Here's three games with interesting fantasy matchups that you can use to help make your lineup decisions.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New Orleans Saints - Let’s try this one more time, shall we. Last week I predicted that the Saints would be giving up a lot of points to the Cowboys, and the entire game featured one touchdown and 5 field goals. I do, however, have more faith in the new Bucs offense than the new-ish Cowboys one. Tampa has scored 96 points in the last 10 quarters of football. Jameis Winston only has one turnover during that time and WRs Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are putting up huge numbers. Of course you’re starting them, but I think you need to get Jameis Winston in your lineup as well, since the Saints are giving up the 2nd most points to opposing QBs.
I also think that Ronald Jones is a guy you can fire up. His snap % has gone from 12 to 31 to 49 in the last 3 weeks and he had 20 touches in last week’s game. On the other side, Tampa is in the top 10 giving up points to opposing QBs and WRs, but with Teddy Bridgewater at the helm, I’m still only starting Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara on the Saints.
Arizona Cardinals @ Cincinnati Bengals - Two teams and 8 games between them and nary a win in sight. The Cards did sniff it in Week 1 with a tie, but these guys are a combined 0-7-1. Both teams lost by 3 scores last week, and at this point it’s just about pride. Let’s start with the Cardinals RB David Johnson, who has a spectacular matchup this week – basically guaranteed double digit points in a standard league. How can I say this? Well in 4 games, the Bengals have had 7 RBs score at least 13 points against them, again, standard scoring. Those 7 RBs are basically averaging 100 yards and a TD each. This should open things up for Kyler Murray and he will likely find Larry Fitzgerald early and often. Fitz will be boosted by the absence of Christian Kirk. Andy Isabella will see more work, but it’ll be on the outside, according the Kliff Kingsbury.
Regardless, the Cardinals run far more 4-WR sets than the rest of the league and there will be a lot of mouths to feed on offense, so I only like Fitzgerald and Johnson as solid fantasy starts, but they should be tremendous against the crappy Bengals. I also like Tyler Eifert for the Bengals, as the Cardinals have given up an absurd about of points to opposing tight ends. The Cardinals are giving up over 19 points per game to opposing TEs, while the next closest team is giving up only 12. This is historically bad, start Eifert!
Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers - Traditionally, this is a defensive struggle, but that’s not likely on Sunday. The Ravens have given up over 500 yards of offense the last two weeks. The Steelers finally figured out their offense as led by Mason Rudolph, and the name of the game is efficiency. The Steelers are in the top 10 for most points against at WR and RB while Baltimore is in the top 11 of each of those stats. Both defenses are in the bottom half of the league when it comes to yards given up. The Steelers gave up 85 points in the first 3 weeks and the Ravens have given up 73 in just the last two! This is shaping up to be a solid fantasy matchup for both sides.
For the Steelers, I like James Conner of course, though his available may be up in the air, so keep an eye on injury reports. Jaylen Samuels proved very valuable and could have a huge role if Conner doesn’t play. Both Conner and Samuels had 8 targets and 10 carries, so they’ve both got value as starters, especially in a PPR league. Juju has to get involved sooner or later, so keep him in this week because it’s clear that the Steelers still love him. I also like Diontae Johnson if you’ve got bye week or injury troubles. 6 targets and 6 catches in an offense with lots of short passes is a good sign, especially in a PPR league.
For the Ravens, I like Lamar Jackson to continue to dominate, and hell, he’s the #1 fantasy player so far this year, so of course you’re starting him. Even when the team is losing, he finds a way to put up those garbage points. Last week, Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown did not put up the big numbers you want to see, but they both had lots of targets and that will continue all year long. Start them both along with Mark Ingram and don’t be surprised if both teams put up over 30 points in this division matchup.
Twenty teams were eliminated last week, this brings our surviving entrants down to 186 with 8 weeks left to go in the
season. Last week we managed to fade the dreaded Thursday night nightmare on Halloween of all nights,
when the 49ers were able to pull out an unnecessarily close victory against the Cardinals 28-25. The
Cardinals jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and had me doubting game manager Garoppolo's ability to
keep up with the potent Cardinal offense. But then the tables turned and the Niners had the 21-7 lead at half,
wrap it up, easy game right? Wrong the Cards rallied back outscoring the Niners 18-7 in the second half
capped by an 88 yard touchdown from Andy Isabella to bring the game within 3. But alas, the Cards
couldn't get a stop and the Niners held on. Seriously, I would not bet against Kyler Murray if they are down
by a score and have the ball last.
Now, on to this week, where I will again be taking the cowards way out by selecting the largest favorite of
the week in the Saints at -13.5 on the road vs the Atlanta Falcons. The announcement that Matt Ryan
would be returning for this game shockingly did not move the line an inch. Bottom line in this one is the
Falcons can not stop anyone, and this week that anyone is Drew Brees and the best team in the NFC.
Could this be Dan Quinn's final coaching performance? Hopefully the Dolphins can do me a favor and
knock off the next biggest favorite Colts at home, which will surely eliminate a large number of
remaining players.
Trades…vaccination issues…felony car crashes…MVP’s lost for the season…teams telling stars to just go home…don’t you just hate how boring the week can be before we get to the next Sunday?
Well let’s try to get some for excitement back and get going with these picks!
Week 9 – HERE WE GO!!!!
(HOME TEAM IN CAPS)
14 – DALLAS over Denver – Much to the dismay of, well, basically everyone outside of Dallas, it seem like this Cowboys team is legit.
13 – Buffalo over JACKSONVILLE – An obvious candidate for our top line this week, but its hard to 100% trust a road team.
12 – NEW ORLEANS over Atlanta – Sure there are QB questions in New Orleans now, but there are way more issues in Atlanta right now.
11 – KANSAS CITY over Green Bay – Obviously there is one big factor to think of when picking this game…game time temp…right?
10 – LOS ANGELES RAMS over Tennessee – A prime time game against one of the best looking teams in the league is not the best time to lose your MVP running back.
9 – PITTSBURGH over Chicago – The Steelers showed that they won’t just be rolling over and dying this season last week – not good news for a struggling Bears team.
8 – INDIANAPOLIS over New York Jets – It’s really hard to think that the Jets can run on Mike White’s magic again.
7 – CINCINNATI over Cleveland – The Browns just seem to have too much locker room drama to win in Cincy.
6 – BALTIMORE over Minnesota – I’ve been on the Viking bandwagon most of the season…losing to Cooper Rush is a quick way for me to jump off.
5 – MIAMI over Houston – With all the trade rumors behind him, I see a big day for the current Miami quarterback. My BOLD PREDICTION for this week is that TUA WILL FINISH WITH OVER 400 PASSIG YARDS.
4 – Las Vegas over NEW YORK GIANTS – Welp, the Raiders won their last “after a rough week” game following the Gruden following, playing the Giants is a reason to think they can do it again.
3 – New England over CAROLINA – If Christian McCaffrey ends up playing, feel free to flip this one to a Carolina win.
2 – PHILADELPHIA over Los Angeles Chargers – Last week gave me reason to pump some breaks on the Chargers being an elite team.
1 – SAN FRANCISCO over Arizona – It sounds like injuries are catching up to the Cardinals.