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 over the course of the day to answer 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.
Kansas City at Raiders: Upsets do happen, so maybe the Raiders can make things interesting. But reasonably their defense shouldn't do much to slow Kansas City down. I'm expecting a higher-scoring game, giving the available Raiders some value. There's some small question as to Josh Jacobs' availability, so the inactives need to be checked, but most likely he's fine. Jacobs has the rushing title by 160 yards right now, so barring a monster performance by Nick Chubb at Pittsburgh or Derrick Henry at Jacksonville, he's fine (but maybe they'll get him another 60-plus yards to make it even more certain).
Titans at Jaguars: There was some question as to why this isn't the Sunday night game, but I think it's cool having this tonight. No other games are really affected by it, and it's a winner-take-all game, which is rare (Packers-Lions will only be that if the Seahawks lose earlier in the day). Derrick Henry is the only Titan I'd be interested in. Jacksonville's passing game should be best, but I'd use Travis Etienne anyway (passing game role), and there's not a g0-to receiver. Jacksonville should win, but you never know; Tennessee has a little more experience in games like this. Not Joshua Dobbs, of course.
Bucs at Falcons: Bucs might open with some starters, but I'd be very reluctant to count on them playing throughout. Brady and Evans playing even until halftime -- why? The Bucs are hedging, but risky to expect a full game from pretty much anyone. Tyler Allgeier and Drake London look viable this week.
Patriots at Bills: There are reasonable questions as to the Bills' focus after the past week, but I think they'll be out there playing to win, and they're just a lot better than New England right now anyway. I'd start key Bills. Patriots should use a running back committee, Jakobi Meyers is questionable with a shoulder injury, and emotion is going to be on Buffalo's side; I'm not really keen to use Patriots. Weather shouldn't be an issue at least.
Vikings at Bears: There are some elements to this game that make a win for either team less than ideal. The Bears can get the No. 1 pick in next year's draft if they lose and the Texans beat the Colts (which is possible; the Colts are terrible). So no Justin Fields, and the offense shouldn't do very much even against a lousy Vikings defense. And then for Minnesota, they can be the No. 2 seed if they win and San Francisco loses against Arizona. First, that's not gonna happen anyway, and second, the No. 2 seed will host Green Bay (if the Packers win) in the first round, while the No. 3 will host the Giants. New York has had a nice year, but I'd much rather play the Giants than the red-hot Packers. Anyway, Vikings will play at least some starters, but I don't know if they'll play throughout. Wouldn't want to count on them.
Ravens at Bengals: Baltimore has incentive to win to get a coin flip for a home game, but if the Chargers lose at Denver (which is possible) they wouldn't face Cincinnati anyway. And the Bengals have more incentive (a win guarantees a home game) and are just a lot better, especially with Baltimore not having Lamar Jackson. In any case, I'd use Bengals starters, but wouldn't want to count on any Ravens besides Mark Andrews. Who could also get an early seat if the game is out of hand.
Texans at Colts: Someone has been through here with the ugly stick. It'd be classic Texans and Lovie Smith to win this game, costing themselves the No. 1 pick in next year's draft (and then giving up a bunch of picks to trade up from 2 to 1 so they can draft a quarterback). Zack Moss and Michael Pittman (who is within reach of a 100-catch, 1,000-yard season somehow, raise your hand if you didn't think Pittman's season seemed anywhere near that productive)
Jets at Dolphins: Miami needs to win and have New England lose for a playoff spot. If the Bills and Jets win, the Steelers can steal that postseason spot. If the Bills Jets and Browns win, the Jaguars (if they lose to Tennessee) will be a wild-card. So this is a pretty big game, too bad the quarterbacks are Joe Flacco and Skylar Thompson. Garrett Wilson, Tyler Conklin, Tyreek and Jaylen, Raheem Mostert -- these players all have value. But again, the quarterbacks running things are Flacco and Thompson. Not great, Bob.
Panthers at Saints: Chris Olave needs 18 yards for a 1,000-yard season, so if you can do a parlay of which Saint will catch the first pass in this game or something, he's the guy to consider. D'Onta Foreman needs 154 yards for his first 1,000-yard campaign. Not too likely, but Carolina running Foreman a ton is -- you just need to confirm he's actually active, since he's questionable with a knee injury he picked up in practice this week. We'll see what they say on the morning shows, but looks risky to count on Foreman unless someone tells us he's fine and the injury is no big deal. Taysom Hill also questionable, can't be relied upon.
Browns at Steelers: Cleveland has been playing well, I guess, although Washington basically gave them last week's game. Pittsburgh won't be as generous as Carson Wentz was, so I'd be wary of counting on too much from the Browns. Najee, Diontae (part of me thinks an anytime touchdown bet on Diontae would be crazy like a fox, with everyone aware he hasn't scored all season) and Freiermuth viable, maybe George Pickens, though his best work should come next year.
Giants at Eagles: Tricky one. I don't think the Giants will play starters for long, if at all (Saquon definitely shouldn't step on the field). Eagles need to win so I expect Hurts and Miles Sanders and the key receivers to all play, but I could see them getting an early seat and would be crazy to have Hurts running into piles near the goal line and whatnot. Probably a lower-scoring game.
Cowboys at Commanders: Dallas will need to open with starters, just in case the Eagles somehow lose, but we'll see how long they play. Washington, with Sam Howell at quarterback and Jonathan Williams at running back, I think their offense is pretty much hands off. Not much interest in the receivers. Part of me feels kind of bad for Ron Rivera I guess; as I mentioned last week I don't think him not knowing Washington could be eliminated was a huge deal, since it didn't actually affect how he would coach the game. But there was plenty of evidence to support him sticking with Taylor Heinicke rather than putting Carson Wentz out there last week, and he ignored it, so here we are.
Chargers at Broncos: I expect the Bengals to beat the Ravens, so I expect the Chargers to rest starters. Not much interest in their backups at Denver; maybe Joshua Kelley if I needed a running back, but they could also use some Isaiah Spiller and Larry Rountree (if they don't even want to risk Kelley). Denver's offense should be pretty good, I'd use their key starters as they roll up yards and points far too late to help anyone, except for those Week 18 fantasy teams.
Rams at Seahawks: Rain could apparently be a factor in this game, something to keep in mind. I hope the Rams at least make things interesting, because it would make Lions-Packers a lot more interesting if Seattle lost this game (so the Lions could make the playoffs with a win). Detroit's emotion will be a lot lower if they go from playoff hopefuls to just playing spoiler a few hours before kickoff, which is why the NFL's decision to make Packers-Lions the Sunday night game is a little suspect. Whatever. Seattle has some banged-up starters, most notably Tyler Lockett; I'd be wary of using him. But Walker and Metcalf and Smith all look fine. For the Rams there's Cam Akers and Tyler Higbee and that be it.
Cardinals at 49ers: Not playing for Arizona: Kyler Murray, Colt McCoy, James Conner, DeAndre Hopkins. Wow, that's not good. David Blough handing off to Corey Clement and throwing to Hollywood Brown, Greg Dortch and Trey McBride at one of the league's best defenses. I know the Raiders lit up San Francisco last week, but I'm not sure the Cardinals score 14 points in this game. San Francisco needs to win to maybe get the top seed and ensure the No. 2 seed (which, again, might mean a playoff opener against the Packers, which isn't really desirable), but I think they can win without putting Christian McCaffrey on the field, and I don't think they really want Kittle or Deebo or maybe even Aiyuk playing long either. Risky to count on the Niners' starters here.
Lions at Packers: Hoping for a good game, but working against it is the Packers are playing better right now, and there's a good chance Seattle wins earlier in the day, eliminating the Lions. For the sake of discussion, let's say Seattle loses. In that case, I'll be interested in both D'Andre Swift and ex-Packer Jamaal Williams. If Seattle wins, those guys should still be OK, but Detroit's motivation will be a lot less. Not a great situation for Detroit's passing game, but if they fall behind (which seems likely) there would be some later numbers, probably. Basically it will be too late to replace Lions players if Seattle were to win, so I'd go into this one favoring non Lions if they're close in the rankings. Fingers crossed it means a lot for both teams, would be a lot more fun to watch.
Enjoy the games.