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Sunday morning injury updates

Alvin Kamara OUT (9:30 a.m. Eastern start), Jax-Philly weather concerns

Important injury update from the game that kicks off in London. Saints running back Alvin Kamara, questionable on the injury report with a rib injury is OUT. New Orleans will start Mark Ingram at running back against an iffy Vikings defense.

Looking at the Friday rankings update, I'd slot Ingram about 3-4 spots higher than Kamara was originally slotted, just behind Javonte Williams (PPR). This is not because he's better than Kamara, but because a Kamara-Ingram backfield would probably have been about a 70-30 split, while Ingram should get a larger share of the workload. This isn't certain: When Kamara missed Week 2 against Tampa Bay, Ingram actually played fewer snaps that No. 3 Tony Jones. But Ingram outcarried Jones 10-2 and each caught 2 passes. The Bucs are really tough on the run, and the Saints didn't run much in that game. The Vikings have allowed an average of 138 yards on the ground, and with 5 rushing touchdowns. I like Ingram.

  • Jameis Winston and Michael Thomas are both out, but you knew that. Much is made of the Saints being down to their backup quarterback, but I don't believe going from Winston to Andy Dalton is seismic enough not to use Chris Olave or Jarvis Landry. They're ranked appropriately on Friday.

  • Another early injury note is that Cordarrelle Patterson (knee) is apparently iffy for Atlanta's game. According to Adam Schefter, he plans to play but will test things out pregame. This is different than what we were thinking on Friday, and makes sense to downgrade Patterson (and also confirm he's actually active). Atlanta will still probably use a committee at running back, of Tyler Allgeier and Avery Williams, so I would not personally go all crazy moving Allgeier ahead of better players. But a chance he winds up starting, if Patterson actually inactive.

  • Finally, the after-effects of Hurricane Ian are going to affect some games, most notably in Philadelphia -- 20 mph winds, according to weather.com, and rain. Also in Baltimore: not as much wind (10-12 mph), but rain likely. Pittsburgh (Jets-Steelers) and New Jersey (Bears-Giants) could also have rain, but the wind doesn't look quite as bad (10 mph) and I'm pretty sure we didn't recommend any passing game components in Bears-Giants anyway.

Because of the wind and rain, it makes sense to consider other kicker options than from these teams (especially Philadelphia and Jacksonville). As far as the passing games, avoid Bears-Giants anyway, I think Steelers-Jets should be fine as ranked (Diontae Johnson the only really favorably ranked player), Bills-Ravens too. I'm not avoiding Diggs, Bateman or Gabe Davis (with him it's more the injury concern than 10 mph winds).

The wind is a concern for A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Christian Kirk. I think it makes sense to tune in to the pregame shows to see just how bad things look shortly before kickoff. I'm not automatically benching any of those three players for someone ranked 20 spots below, but if guys are close in the rankings (if you were deciding between DeVonta Smith and Drake London, playing indoors), I'd avoid the weather. I am NOT benching Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen. Maybe those guys run a little more. I'm also not filling lineups with likely committee backs Miles Sanders and Devin Singletary. I like both a bit more (especially Sanders, since Boston Scott is out) but not dramatically upgraded.

Getting this up early because of the London start time. If I see anything else significant before the early kickoffs, I'll post in the comments below.

--Andy Richardson

31 Reader Comments:

Robert Schule

Oakland Gardens, NY
2022-10-02T12:51:10Z
Wonder how many people are going to wake up hungover at 9:35 ET and realize they left an injured Kamara in their lineup? Hope my opponent is one of them. LOL

Shaun Hawkins

Albany, GA
2022-10-02T13:09:14Z
I just put Ingram in. Now, time for the aspirin and coffee.

Tim Clark

Dallas, TX
2022-10-02T13:40:45Z
With CLE missing any kind of pass rush, how do you see Mariotta vs Herbert in TD only league?

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-10-02T13:43:03Z
Same as Friday

Robert Schule

Oakland Gardens, NY
2022-10-02T13:47:39Z
Andy. Would you start Godwin over Doubs or Carter? Have a feeling the Bucs wouldn’t start Godwin at this point unless they felt comfortable about him not re-injuring. What are your thoughts

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-10-02T14:01:38Z
No, I wouldn’t. How do we know for sure he is starting? He’s questionable on the injury report.

Yaesha Newman

2022-10-02T14:05:44Z
Andy Dalton will be awful, may get hurt.

Robert Schule

Oakland Gardens, NY
2022-10-02T14:06:16Z
Rapoport and Schefter reported he’s in

Robert Schule

Oakland Gardens, NY
2022-10-02T14:09:00Z
My concern with Doubs is a potential blowout could lead to them running a ton. Carter I worry about with Wilson’s inability to check down, and Hall’s increased workload. Godwin could be jumping right into a potential perfect game script

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-10-02T14:25:13Z
Dalton is awful. So is Winston. Virtually his entire production to this point has been in fourth-quarter garbage time.

I'm not interested in using Godwin until he plays a full game healthy or at least practices fully all week. I also haven't seen Zach Wilson play enough to make too many judgments about his checkdown tendencies, but I'll admit I'm not crazy about pretty much anything connected with the Jets offense. (But that was the case with Flacco too so)

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-10-02T14:26:22Z
Regarding Doubs, if the Packers blow the Patriots out (which I'm not really expecting), he could reasonably be a part of that.

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-10-02T14:32:04Z
And at the risk of belaboring the Godwin discussion, Schefter's actual Tweet reads as follows: "Bucs are optimistic that WRs Chris Godwin (hamstring) and Julio Jones (knee), both listed as questionable, both will be able to play Sunday night vs the Chiefs, but Tampa Bay wants to test both pregame to make sure, per sources." I don't know what Rapoport said but I trust Schefter more and I definitely ain't gambling on players being tested in pregame warmups.

Yaesha Newman

2022-10-02T14:38:57Z
My guess is that testing pregame means they’re in unless something goes very wrong. 95%.

Ben Hogevoll

Siletz, OR
2022-10-02T15:08:37Z
Bears kicker will be Badgley in place of Santos not that anyone is using Bears kicker anyway.

Ed Gallagher

Lancaster, PA
2022-10-02T15:13:44Z
Andy - would u play Singletary or Bateman as a ppr flex? thanks!

Ed Gallagher

Lancaster, PA
2022-10-02T15:14:49Z
Wasnt sure if the weather would make u lean to the RB side of the question...don't want to overreact to weather, would appreciate your take

Jeff Zwiers

Bellingham, WA
2022-10-02T15:25:08Z
Put in Bateman or Lazard for Kirk?

Jose Montana

Rosemead, CA
2022-10-02T15:26:09Z
Do the numbers for Vikings DST change materially from Friday's numbers with Kamara out? (I'm talking Saints offense 50 yards less than Friday, 7 points less than Friday.)

Jose Montana

Rosemead, CA
2022-10-02T15:29:14Z
never mind... My alternative was better all around...

Andy Richardson

Port Chester, NY
2022-10-02T15:42:16Z
Ed…the weather in Baltimore doesn’t look as bad as Philly…not as much wind. I’m ok with Bateman based on what I’ve seen. They’re close.

Jeff, Kirk has been great but that weather looks really bad to me. I would use one of the others (back to back in rankings)

Michael Casdia

Rio Vista, CA
2022-10-02T15:51:24Z
Pitts or Goedert with consideration for the wind in Philly ?

KW Song

Pittsburgh, PA
2022-10-02T15:52:59Z
Andy, need two PPR from: Penny, Cooks, Aiyuk, Doubs. Not super excited about any of them.

Brad Johnson

Mc Kinney, TX
2022-10-02T15:56:17Z
With slight weather in the mix, .5 ppr, would you go Aiyuk or Bateman? Rankings have Bateman +1.2, but with the long TD dependence in wind vs large targets / suspect completion rate of Aiyuk. Really torn.

David Hogshire

Plymouth, MN
2022-10-02T16:01:54Z
A variation on the Godwin theme. I have to choose between J. Jones and Hardman. Our league makes us lock our lineup prior to early kickoffs so I don't have the luxury of waiting to see if Jones will play. Want to flip a coin for me?

Jeff Zwiers

Bellingham, WA
2022-10-02T16:13:50Z
Take a chance on d Schultz or stick w Evan engram? Need to take chances in this league…

Jeff Zwiers

Bellingham, WA
2022-10-02T16:23:44Z
Standard scoring

Darren Castillo

Placentia, CA
2022-10-02T16:30:49Z
I'm sticking with Engram Jeff

Jeff Zwiers

Bellingham, WA
2022-10-02T16:57:29Z
Thanks Darren -I’ll go w ya too.

Brad Johnson

Mc Kinney, TX
2022-10-02T17:04:16Z
Stuck to rankings and went Bateman. Here we go....

Jason Kaufman

Eastchester, NY
2022-10-02T18:08:36Z
Late ask here… Javonte Williams or Josh Jacobs?

Jason Kaufman

Eastchester, NY
2022-10-02T22:55:07Z
I should’ve trusted the rankings and went with Jacobs.. putz!
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