R Moss and C Johnson are obvious I think. Though Megatron is not as good as I was hoping. I currently have Nicks because he is more of an end zone target, but I get .5 ppr in this league and S Moss gets the most targets. Garcon was originally supposed to be my third WR but his year has been disappointing to say the least.
Man, I’m turning into quite the fantasy football nerd here. Brown is facing the Jets D who are good against the run, while McFadden is facing Arizona who doesn’t look good at any aspect of football right now. Plus he’s coming off two big games. Go with McFadden.
On wideout…Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson for me. I know Johnson has produced much so far but talent can’t be taught. Nicks has been my savior so far this season, so I would go with him at the other wideout position. He might be playing over his head at this point, but you gotta go with the hot hand.
From what I saw Sunday, it doesn’t look like Garcon is getting targeted as much. Seems like Manning is spreading the ball around to a lot of different targets.
Santana Moss had a decent week against Houston and Washington is going up against St. Louis, and he might be a legit option if you want to sit Johnson or Nicks.
What’s your situation like at other positions? I would drop Hester unless your league is giving substantial (better than 30 yards/pt) points for return yards. Then I would drop Knox.
Tough call here. Miami is playing the Jets, who are playing out of their minds on defense right now. Mcfadden is likely to split carries with Bush this week.
Snelling took Norwood’s job (IR) so look for Snelling to be a goal-line hawk.
If I had to choose, I would play McFadden vs arizona.
However, there’s another play you could do: sell mcfadden high now. You might be able to get MJD or Michael Turner. You could definitely get Tolbert. Knowshown Moreno would be a good trade too.
Royal is good but he’s going to get fewer looks with Demaryious tearing it up. I would keep him this week to see what his role will be, but they are playing Indy, who is very, very unfriendly to the long pass. The last game, Demaryious had slightly more looks than Royal (12 vs 8 or something.) The next 5 games are horrible for Denver (indy, tenn, balt, nyj, and oak’s Asomugha) so trading him now is a good idea. However, in the fantasy playoff weeks, they have a very friendly schedule with KC, StL, Ari in weeks 12-14.
Moss, CJ, Moss. Santana has been McNabb’s favorite target over the first two games, with a nummy matchup in St.L, who just lost one of their safeties. Santana is currently 3rd in the league in receptions, and I would say he’s a must-start in PPR. However, it’s quite possible that this game becomes excessively nummy and they run for 3 quarters. However, it’s just as likely it could become a 40 to 37 shootout.
Garcon has been the invisible man in Indy. He’s getting targets, just not catching them. He’ll be on the field thanks to the injury to Anthony Gonzalez, but I expect more drops. The Indy matchup looks bad for WR’s too. Usually, once they get a few TD’s ahead, they start running the ball like crazy (good news for Donald Brown owners, as Addai is likely out or limited for Sunday, bad news for any of the receivers.)
With Addai limited in practice, suddenly my flex position doesn’t look as secure. On the bench:
Jamaal Charles vs SF
Legedu Nanee vs SEA
Dwayne Bowe vs SF
Jason Snelling vs Indy
It’s easy atm to simply plug in Jamaal. However, last night I watched the tape of the KC/Browns game, and Jamal is not the starter…TJ is. It’s quite possible that with limited touches, Jamaal will equal Snelling’s output on goal line carries (possibly a typical ATL/Norwood line like 5-30-1.) Legedu has a great matchup, but after his disappearing act in week 2, I’m hesitant to play him. Bowe is definitely the WR2 in KC. He ran the slot or cross on most plays while Chambers ran the streak, but both of them spent over half the plays blocking on run plays. KC’s deep threat is actually the TE, moeaki.
However, there’s one more play I can make: Donald Brown is available as an FA, and it looks like he will get most, if not all, the touches this week in Denver, who has been shakey vs the run.
Is Donald Brown the miracle call of the week? Who should I play otherwise?
SF or NO defense. Yes yes, I’ve been mentioning this repeatedly. Last night I was scouting tape on the best available defenses in my league: Miami, KC, Den, Tenn. Miami is great on paper, crap in RL. Other than the Farve game, they had like 1 scoring statistic (1 sack or something.) KC and Den have bad matchups. Tenn is a possibility vs the Giants, but their return game is iffy. However, there’s another possible “miracle” call: Tampa Bay vs Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has been terrible on offense, which could lead to multiple turnovers and sacks. Also, they have only scored 1 offensive TD this season so far, 2 TD’s total. Charlie Batch, the 4th QB, will be starting. They are playing in Tampa, which should tire out the Pitt players. I don’t think Tampa will win the game, but I don’t think Pittsburgh will score that many points nor avoid many, many fantasy-friendly mistakes. NE D is also playing Buffalo this week, and available.
You must not have not had the “privilege” of watching Washington’s “run game” yet this season.
Portis doesn’t have the legs any longer for the cutback the zone blocking scheme requires to be effective, nor the endurance to absorb the hits of a workhorse; and their back-up, after having cut Larry Johnson this past week (yes, that Larry Johnson) is some guy from section 132 who won a raffle or something.
Add in that the Redskins’ offensive line is an exercise in patchwork quilting with absolutely no depth that is one injury away from being a laughingstock, and though I expect they’ll try to establish the run against a terrible run stopping defense (a halfway decent run game might have allowed them to hold onto the lead last week), I don’t expect them to have enough success at it that McNabb, Moss and Cooley won’t get their share of fantasy points.
I’ve got Rashard Mendenhall (at TB), Jamaal Charles (vs. SF), Arian Foster (vs. Dal), and Jahvid Best (at Min) with two RB slots and no flex option. I’m leaning towards Mendenhall and away from Charles, but who should I start between Foster and Best?
Question #2:
I’ve got the following wide receivers to fill three slots:
Marques Colston (vs. Atl)
Mike Williams (the Tampa Bay one) (vs. Pit)
Demaryius Thomas (vs. Ind)
Michael Crabtree (at KC)
Johnny Knox (vs. GB)
Obviously I’m starting Colston; who should my other two be?
Foster. Minnesota is ranked below Dallas in rush defense right now, but I still prefer the Dallas matchup based on past performance.
At WR, you drafted Crabtree to be your WR2. Play him. As far as the third… well, I’m predicting a Buccaneers win, but I’m not predicting a lot of offense by either team. Freeman looks to Williams in the red zone, though, and that’s worth a start.
If Todd Haley didn’t see the need to screw my fantasy team over on a weekly basis (WHY TODD WHY?!?), I’d go with Charles. Kid’s going be a stud. But alas, it is not to be. Best’s a rookie and with rookies you don’t know what you’re gonna get from week to week sometimes. Minny’s D should also be stacking the box against him early and if Detroit gets down early, they’ll have to focus on throwing the ball like they did against Philly.
Foster’s the pick for me. Seems to be a consistent type runner/receiving threat playing in a good offense. When in doubt, go with the player on the better offensive team. (Rule #21 of DxZero’s rules of FF he just made up because they support his point.)
1.) Pick two- Cedric Benson @Car, Joseph Addai @Den, Matt Forte vs GB
My guess is to leave out Forte because of GB’s defense, but I haven’t seen them play, while I have seen Forte in both of the Bears’ games. Then again, Addai seems to be slightly injured and I doubt Indy rushes as much as last week.
2.) Pick two- Steve Smith (NYG) vs Ten, Mario Manningham vs Ten, Pierre Garcon @Den, Devin Hester vs GB
I’m leaning to playing Smith and Manningham. Smith is usually a good bet and Manningham has had a good season so far. Garcon is too iffy and Hester is just one of many possible Bears targets against a tough D.
I also picked up Tony Gonzalez last week from waivers (dumped Kenny Britt, I think it was a smart move), but I’m just holding him for trades, since I’m pleased with Vernon Davis in my WR/TE spot. Is he worth holding on to or should I start fishing around for trades to get a WR?
If the score is 40 to 0, they’re going to run no matter how bad it is, which is what I meant. I can see this game going one of two ways:
Redskins score 2 td’s on offense in the first half on offense, 2 td’s on defense, take a 28-0 score into the half, then 30+ carries and 6-8 punts in the 2nd half. Or:
St. Louis matches the Redskins score for score, yet they lose 37 to 40.
It’s not a matter of whether the run game can win the game for them or not, it’s just that all teams run when the score is out of hand.
I’m sitting Jamaal as well vs a stout SF run defense, as well as because Jamaal is not the starter. It looks like KC’s run game involves game control and straight-line running the lanes (which TJ does much better than Jamaal) with about 70% of the carries going to TJ. Until TJ gets injured (which is pretty much inevitable) I don’t plan to play Jamaal unless his 10 carry production is the best on my depth chart.
Right now, Best is the hottest RB in football over 2 games, and while Minn has a good run defense, it only works if the other team runs through the Williams wall. Best can run on the edge or off the screen, and the way Farve is giving up turnovers, Best is going to be carrying a lot while Det is 7+ points ahead of Minn.
Dallas has been doodoo on defense against everything except the rush. Foster is also likely to have a big game, although not nearly as big as Best’s if Det can take an early lead.
So, it depends on what you think:
Can Minnesota avoid turnovers, keep the lead, and force Hill to throw? Then play Foster.
If you think Minnesota can’t, play Best.
Personally, without Rice, I think Farve is lost.
Crabtree (good matchup) and Thomas (great talent, hot qb, but bad bad bad matchup) would be my choices (with colston.) However, you may want to gamble and use Knox instead of Thomas and ride Cutler’s hot hand. However, the bears have a horrible o-line, so getting the long pass off vs Clay Jr is not going to be easy.
Mike Williams is going to be boom or bust. Pitt has been playing out of their mind on defense, and mcfadden/turner are showing flashes of the championship years. He’ll either get nothing or 2 td’s, as ike/darren are beatable on the deep ball, the problem is avoiding the rush and Troy long enough to get it off.
I’m sitting addai too. Indy loves to rest starters. But, both RB’s are likely to have big days in that game. I managed to get Donald Brown, but Addai is recovering too fast which makes the RB picture muddier. Denver has not been impressive vs the run, they don’t have Dumerviel anymore, Cushing is still out, and Champ Bailey is injured. Denver is struggling against the run, but luckily, thanks to Orton, the other team has been playing from behind.
I don’t think Forte will have a great day rushing, but he’s the Bear’s best passing option, particularly on screens.
I’d play Benson because Car sucks, and Forte because Addai’s situation is too muddy (this is Friday.) Forte is not going to have a great day, however. I’m waiting for more news on Addai.
I’d play Smith and Garcon. Hester has a bad matchup. Manningham is the WR3. The only WR3 who has ever been relevant in fantasy has been Austin Collie and Brandon Stokley, both of whom played for the same team, which manningham has the wrong Manning brother for. That being said, I would always start Peyton Manning’s WR2 (Garcon,) especially this week with Anthony Gonzalez out of the picture.
Yes, you definitely should think about a trade. However, there are a ton of emerging stars. This past week, I could have taken Mark Clayton, Sims-Walker, Dermaryius Thomas, Kevin Walter, etc. To get these guys, other guys in my league dropped: Mike Wallace and Robert Meachem. Next week, Santonio Holmes is the hot pickup.
@ Superhal (I suck at working block quotes )- Addai is listed as questionable for Sunday now, so that sounds like even more of a reason to bench him.
Bad new about Garcon, though, via Yahoo fantasy-
I didn’t realize Manningham was WR3, but is he more likely to be targeted than a possibly absent, not 100% Garcon? Assuming Garcon plays, it sounds like a toss-up this week. I like Manningham because of past performance, but Garcon is ideally Peyton’s #2 or 3 target, depending on Dallas Clark. OTOH Manningham might just be lucky lately, and if Garcon even plays, he’s been a bit off so far this season. Leaving Hester out of this (I’ll admit it, I’m afraid of the Packers), I’m leaning towards Garcon after your arguments if he’s available.
As for trading Gonzalez, it’s too late for a trade to take effect this week, but I’ll browse the rosters and look for someone that could use him. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll pick up Carolina’s Steve Smith. Besides 2 Steve Smiths looking funny, I read that he had all but 6 of the Panther’s receptions so far.
Manningham:
6 targets in the Colts game, although nicks may have injured his knee during this game.
5 in panthers game.
Hester:
6 in Dallas game.
2 in lions game.
Very, very tough call here. I’m going to say manningham because of the better o-line. I didn’t really watch GB’s o-line, but I’ll take a shot in the dark here and say it’s better than Chicago’s. Hester did get some punt return yards though.
Thanks for the extra effort. We don’t get special teams points other than touchdowns and kickers, so Manningham looks to be it.
For your wife’s team, I don’t really know enough about most of the players to give an educated response, but I’d advise against the WRs from Denver this week. The Colt’s secondary has looked pretty good to my untrained eye, especially when things click. That and the team dealing with what happened with McKinley would make me reluctant to play Thomas or Royal. Caveat- I am a Colt’s fan, so I’m a bit biased. This is also my first season of fantasy football, so take that with a brick of salt.
After a little bit of reading and some thought, things aren’t quite so simple. The Colts are good, but not “completely shut down receivers” good. I still stand think the other choices on the list are probably better, but playing Thomas isn’t as bad an idea as I originally thought. The safest thing to do would be disregard me entirely.
Fair enough, but if they had a run game to speak of (32nd in the league averaging 53.5 ypg), they would have put it to use last week against Houston when they were up by 17 points in the third quarter to help run out the clock.
Granted, the Rams have a much worse rush defense than Houston (and Dallas before them), but I expect even in the above blowout scenario they’d try to establish the run, and when it doesn’t work (I believe it has more to do with a lack of ability in the offensive personnel than the players and schemes across the line) they’ll just forgo the rush and resort to short, west-coast-style passes for 3 and 4 yards like McNabb used in Philadelphia for a decade to keep the chains moving and the clock ticking.
In other words, I wouldn’t play Portis but am definitely playing Cooley and Moss.
OK, I’m definitely stymied this week. I have a host of really unattractive options and must choose three among them:
Mike Williams (TB)
Malcolm Floyd (SD)
Austin Collie (IND)
Dwayne Bowe (KC)
Fred Jackson (BUF)
Devin Hester (CHI)
Any suggestions, expectations, or ideas are greatly appreciated. Injuries and general randomness have crippled my team early, but if I can get through the first few weeks I might be OK (1-1 so far).