Who to Start, Who to Sit–Week 8
Is it really Week 8 already? By now you should have a decent idea of who your team is. We are way past “off to a good start” or “struggling out of the gate.”
Quarterbacks
Start: Jake Delhomme, Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona Cardinals. Delhomme has been on a nice little roll lately, as he has two touchdown passes in three of his last four games. Put that together with the fact that he is playing an Arizona pass defense which isn’t horrible against the pass in terms of yards, but has allowed the most touchdown passes in the NFL. Look for Delhomme to continue his hot streak with 250 yards and another two touchdown game.
Start: Trent Edwards, Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins. Edwards will most likely never throw 30 touchdowns in a season, but he is very efficient as he has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes this season. The good thing about him is that he rarely throws up the 10/39 for 75 yards and 3 INT kind of game. You can always count on Edwards for between 175-225 yards and one or two touchdowns. The Dolphins are among the league’s worst against the pass, and you can expect more of the same from Edwards this week.
Sit: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons vs. Philadelphia Eagles. The rookie has been impressive this week, but the Eagles will throw things at him that he has never seen. Expect pressure like he has never seen, and I am looking for a couple interceptions and probably a fumble. 175 yards and probably no touchdowns for Ryan this week, the Eagles and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson are notorious for confusing offenses.
Sit: Eli Manning, New York Giants vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. This has the feeling of a knock down, drag out, old time classic football game. Look for the majority of the offense to be take place on the ground, as these are two run-first offenses and on top of that the Steelers are a great pass defense ranked number one in the NFL at under 160 yards per game. Eli is a good QB, but this is not the week to start him.
Running Backs
Start: Chris Johnson/LenDale White, Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts. After last week’s game against the Chiefs, do I really need to say too much more? The Titans ran for over 300 yards on the ground, and White scored three times and Johnson scored once. This week they go against another weak run offense as the Colts allow over 150 yards per game on the ground. Both Titans backs are good plays here in Week 8.
Start: Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Cleveland Browns. The Browns have allowed eight rushing touchdowns in six weeks, and Jones-Drew finally broke out of his season long slump right before the bye week. Look for him to top 100 yards and score once, or possibly twice against a weak Cleveland defense.
Sit: Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Turner has been great against bad defenses, and bad against good defenses. Problem for Turner and his owners, is that the Falcons face the Eagles this week, and they have only allowed three rushing touchdowns all season long. I don’t expect him to reach the 90 yards in the game that the Eagles average allowing per game. Try to find a better option this week than Turner.
Sit: Marion Barber, Dallas Cowboys vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This one was painful to write, but there are a couple reasons that I don’t think that Barber will have one of his signature games. Brad Johnson looks to be the QB of the Cowboys again this week, and teams will know that the Cowboys will need to focus on the run to keep their offense moving. Second, the Bucs have still not allowed a rushing touchdown this season.
Wide Receivers
Start: Marques Colston, New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers. Colston returned from injury last week, and……..did not record a catch. Don’t expect that to continue. San Diego is the worst defense against the pass, and the Saints have the best passing offense. Drew Brees, despite his poor showing last week, is on pace to challenge Dan Marino’s passing yards record, and if he is going to get there, Colston has to be a big part of it. Look for Colston to get back on track this week.
Start: DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles vs. Atlanta Falcons. Some fantasy players might be a little skeptical of Jackson considering the Eagles are due to get Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown back from injury, but Jackson has done enough during the start of the season that he will still be an integral part of the Eagles offense even with those guys coming back. Plus, neither Curtis or Brown haven’t played in a while, so don’t expect them to go crazy their first game back.
Sit: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions vs. Washington Redskins. The Redskins are one of the better defenses against the pass and have only allowed seven touchdown passes through seven games. Dan Orlovsky is the quarterback of the Lions for the foreseeable future, which hurts the fantasy value of one of the best young receivers in football. Don’t expect more than 60 yards and no scores from Calvin this week.
Sit: Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts vs. Tennessee Titans. After looking like the Harrison of old in Week 6, Harrison looked like a shell of his former self again last Sunday against the Packers with just two catches for 11 yards. The Titans have the fifth best pass defense, and have only allowed one touchdown through the air all season long. If the Colts do get in the end zone through the air, look for it to be Reggie Wayne who reaches paydirt.
Tight Ends
Start: Chris Cooley, Washington Redskins vs. Detroit Lions. Although he is on pace to have his best season by receptions and receiving yards, Cooley only has one touchdown this season up to this point. What does every fantasy player hope for their players? To be playing the Lions, of course. The Lions are second worst against the pass and have allowed 11 TD passes against them this year. Look for both trends to continue as Cooley gets close to 100 yards and scores his second touchdown of the season.
Sit: Anthony Fasano, Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills. After 11 catches and two touchdowns his first two games, Fasano has just six catches and no touchdowns in his last three games. The Bills are among the ten best pass defenses in the NFL, and I don’t expect the success that Chad Pennington has had recently to continue, and I see Fasano fading out to fantasy irrelevance.
As always, your comments and questions (adds/drops, trade advice, lineup questions, etc) are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours.
Need to start 3 receivers out of this group. DeShaun Jackson, Calvin Johnson, Marques Colston, TO and Dallas Clark. What are your thoughts?
JR
JR,
I don’t think you can sit TO even with the tough state of the Cowboys right now. I would go with Colston against the Chargers bad pass defense, and the third would be DeSean Jackson. Like I said above, I don’t like having Orlovsky at QB and the Eagles have a good matchup against the Falcons who have allowed 10 passing TDs already. Any of them are at worst decent options, but I would go with those three.
Ryan
I need 3 WR in a PPR league. I am starting Fitz for sure but I need two more out of:
Hines Ward
Kevin Curtis
Donnie Avery
Joey Galloway
Kevin Walter
I also have LT and B. Jacobs as my backs and was wondering if you would even consider starting Cedric Benson over either one of them this week?
Erik,
Out of those receivers I would go with Hines Ward and Donnie Avery.
It is Kevin Curtis’ first game of the year, and I would feel more comfortable starting him after he had a game under his belt. Galloway, same thing, and is he sure to return this week? Walter has been less of a part of the offense with Andre Johnson blowing up.
Ward has been good and consistent, even though I see the Giants/Steelers game being played a lot on the ground. But Ward is a possession receiver, so I see Ben targeting him often. And with the Rams looking like they have at least returned to respectability, I like Donnie Avery. He looks like he will have the role of Torry Holt back in the Greatest Show on Turf days as the guy who spreads the field and gets behind the defense, a good young receiver.
I see your temptation to play Benson, but I just can’t recommend doing it. If you have LT you have to play him in my opinion, he just has the chance to do so much even though he is obviously not 100%. And like I said earlier, even though Pitt has a great run defense, I expect the Giants to try to pound the ball alot this weekend and I think Jacobs will be a big part of the game.
Benson has a great matchup against Houston who has allowed the second most rushing touchdowns, but I can’t see starting him over two reliable options with Tomlinson and Jacobs considering he wasn’t in the league just a couple weeks ago.
Any more questions, let me know!
Ryan
Who would you pick between McNabb vs ATL and Rivers vs NO? I’m not sure I can go wrong with either one, but if there is a way, I’ll find it!
Mac,
The teams that they are playing have been almost equally bad statistically against the pass, so it is hard to make a decision based on that. So, the next thing I would pick by is who is having the better season. Rivers has thrown 16 TDs already to McNabb’s 8, so that makes me lean towards picking Rivers. The only thing that might stop me is that they are playing the game in London, which makes for a long week for the team. But I still think that they are pros and will come out and perform at a high level.
I would pick Rivers, but like you said, they both should do very well.
Ryan
How do you think Derrick Mason of the ravens is gonna do this week against
the raiders?
and is earnest gram of the bucs gonna play tail back or full back this week?
Who do I start BIG BEN or farve? I ask just because I think farve can produce me more fantasy wise. But Im a die pitt fan.
Joe,
I haven’t been a big fan of Mason for a couple years now. He is getting up there in age, and he is on a team that just doesn’t pass the ball very often. That being said, there aren’t too many other options to throw to on that team, so he still has some value. It seems though that him and Flacco have some sort of bond together as he has been pretty good lately. My main concern with him is that he just doesn’t score many touchdowns. But he has proven me wrong with a great 2007 and a good first half of 2008 as far as yards and catches go. I wouldn’t want him to be my number one or even number two receiver, but he still warrants room on your roster. Oakland’s pass defense isn’t good, so he should have 6-7 catches and 75-90 yards this week.
As far as Graham is concerned, he led the team in carries last week even though he started at fullback, so it might not matter. Of course, Warrick Dunn couldn’t finish the game with a pinched nerve, so that might have had something to do with it, as he only had 15 carries the previous two weeks before that. If Dunn can’t play I would say he will be RB. If Dunn is in there, it looks like he will play FB, that is what he did last week.
Ryan
Nathan,
I have to believe that the Jets will come out and put up a better effort than they did last week against the Raiders. The Chiefs are pretty horrible, maybe the worst team in the league and the Jets should be able to do some good things against them.
I’m glad to hear your fandom doesn’t get in the way of your fantasy playing. I like Ben, but I think this game against the Giants will be an old time slugfest, and I think both teams will try to control the game on the ground. Big Ben is a shaky fantasy player. Some weeks he is asked to do a lot and has great stats, some weeks he throws the ball 18 times and doesn’t do much fantasy wise. I think this will be one of those weeks, I would start Favre.
Ryan
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Hey Ryan,
Im in a huge problem this week , in need a qb to use instead of romo. I am thinking of either Pennington or Edwards and I need passing yardss! I also need a Rb! I would pick up lendale white but i have really good Rb’s and I dont know who to drop . Should I drop reggie bush? Will plaxico, t.o and roddy white do well? And one more question .. any good tight ends out there??
J-Unit
What’s up J-Unit.
I would go with Edwards, I like him better than Pennington, plus I think the Bills defense will keep the Dolphins offense in check.
You must have someone else you can drop besides Reggie Bush for a RB, I wouldn’t let him go he should be fine for the fantasy playoffs. He should only miss three weeks.
Plaxico, TO and Roddy White all have great chances of having good games. They are all in the top 20 of WRs if not better.
For tight ends, are Todd Heap, Owen Daniels, Zach Miller, maybe Marcedes Lewis available?
Ryan
Yah Zach Miller is.. one other thing. Should I put it bret farvre over edwards this week??? I need tds and passing yards… my other Rb’s are portis and sproles i got them in a trade! So what do i do about RB??
What about Greg Olsen for TE
Sorry never mind about Greg!
Yeah, I would go with Favre against KC over Edwards. If the Jets don’t blow out the Chiefs, that is a problem.
I would probably drop Sproles for White, at least he gets carries every week. I know that LT is hurt and we are waiting for Sproles to get the carries, but White is getting carries and TDs now. Who are your RBs and how many do you start?
Not sure what to expect out of Zach Miller against the Ravens, but he has talent.
Keep those questions coming and let me know about the RBs.
Ryan
Ryan,
I have preety good Rb’s now. Portis, Frank Gore and i just got farvre in TRADE for sproles so now I have qb’s but i dont knowif clintin portis will play. I have 2 spots for Rb’s and i only have 2 but if portis doesnt play i dont know what to do .
For this week I have no TE and i have no one to drop . i need one TE for this week.
What do you think i should do about Romo??
J-Unit
I have a RB decision to make. It will come down to either LT or E. Graham. I can come up reasons to start either one. What are your thoughts on which direction to take this?
I need help with WR. Who do I start between Steve Smith, Randy Moss, Plaxico Burress, and Vincent Jackson.
I know the first three are the studs but Jackson has been playing really well and Plax is banged up.
My league includes tight end as wide receiver. Right now I have one too many players so I have to drop one of the following wide receivers:
Antwaan Randle El
Dallas Clark
Anthony Gonzalez
PPR league
I have to drop one. Advice?
Is shockey better than zack johnson for this week???
J-Unit,
From what I have read, the ‘Skins expect Portis to play so you should be ok there. Who is your tight end? I wouldn’t want to play a week without one, even though anyone you pick up at this point you really can’t expect much scoring from unless you get lucky.
Hold on to Romo, he will be there when you need him. In the playoffs.
Ryan
Ted,
You have to start Tomlinson. I know he has been frustrating, but he still can be great. Plus the way that Warrick Dunn has been eating into Graham’s carries lately, Tomlinson seems to be a no doubter. Plus they are playing the Saints who aren’t exactly a doomsday defense. Go with Tomlinson, he should do much better.
Ryan
Jason,
I would go with Jackson over Moss only if Chris Chambers doesn’t play. Jackson has been great, but he has also been the number one option. The Pats have been so inconsistent, but with all of their RBs getting hurt, I think they might pass more this week. But I think Jackson is a better bet if Chambers doesn’t play. Plax might be banged up, but he is going back to Pittsburgh for the first time and my guess is he will be playing with extra motivation and feel like he has something to prove.
What do you think?
Ryan
Jim Bo,
I would say go with Randle El. I think the Redskins passing game and Campbell were playing over their head earlier in the year, and also I think the Colts offense will come around in the second half. I like Gonzalez and Clark over Randle El.
Ryan
Ballin’,
I’m assuming you mean Zach Miller the TE for Oakland. And as much as I am not a huge Shockey fan, I do think he is a better option than Miller. Oakland is playing Baltimore who should make it tough on Russell all day long, while the Saints are playing the Chargers who have been bad against the pass. Plus on a QB comparision, Shockey has Brees throwing him the ball, while Miller has JaMarcus Russell. I say play Shockey.
Ryan
should i start Calvin johnson and what about Jamaal lewis
Bucsfan,
Depends on who your alternatives are, but I don’t see a reason not to start either player. I know Lewis is going against the Jags, but they haven’t been their usual awesome defense against the run. Let me know who your other choices are though.
Ryan (Ninersfan)
Ten team PPR league with 6 points for all td’s and bonuses for the length of td’s.
Which QB: Warner at Panthers or Schaub vs. Bengals
Which WR: Braylon at Jags or Dwayne Bowe at Jets
David,
Even though Schaub may be playing the weaker defense, I still say you have to go with Warner. He has been consistently putting up huge fantasy points.
At WR, given the state of the KC offense (read: ugly), I would say you have to go with Braylon. Not that the Browns defense is exciting, but at least I feel their QB is much better.
Ryan
Big game for my team this week. TD heavy, milestone scoring, no ppr
My #2 RB choices: PThomas, KeSmith, Buck, Im leaning toward Buck scoring.
What do you think?
Thanks
Rob,
Since I haven’t seen anything different, I assume that Deuce McAllister will be allowed to play in this game as I figure these pending suspensions will be appealed. So that takes some of the value away from Thomas, but I don’t see Deuce being the only guy who carries the ball for New Orleans. The Lions are too crappy for me to feel comfortable starting Smith and expecting a touchdown. I would like Buckhalter, but I’m pretty sure that Westbrook will play. I guess you can figure the Eagles won’t ride Westbrook in his first game back after multiple injuries, but I don’t know if Buckhalter will get scoring opportunities.
This is pretty much a crapshoot for who to start, but I would decide between Thomas and Buckhalter. If you feel good about Buck, go with him but I would give Thomas consideration.
Ryan
Ryan,
boldin, colston, houshmanzadeh, and calvin johnson..
who do i start?
Seth,
I just read something that said Boldin should play about 30-35 plays this week, so if he is going to be that involved I would most likely play him. Not sure how many guys you need to start but I would rank them
Boldin-a top 10 receiver when fully healthy
Colston-won’t catch zero passes again.
Housh
Calvin
QB is the only reason that Calvin is so low. I know Housh’s QB sucks too, but at least he has still been getting a decent number of catches with Fitzpatrick in there. I know Calvin had a big game last week, but he really only had two catches.
Good luck!
Ryan
One more question for you Ryan,
I have Slaton, Chris Johnson, Brandon Jacobs, Lendale White, and Peterson (on bye)
Who do i start i can do 3 of them
Seth,
I might be crazy to start both Titans, but the Colts are third worst against the run, and we saw what they did last week against the Chiefs. I don’t like putting so many eggs in one basket though.
Slaton has a good matchup against the Bengals so I would probably go with him.
Jacobs has a real tough matchup against the Steelers, but I think the Giants will run a lot.
Both Titans are great matchups.
I would definitely go with Slaton and Chris Johnson. Then it is a decision between Jacobs and White. My common sense says play White, but something in my gut is saying Jacobs. Damn, this is a tough call………….I am going to say Jacobs only because I don’t want to start both backs on the same team. What do you think?
Ryan
thanks.
I was thinking the same thing with jacobs, but if the Titans for some reason dont do well against the colts then I am in trouble. But the Colts have shown that they are bad against the run, and I have a feeling that the Titans will run over them. Thats my opinion but i am going to start White Slaton and Johnson today.
Thanks again,
Seth
Hey Ryan ,
I finally won this week thanks to you!
Ill need your help for next week!!
J-unit
J-Unit,
That’s great, glad to hear I could be of help.
I’ll definitely be here to help whenever you need. You can drop comments here or email me at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com.
Congrats, now let’s make it two in a row.
Ryan
Of these five who do i start for 1 week only per gates has a bye week? John Carlson SEA
Tony Scheffler DEN Donald Lee GB
Donald Lee GB Alge Crumpler TEN
Nathan,
If Scheffler is going to play, which I expect (not sure what that is worth to the Broncos!) he is the definite choice. If not, I think I would then go Crumpler, Carlson, and then Lee.
Ryan
Who should I start Bret for the Jets or Big Ben for the Burg? and Pitt Def or Balt Def? Oh and I cant find your week 9 sit start. Your help is appriciated thanks.
Heyy where is week 9 startem sit um?
J-Unit,
Writing it right now, will be posted within an hour.
Ryan
Who should I start Bret for the Jets or Big Ben for the Burg? and Pitt Def or Balt Def? Oh and I cant find your week 9 sit start. Your help is appriciated thanks.
I still cant find week 9 startem sit um. Who should I start Bret for the Jets or Big Ben for the Burg? and Pitt Def or Balt Def?