Official NN Fantasy Football Thread

Start Alex Smith or Josh Freeman at QB? I was thinking Alex because the Seahawks D shouldn’t be as rough as the Lions are going to be with Freeman.

Also, start Houston Defense vs Indianapolis or 49ers D vs Seattle? I’m thinking Houston because Kerry Collins isn’t very mobile and should be in for a rough day.

I’ve got D-Jax, Braylon Edwards, and Jacoby Ford at WR. Should I panic?

All week I was planning on starting Houston’s D. At the last minute I changed my mind because it seemed too easy. I agonized about it but ultimately decided to bench them. Currently they have recovered 2 fumbles and held the Colts to 0 points. 22 fantasy points AT THE HALF! I hate myself right now.

Oh yeah, and my distrust of Alex Smith goes deep enough that I decided to start Freeman over him. Of course, Freeman is now stinking it up. Again, I hate myself.

I guess fantasy lessons are learned the hard way!

I think I believe in Seattle’s run D. Call it reactionary for what they did to Gore if you’d like. I think with a healthy Red Bryant and a banged up Steelers’ O-Line they have the talent to bottle up Rashard Mendenhall. The big caveat to this, of course, is that Pittsburgh’s defense could lead them to completely dominate time of possession. The other smaller caveat is the early east coast start time for the ‘Hawks. It’s not a slam-dunk by any means. But I do see a scenario where a buy-low opportunity for Mendenhall opens Sunday afternoon.

The Bills-Raiders matchup holds some interest to me. Like Seattle, I’m curious to see how what I view as a talented Raiders’ front seven holds up with an early east coast start time. If you’re a Fred Jackson owner, don’t bench him unless you’re confident in his backup.

Ryan Fitzpatrick looks comfortable in his second season under Chan Gailey. Gailey’s system is notoriously QB friendly, and deep leaguers should keep in mind that if Fitzpatrick takes a step forward this year, he’s going to bring more than Stevie Johnson with him. Two guys who could come along for the ride are thirteen feet of pass-catching in 6’7" TE Scott Chandler and 6’5" WR David Nelson. Most are aware of Chandler and his two TD grabs last week, but Nelson was also targeted 6 times (tied for the team lead with Johnson) and hauled in 4 catches for 66 yards. WR Donald Jones was the recipient of three endzone targets in Week 1 as well. Keep that situation monitored. At this point we’re either looking at a New Orleans-lite fantasy scenario, or one of these three will step up into legitimate fantasy starter territory.

On the subject of pass-catchers getting a bump with their QBs, I am shocked at the lack of love Nate Burleson has gotten this year. He was a top-50 scoring WR in both standard and PPR leagues last year, and even with everyone all hopped up on Matthew Stafford (myself included) no one bothered to bump Burleson into the top-40? He’s still only 55% owned in Yahoo! leagues. I see 800-900 yards and 8 TDs coming this season. Start him this week with confidence against the Berry-less Chiefs, especially anyone with Colston and Amendola issues (and to a lesser extent, Dez Bryant, Santonio Holmes, and Brandon Lloyd issues). Jacoby Jones is another solid injury replacement for this week if Burleson is gone in your league.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll answer any last minute who-to-starts/plug n’ plays if you want, give my thoughts on any specific matchup, or I’m happy to just shoot the breeze about fantasy football in general. If people like this/care in the slightest I could put something similar together weekly. Hope you find some part of it useful.