Gridiron Experts Start’em Sit’em Week 6
Most sites recycle imaginary fantasy numbers with yards and touchdowns and quick blurbs on how great Drew Brees or Adrian Peterson is going to do, but you already know that. We here at Gridiron Experts are not about to insult your fantasy football intelligence by posting the obvious numbers, instead we go out on a limb and try spotting great fantasy match-ups that many people might be overlooking. Star players will always perform, but key players can thrive in one week situations through either an offensive game plan or an excellent match-up. Our goal is to zone in on these perfect match-ups and offer advice that might make your life a little easier. It always comes down to you making the last minute call with your line-up, but hopefully we can help.
** “Less chat more picks”-? Readers want more**
Start’em
- Kurt Warner- On the road where the Jaguars were made to look like kitty cats? Don’t fret. Warner and his lethal receiving core will be in a shoot-out in Seattle this weekend. The Seahawks and Cardinals are battling to a spot where they can sneak up and challenge the 49er’s for the division.
- Ben Roethlisberger- vs. the Browns…enough said.
- Philip Rivers- Oh no, the Denver Broncos, run for the hills (mile high)…wait, the Chargers are at home and off a bye, and are tired of hearing about how great McDaniel’s and his team of misfits are happy and winning. Rivers will test the Broncos defense by stretching the field, just like last year. Rivers combined for 570 yards and 5 TD’s in the two divisional games against the Broncos last season.
- Josh Johnson- In a bind? I know this kid makes bad decisions, but he didn’t play that bad on the road last week. Stop laughing, Johnson threw 240 yards and 2 TD’s last week in Philly and should be a solid start if you need a bye week QB.
- DeAngelo Williams- The Bucs are struggling against the run…amongst other things. Williams has yet to be able to get on track from his strong fantasy numbers from last season but the Bucs are averaging 157 yards per game against the run; with Delhomme playing awful football, the Panthers might rely more Williams.
- LeSean “Shady” McCoy- The Eagles are a pass first team, but when facing a team that is 2nd from last in run defense…the Birds will run the ball. One of the Eagles favorite plays is to set up is the play-action deep pass; expect a heavy dose of the run from the new rookie who is splitting carries with Westbrook. McCoy could also see a lot of clean up duty if this game gets out of control (it will).
- Knowshon Moreno- The Chargers have been ruined by the run all season. Denver is starting to find their passing game which should keep the Chargers defense honest. This is a prime time game and Knowshon wants to showcase his skills to the football world.
- Sammy Morris- Fred Taylor is on the shelf and Morris is getting more looks. the Pats love to give everyone a carry including fullbacks and water boys, so don’t start Morris if you have better options, but Morris did get 17 carries last week and against Tennessee he should see closer to 20. Good match-up.
- Santonio Holmes- Holmes hasn’t found the end zone since week 1 and is way overdue. The Browns are going to try to double this talented receiver, but with the rookie Mike Wallace needing attention with the deep pass, Holmes should have a productive day.
- DeSean Jackson- Happy to see his teammate Maclin reach a career day is all good for one weekend, but you can bet Jackson will be winking McNabb’s way this Sunday as fans from his old playground are a close drive away. DeSean played college ball at CAL and has been on the East coast almost his entire time in the Pro’s. You know he’s going want to show off for friends and family against the Raiders this week. It’s not like there’s a shortage of tickets at Raiders games these days.
- Donald Driver- Driver has been money for fantasy owners this season. A guy that most people grabbed for depth is seeing fantasy starting lineups more and more often. Each one of Drivers’ games have been a solid fantasy outing and we don’t see it stopping against the Lions this week. Start’em!
- Eddie Royal- The Sophomore slump has been a rain cloud over this guys head for the first couple weeks of the season, but with Marshall back the coverage is focused elsewhere. Royal has quick feet and is deadly in the open field, his stock should start to rise. Royal had 10 catches last week and 8 combined in the first 4 games.
- Santana Moss- The only bright light on a very depressed team. In each of the Redskins 2 wins Moss made big plays to swing the momentum.
Sit’em
Mark Sanchez- The hot rookie is cooling off a little, and we think you should look at other options. Defenses are starting to see something in Sanchez’s game as of late, something that tends to happen at some point in a rookie QB’s season. Even with the great match-up against the Bills, we see the Jets running the ball a lot more this week. Not only do the Bills suck against the run, Sanchez has completed less than 50% of his passes and been picked off 3 times with only 1 score in his last 2 games.- Chris Johnson- Bench him! No one will do it, but the brave ones will thank themselves. After going 10-0 and now starting 0-5 it’s safe to say the Titans have lost hope and are spending more time talking about their problems rather than fixing them. They are looking forward to their bye week in wk 7, and the Pats were just embarrassed against the Broncos last week and will ruin any kind of rally cry from this Titans team.
- Willis McGahee- No bounce back week here, the torch has almost certainly been passed to Ray Rice.
The Titans were 10-0 last year before losing to the Jets. And I would not be benching CJ this week. Their running game is their only hope to winning, and he’ their best player.
Besides, they faced the Colts last week and no one is running on the Colts.
I also wouldn’t say “the torch” has been handed to Ray Rice. Rice gets the yards, and McGahee is the short yardage and goal-line guy. Simple as that.
However, I wouldn’t suggest playing either of them against a stout Minnesota line.
As for Sanchez, he wasn’t flashy, but he played OK on Monday Night. Now he gets the soft Bills defense and you want to sit him? Bad call.
I’ll take him over your Josh Johnson promotion, any day.
The Panthers may not be able to stop the run, but they aren’t yielding a ton of success through the air this year.
Hope in wining the game? The titans are screwed and the Patriots are going to zero in on Chris Johnson, I lke that call.
Sanchez does have a good match-up but bills are bottom against the run, might get yards but T-Jones will get the TD’s
It says if your in a bind start Johnson, I’m in a 14 player league and trust me he doesn’t have that bad on a matchup, considering they’ll be losing by 10 at half time
i like the call on chris johnson i dont have him but i would sit him this week as well. roger go ahead and play him and then lose because of it, then kick yourself in the ass smack yourself on the forehead and say i should have listened to that website. you said it yourself, “Their running game is their only hope to winning, and he’ their best player”. exactly… what does that say? opposing teams are going to close in on him, stack it up front and would risk getting beat in the passing game in order to stop the run. only because they have no passing game. new england isnt who they were before, but they arent much worse and can sure as hell stop the run with ease, especially against a team where their strongpoint is the run. he had 83 yards rushing against the JAGUARS.. THE JAGUARS! enough said with facing the patriots this week. he can break loose dont get me wrong but he has a lesser chance breaking loose against the jags than the pats.
what would you rather have? a guy who can run 150 yards a game but get no touchdowns, or a guy who gets maybe 40 yards a game and gets a touchdown or two, which isnt even guaranteed. ill stick with ray rice. not starting him this week but f— mcgahee, hes washed up and is losing the torch to rice.
sanchez is a rookie. when is the last time you could start a rookie every week regardless of matchup? probably close to never. hes overrated and got lucky being on a decent team. i would love to see what he would do if he was on the bucs, everyone would hate him and would be owned in about .05% of espn fantasy leagues.
glad to see mark at least knows whats up. mark is probably like i am in my one leagues(5-0 start). but i think my time to lose is this week. playing someone who has some awesome matchups for the guys hes starting. but you never actually know what will happen.
Rice is running for 150 per game? That’s laughable. You guys stick with your predictions. Let’s write it down one more time. You hapless noobs are sitting Chris Johnson, playing Josh Johnson, sitting Mark Sanchez, and running with Ray Rice over Willis McGahee. I’m going the OPPOSITE on all of that, and I’ll check back…..
I like Johnson but he’s not ready to start, although he did get 200yards 2tds last week.the Patriots are 14 point favorites how are they going to run the ball when their down by 21 at half time (just like the Colts)Rice and McGahee are bad starts this week…..