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.
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. Last week of the regular season!
Browns at Ravens: Browns are starting Bailey Zappe. Can't be worse than Dorian Thompson-Robinson, but they won't be competitive. I think we'll see a lot of running from Baltimore and a lot of Zappe getting zapped by the Ravens defense. There may be some sentiment to start Browns receivers for garbage-time numbers, but Jerry Jeudy and Jordan Akins would be the only ones to consider; I would not want to be counting on D'Onta Foreman. Seems like a Derrick Henry and Baltimore defense game.
Bengals at Steelers: Should be a good game. I know the Steelers will be eliminated from the AFC North with Baltimore winning, but the higher wild-card (so they won't have to go to Baltimore in the first round) is valuable. I think most believe the Bengals will win, but they were fortunate to beat Denver last week. Should be a good game with lots of starters putting up good numbers. I think Tee Higgins is playing, not as confident in Chase Brown, might be Khalil Herbert. Hoping for a big game from George Pickens so I can trade him away in dynasty.
Panthers at Falcons: Probably Miles Sanders at running back for Carolina, making for a viable Week 18 starter. Both Falcons running backs, Adam Thielen for the Panthers. Michael Penix gets a nice matchup, but Atlanta should mostly run it. But London and Mooney (if he plays, he's questionable) might be OK anyway, Carolina is really bad trying to cover people and such.
Commanders at Cowboys: Some discussion of a playing-time based contract incentive for Cooper Rush the Cowboys might try to keep him from getting. Look, Dallas has paid Rush $5 million the past couple of seasons, one I don't think they care that much about a $250k incentive, and two Rush has made pretty good money to generally not have to do very much over the years. Dallas should start Trey Lance to see what he can do, they gave up a decent pick for the guy and all. With Washington, they want to win for the higher seed, but since they're going to the playoffs I'm expecting more of a committee at running back (don't want to get Brian Robinson hurt), and would be the under on Jayden Daniels running.
Bears at Packers: Green Bay wants to win, but similarly I don't think they can afford to get Josh Jacobs hurt, so I expect very little from him. Kind of a weird game I think where Green Bay wants to win but knows they're playing next week anyway (maybe Saturday?) so might get some guys on the sidelines early if they can. Or at least not expose them to big hits if they can help it. Caleb might have a good game, would like to end the year on a positive note I imagine.
Jaguars at Colts: Every once in a while we get meaningless Week 18 games that are higher scoring. This would be my nominee. Joe Flacco will be out there slinging it and so will Mac Jones. I'm cool on starting running backs who might get early seats, that's about it. Could be some offense and production from both passing game. As noted elsewhere, Brian Thomas not making the Pro Bowl is just a shameful omission. Anyone who doesn't think he had a better season than either Zay Flowers or Jerry Jeudy, I just don't know what to say.
Bills at Patriots: New England says it's playing to win. I'm of the belief they're saying this because they caught some heat for suggesting otherwise early in the week. I don't think they want to win, and might hold out banged-up guys like Drake Maye and Hunther Henry. Costing themselves the No. 1 overall pick by winning this game would be nuts, and I expect they'll try to lose without seeming to try to lose. Bills rookie Ray Davis seems like the best player for either team in this game, he might run for 150 yards.
Giants at Eagles: I guess the Eagles will have to put 11 players on the field for most plays, but they don't seem too interested in doing so. Giants do, so they should win and put up nice numbers. Feel kind of bad for the Barkley situation, but good for Eric Dickerson. Hoping we see Will Shipley (concussion) since I picked him up in dynasty back in the summer and he's collected dust on my roster all year. But not a given.
Saints at Bucs: Clyde Edwards-Helaire will probably be New Orleans' interesting player. Can't count on the Saints passing game, even though it's a better matchup in that regard. Bucs should be scoring plenty, building a big lead, getting players out of the lineup early. Thumbs up on Tampa, though I expect more of a three-back backfield this week, don't want to get Irving or White hurt so could be some Sean Tucker for most of the second half.
Texans at Titans: I doubt we'll see Joe Mixon; very little if any. Maybe Stroud and Nico want to put some good vibes on tape to enter the playoffs on more of a high note. For Tennessee I'd expect more Julius Chestnut than anyone else. Rooting for Will Levis for the heck of it. At least he has a nice commercial going. Who knows, a couple of years from now maybe Levis will be Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold, leading some other team to the postseason.
49ers at Cardinals: Isaac Guerendo and Michael Carter, those should be the main players in this game. I don't expect a ton from either passing game. Hmm, Marvin Harrison needs 178 yards for a 1,000-yard season. Maybe they'll throw him a bunch of balls early to see if he can catch a long one and they can make that happen. Maybe.
Kansas City at Denver: So Denver probably wins this game easily (and it will crush my son if they don't), but I hope they show up taking things seriously. Carson Wentz is an actual NFL quarterback, and seems like Kansas City's various wide receivers are all playing. If Denver just shows up thinking the game is already won, they can absolutely lose. Just saying. I'll sign off on Nix-Sutton-Mims and also Jaleel McLaughlin, but they'll need to play this game, even with KC sitting Mahomes and its running backs.
Seahawks-Rams, Chargers-Raiders, Dolphins-Jets: I think people are getting tired of reading so I'm just going to group these three ridiculous games together. Rams aren't playing anyone, they're going to get smoked, Blake Corum is the Ram to consider as long as the team leaves him on the field long enough. Seattle offense should be good. Chargers should be good if the Steelers lose on Saturday, if Pittsburgh wins LA is locked in as the 6th seed and should be playing a lot of backups. Raiders are terrible and Bowers, Meyers and Mattison would be the players to consider, more so if the Chargers are resting starters. I expect the Jets to beat the Tyler Huntley-led Dolphins, with Aaron Rodgers throwing that 500th touchdown pass, probably to Davante Adams. But a committee backfield.
Vikings at Lions: High-scoring affair with players on both sides putting up big numbers and the final score probably being 38-34 or something similar. If you need my help to consider starters from this game all I can say is you've missed an entertaining NFL season.
Enjoy the games.