Week 1: Play’em or FOH
Are you ready for Fantasy Football? This is opening weekend in the NFL, and a chance to get your team off to a fast start. While a loss doesn’t mean you won’t make the playoffs or even win your league championship, if you are like me (a person who dislikes losing), you want to win them all. So hopefully I can provide you with some last-second fantasy advice to help you start your season off 1 and 0. If you look at my predictions for Thursday night’s Saints/Packers game, you saw that my “play’em or tell them FOH” predictions were right on point, but enough talk, let’s get to it.
Week 1: Play’em
Michael Vick vs. Rams: I believe Michael will carry on his momentum from last season and will have a monstrous opening day performance. While I do believe the Rams have made great strides, I just believe the Eagles have too much firepower on offense. Red Flag alert: this is the Eagles o-line’s first time playing together since the revamp.
DeSean Jackson vs. Rams: Recognize any of these names?: Ron Bartell? Bradley Fletcher? Justin King? Or maybe Al Harris? Isn’t Al like 36 years old? Start DeSean, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, and Dez Bryant vs. Jets Pass D: I believe the Cowboys will make plays against the Jets secondary. “Revis Island” can’t cover everyone and will likely be matched up against Miles Austin most of the night. If the Jets get an early lead, look for the Cowboys to chuck it around and for Romo to look to Witten and Bryant.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis vs Dolphins: in his career against the Dolphins Defense, “BGE” has averaged 80 yards and a TD per game, and I don’t see that changing this season. Look for at least 100 yards and a TD for “BGE”.
Josh Freeman vs. Lions: I believe last season was no fluke. Josh is ready to take next step into upper echelon QB in the NFL, plus the Lions pass D is poor. Look for a big game from Josh.
MUST START ALERT: Lance Kendricks vs. Eagles D: if you watched the preseason, you know Sam Bradford loves this young tight end, and we all know the Eagles’ history of being unable to check tight ends, and with the corners the Eagles have, look for the Rams to use Lance to attack those young Eagles linebackers.
Other matchups I like:
Peyton Hills vs. Bengals
Beanie Wells vs. Panthers
Jarvis Best vs. Lions
Mike Williams and Blount vs. Lions
Kenny Britt vs. Jaguars
Texans D vs Colts: No faith in Kerry Collins
San Francisco D vs. Seahawks: Are the Seahawks really starting Tavaris Jackson? 49ers D is a must start.
Week 1: FOH
Joe Flacco vs. Steelers: I won’t start any QB not named Rodgers against the Steelers D. While Flacco is a solid QB in 6 match-ups against the Steelers, he has only thrown 6 touchdown passes. If you have a better option at QB, I say start them.
Felix Jones vs. Jets D: I believe Felix will find running room difficult to come by against a solid Jets run D.
Miles Austin: Two words…”Revis Island”
Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon: No Peyton Manning…and let me say that again… NO PEYTON MANNING! While I believe Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne will be fine with Kerry Collins under center, the two players I believe will miss Peyton most are Collie and Garcon.
Brent Celek vs. Rams: Once again, with the uncertainty of the offensive line, look for Celek to once again remain on the line to help in pass blocking.
Giants D vs. Redskins: The Giants will be without CBs Terrell Thomas, Prince Amukamura, DE Osi Umenyiora, and LB Jonathan Goff, leaving them very thin on D, which wasn’t in the best shape to begin with.
My FOH of the week goes to (drum roll please)…
Kyle Orton vs. Raiders D: With Josh McDaniels and his dink and dunk offense now in Saint Louis, and John Fox a coach known for running the ball into the ground, look for Orton’s numbers to decrease dramatically, but on a positive note, the Broncos may win 1 or 2 more games this season.
Nairann Merceir, Fantasy Expert for War Room Sports
(For additional advice hit me up on FB or Twitter. I’m always available to talk fantasy football. Click my signature at the top of the page for my Twitter page and click the signature directly above this message for my Facebook page.)
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