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 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 your question doesn't get answered, it's possible the rankings are very clear on those choices. I'm not going to disregard all our work to recommend somebody 15 spots below somebody else. Fair? OK, on to the games.
Eagles at Washington: Adrian Peterson and Terry McLaurin are generally the compelling Washington players. But Peterson is facing a run defense that's pretty good and I have to balance McLaurin's talent and the way Darius Slayton lit up the Eagles secondary last week with his quarterback being Dwayne Haskins. So, I'm wary of both. Eagles are really gutted by injuries but the tight ends look good, Miles Sanders and to a lesser extent Boston Scott too.
Texans at Titans: A couple of talented offenses working against suspect secondaries here. I guess Derrick Henry is the injury concern. If I had Henry, and he's active, I would use him. Player and coach both say he's playing. Slight risk in that he didn't practice all week. But unless you have another top-10 type running back to play over him, I think you start him and take your chances. Well, that's what I'd do on my team anyway. Ryan Tannehill and A.J. Brown look very good. I wouldn't touch Will Fuller and his iffy hamstring, though.
Dolphins at Giants: Neither defense is good. Problem with the Giants is suddenly they have too many healthy, viable receivers. Last week it was Slayton. This week he's the compelling one again, but maybe Tate or Shepard get a little more play, plus there's tight end Kaden Smith. Tricky. For Miami, there's immortal Patrick Laird at running back. DeVante Parker is the receiver to use, assuming he's definitely active. Sort of like Saquon Barkley, while keeping in mind there have been other weeks we've felt the same and it just hasn't happened.
Broncos at Kansas City: Snow is a likelihood for this game. And Patrick Mahomes has the bruised hand, and the Broncos are better against the pass than the run. So those are the negatives for using Mahomes, Hill, etc. The prevailing opinion among experts last week was Don't bench your studs, so there's that to consider before choosing someone else over Mahomes. If I had him in a playoff game anywhere I suspect I'd be using him; maybe Watson or Brees over him. Not much interest in Denver beyond Courtland Sutton; I don't think Drew Lock will repeat last week's game.
Bears at Packers: This one will be cold, the Bears defense is still pretty capable. So some chance Green Bay's offense underperforms. Rodgers, Jones, Adams are the key starters. For Chicago, Allen Robinson and maybe David Montgomery. I'm not expecting a high-scoring game.
Bucs at Lions: Possible high-scoring game here, though. Both secondaries pretty soft against the pass. Problem is both offenses are banged-up. Lions don't have Stafford, of course, or Marvin Jones. Not that anyone should be using Bo Scarbrough, but I feel certain I saw a report earlier in the week that he was out, and now he's questionable. Whatever, don't use him. Jameis Winston has the thumb deal but apparently he's starting. I might drop him behind one or two comparable guys in the rankings because of the injury risk, but I'm using Chris Godwin in a playoff game happily. Kenny Golladay the only Lion I'm interested in.
Patriots at Bengals: Logically, this would be a great game for Sony Michel. Also logically, the Patriots could come out and blow Cincinnati off the field, reminding everyone they're still Super Bowl champs and they're not dead until someone beats them in the playoffs. But, I'm wary of subscribing to either logic, since New England might just as likely use a committee backfield of three or four guys, and again look old and slow and sputtering. I'm using Joe Mixon because he's been playing well and he's close to a full-time back, and there aren't many of those. Not crazy about anyone else playing in this game besides Julian Edelman.
Seahawks at Panthers: I carry grudges. So I'm not as keen to use Seattle players after their dud against the Rams that cost me, oh, $500 in a TFC championship game. Tyler Lockett has let me down and frankly so has Wilson. So even though they're facing a lousy defense that went through the motions last week and in some other recent games, I'm a little wary. Might be just me. Chris Carson and DJ Moore are the definites.
Vikings at Chargers: I'm considering going off rankings here and starting Philip Rivers, who I just picked up this week, over Josh Allen (at Pittsburgh) and Matt Ryan (at San Francisco). San Francisco is banged up on defense and just got shredded by Drew Brees, of course, so I'm still waffling. But I kind of like Rivers at home (such as it is) against a defense that tends to give up production via the pass more than the run. For the Vikings, I wouldn't use Adam Thielen I don't think.
Jaguars at Raiders: I think Josh Jacobs is playing and subscribe to the idea of the Raiders getting a boost from this year's final home game. I'm using Darren Waller, as well. For the Jaguars, with DJ Chark out, I'm comfortable with the high Dede Westbrook ranking, and would use Leonard Fournette. But I wouldn't go too crazy with Gardner Minshew.
Browns at Cardinals: I like the Cardinals offense, kind of. Murray and Kirk, anyway. Less confident in the Drake/DJ mess. Jarvis Landry looks great, David Njoku worth the risk, Baker Mayfield potentially good. Chubb, Hunt, as well. OBJ, well, he's hurt and has underperformed almost all season. Viable but let's not get crazy there.
Falcons at 49ers: Initially the belief was to bench all Falcons. Then the extent of San Francisco's injuries became clear and those guys moved up. I'm still smarting from Ryan and company's dud against Tampa Bay knocking me out of an FFPC playoff two weeks ago, and then Hooper's dud last week hurting me in a couple of spots. And just because San Francisco is banged-up, well, it's still a very good pass defense, playing at home against a team with nothing to play for. So I'm recommending caution with the Falcons. Raheem Mostert, Emmanuel Sanders, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and by extension Jimmy Garoppolo...those guys look good.
Rams at Cowboys: Pretty big game. I'm not sure why all the love Cooper Kupp was getting in the passing game earlier in the year is now going to Robert Woods. Vexing, but that's where we're at. I like Gurley and Elliott, Prescott too (keeping in mind the Rams defense was pretty good against Seattle's passing game last week, albeit at home). And hoping Kupp gets some attention this week.
Bills at Steelers: It's apparently going to be cold for this one, but I believe the snow will be after the game is over. But we'll see. I (and the oddsmakers) are expecting a low-scoring game anyway, so don't get too crazy using players. I'm considering James Conner, I think Devin Singletary is viable, but if you're investing heavily in either passing game, you probably shouldn't. John Brown and Cole Beasley have some value as the main guys but overall production should be down.
Colts at Saints: Saints should win and put up good offensive numbers. I'm not sure what to expect out of the Colts. They could favor the run against a banged-up Saints defensive line. They could pass against an occasionally iffy secondary. They're short on targets and don't really want to get in a shootout with Brissett versus Drew Brees, but that's one possible outcome. I know that Pascal and Doyle are the receivers I'd use/am using, and Marlon Mack is fine. Saints should have Jared Cook, but we'll know better this afternoon.
A quick note to the people who post lineup questions in Ian's posts, e.g. the Mailbag. Ian has final say over the rankings in the Weekly. They're his. If Julio Jones is ahead of Allen Robinson in the rankings. he's not going to respond to a question by endorsing Robinson over Jones -- even if they're just a point or two apart. The rankings are his answers to lineup questions. I answer questions here because, as I said above, sometimes he and I like different players slightly more or less. Anyway. If you're asking a question in one of Ian's posts and he doesn't answer it, it's because he already has.
Enjoy the games.