Tag: Fantasy Football (Page 28 of 38)

Love ‘Em & Leave ‘Em: Week 2

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.

love-em

Brett Favre‘s debut with the Vikings was less than stellar, but he had to shake off the rust and the Browns defense is a little better than people think. He has an outstanding matchup with a Lions defense that got torched by Drew Brees last week…Granted, Matt Schaub and the entire Houston offense looked pathetic last week, but a matchup with the Titans isn’t as bad as it might look on paper. Tennessee gave up 363 yards to Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers last week so Schaub should have some success…Trent Edwards should have a nice game against the Bucs, who were torched by Tony Romo last week, but Edwards needs to throw the ball deep to Terrell Owens and Lee Evans…For the desperate, Jason Campbell, Matt Sanchez, Byron Leftwich and JaMarcus Russell all have good matchups this week.

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Fantasy Quick-Hitters: Gonzalez, LT, Pierre and more

A. Gonzalez hopes to return Week 7. Well, it could have been worse. Fantasy owners who drafted Gonzalez in the 4th or 5th round expecting him to be a solid WR2 are going to have to weather the storm until he returns. Austin Collie is the Colts’ WR3 and figures to see the biggest jump in targets, though Pierre Garcon could eat into those as well. Neither player did much of anything against the Jaguars on Sunday. The Colts signed Hank Baskett as well. Gonzalez’s absence probably helps Dallas Clark the most since they both work the short game pretty well.

Tomlinson not practicing; ankle in a boot.
This is so demoralizing for LT2 owners who drafted him in the first round expecting a bounce-back season. It is especially demoralizing for owners who didn’t draft Darren Sproles in the middle rounds to back Tomlinson up. Regardless, the Chargers have a tough matchup against the Ravens this week, though if LT2 doesn’t play, Sproles is a solid start in PPR leagues due to his ability to rack up catches in the passing game.

Pierre Thomas practicing, still may not play. Fantasy owners that have both Thomas and Mike Bell would like to see Thomas sit until he’s healthy. Those owners who have Thomas but don’t have Bell are rooting for Thomas to return ASAP. The best thing for those owners might be for Thomas to sit out another week and hope Bell struggles against a very solid Eagles defense. The Saints offense is prolific, but I don’t know that it can support three starting fantasy RBs.

Jamal Lewis limited by neck injury. Don’t cut James Davis yet. Davis sat out of practice with a shoulder injury, but Lewis’s neck injury is pretty worrisome considering his age and mileage.

S. Smith tells Delhomme, “I never really liked you as a quarterback.”
Of course, the NFL has pulled the video from YouTube. Sigh.

Fantasy Quick-Hitters: Warner, McNabb, Cassel and Pats DT

Kurt Warner suffered a stinger in Week 1. This actually limited the feeling he had in his throwing arm and could contribute to lost velocity on his passes. Fantasy owners with an open roster spot in big leagues might want to pick up Matt Leinart as a high upside flier.

HC Andy Reid: Kolb will start if McNabb can’t go. The Eagles have yet to rule McNabb out for Week 2, but they signed Jeff Garcia and have Michael Vick once his suspension is over. None of these guys are good options right now.

Jerod Mayo has an MCL sprain. This is a blow to the Pats’ defense, which looked pretty good in Week 1 against the Bills.

Matt Cassel looking better, status still unclear. Brodie Croyle surprisingly had a good outing against a tough Ravens devense, but Cassel is the team’s starter. He wouldn’t be a bad start against the Raiders at home.

Examining the RBBCs: AFC


To see the NFC RBBCs, click here.

Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens were fourth in the league in rushing last season, so this is one of the most interesting RBBCs in the league. The touches broke out this way: 21 for Ray Rice (19 carries, two catches), 14 for Willis McGahee (10 carries, four catches) and nine for LeRon McClain (six carries, three catches). Rice looked strong all day, but it was McGahee who scored twice, once on a 3-yard reception and once on a 1-yard plunge. It should be noted that Rice got two carries inside the 5-yard line before McGahee scored on the reception. Rice also had a 22-yard scamper that set up the McClain 1-yard TD. I don’t think that the Ravens are going to necessarily pull Rice in the red zone, so he should have an opportunity to score 7-10 TD this year. However, it’s clear that Willis McGahee is still a viable fantasy player and the Ravens’ strong running game can support two fantasy backs.

Indianapolis Colts
Looking at the stat sheet, Joseph Addai had 22 touches (17 carries, five catches) compared to Donald Brown’s 13 (11 carries, two catches), but nine of Brown’s carries came in the second half after Addai lost a fumble. Clearly, the Colts aren’t married to the idea of Addai as their RB1, but as long as he doesn’t turn the ball over and stays productive, he should still get the lion’s share of the carries.

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Examining the RBBCs: NFC

Week 1 can tell us a lot about how a team plans to split carries amongst its running backs. In Part 1, I will take a look at some of the top Running Back By Committees (RBBCs) in the NFC and examine how they divvied up the touches:

New York Giants
Last year it was Derrick Ward that ate into the workload of Brandon Jacobs, and this year it’s Ahmad Bradshaw (12 carries, 60 yards). Jacobs mustered only 46 yards on 16 carries, so Bradshaw was far more productive on Sunday. Jacobs caught two passes to Bradshaw’s three. Jacobs got three consecutive carries inside the Redskins’ 5-yard line and failed to pick up a first down. He is a fairly overrated goal line back. It appears that Bradshaw is picking up where Ward left off.

Seattle Seahawks
Julius Jones (19 carries, 117 yards, TD) was far more effective than Edgerrin James (11 carries, 30 yards). It should be noted that James only saw four of those carries in the first three quarters, so at this point in the season, Jones is the feature back. (Though it’s possible that the coaching staff intends to get James more involved as he becomes more acclimated to Seattle’s system.)

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