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.
Season is flying by. We've got six teams on bye this week, so I expect to see more questions involving 2nd running backs and wide receivers than normal. Good luck! On to the games.
Chargers at Patriots: Justin Herbert against Bailey Zappe, yet I'm not 100 percent sure who will win this game. Chargers all but out of the playoff hunt and find a way to lose close ones. I'd use Herbert-Ekeler-Allen, obviously (though I already benched Herbert for Dak), but Patriots have played good defense most weeks. For New England, Rhamondre Stevenson yes and Ezekiel Elliott maybe, though he's a No. 2 and questionable due to injury.
Lions at Saints: Saints have been terrible against the run, which makes me happy to recommend both Lions running backs. Lions have been terrible against the pass, which makes me happy to recommend Chris Olave -- assuming he clears the protocol, that needs to be confirmed -- and roll the dice on likely No. 2 A.T. Perry in deeper leagues. Juwan Johnson and Taysom Hill, perhaps. Feels like a higher-scoring game. Also Goff and I don't need to mention Amon-Ra, but if I'm Detroit I maybe rein Goff in a little the way he's been coughing up turnovers.
Cardinals at Steelers: James Conner homecoming angle makes him a solid start, if you subscribe to those kind of things. Arizona defense giving up lots of production these days, especially on the ground, you'll note both Steelers running backs as top-20 options. I considered George Pickens this week (I haven't lately), it seems like a better week than normal to try a Steeler receiver. McBride and Hollywood Brown, sure, Kyler too. Oh yeah, Pittsburgh is the most popular Survivor choice in the pool I'm no longer a part of. They would be an OK choice, should win.
Falcons at Jets: Should be a lot more running than passing in this one. Definitely Bijan and Breece, given favorable matchups for running. If it's close with Garrett Wilson and another player in the rankings, I'm usually using the other player. Is all the Aaron Rodgers talk strictly because there's so little else to talk about with the Jets? Does anyone outside of Jets fans want this team in the playoffs? They're brutal to watch. I don't even care if he's healthy, they're not going to make the playoffs so it doesn't matter. He'd be a plus for Wilson even if his foot was nailed to the turf, so I guess there's that.
Colts at Titans: Sometimes you get lucky. I almost dropped Zack Moss in a league a couple of times over the past month, but kept him around and this week, with Jacobs on bye, I have him available (I would otherwise have been starting a lesser part of a committee). Moss should be good, so should Derrick Henry, Michael Pittman, and I'll sign off on Josh Downs and DeAndre Hopkins, too. Important game for the Colts, not that anyone wants or needs to see them in the playoffs, but there are going to be some iffy playoff teams this year. Consider: there will be 14 playoff teams. Right now there are only 13 with winning records. And one of them will be starting Joe Flacco this week.
Dolphins at Commanders: It would be a little more enticing if this game were in Miami, but this game should be the all-but-official end of the Ron Rivera era in Washington. The Commanders get lit up by opposing offenses every week, of course, but a matchup with Mike McDaniel's offense should be an embarrassing one. If there are any Jaylen Waddle questions, the answer is yes, start him. Miami running backs are a trickier group. If you started DeVon Achane coming off injury a couple of weeks ago, you got burned big-time. I think it makes sense to tread carefully with him, and also with Raheem Mostert, but they're ranked appropriately, factoring in some risk but the huge upside both have. For Washington, well, they should score some points in a 34-20 type of loss.
Broncos at Texans: I realize they've beaten both Buffalo and Kansas City, but this is a game where we see how real Denver's playoff push is. Houston is a team they'll be competing with for a wild-card spot; I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this game might ultimately determine which of these teams gets that 6 or 7 seed in the AFC. Main receivers viable for both, Singletary for Houston. Denver backfield messy these days, hard to recommend. No Dalton Schultz for the Texans. Should be a good game.
Panthers at Bucs: I know teams that fire their coaches often get a lift the next week, but hard to see Carolina's anemic offense doing enough to actually get a win, so I'll make the Bucs a Survivor favorite. Rachaad White should be very good here. Chris Godwin has a neck injury, so he may not be available. Starting Adam Thielen, even after his horrific game last week, and crossing my fingers. No other Panthers really intrigue me, even though Chuba Hubbard was good last week, but I suppose he'll be the best option for some.
Browns at Rams: There's a trainwreck sort of element to seeing how Joe Flacco might do after being retired (I think) the first half of the season. I realize he can't be much worse as a passer than P.J. Walker or Dorian Thompson-Robinson, but he could definitely be less mobile. Njoku, Cooper and Jerome Ford look fine as starting options. Tough as the Browns D has been, they have not been as good away from home, so I'm using Nacua and would also use Kupp, while Kyren is a given. Stafford an option, albeit not a great one.
49ers at Eagles: Game of the Week, but I think it will be hard to top the Eagles-Bills OT game from last week. There's another post here where people are debating who will win this one; I think it will be the 49ers, I guess for the same reason the oddsmakers do, better defense, but we'll see. I am a little concerned that maybe this one will be lower-scoring, with more conservative offenses, not wanting to make a critical mistake to give the other team an easy touchdown. But if you have any stars in this one, you're starting them and hoping for points. Rain could be a factor in this one, but offenses overcame it in last week's game.
Kansas City at Packers: Packers have won a couple of games to get back into the NFC's ugly playoff hunt (there are FOUR teams with winning records in the entire conference), but they should lose here. KC defense has been way better than expected and I don't think Jordan Love, AJ Dillon and company will fare well here. For Kansas City, Pacheco and Rice look solid (don't need to mention Mahomes/Kelce, presumably). Sunday night announcers gushing about Mahomes, what are you gonna do, it's not his fault.
Bengals at Jaguars: Not the best Monday night game, with the Bengals out of it and the Jaguars having largely wrapped up the AFC South. Cincinnati defense struggling of late so key Jaguars should be in lineups. For the Bengals, I'll use Mixon (passing game work) and JaMarr Chase. Tee Higgins will apparently return, I'm a little nervous to use him but with six teams on bye he looks better than some I'd have to use. But I'll probably avoid him. Good matchup for the Jags.
Enjoy the games.
