Every week, I will highlight a few players to start and a few players to sit at each position. I’m a firm believer in starting your studs, so I won’t suggest you bench Drew Brees or Adrian Peterson because they have tough matchups – just go ahead and keep them in your lineup. Instead, I’ll focus on the borderline guys – players you’ll only start under the right circumstances.

As usual, I’ll discuss these players within the context of my weekly positional rankings, so remember — everything is relative.

Even though Bronco fans weren’t very happy with him after last week, I’m still a (fantasy) fan of Kyle Orton (#4), who faces a 49er defense that was torched by Matt Moore, David Gettis and Brandon LaFell last week. Throw in a gimpy Knowshon Moreno and I think Orton will have a big day…With Tony Romo out for most of the rest of the season, Jon Kitna (#7) takes over the Cowboys’ dynamic offense. The defense can’t really stop anyone, so no matter how much Dallas wants to run the ball, Kitna is going to have to make some plays, and he proved he could be a good fantasy QB when he was in Detroit. Besides, the Jags have given up a league-leading 16 pass TDs this season…First game back? No worries for Matthew Stafford (#12) who looked great in preseason and had a bye week to prepare. The Redskins have had trouble stopping the pass this season…Need a sleeper/waiver wire-type guy? David Garrard (#18) should have a good game against a Cowboys defense that is reeling after getting sliced and diced by Eli Manning last week.

The Lions are 27th in the league against the run, so Ryan Torain (#5) should have a big day…Jamaal Charles (#11) and Thomas Jones (#13) should both tear up the Bills rush defense. Buffalo has yielded 175 rushing yards per game and I wouldn’t be surprised if Charles and TJ post 200+ combined…Felix Jones (#14) never really got rolling last week, but with the Jags’ 25th-ranked rush defense coming to town, he should have a nice outing. I’d expect Marion Barber (#29) to find the endzone at least once, since the Jags have given up 10 rushing TDs already this season…Donald Brown (#31) is still limited in practice, so if that continues, look for Mike Hart (#20) to handle most of the rushing duties for the Colts (which means he’d be a good bet to score)…If DeAngelo Williams (#26) continues to miss practice, look for Jonathan Stewart (#21) to pick up the slack. The Rams are in the middle of the pack against the run, but if Williams is a scratch, I’d expect an RB1-type day from Stewart.

Pierre Garcon (#6) has a great matchup with Houston’s 32nd-ranked pass defense and should get a few extra looks with Dallas Clark and Austin Collie sidelined…It might seem like Mike Williams 2.0 (#12) is a little high, but the matchup with Arizona is pretty good and there’s a dependability factor here. Williams has 31 targets in the last three games…It’s not clear how the targets are going to shake out, but Miles Austin (#9) and Dez Bryant (#23) are starts with a lot of upside considering they are facing the Jags’ 27th-ranked pass defense (that has given up 16 pass TDs on the season)…Need a sleeper? Patrick Crayton should once again be heavily involved in the Chargers’ passing attack. He’s not going to set the world on fire, but 70-80 yards is a good bet…With Louis Murphy out and a great matchup against the Seahawks, Darrius Heyward-Bey (#40) is worth a flier. Someone besides Zach Miller has to catch passes in Oakland, right?

I’m not all that high on Tom Brady (#9) this week. I think he’s going to miss Randy Moss more than people realize and he has a bad matchup this week with a Vikings pass defense that has only given up 1.3 pass TD per game. He’s still a decent start, but don’t expect him to light it up…Brett Favre (#20) has a great matchup, but I’m not optimistic about him playing at a high level (or for the entire game) with all that’s going on with his ankle…It’s nice that Vince Young (#23) is back (and he’s worth a pickup given his favorable upcoming schedule), but this week’s matchup with the Chargers’ #1-ranked pass defense isn’t appealing.

I bumped Knowshon Moreno (#18) down a few spots in my rankings on the heels of the news that he pulled up lame in practice. The Broncos say he’s fine, but keep an eye on this…The Bengals’ rush defense has been decent (118 yards allowed, 0.8 TD), so neither Ronnie Brown (#23) nor Ricky Williams (#24) seem like a good bet to score this week. The Dolphins have really struggled running the ball this season…Christopher Ivory (#35) is still the lead ball carrier in New Orleans, but he has the mother of all bad matchups this week as he faces the Steelers, who are giving up just 2.8 yards per carry and just 0.3 rush TD per game.

He has been great lately, but I’m a little worried about Greg Jennings (#13) given his matchup with a now-healthy Darrelle Revis. If Revis shadows him, he could be in for a quiet game…I’m not high on Michael Crabtree (#38) given the fact that Troy Smith is starting at QB for the first time this week. I think the 49ers will feature Frank Gore and that could mean a subpar game for Crabtree.

Every week, I will highlight a few players to start and a few players to sit at each position. I’m a firm believer in starting your studs, so I won’t tell you about how Drew Brees or Adrian Peterson has a tough matchup – just go ahead and keep them in your lineup. Instead, I’ll focus on the borderline guys – players you’ll only start under the right circumstances. It’s important to note that depending on your roster and situation, you may not be able to follow these recommendations. For example, if I suggest you bench a solid starter like Tony Romo, only do so if you have a clearly better option on your bench.

The “love ‘em” players are listed in the order that I’d start them this week.

This week, Jay Cutler faces the Browns, who are 24th against the pass and were torched last week by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers…David Garrard has a great matchup this week against the Titans, who have given up an average of 311 yards and 3.2 pass TD per game…Matt Hasselbeck faces the Cowboys, who have yielded 239 yards and 1.7 pass TD per game. Dallas will probably put up some points, so Hasselbeck may post nice numbers in garbage time…For the desperate, Marc Bulger (@ DET), Vince Young (vs. JAX) and Derek Anderson (@ CHI) actually have good matchups this week. Proceed with extreme caution.

Get Steve Slaton in your starting lineup. The Bills are last in the league against the rush…Kevin Smith is a great start this week against the Rams, who have given up an average of 136 yards and 1.6 TD on the ground this season…With Donald Brown sidelined, Joseph Addai is looking like a nice start against the 49ers, who had a tough time stopping Michael Turner and Steve Slaton in recent weeks…Matt Forte has struggled this year, but with a matchup against the Browns’ 31st-ranked rush defense this week, he should be productive…LaDainian Tomlinson didn’t exactly tear it up against the Chiefs, but he toted the ball 23 yards and proved he was relatively healthy. He has another nice matchup this week against a bad Raiders rush defense…Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower are still sharing duties in the Arizona backfield, but with the porous Panthers’ rush defense coming to town, they’re both worth consideration as starters this week…Justin Fargas ran hard last week and has a great matchup with the Chargers this week. The main worry here is that the Raiders fall behind and don’t stick with the running game.

Mike Sims-Walker has a great matchup against the Titans, who have been absolutely torched through the air this season…Miles Austin is on fire (16-421-4) over the last two weeks and has a pretty nice matchup against a mediocre Seahawks pass defense…The Cardinals are playing better pass defense of late, but there’s a good chance that Steve Smith 1.0 has a nice game after his 6-99 performance in Week 7…T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Nate Burleson should both have nice games against the Cowboys’ suspect secondary…Donnie Avery is definitely startable this week against the Lions, especially since he’s shown signs of life in recent weeks.

Joe Flacco has a rough matchup with a Denver defense that has only given up three pass TD in six games…Alex Smith played well against the Texans, but don’t go crazy and try to start him against the Colts. Indy has the 6th-ranked pass defense and has only allowed two pass TDs all season…They’re still startable, but be warned that Matt Schaub (@ BUF) and Matt Ryan (@ NO) don’t have the best matchups this week.

He’s still startable, but DeAngelo Williams has a tough matchup this week against Arizona’s top-ranked rush defense. I’d definitely bench Jonathan Stewart this week…Ryan Grant had a nice game last week, but that was against the Browns. This week, the Williams Wall comes to Green Bay, and the Packer running game doesn’t look up to the challenge…Pierre Thomas is being pulled at the goal line, so that makes a big game against the Falcons unlikely.

Don’t expect a good game out of Derrick Mason, who will have to deal with Champ Bailey and a Broncos defense that has been stellar against the pass this season…I’d still start Andre Johnson, because…well…he’s Andre Johnson, but the Bills have a stingy pass defense, and he’s dealing with a bruised lung (???), so if you have another strong option, you may want to use it…Michael Crabtree and Josh Morgan played pretty well last week, but they should be benched against the Colts secondary in Week 8.