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.
I'm not sure what I used to do in Week 17 before daily fantasy leagues. I guess spend more time with family and friends or something. Yes there's the mystery of seeding in the NFC and whether Dallas or Philadelphia will sneak into the playoffs, but neither of those teams is going very far, and I think Tennessee will take the mystery out of the AFC's sixth seed as soon as they take the field. So, a lot of games don't have much meaning. Plan your lineups accordingly.
Falcons at Bucs: A high-scoring game coming up. The main wideouts and quarterbacks for both teams should be among the better performers on the week's slate. Running backs less appealing.
Dolphins at Patriots: Ryan Fitzpatrick has played pretty well for most of the season, but an early exception was against this defense, and I think it's risky to assume he'll be much better. DeVante Parker has been great but now he'll be dealing with Stephon Gilmore, so he probably won't be. For New England I'd use Sony Michel first at running back, but it will be a crowded committee. Julian Edelman is questionable and though I'm sure he'll play I'm a little concerned about snap count. N'Keal Harry the No. 2 and some potential for him against a pretty weak defense.
Bears at Vikings: Minnesota will reportedly rest starters. Chicago could have some success on offense, if they care, and might not. Theoretically Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller have value, but nobody who used Miller last week (one catch, 2 yards) is going to put him in a lineup this week. I remember taking Miles Sanders over David Montgomery in a rookie draft last year and catching a raised eyebrow or two, I don't regret the choice. Chicago doesn't seem to have much offensive vision.
Chargers at Kansas City: The possibility of the Chargers making a game of this one might be a little bit underestimated. They're not sure on talent, just performance. But I don't know if they care enough about possibly costing Kansas City seeding, and between Philip Rivers' turnovers and improved play by the Kansas City defense, best not to get too optimistic. Kansas City's offense should be fine, but perhaps not huge.
Packers at Lions: Green Bay can end up with the No. 1 seed in the NFC, potentially, so they'll take care of business here. Rodgers, Jones, Adams, perhaps even Allen Lazard. Maybe some garbage-time stats for Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola.
Browns at Bengals: In my Blackout team (I'm sitting around 60-80 in this thing, whoohoo) I think I'm using both Nick Chubb and Joe Mixon; maybe I changed one of them. But the point is there should be a lot of running from both teams. Guys like Boyd, Beckham and Landry have some small appeal, but I like the ground games a lot more.
Saints at Panthers: Should primarily be Kamara/Latavius versus Christian McCaffrey. I'm intrigued, actually, to see just how much of the offense goes through McCaffrey here, as the team tries to get him near Chris Johnson's scrimmage record. Will he catch 20 passes? Last week he caught 15. He's the only Panther I'd be considering. For New Orleans, Brees-Thomas-Cook will have some numbers but I like the running game a lot more.
Jets at Bills: Buffalo should give starters an early seat, so it's hands-off all of them as far as I'm concerned. For the Jets I suppose you can consider LeVeon Bell and Robby Anderson, but I'm not really keen on either; Buffalo won't be playing its best defenders, perhaps, but I'm not sure how motivated New York is to do anything more than get to the offseason healthy. New York shipping out Bell (somehow) and letting Anderson walk (perhaps) is classic Jets. A year from now, after another lousy season, Adam Gase will be fired, and someone will start over looking for new Bell-Anderson types.
Cardinals at Rams: Would be nice to use Kyler Murray, but it's not certain he's playing. I kind of like Larry Fitzgerald in possibly the final game of his career. And I suppose Kenyan Drake. I'm with Ian on the Rams: I don't trust them to use their starters. It's possible, and we're just guessing, so if you feel differently, have at it.
Raiders at Broncos: Raiders need a win and some help to get in, and I don't even think they'll get the win. Broncos have been playing well for most of the season -- 6-5 since an 0-4 start, and most of their losses were could have/should have wins (Vikings, Bears, Colts). No Josh Jacobs so DeAndre Washington should be pretty good, and Hunter Renfrow was the main pass catcher (with Tyrell Williams iffy). Denver's Phillip Lindsay and Courtland Sutton look fine against a poor defense.
Eagles at Giants: No Zach Ertz, so Dallas Goedert looks great. Carson Wentz and Greg Ward, Miles Sanders too against a poor defense. Giants will likely make a game of this one, so the Cowboys winning the NFC East can't be dismissed. Perhaps Daniel Jones will sustain some minor injury resulting in Eli Manning heroically coming off the bench to lead a game-winning drive.
Colts at Jaguars: Leonard Fournette's availability is something to monitor, as Ryquell Armstead could be very productive if Fournette (neck) can't go. Marlon Mack should be great for the Colts. More running than passing for both teams, I think.
Titans at Texans: Key Titans starters look good. Key Texans starters probably won't play. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Washington at Cowboys: The Dallas offense should put up strong numbers in this one. The Washington offense...well, Terry McLaurin isn't playing, that's one negative. Should be Adrian Peterson running it, and Steven Sims and maybe Chris Thompson and Kelvin Harmon with some catches and yards.
Steelers at Ravens: No James Conner, and no one of consequence for Baltimore. I don't like Robert Griffin facing a very good Steelers defense. I understand the interest in Gus Edwards, but I like Justice Hill about as much. Neither offense should do very much.
49ers at Seahawks: The game is in Seattle. That's about all the Seahawks have going for them. I think San Francisco is better, especially with Seattle using some combo of Travis Homer and Marshawn Lynch at running back, and should win this one by at least a touchdown, locking up that top seed. A shame we have to wait all day to see this game, by far the most interesting one of Week 17, but at least we have something to look forward to.
Enjoy (?) the games.