Week 8 Start Em’ & Sit Em’

Welcome to week 8 everyone. This weekend is sure to be a better football weekend for myself, if only because I don’t have to watch West Virginia’s defense take the field. However, I’m not sure how the beginning of next week will go after reading this: Winter Storm threatens East Coast. Yikes. Anyway, we are looking at a very thin week at RB with Ray Rice, Arian Foster, and the Bills duo sitting. Add to that injuires to MJD, Trent Richardson, DeMarco Murray and we may have a perfect storm of fantasy anguish. Seriously, in more than one league I’m looking at Alex Green, Vick Ballard and Rashard Mendenhall as my best options at RB. That gives me a headache just writing it.

START EM

Brandon Weeden: Weeden came through for me last week in this column, and I’m expecting another useful week against a Chargers defense that has given up 680 yards and 7 TDs through the air over their last two games. Yes, that was against Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, but Weeden has been excellent through his last 4 games. Weeden has the most passing yards and touchdowns among rookie QBs. Not too shabby. Add to that the fact that the Browns might be without Trent Richardson means they will continue to be pass-happy.

Phillip Rivers: Rivers also has a nice matchup against the Browns. Last week was the first week this season the Browns hadn’t given up a passing TD, but they still managed to let Andrew Luck waltz in for two rushing TDs. This might be one of the few weeks you can trust Rivers.

Alex Green: Although faced with the prospect of starting him myself in several leagues makes me take a few Tums, you have to like his chances. I would expect the Pack to go up big early in this game, leaving plenty of time to pick up so garbage rushing stats. He also was used in the passing game last week. This is the week he needs to step up if he wants to keep his primary back role, and I have a hunch he does.

Doug Martin: LaRod Stevens-Howling just ran roughshod on a Minnesota run defense that really hasn’t faced many top RBs. I’d roll with Martin this week as Blount has failed to do much with his opportunities to take touches away from Martin.

Darren Sproles: Obviously in a PPR Sproles is a must-start. But this should be a fairly safe game even in standard leagues as Denver is only average in run defense. They are horrible in pass defense though, giving Sproles plenty of chances to rack up yards on his short screens.

Josh Gordon: Gordon was a sunbeam away from a monster fantasy day last week and has been on fire recently. Regardless of the ill-timed sunlight, he still has to catch that ball. That’s what he’s paid to do. As mentioned above with the Weeden start, San Diego has struggled against the passing game. Even though Gordon made only two catches last week, he showed great concentration and displayed the kind of positioning elite receivers utilize on his TD catch. He also finally started to see targets with 10, showing that his role is spiking in the offense.

Chris Givens: Looks like I have a theme going with the HR threats this week. Givens has been similar to Gordon the last few weeks, just without the TDs. He is flying by defenses a few times a game for long catches. Against a vulnerable Patriots defense, I expect Givens to break a few long plays in front of the London crowd. It could be the kind of stage that provides Givens with the breakout performance needed to keep a size-able role in the offense after Danny Amendola returns.

Jeremy Kerley: Kerley is coming off of a 120 yard performance in week 7, and managed 73 yards and a TD against the Phins earlier this season before he was a starter. I’d feel safe with Kerley as a bye week fill-in this week.

Jimmy Graham: It appears that Graham was actually fairly close to playing last week, so I expect him to be able to go this week. If he plays, he’s too good to sit.

Tony Gonzalez: It seems like most analysts are down on Gonzalez this week in a tough matchup against an Eagles defense that has been very stiff against TEs this season. ESPN has him projected for 6 points. Matchups haven’t slowed Gonzalez to this point. How can an owner sit someone who has been as hot as he has? I expect he gets TD #100 this week.

Falcons D/ST: A matchup against Michael Vick most likely means several sacks and turnovers, and possibly a defensive TD. I’ll take that.

SIT EM

Cam Newton: Last time I put Newton down as a sit, he went off for his best game of the year to date. I don’t think the Bears D will make me regret this pick though. Newton has to be starting to scare his owners. He looks to be a head case on the level of Ryan Leaf and Vince Young. He just can’t handle struggling right now. This might change if he matures a little, but I just turned down a trade offer of Newton, McGahee and Lance Moore for AJ Green in a league where my QBs are Andy Dalton and Brandon Weeden. I love McGahee ROS, but even that won’t make me touch Newton.

Matthew Stafford: If you are a Stafford owner who is starting to wonder if he will turn things around this year, I can’t blame you. It hasn’t looked encouraging so far, and the only reason he has had any value is that he racks up yards in garbage time to salvage his days from disaster. Do you really want to live with that as your QB? Just hoping for anything but disaster? This week against a physical and confident Seattle secondary, it looks like it could be a disaster week.

Shonn Greene: I feel guilty being able to put Greene here. It feels a little bit like cheating. However, the past two weeks have probably had some owners seeing the bright sides of Greene (mainly that he has the job to himself). The bye week has given Miami a chance to fix whatever went wrong against the Rams two weeks ago, and Greene should be back to looking like he’s trying to run through a wall on each attempt.

Trent Richardson: It hurts me as a Browns fan to throw Richardson in the sit column. He hasn’t been amazing running the ball this year, but he has had a nose for the end zone and has been used heavily in the passing game to give him value. I’ve got to admit, his rib injury is maddening. It would help if he was facing tough run defenses while hurt to push him into the sit category. But neither Indianapolis, nor this week’s opponent San Diego are very good against the run. With a guy of Richardson’s talent, it will be tough to sit him if he goes. But as last week proved, his rib injury is obviously in the back of his head causing doubt when he runs. I’d only play him this week if I were desperate.

Mikel Leshoure: I do think Leshoure will eventually have value this season. It just won’t be this week against Seattle.

Vincent Jackson: Call me crazy if you’d like. Yes, he is coming off of 216 yards and a TD. He faces a top 10 defensive secondary this week. In 2 other matchups against top 10 secondaries, Jackson has combined for 5 receptions and 76 yards.

Jeremy Maclin: Coming off just his 2nd good game of the season, I wouldn’t recommend Maclin against a very tough Atlanta secondary. Vick might not be able to find Maclin anyway even if he does manage to get open.

Brian Hartline: Coming off the bye, have the Dolphins fixed the issues that led to Hartline’s goose egg against St, Louis the week before? I don’t think being the only receiving threat on the team is a problem you can fix. The Jets will blanket Hartline and force someone else to beat them.

Jacob Tamme: I love all of Denver’s starters against New Orleans…. Just not Tamme. He continues to buck the hype from the preseason in this one.

Vernon Davis: I just have lost trust in Davis. Arizona will probably be run on, not thrown on in this one. After posting 3 duds in his last 4 games, Davis is back to “prove it” mode.

Patriots D/ST: I thought about the Steelers defense here, but I figured that was too obvious. The fact that the Pats couldn’t manhandle the Jets last week knocked them down a peg in my eyes. Maybe I was wrong that they would find solutions to fix that secondary.

Good Luck to everyone this week! I’m on twitter as always (@ask2guys).

Last Week’s Results: Season totals in parentheses

Starts: 5-6, .454 (34-43, .441)

Brandon Weeden: 23pts = W, Matt Hasselbeck: 14pts = L, Felix Jones: 7pts = L, Fred Jackson: 17pts = W, Alex Green: 5pts = L, Kenny Britt: 3pts = L, Lance Moore: 12pts = W, Randall Cobb: 21pts = W, Jermaine Gresham: 1pt = L, Vernon Davis: 0pts = L, Patriots D/ST: 13pts = W

Sits: 6-5, .545 (51-26, .662)

Mark Sanchez: 15pts = L, Ryan Fitzpatrick: 25pts = L, Frank Gore: 18pts = L, Steven Jackson: 11pts = L, BenJarvus Green-Ellis: 6pts = W, James Jones: 5pts = W, Michael Crabtree: 3pts = W, Brandon Lloyd: opts = W, Coby Fleener: 1pt = W, Dustin Keller: 15pts = L, Steelers D/ST: 6pts = W

After a week in which I broke even at 11-11, my season total moves to 85-69 (.551).