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. If I don't answer your question, either I missed it (it happens) or the rankings are very clear.
Jets at Ravens: Tyrod Taylor provides some hope for average passing numbers, sadly he doesn't have any wide receivers anyone should seriously be considering. There's Mason Taylor, maybe, but even with him a leap of faith is required. For Baltimore, no Rashod Bateman, keeping anyone from making the mistake of starting him. Lamar Jackson is banged-up making him a little uncertain to be running as much, but at least he's facing a crummy team.
Steelers at Bears: Injured players are playing; Aaron Rodgers and Jaylen Warren. Bears defense is great in takeaways and lousy at coverage and tackling, so Warren looks better than usual and Rodgers should manage some production assuming his injured hand isn't too much of an issue. Steelers weak defending the pass so there should be some numbers for Chicago's passing game, but things have been spread around lately, none of the receiving possibilities look outstanding.
Patriots at Bengals: As long as you accept they'll be splitting time most likely holding both down, Rhamondre and TreVeyon are both viable against a defense that can't stop anyone. And Drake Maye, and Diggs, and Kayshon and Henry too. I don't seriously think Joe Burrow is playing in this one, but apparently it's possible, and the Patrtiots like to force opponents to pass. But seems safer, at the moment, to assume Joe Flacco, with Burrow facing the Ravens on Thursday. Regardless, good matchup for passing the ball.
Giants at Lions: It will be another week of Jameis Winston slinging it around, in a matchup where the Lions will probably be scoring in the 30s and the Giants will probably score a couple of touchdowns and maybe throw a couple of Pick Sixes, you never know. I'm interested in most Lions and think I need to start Winston in a league (regular QBs, Herbert and Dart), with Tracy, Wan'Dale and Theo all viable. Game should be higher-scoring, assuming New York keeps up its end of the bargain.
Vikings at Packers: Can J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings keep up their end of the bargain? Hard to feel confident. I like Aaron Jones and will be using Justin Jefferson (not happily), but no thanks to Addison and Hockenson. For Green Bay, like most Index readers I've got Josh Jacobs (knee contusion) on a team or two. No real insight to the injury. If he's active I assume he's playing like normal and am using him. If he's out I'd definitely be using Emanuel Wilson if I had him. Obviously there's risk with an active Jacobs, these are the chances we take. Christian Watson seems like the best wideout in Green Bay these days.
Colts at Kansas City: Big game especially for Kansas City, so I expect their offense to be pretty good, at least passing it. No Isiah Pacheco, not that anyone would/should have been using him, but Kareem Hunt looks better without him. Rashee and Kelce, yes. Colts, tough matchup, making me less likely to use say Alec Pierce, but the top players are in lineups. I'm pretty confident KC is going to the playoffs but if they lose this game we can conceivably say they could miss (10-7 is not guaranteed so their margin for error would be gone).
Seahawks at Titans: Game should go poorly for Tennessee's offense, which has essentially no viable options. Chimere Dike, Van Jefferson, Xavier Restrepo...just no. Seattle, there's some uncertainty over how healthy Kenneth Walker is. If he's out, I'll endorse Zach Charbonnet, if Walker is active, I'll endorse him (and Charbonnet is still the guy getting the goal line work. Seattle passing game, got burned on Cooper Kupp last week so I'll be carrying a grudge and not using/recommending him.
Jaguars at Cardinals: The Jacoby Brissett-Michael Wilson train keeps on running, recommended against a defense that's been weak against the pass. I'm using Bam Knight somewhere, not happily, but it's him as the main runner, so we do what we have to. For Jacksonville, I think the best choices are the two running backs. Investing in this passing game hasn't worked out great.
Browns at Raiders: Shedeur Sanders starts. I picked up the Raiders defense in a couple of leagues where I have the Broncos on a bye. Nothing special anti-Shedeur, but rookie QBs making first NFL starts on an offense as limited as the Browns seems like worthwhile uses of an opposing defense. Even if it's the Raiders. I like Quinshon Judkins here, but sort of suspect if and when the Browns get near the end zone, Shedeur might be thinking about a quarterback keeper. Raiders offense, Bowers and Jeanty, sure.
Eagles at Cowboys: The way the Eagles are playing defense nowadays, you can at least be wary of Dallas offense. They're home and Dak-CeeDee-Javonte-George, I think we're all playing them all, but no one is going to be surprised if they disappoint. And yeah, Dallas defense made some trades and maybe they'll be improved, but is anyone sitting down Barkley-Hurts? I doubt it. A.J., DeVonta, Goedert, I think we know the drill. Could be good, could be invisible. I'm using them because I have to, everyone else is hurt or on bye or lousy more often. You just hope there will be more scoring in this one than recent Eagles games. The complaints about the offense or Hurts specifically strike me as amusing. This team won the Super Bowl nine months ago right? I get that the past is the past but c'mon. I think a calendar year before ripping the quarterback is reasonable.
Falcons at Saints: Woof. Bijan and to a lesser extent Pitts are the only Falcons to consider. Kamara questionable and probably won't be good anyway, he's a starting running back who hasn't scored since Week 1. Chris Olave and Juwan Johnson are viable choices, but this is a game for diehards and Kirk Cousins family members to watch and that be it.
Bucs at Rams: No Bucky Irving, again. Rams are healthy, part of why they've been so good, and I'm not betting against them putting up strong numbers. But Baker Mayfield has also been putting up good numbers all year, so even with just one healthy wideout (I won't be recommending Chris Godwin, obviously) Tampa Bay's offense should be moving the ball, even if a lot of it comes late and with a deficit. Perhaps a playoff preview, certainly these two teams are winning their divisions.
Panthers at 49ers: Both teams also in the playoff picture, and it's a big game for them. San Francisco the 3rd-best in the West but they keep putting up offensive numbers and there's nothing special about Carolina's defense. San Fran's either, so Dowdle and Tetairoa look viable. Christian McCaffrey revenge game? Lol he should be thanking his lucky stars the Panthers shipped him out. San Francisco wide receivers, uh, I guess Jauan and Pearsall have to lead the way, presumably Pearsall will be a little more involved than in his first game back from injury.
Enjoy the games.