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 I don't get to your question, either I missed it (it happens) or the rankings are very clear. (If one guy is ranked a dozen spots above somebody else, I'm going to respect that more often than not; we put a lot of time into those things.) OK, on to the games!
Packers versus Giants in London: This game starts at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, so make sure your lineups are set properly. Controversy last week when Alvin Kamara was inactive, left in a lot of lineups (presumably especially on the West Coast). I'm not sure there any similar situations for this one, but if you're starting anyone, get up early enough just in case. Sounds like Daniel Jones is playing, presumably with his ankle heavily taped. I don't believe there are leagues deep enough to start Jones (if he's not likely to run much) or any of his receivers (I believe the healthy ones are David Sills, Richie James, Darius Slayton and whoever they promote from the practice squad); pretty much just Saquon Barkley. For Green Bay the main starters look viable across the board, although the Giants do seem to have an above-average defense.
Steelers at Bills: Steelers relatively healthy, too bad they're on the road against a defense plenty capable of shutting them down. I was surprised at the hefty point spread, though, there don't seem to be many games these days when you can confidently say one team will beat another by 2 TDs. For Buffalo, no Dawson Knox and no Jamison Crowder, the uncertainty involves Isaiah McKenzie (concussion). If he plays, he could be busy, if he's held out, Khalil Shakir will be. Gabe Davis practiced fully all week so seems like the ankle injury is behind him.
Chargers at Browns: No Keenan Allen. Josh Palmer questionable; should play, but I'm a little less likely to use him. This game was a shootout a year ago, so I consider it at least possible it will be a shootout again. Doesn't mean to start Donovan Peoples-Jones or random 3rd wideouts, but Mike Williams, Amari Cooper, both TEs and the three relevant running backs are all fair game. No Dustin Hopkins for the Chargers, potentially; look elsewhere for a kicker.
Texans at Jaguars: Jaguars generally playing well, so only Houston's top choices (Dameon Pierce, Brandin Cooks) look viable. For the Jaguars, Lawrence and the running backs and Christian Kirk look best. I'm not personally inclined to go down the Jamal Agnew road, but I guess some will consider him.
Bears at Vikings: David Montgomery's status is uncertain, which makes using Khalil Herbert uncertain. If Montgomery is active, both guys should play, but neither looks great if that's the case. If I wanted to use Herbert, I'd be monitoring the Sunday morning reports and inactives. No thanks on the Bears passing game, thumbs up on the key Vikings.
Lions at Patriots: Another tricky situation with Amon-Ra St. Brown. If he's active, I'd use him, and not other Lions wide receivers. If he's out, Josh Reynolds looks like the No. 1. No D'Andre Swift, so Jamaal Williams viable. Patriots will apparently be starting Bailey Zappe at quarterback. Last week this meant not much passing. Defense a lot softer this week, but I think New England will run a lot, with both Harris and Stevenson looking likely to be very busy. Matchup great, but I don't have much interest in New England's passing game with Zappe handing it off throughout.
Seahawks at Saints: No Jameis Winston or Michael Thomas, but no there was no reason to avoid Michael Thomas under the concern that he was "injury prone." Seattle is healthy and the pro- and anti-Geno Smith crowds will have evidence to support their beliefs after this game against a credible Saints defense. Andy Dalton should be fine and Chris Olave should be very good. Looks like Alvin Kamara will return, preventing me from making the mistake of starting Mark Ingram for a second straight week. An ankle injury makes me wary of Jarvis Landry, too.
Dolphins at Jets: Tricky one here with both Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle questionable. Sounds like they're fine, especially Waddle, but worth being vigilant Sunday morning to make 100 percent certain both are active. Certainly you want them in lineups against the Jets if they are. Jets are healthy, but hard to know what components of the passing game to fully trust. Breece Hall looks like the best running back option, that didn't take long.
Falcons at Bucs: So I think Tyler Allgeier will be the best Falcons running back, especially as the probable pass catcher. I picked up Caleb Huntley, but wouldn't start him until we see how these backs are used. Nice matchup for the Bucs offense, which is getting healthier, it's just hard to be sure which former Falcon wideout will be best against his former team. No Kyle Pitts, which might be a relief to some who have had to start Pitts the first month.
Titans at Commanders: Washington activates Brian Robinson. Great story and Robinson should be on a roster, maybe a fantasy starter a week from now. But I would not use him this week. Or Antonio Gibson, but that's a given. Logan Thomas hurt in practice (lots of practice injuries so far this year...) and Jahan Dotson is out, making Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel look better. Titans offense has potential, primarily Robert Woods and of course Derrick Henry.
49ers at Panthers: Matt Rhule's job apparently in jeopardy. I'm no Rhule fan but he's not the one annually investing in reclamation project quarterbacks who it's not surprising when they're not very good. Or maybe he is beating the podium for these guys, I don't know. Anywho, McCaffrey is the only Panther I'd be interested in starting. San Francisco should be pretty good and Wilson, Samuel and perhaps Kittle (so close to a TD last week that would have won me a lot of money, sigh), Aiyuk to a much lesser extent.
Eagles at Cardinals: Should be a good game for the key Eagles against a lesser Cardinals defense. For the Cardinals, it's just Murray-Conner-Brown-Ertz, and not a great matchup (but starting Ertz against Philly certainly appealing). No interest in other Cardinals receivers, I suppose Greg Dortch as a desperation choice if Rondale Moore inactive.
Cowboys at Rams: Looks like a game with more defense than offense. Not hard to steer clear of the running backs on both sides; committee of suspect players against good defenses. CeeDee Lamb is questionable, I think he's playing, but I guess you need to be 100 percent sure. I've given up on Allen Robinson. Cooper Rush at quarterback, Matthew Stafford against a really good Cowboys defense...not a lot of great choices in this game. Dalton Schultz returns and Tyler Higbee, both at least could be No. 2 receivers in this game.
Bengals at Ravens: A compelling Sunday night game, always nice. Quarterbacks are good, but Lamar Jackson won't have Rashod Bateman, so we're looking at Devin Duvernay as a No. 1 wideout. Ranked pretty favorably, but not without some degree of risk. No Justice Hill, so some lesser performing running back will be the No. 2 to J.K. Dobbins. Hayden Hurst and Tee Higgins both questionable, Higgins probably fine, Hurst iffier.
Raiders at Kansas City: I still don't have Thursday night's horrific primetime game out of my memory, but this likely higher-scoring one should help. Kansas City's offense will be good, hopefully the Raiders can keep pace. Hunter Renfrow should return, key starters on both teams look solid. No Harrison Butker, it seems, again. Will sign off on CEH and Josh Jacobs.
Enjoy the games.