Miami @ Atlanta
I seem to be out on an island here when I talk about how bad Miami is going to be this year. They have a far tougher schedule and are in store for a regression from a shocking season in 2008. Saying that, the Dolphins should provide some dink and dunk passing all the way down the field which bodes quite well for the sure handed Devon Bess and the criminally under drafted Greg Camarillo, who are borderline starts in PPR leagues this week. Ted Ginn is an interesting play here but will have trouble getting deep if John Abraham and the Falcon’s D-line are hassling Pennington all day. Miami will try to keep the ball on the ground as long as possible here feeding the rock to the running back duo of Ronnie and Ricky (Dash and Grass?). Since neither running back is overly good, look for some usual Dolphins trickery to mask that fact. One of the most intriguing sleepers of the week is definitely Tony Fasano, Miami’s tight end. With competition David Martin on the IR, look for Fasano to contribute and start building on his breakout campaign from last year when he had 7 TDs.
The Falcon’s are at home and looking to put last year’s playoff loss behind them and put a hurtin on the Dolphins. The offence begins and ends with The Burner; if he can get running early, look for some points to be posted. The Fins boast one the best front sevens in the league which should make things tough on Turner. I still look for him to have a good game with Matt Ryan’s ability to stretch the field with “Rowdy” Roddy White and dominate the middle with Tony G, who are all good plays here. Michael Jenkins seems to be highly drafted but I still can’t figure out why. Entering his sixth year he has never posted better than 53 reception in a year or 777 yards in season. He’s generally only good for a handful of good games during the season and I just don’t see a reason why this would be one of them.
KC @ Baltimore
KC is in rebuilding mode; never a good sign of things to come, especially for week one. They fired their offensive coordinator last week (good sign) and are unsure who is starting at QB (usually a great sign for success) with Matt Cassel on the mend. If Tyler “The Pen” Thigpen gets called on to make a relief appearance I actually like the Chiefs chances of getting a point. While he’s not a winner, he can put up the fantasy points. The only starter that was drafted from KC this year was Dwayne Bowe, who just isn’t a viable option this week. If you drafted him as your number one you’ll probably have to start him due to lack of other options, try, try, to find someone else. It’s much like the Chris Johnson situation from Thursday night; you feel obligated to start them because you spent that high pick on him. Look at the results from the Johnson experiment: 15 carries, 57 yards. Not what you want from anyone in your line up, any week. So once again, this is where drafting depth comes in handy. If you were able to draft a good WR4 or WR3, depending on the league, start the other option here. Best case scenario for Bowe this week will be a touchdown in garbage time when they’re down by 30. Never a good idea to bank on that. Don’t touch anyone else on this team for a start this week, you’ll be kicking yourself on Monday. If you have to, I actually like Jaamal Charles better than LJ this week.
Generally if I’m really down on one team that means I’m rolling up and smoking the other team to get this high. Other than Anderson Cooper’s eventual one, this coming out party will be the biggest of the week for Joe Flacco. He looked good in the preseason and seems to be ready to pick apart the Chiefs ghastly defence. Derrick Mason is a good looking play this week, more so in a PPR league as always. Mark Clayton is ready to play and could be good for a deep score this week. Now to the convoluted back field of the Ravens. Every fantasy analyst has basically cummed their pants over Ray Rice this season and this looks to be one of his best match ups for the entire year. If you did your draft after the third preseason week, you probably had to draft him as a starter. No player has ever been elevated so high up draft boards during the course of about three weeks, despite having a relative quiet preseason: 22 carries for 83 yards. He’s been named the starter and has a great chance of picking up some yards on the ground and through the air, with a possible score in the mix. He should be a monster in PPR leagues this season. I like “What you talkin ‘bout” Willis McGahee to maybe snake a goal line TD this week and think he’s a better option than L. Ron McClain, mostly because he has no relation to Die Hard hero John McClain. This goes without saying but I’ll put it in here for all the deaf mutes of the world: start the Ravens’ D this week, they are going to dominate.
Philadelphia @ Carolina
The Eagles return a prolific but inconsistent offence with McNabb at the helm. If they can get it going early I like everyone on the Eagles this week. Start Westbrook with confidence, or as much as you can have with a guy who’s listed as questionable every week. DeSean Jackson is also a great start here but is the only Eagles receiver I would touch here until we can see how the ball is going to be distributed. If you need them Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, Jason Avant, and Hank “ I married a Bunny” Baskett are all possible options to score but, as usual, they’re too hard to predict. Rookie Jeremy Maclin could have a break out here but you’ll want to see him play and prove something before you should consider starting him. Brent Celek is a good sleeper here as Andy Reid has said he’s going to look for him inside the 20 which is a good sign for him. Keep an eye out on rookie LeSean McCoy to see how he is used because I see him as having significant value in all formats this year. Vick isn’t playing but I felt I should mention his name anyways, mostly just to upset PETA members.
The Panthers return the best overall fantasy player form a year ago and there’s no need to think he’ll slow down in week one. Start Deangelo with confidence. Don’t expect much from the “Daily Show” Jonathan Stewart this week, he’s still rehabbing his sore Achilles. Now I’m not a doctor, I just tell people I am, but that cannot be a good sign for someone who runs for a living. Steve Smith is always a good start and Mushin Muhammad could surprise with a TD along the way. Jeff King and week 1 superstar from last year Dante Rosario are not options you want this week. If you are starting either of these guys, I’m betting on whoever you’re playing.
Denver @ Cincinnati
A strange thing happens when you start to get into fantasy football. A game like this becomes a game you want to watch. Neither of these teams is capable in any kind of way on defence so look for points to be scored. Kyle Orton is hurt but starting, don’t touch him until he’s fully health unless your league awards positive points for picks. If that’s the case, go pick up Marc (God dam C) Bulger for this week too. Eddie Royal(e) with Cheese and the newly reinstated Brandon “We Are” Marshall should still get their catches down field and break a few loose. The jumbled backfield is one you probably want to stay away from until we see how the ball will be distributed. “Get to” Knowsean Moreno after this week but if you’re forced to play him I still think he’s a better play than someone like Larry Johnson or Julius Jones. Look for last season’s three week stud Payton Hillis to pilfer some carries away and break out some decent runs.
I really think this game is one that will show us if the Bengals are going to be bad. Winnig proves nothing against a bad Bronco’s team but losing will be a sign of things to come. If they can’t dominate this unfortunate defence this are going to be bad in Cincinnati this year. So I’m going to be an optimist and say they will put some points on the board. Carsino says he’s 100% and if it’s true that’s bad news for Denver. A healthy Palmer is dominant. Get ready for the return of Chad 85 in this game. I expect big things from Ochocinco despite being matched up against the criminally overrated Champ Bailey. Vern Coles should be a good PPR play this week, he’ll get his catches and yards but I see Chris Henry, who benefits from having the big body and two first names to haul in a TD. One of the few weeks I like Cedric “the entertainer” as he will be fed the carries all day. You don’t want to tempt fate and start any defence here.
Minnesota @ Cleveland
FAVRE!!!!! shockingly comes up as a spelling mistake, not surprising for a hillbilly I suppose. This is an ideal situation to come into for Farve though. He gets the reins of an excellent offence that actually improved in the off season. I love Adrian Peterson this week more than most weeks and I even like Chester Taylor to score this week. While I think they run wild over the Browns I still like big name guys playing in their first game with a new team. The Vikes will try to get Farve some scores here so look for Berrian or Harvin ( a time) to break a big one and maybe, just maybe, Sidney Rice to nab a red zone jump ball. The defence should be a good lay here too as they should force some turnovers.
The Browns will probably not be as terrible as you think this year, that being said, they’ll still be hard pressed to put some points on the board. Don’t start Brady Quinn, I highly doubt he owns himself in fantasy. I do like Braylon Edwards this week. If he can prevent himself from dropping 10 passes this week he should be fine. Look for Jamal Lewis to take a seat on the sidelines this week because he’ll amass the same amount of yards as he will while in the backfield. Don’t start him but keep an eye on James Davis who torched everyone this preseason. If he can net some yards against the excellent Vikes run D he may be in line for some more carries in the upcoming weeks.
NY Jets @ Houston
Sanchez could be good here but I wouldn’t start a rookie QB in his first game. Houston’s DBs are still no good so Cotchery or Stucky could be a good play here, probably Cotchery. Thomas Jones and “Ponce de” Leon Washington should be able to make the most of their carries. The guy who I like the best out of all Jets this week to finish the highest at their position is Dustin “Natural Born” Keller. He should work as a nice safety valve for Sanchez when the pocket starts to collapse on him.
Despite the fact the Jets boast a good defence, I’m still all in with Houston’s offence this week. Start Schaub, A. Johnson, Daniels and the “Stallion” Steve Stalon with no worries. Kevin Walter is dealing with a bad hamstring and has missed practice all week so he is highly questionable for this week. He’ll probably end up starting but don’t except too much form a hobbling white guy in any NFL game. If he doesn’t play, Andre Davis becomes a decent sleeper. With his blazing speed he could find himself behind the Jets’ secondary and find himself a score; he also helps in leagues that include return yards but you would have to be desperate to start him.
Jacksonville @ Indianapolis
Despite a bad shin, MJD is going to run wild on the colts defence that remains with the “best player for five games a season “ Bob Sanders. He’s going to run, catch and make defenders look quite foolish all week. Unfortunatly for the Jags, that’s about it for them. Garrard will be rather OKish. I do sort of like Torry Holt here, that’s only based on the fact that the game is on turf, where Holt excels. Mike Walker is a reasonable sleeper here; he was mired with inconsistency last season but could prove to have value this year, we just need to wait and see. If MJD comes out of the game I like Greg Jones to get some touches but I wouldn’t start him.
The Colts should be able to dominate on all facets of offence this week. Load up on Colts: Manning, Wayne, Clark, Gonzalez, and Addai are al quality plays this week. If you want to be cheeky throw Donald Brown in that mix too. That about covers everything, the Colts D could be interesting this week if you are truly desperate.
Detroit @ New Orleans
This really could be the highest scoring affair of the week, no joke. While we know the Saints are going to give epileptics some seizing material with the scoreboard lights constantly flickering. But don’t sleep on the Lions either. I like Matt Stafford to be decent here, not start worthy but hey if you’re desperate. I absolutely love Calvin “Megaton” Johnson and Kevin “Jersey Girl” Smith. Both should be put into situations where they’ll be needing to make up points in a hurry. For super deep leagues (14 team and over) you may want to take a flyer on Brandon Pettigrew who could get involved if the game becomes a shootout.
The Saints offence is awesome, that’s nothing new. Who are going to be the biggest beneficiaries of all the points they’re going to score this week? Well, Drew Brees will be great and I bet on Colston as well. If Pierre Thomas is out, which looks to be so, Reggie Bush will be and excellent play, even outside of PPR leagues. Mike Bell gets some love this week with Thomas on the mend, he’s a pretty good RB2 or Flex play against the lowly Lions. People want to say that Shockey is back, I won’t believe it until I see it but if you want to start him, it’s your team. Lance Moore could be a nice play but he tends to struggle in games that both Bush and Colston play in. So I would look to Devry Henderson or “Every year August Superstar” Robert Meachem to break one deep instead of trusting Moore. None of this defences are worth a start here unless you’re trying to lose.
Dallas @ Tampa Bay
Both these teams are full of question marks on offence this season. I like the Dallas running game a bit this week. MBIII is a start and Felix Jones is always a threat to break one loose. I’m not starting Roy Williams this week but if you drafted him you probably have to. Miles Austin and Patrick Crayon could both have a serviceable game here but let’s give them a week to see how they’re used. Romo is interesting this week, if he can learn to distribute the ball all over the field he will have a good pretty good game. Witten should be the focal point of the offence this week so he’s a must start, but you probably knew that already. Dallas D is a decent play as Tampa tries to sort out their offence.
Tampa’s D should be a decent play this week and Antonio Bryant should be serviceable but that’s about it. I wouldn’t touch any of the running backs here but if I had to it would Derek Ward. Caddy Williams is the starter but is only getting about 20% of the touches. Earnest Graham is a possible sleeper to get the goal line carries but I get the feeling that they didn’t pay Ward the big bucks not to get some TDs. Don’t start Lord Byron this week as he will be sacked at least five times and throw some picks.
No comments:
Post a Comment