Brian Bald
Sep 12, 2008

The waiting room…2 days to glory.

Start w/confidence:

QB:

Phillip Rivers: Lost in the due hype surrounding Jay Cutler’s dismantling of the Raiders, Rivers, not Tomlinson, was the benefactor of San Diego’s offense.  Rivers is really coming into his since the playoffs last year and will reward owners who start him this week with a couple TDs while Tomlinson deals with a nagging toe injury.  Don’t overestimate Gates value to this offense.  He is an elite TE, but Rivers is emerging as a legitimate leader and has Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers on the outside.

Aaron Rodgers: Efficient if not flashy week 1 performance and will play against a bad Lions team.  He has the weapons to toss a multiple TD game w/225+ yards.  If you’ve got Rodgers, you’ve got to be excited about him playing Detroit twice this year. YUM.

Jay Cutler: Every week unless you’ve got Brees, Peyton Manning, Romo or Roethlisberger.  He’s going to be a top-5 QB this year. In fact, if you have one of the above studs and Cutler, deal the proven commodity for an upgrade at RB or WR and ride Cutler for 30+ TDs. 

RB:

Chris Johnson: Every week until the little guy gets decleated (verb – 1. to have one’s cleats removed by force. Ex. Al Harris being ran over by Adrian Peterson) and doesn’t get up.  He’s the only threat on the Titans and they’ve already realized he’s the go to guy instead of Lendale White.  Before Johnson left with a cramp in the 4th quarter on Sunday he had 15 carries to White’s 9.  If not for White’s gravitational pull sucking him into the end zone he’d be useless.  White makes a solid flex now as he might turn into Cory Dillon from ’06 when he had double-digit TDs and about 40 yards a week.  BONUS* Johnson gets Cincinnati this week who made a 6’6” guy from Delaware with a 4.8 40 time look like Randall Cunningham in Tecmo Bowl or for the younger audience Mike Vick in ’05 Madden. 

Whoever runs for the Ravens this week: Willie Parker scored more TDs against the Texans this past Sunday than all of last year when he had 1300+ yards.  It’s hard to tell whether the Lions or Texans are worse at stopping the run.  McGahee is supposedly ready for this week making him a low end #1 against the user friendly Texans.  If you’re short on RBs and Ray Rice is available he will get some touches while McGahee regains confidence in his knee. Rice makes an interesting flex play because Baltimore will try to keep Flacco’s attempts down to avoid him meeting Mario Williams, but if they get down and have to throw Rice will be limited because rookie RBs usually have trouble w/blitz recognition.

Earnest Graham: This one seems obvious but I wanted to put it out here. Chucky (nee John Gruden) realized the error of his ways letting Jeff Garcia and his Category 1 arm toss the ball 41 times to the likes of Joey Galloway (56) and Ike Hilliard (irrelevant since Danny Wuerffel won the Heisman).  41 TIMES! Anyways, during this Graham managed to pile up 91 yards on 10 carries. Suffice to say Chucky realized when your top back is getting nearly a 1st down on every touch you should give him the rock.  The Falcons have proved nothing.  I was as excited as anyone who was playing against Michael Turner last week, but this is a big divisional and Brian Griese (yes that Brian Griese) is probably starting at QB.  Look for Graham to get 25+ touches and a score or two. 

WR:

Calvin Johnson: Maybe you didn’t watch any preseason.  Maybe you hate looking at Lions box scores.  Maybe you don’t remember he was possibly the best college receiver ever.  Start him every single week.  This will be the last time he appears on the sit/start because he’s a no-brainer every single week.  Can’t stress it enough, the Lions crap defense will give up a ton of points and John Kitna will throw for 4000 yards, 20+ TDs and 20+ INTs. At 6’5”, 240 with 4.3 speed he is always open. 

Jerricho Cotchery: The new last year’s Greg Jennings. NE is facing an uphill battle they lose Asante Samuel and Randal Gay in the offseason.  The linebackers are looking slow and Dwayne Bowe and Damon Huard hung up some nice fantasy production on an aging but proud defense.  Cotchery offers great returns as a #2 WR in most formats.  Bank on 75+ yards and a score.

Lee Evans: I’ve tried to quit Lee Evans before.  Really I have. He’s a total pain to own he always comes up big when he’s riding bench and goes for 18 yards when he’s got a great matchup and you need the points to win a tight game.  However, Evans looked great this past week against a Seattle defense that is better than they showed.  He spent most of the day locked up against Pro Bowler Marcus Trufant.  Evans looks to have better rapport this year w/Trent Edwards and faces a Jacksonville defense that will be keyed on stopping Marshawn Lynch giving a burner like Evans opportunities to get behind the safeties for long gains. 

Sit in shame…

QB:

Matt Cassel: Remember less than 24 hours ago when I told you to grab this guy?  Hope you got him; now deposit him on your bench for a one-week trial.  This guy will be fantasy gold if he puts up a multi-TD 225+ yard performance, especially to the guy you screwed who drafted Brady who’s desperately trying to avoid having to start making moves for guys like Marc Bulger (Blech).  Cassel looked as appetizing as a Denny’s Grand Slam when you have a hangover. Hope for the best but you don’t want to be there for the fallout if the preseason was any indication of what to expect Sunday.  There’s still a chance that Cassel replaces Bucky ****ing Dent in Boston-lore.

Marc Bulger: This guy, he used to rule.  He’s like your freshman roommate who had sweet hookups and knew introduced you to the girls down the hall.  Now that you have a degree moved on, he still has only these traits as positives and the girls down the hall now have children and credit card debt.  Bulger’s line sucks. Torry Holt is the only target on the outside and they play the Giants defense that murdered the Redskins.  Just avoid this guy, if there’s a sucker in your league try to deal Bulger for anything. You don’t want this guy.

Carson Palmer: My heart bleeds for Carson Palmer.  He’s trying to hold it together, he had a sweet Dan Fouts beard and 30+ TDs, a Heisman, life was sweet.  What a wretch it is now though.  The Bengals are possibly the worst run franchise in sports, his Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson has a partially torn labrum and T.J. Houshmanzadeh now understands that life as an NFL receiver without the benefit of nee Johnson’s double teams is hard.  Oh there are also five guys that turn style for an hour on Sunday. And you get to play the Titans fresh off a 7 sack, 2 INT, and one forced fumble performance of the ultimate game manager David Garrard.  It’s hard to bench Palmer but this is going get worse before it gets better.

RB:

DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart: The Bears look pissed.  Did you see them Sunday night or Brian Urlacher’s post-game interview?  I see single-digit fantasy points from both of these guys this week.  The Bears will continue to eat RBs alive with a healthy Tommie Harris, Urlacher and Lance Briggs.  They held Joseph Addai career 4.4 YPC to 3.2 YPC.  Try to avoid all non-stud RBs against the Bears this year.

Maurice Jones-Drew/Fred Taylor: The best running team from last year is down to 2 starting o-linemen from last year against a Buffalo defense that has been strong against the run since I was a child.  Marcus Stroud the run-stopping DT from Jacksonville is now a Bill and will look to exact some revenge on his former, who he feels slighted by after a lowball offer this off-season. It all spells doom the Jaguar duo.  Jones-Drew is a safer play because he’s a dual threat but the ground game probably won’t be there this week from the Jags.

Joseph Addai: You have to start him if you drafted him.  I’m just putting him here to lower the expectations of his owners. He found no room to run against the Bears and the Vikings are a stout run defense.  The Vikings linebackers are susceptible in coverage so hope for Addai to get more in the mix with the passing game but this is starting to smell like a timeshare.  Addai got nicked against the Bears and had to come out (he always seems to get banged up and miss time) and former 1000-yard rusher Dominic Rhodes saw some healthy action.  Dungy won’t risk losing Addai and will increase Rhodes workload.  If someone offered me Portis for Addai straight up I’d have a to take it, I’d click twice as fast if it was Marshawn Lynch. 

WR:

Roddy White: I love Roddy White, more than most.  He put up 1200+ yards and 8 TDs with Joey Harrington, Chris Redman and Byron Leftwich throwing to him.  But he’s terrible against Tampa Bay.  Furthermore, the run first Falcons behind Turner and Norwood will not play to Tampa’s strength (pass defense) with a rookie QB.  White owners can expect a similar line to last week’s 2 catches for 54 yards.

Torry Holt: He’s probably your #1 or #2 and you don’t want to bench him but it’s prom night for Bulger.  He’ll spend a lot of the afternoon in the loving embrace of the Giants defensive line.

Santana Moss: The protection was bad against the Giants and Campbell has looked out of sync all preseason.  I’d put Moss on the shelf until I see some progress from Campbell.  Especially against the Saints, Zorn has to realize he’s outgunned by the Saints offensive personal and I’m seeing a big dose of Southeast Jerome.  This is one of the 7 Santana Moss pretends to be a ghost weeks. 

Emergency Procedure:

Matt Jones is going to have another nice game.  He’s going to be Garrard’s go to guy all year if he doesn’t end up in jail for the cocaine.  Grab him, If you’ve got him and it’s him or one of the sit guys, play him.

Jeff Garcia looks like he’s on his way out. Griese has a bit bigger arm, which is like Tom Brady saying he’d prefer to be in a motorized wheelchair after surgery.  But Joey Galloway still has value Griese has had some good games with Galloway and Atlanta’s defense didn’t look strong against the pass last week. 

Oakland looked awful against the pass, I didn’t want to put him in the start category because I thought you would anyway but if I owned Dwayne Bowe I’d be stoked.  Huard threw 3 of his 5 TDs last year in and he’ll line up against D’Angelo Hall, who fleeced Al Davis for a couple of draft picks.  Hall leaving has already made Atl better.

I think Welker has more fantasy value than Randy Moss going forward.  I think Belicheck turns the team into a defensive/ball control team and Welker will be the safety valve for Cassel. Moss will get his TDs, but I see him as a boom and bust guy with Cassel under center. 

Caution side effects may include swelling in the areas of fantasy points and wins.  Please consult your league commissioner if these side effects become serious and threaten the equilibrium of your league.  In some cases these side effects can lead to Fantasy Championships, a potentially serious disease that will cause others around you to become jealous or irritable when playing your fantasy team.  Use at your own risk.