Atlanta @ DetroitThe Falcons are on a tear and
Michael Vick is leading the charge. He's got 7 TDs to only 2 INTs in his last two games and should continue this run against one of the league's worst passing defenses.
Michael Jenkins and
Alge Crumpler are the beneficiaries here and should both be starting if you own them. The Lions do actually have an better than average run defense, so don't expect anything huge from
Warrick Dunn. For the Lions, it looks like they should be playing catchup so
Jon Kitna and
Roy Williams should be putting up decent numbers. Look for
Mike Furrey to possibly cash in as well. Playing catch up and a solid Falcons run D makes for a rough day for
Kevin Jones. But he should get worked into the passing game a little more if they need to dump it off to a safety valve. It looks like you should expect a pretty high scoring affair here.
Cincinnati @ BaltimoreOn paper it looks like a high powered offense vs. a high powered defense, but the Bengals have been stumbling of late. The matchups on the corners,
Samari Rolle on
T.J. Houshmandzadeh and
Chris McAllister on
Chad Johnson, are the big story here and everyone expects the receivers to be held in check. The Ravens against the run are solid so it's going to be tough for
Rudi Johnson to get going. So why am I calling for a Bengals win here?
Chris Henry and
Chris Perry. The best the Ravens have against Henry is
Ed Reed and that's already a mismatch. Look for
Carson Palmer to hit Perry on the short passes to move down field and then hit Henry for the longer strikes in the red zone. I'm not sold on
Jamal Lewis one bit, so expect
Steve McNair to do a lot of throwing.
Todd Heap and
Derrick Mason should make for average plays this week.
Dallas @ WashingtonWith the Skins secondary getting healthy, this no longer looks like a cake walk for
Tony Romo, who needs to earn some fantasy respect here. He'll have
Terrell Owens and
Jason Witten, his two favorite targets, but he may not have
Terry Glenn who is limited by some mysterious ailment once referred to as a quad injury. Even though he is listed as probable, he might not even be active for the game. You'll have to wait until game time for that, but even so...if you have a healthier option, use it. Look for Dallas to lean on
Julius Jones a little more, making him a decent RB2 for this week. For the Skins, they could have some problems on offense. Dallas has one of the best rushing defenses which should hamper
Clinton Portis and in the passing game,
Mark Brunnell will be without his main target
Santana Moss who will be inactive on Sunday. Expect to see a little more
Chris Cooley with maybe some
Antwaan Randle-El mixed in.
Green Bay @ BuffaloThe key to this game for the Bills is keeping
Ahman Green in check. If the Bills can stop the run, then this game turns into a shootout. The Packers should have no problem with the always disappointing
Willis McGahee, so it's going to come down to the passing games.
J.P. Losman has
Lee Evans,
Roscoe Parrish and the suddenly re-emerging
Peerless Price going against a horrible secondary this week while
Brett Favre seems to only have
Donald Driver.
Greg Jennings re-injured himself late in the week at practice and is a less than hopeful game time decision and
Robert Ferguson is also chronically banged up. Maybe someone can wake up
Bubba Franks, but that's unlikely. It could actually be a fun game to watch -- the Pack is playing with momentum and the Bills are rested and ready from their bye.
Houston @ NY GiantsIf the Giants can focus on this week and not look ahead to the upcoming matchup against Chicago, then this could be a fantasy gold mine for Giants owners.
Eli Manning has the ability to carve up the Houston secondary while
Tiki Barber continues to rack up huge yardage games.
**sigh** If only he could find the endzone.
Plaxico Burress is a game time decision, but it doesn't look too good for him with his chronic back injuries. Look for
Jeremy Shockey and
Amani Toomer to have big days on Sunday. For the Texans, it could be a rough day.
Wali Lundy will be hard pressed to find yardage and
David Carr could be running for his life all day against a strong Giants pass rush...unless he gets benched again for
Sage Rosenfels. Either way, you'll probably be able to expect a few Carr/Rosenfels to
Andre Johnson bombs, so the wideout makes for a great play this week.
Kansas City @ St. LouisLarry Johnson has just been explosive these past few weeks, and he's been ripping up pretty good run defenses in that time. Think about just how much damage he can do against a team ranked 27th against the run. But don't count out the Chiefs passing game. They're not going to be able to run the ball all day if they want to keep up with the Rams high powered passing game, so expect
Damon Huard, who is playing with Shane Falco-esque reckless abandon (Trent Green Week 10 rumors are swirling), to try airing it out as if it were his last game. Nothing dazzling, but a few good strikes to
Tony Gonzalez and
Eddie Kennison are highly probable. For the Rams, you can expect a lot of the
Marc Bulger air attack. He'll be looking for his #1 guy,
Torry Holt, and should hit
Isaac Bruce and
Kevin Curtis along the way.
Steven Jackson should have a good day if the score stays close or if the Chiefs fold to the aerial assault.
Miami @ ChicagoGuaranteed ugliness if you're a Fins fan. This one is going to be abusive, somehwere along the lines of last weeks Bears/Niners matchup. But don't expect the Bears offense to be the one doing the damage. Miami has the 4th best pass defense and a pretty solid run defense, so don't expect eye popping numbers from
Rex Grossman and Co. They'll put up decent numbers, but the eye popping numbers will come on defense as the Bears feast on
Joey Harrington. He's going to be under the gun all day and it's not going to be pretty.
Ronnie Brown should also suffer here as will
Chris Chambers and
Randy McMichael. None of them look to be decent plays at all. If this is the case (and trust me...it will be), then
Thomas Jones and
Cedric Benson should put up decent numbers as the Bears keep it on the ground to eat up the clock in the second half.
New Orleans @ Tampa BayYou should see a nice balance on offense for the Saints this week as the
Deuce McAllister/
Reggie Bush tandem should fare pretty well against a horrible Bucs run D. Bush is listed as questionable but he is expected to play. The passing game for
Drew Brees should fare well as long as
Joe Horn (questionable -- game time decision) is in the lineup. With Horn starting, the offense will be able to spread out with targets all over the place. If not, then
Marques Colston is going to see some extra coverage which could make things difficult. But not as difficult as it's been for the Bucs. Their offense has been atrociuos, and I don't really see
Bruce Gradkowski breaking out here. He will have to air it out however, so atleast
Joey Galloway is going to get the deep looks. I sense a lot of
Carnell Williams in the first half and the team should lean heavily on him this week.
Tennessee @ JacksonvilleThis should be an interesting matchup with some decent fantasy points to be found. Jaguars starter
Dave Garrard gets
Matt Jones back to join
Reggie Williams and
Ernest Wilford against one of the worst secondaries in the league. To make matters worse, it looks like
Adam "Pacman" Jones will be out this week following a team suspension. Behind the steady running of
Fred Taylor, the Jags should have a nicely balanced offfense that could put up some big points for you. For the Titans, the road to victory could be too tough to overcome.
Vince Young is starting to get more comforatable, but he still needs to work on his passing game. 87 passing yards is just not acceptable at this level. As for the rest of the Titans, they all become risky plays against a tough Jags defense.
Travis Henry may end up repeating last week's performance, and ever since
Billy Volek left town,
Drew Bennett has been invisible.
Minneosta @ San FranciscoSo which Vikings team is gonna show up this week? Maybe it depends on their opponent. They need to feast on the weak apparently. This may be good for them as the Niners have given up the most points in the league and were shredded by the Bears last week. If Minnesota wants to win, then
Chester Taylor is going to need to come up bigger this week. He's already losing more and more third down carries to
Mewelde Moore. Another one that needs to step it up is
Brad Johnson. If he can't put together a decent game, then we may be seeing a lot more of
Brooks Bolinger. For the Niners, it's all about redemption.
Frank Gore is angry and should put together a solid game which will open it up for
Alex Smith to find guys like
Antonio Bryant and
Arnaz Battle down field. I see a 49ers upset here...
Cleveland @ San DiegoThe over/under on TDs for
LaDanian Tomlinson is 3 this week. The league's best running back gets a nice cushy matchup against a weak Browns run D. He should be the fantasy super stud he's always been. This should make it easier for
Phillip Rivers to spread out the offense a little and hit
Antonio Gates and the surprising
Vincent Jackson for a couple of scores. New Browns offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson should have his work cut out for him this week as he'll see that
Reuben Droughns isn't running against a weak Jets defense this week, but a strong Chargers defense that is pretty stingy on the run. I think we're going to see
Charlie Frye air it out a little more as the boys from Cleveland will be behind most of the day.
Braylon Edwards and
Kellen Winslow are the only real viable fantasy options from this team and neither of them is really that strong of a play this week.
Denver @ PittsburghA big defensive battle here. You've got two of the most impressive defenses and two somewhat sputtering offenses. Doesn't really make for fanatsy excitement, does it?
Willie Parker is going to have his hands full this week and he's going to find it difficult to break out against a stingy Broncos D. Which means that the burden may fall on
Ben Roethlisberger and that's not such a great guarantee anymore. His 4 INTs last week has guys like
Champ Baily salivating. Consider
Hines Ward a mediocre play at best this week. For the Broncos on offense, it doesn't look much better. Will we see
Jake the Snake or Jake the Fake this week?
Mike Bell will get the start this week with
Tatum Bell ( turf toe) coming off the bench here or there, so they're going to need Plummer to have a decent game if they want to find success.
Javon Walker and maybe even
Rod Smith could see some good action here. But the real fantasy points getters will probably end up being
Jeff Reed and
Jason Elam.
Indianapolis @ New EnglandBill Bellicheck gives nightmares to
Peyton Manning and the Colts, plain and simple. The Pats are 7-1 in their last eight meetings and they usually keep Peyton from achieving his usually eye-popping stats. Fantasy wise thought he'll still be a solid play as he works his way through Bellicheck's defensive schemes.
Dallas Clark,
Marvin Harrison and
Reggie Wayne are all still solid fantasy options.
Joseph Addai and
Dominic Rhodes, maybe not so much as the Pats have the #3 ranked run defense in the league. For the Pats on offense, it's going to be all about the run. The Colts run D is awful and
Corey Dillon and
Laurence Maroney should carve them up all day long. So maybe
Tom Brady doesn't throw the ball 50 times this week. He may be facing a tough Indy secondary, but he's got enough targets in
Ben Watson,
Doug Gabriel and
Chad Jackson to keep the defense on it's heels a bit. Don't look now, but this could be the quest for the undefeated season may end here.
Oakland @ SeattleTwo teams moving in opposite directions here. The Raiders have won 2 in a row, we finally see both
Jerry Porter and
Randy Moss lining up together. It also looks like
Lamont Jordan is ready to go this week after all. The Seahawks have shown that losing
Shaun Alexander was rough, but without
Matt Hasselbeck too, they have been left a complete disaster. With
Maurice Morris showing his inability to be a regular back in this league,
Seneca Wallace has been fed to the wolves here. It doesn't matter that they have great receivers in
Deion Branch and
Darrell Jackson, they've just been awful. And it's not going to help that they face one of the league's toughest pass defenses in the Raiders. It looks like Oaktown could be on a little bit of a roll here.
