cooper-Prescott the big ones. Tony Pollard, maybe in deeper leagues. I'm wary of using backup running backs assuming a blowout, but the Dolphins this year make the assumption a lot easier.
Broncos at Packers: Things set up nicely for the Packers to go 3-0 and the Broncos to go 0-3. I like Aaron Jones in this one. Hard to get excited about Denver's offense, which has really struggled and doesn't have an easy matchup here. Most maddening is that they don't have any sacks on defense; how is that possible? My Broncos fan son says they should trade Von Miller and he's probably right. Stopping wasting money signing washed up veteran quarterbacks who other teams are done with is another good idea. I get that it worked out with Peyton, that was different. Freeman-Lindsay committee is unappealing.
Falcons at Colts: Colts don't have Darius Leonard, a big boost to Atlanta's offense. Hard to feel good about Devonta Freeman, though, with this looking like a 60-40 committee with Ito Smith (who by the way actually got his nickname from Judge Ito in the O.J. trial, crazy right?). I'm not overly impressed by Atlanta's defense so think there could be some nice production by both offenses. Julio, Ridley, Hilton (questionable but should be fine), Hooper, I suppose Ebron. People picked both sides of this game in my survivor pool, kind of odd. I took Dallas.
Ravens at Kansas City: Can we flex this game to primetime? Should be able to. Looks like the best, most interesting game of the week. I'm not a full believer in the Baltimore defense yet; no one should be worried about Mahomes. The Kansas City defense looks similar to last year, i.e. go ahead and start Marquise Brown, Mark Andrews (despite mild injury concern, probably best to monitor Sunday morning injury reports), Mark Ingram. With the Kansas City receivers, well, there's a hit or miss quality to these guys. Watkins the best bet, Robinson-Hardman riskier. Fun game.
Raiders at Vikings: As discussed in the Weekly, Vikings defense is a tough nut to crack at home. So I'm not keen to use Raiders beyond Darren Waller and Josh Jacobs, who practiced fully at the end of the week despite being mentioned with groin, hip and sickness...I'm not sure Jon Gruden was entirely focused when he said Jacobs had a groin injury early in the week, because at least one of these injuries isn't correct. For the Vikings, Cook duh and I think Thielen and Diggs looks good too. So I guess Kirk Cousins is somewhat viable, but only somewhat.
Jets at Patriots: A friend asked how I felt about the two huge point spreads, Dallas by 22ish over Miami and New England by the same over the Jets. He thought the New England spread was fine. You guessed it: he's a Patriots fan. Of course, that was before New England cut Antonio Brown, which should have a huge impact on this game. Not. I don't think Brown plays this year. If I made the mistake of drafting him I would put him on the trade block for whatever I could get and cut him if nothing rolled in. Even in a dynasty league. He's not playing this season and I'm not sure any team wants to take him on next year, either. It's not the allegations, it's his behavior the entire preseason through now. Why on earth would anyone risk his next crazy drama? He's a wide receiver. I still don't understand why the Patriots took him on. All the hilarious memes about how much smarter they are than the rest of the league. This was a dumb move from the start. Anyway, New England should roll the Jets by 20.
Lions at Eagles: Eagles a little thin at receiver. Lions defense has been good but for a quarter against Arizona. Eagles should win, but might be a close one. Ertz and Agholor are the guys to use, Lions pass catchers and Kerryon. Not a ton to say but hey, Lions are undefeated.
Panthers at Cardinals: No Cam Newton. Wouldn't be keen to use Kyle Allen but I'm OK with the main receivers and McCaffrey, given that Arizona's defense doesn't do a lot well. Fine with Arizona's offense too. They should get their first win here.
Giants at Bucs: The Daniel Jones era begins. In a point spread competition I picked the Giants. I think Jones will be fine, enough so that giving 6 points or whatever with the Bucs is a little kooky. I'm starting Sterling Shepard somewhere and Engram also looks good. Bucs defense is improved but let's not get too crazy, they haven't had much on the schedule as of yet. I don't think there's anything crazy about ranking Godwin ahead of Evans, redraft or dynasty. Or not using O.J. Howard (wouldn't have drafted him).
Texans at Chargers: Big AFC game for these second-tier teams. Chargers blew one last week, while Houston was very fortunate to get by Jacksonville. Still not buying Carlos Hyde, sorry. Otherwise both offenses look promising, the usual quarterback and wideout starters. No tight ends.
Saints at Seahawks: A little wary of the Teddy Bridgewater-led offense, and Bridgewater himself with Taysom Hill a candidate for an expanded role. Kamara and Michael Thomas are the only Saints I'd want to use, maybe Jared Cook gets a little more work. For Seattle there's Wilson-Lockett-Metcalf-Dissly, and Carson with Rashaad Penny possibly out after getting hurt in practice. Saints are going to be lucky to go 3-3 with Brees out and will likely have to win on the road in the playoffs, if they get there, so they'll be bitching about last year's official rooking for years to come.
Steelers at 49ers: I'm fine with Mason Rudolph. I'm not quite buying the San Francisco defense and it seems like this will be a pass-heavy offense, as usual. Smith-Schuster and McDonald and Conner, who's apparently healthy. For San Francisco, ugh, committee backfield. I'm starting Deebo Samuel and hoping the No. 1 usage to this point continues. Obviously Kittle, and Pittsburgh's secondary has been soft enough that I think you can consider Garoppolo. Next year's first-rounder for Minkah Fitzpatrick, bold for a team that just lost its quarterback for the season.
Rams at Browns: Not sure why the Browns are in primetime two of the first three weeks of the season. Really guys? Rams should be pretty good with Cleveland's defense not showing anything against offenses that count. For Cleveland, Mayfield-Chubb-Beckham, maybe Landry who should see a few extra targets with Njoku out. Rams usually better at home but we're fine using them in this one. I don't see how you can start Malcolm Brown with confidence, but some chance he has a decent game behind Gurley, especially if the Rams control the game as I sort of expect.
Bears at Washington: Chicago's defense has been strong enough thus far that I'm not crazy about using many Washington players, though the hot hand of Terry McLaurin is certainly tempting. Chris Thompson should catch a bunch of low-impact passes, and Jordan Reed should be out for another week. None of my business but Reed I hope is thinking long and hard about his future. For the Bears, could be a nice David Montgomery and Allen Robinson game. BTW, who's scheduling these Thursday-Monday primetime games anyway? The last four have been Panthers-Bucs, Browns-Jets, Titans-Jaguars, and this eyesore. Are they trying to prove us suckers will watch any crap game they vomit up onto the schedule? Congratulations, we're sheep. Now give us a decent game, please.
Feel free to ask questions, I'll get you opinions by the end of the day. Enjoy the games.
--Andy Richardson