Who to Start, Who to Sit–Week 6

Quarterbacks

Start:  Matt Cassel, New England Patriots vs. San Diego Chargers. Shockingly, no one has been worst against the pass than the San Diego Chargers.  The Chargers are allowing over 250 yards per game through the air and have also allowed 10 passing touchdowns in the first five games.  The Patriots offense also got going for the first time this season against the 49ers.  Cassel seemed to show more confidence, and even hit Randy Moss on a long bomb of a touchdown.  He obviously isn’t Brady, but Cassel should continue to improve as the season goes on.

Start:  Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals vs. New York Jets. At the beginning of the season, I would have thought it to be a no brainer to start Palmer every week, but given the performance of the Cincy offense this week, I’m sure some of his owners have sat him at least once.  The Bengals are still winless, and the offense has been surprisingly bad.  However, in the last couple of games they are starting to get it going a little bit through the air now that it seems that Palmer is OK.  Chad Johnson has been a colossal disappointment, but T.J. Houshmandzadeh has turned it around.  The running game has been nonexistant, which means they will probably be throwing a lot again this week.  The Jets are also giving up 265 yards per game, and even though they had a week off, I expect the Bengals to give them a hell of a game this weekend.

Sit:  Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons vs. Chicago Bears. Ryan has been one of the more impressive rookie QBs to come down the pike in recent history, as he has given some respectability back to the Falcons franchise.  however, he will get his toughest test to date.  Although by yardage the Bears defense hasn’t been great against the pass, they have allowed only four touchdowns through the air so far this season, and I can see Ryan throwing for under 200 yards and a max of one score.

Sit:  Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals vs. Dallas Cowboys. The Cardinals’ pass attack has been very potent this week, even with the loss of Anquan Boldin they didn’t do bad against Buffalo.  I just think the Cowboys are due for a dominant performance, and it might come at the Cardinals expense.  This is more of a gut call than going with statistics, as the Cowboys are really just middle of the road in terms of pass defense.  Warner is on pace to throw a crazy number of touchdown passes, and he has to slow down one of these weeks, I’m just figuring it will be this one.

Running Backs

Start:  Ronnie Brown, Miami Dolphins vs. Houston Texans. Whether he is lined up in the backfield, or actually behind center, Ronnie Brown is turning into one of the more explosive players in football.  The Dolphins have found ways to use his skills to get him in positions to be successful and it is working beautifully.  I’m not sure why teams haven’t figured out that when he lines up behind center, chances are he’s still going to run the ball.  Regardless of that the Dolphins are on a roll, and they play the winless Texans, who just had their guts ripped out by Peyton Manning and the Colts.  The boys from Houston are allowing over 130 yards per game on the ground, and I can see Brown having another great game for your fantasy team.

Start:   Matt Forte, Chicago Bears vs. Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons allowed Ryan Grant, who hadn’t shown a thing in three weeks, to almost run for 100 yards against them.  They have been in the bottom third of the league in rush defense with over 120 yards per game on the ground.  And with every solid game that Kyle Orton has, the better and better it gets for Forte.  Not only is he good catching balls out of the backfield, but if defenses actually have to respect the passing game of the Bears (something you haven’t had to do in many years), the running lanes should open up wider for Forte who has already had a great rookie season. I look for another 100 yard game and a touchdown for Forte.

Sit:   Jamal Lewis, Cleveland Browns vs. New York Giants. Not only is the Cleveland offense way out of whack, but it doesn’t help that they are playing one of the best run defenses in football this Monday against New York.  The Giants have been stifling both the run and the pass in recent weeks, and there’s no reason they should slow down against an inferior Browns team.  Jamal Lewis is just another in a line of Browns’ players who have taken a big step back from last season.  He has yet to crack even 80 yards rushing, and has only scored once.  I don’t see him breaking either streak this week against the G-Men.

Sit: Steve Slaton, Houston Texans vs. Miami Dolphins. Slaton has been perhaps the best surprise in fantasy.  In games when he hasn’t been able to run the ball, he has been catching passes out of the backfield.  He was great against Tennessee, but very average running the ball against Pittsburgh and Jacksonville.  This week he faces a Miami defense that just completely shut down LaDanian Tomlinson, and the ‘Fins are really gaining some momentum with that defense.  I think Slaton will struggle this week, and I’m not expecting him to find the endzone.  These Dolphin games have been low scoring, so points might be tough to come by.

Wide Receivers

Start:  Santana Moss, Washington Redskins vs. St. Louis Rams. OK, so he caught ZERO passes last week.  That’s fine, we don’t bury him on our depth charts because the guy had one bad week.  What four letter word is the secret to fantasy success?  RAMS.  St. Louis is rancid against the run, and putrid against the pass, and I think Moss should catch at least six passes for 80 yards and a score.

Start:  Roy Williams, Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings. Williams had more catches last week than he had all the rest of the season combined.  This week he has a divisional matchup against a weka Vikings pass defense who only got off the hook on Monday Night because the Saints had a long list of unforced errors.  Whether it is Dave Orlovsky or Jon Kitna (hopefully Kitna), Williams should have himself another fine game and could easily approach last week’s statistics.

Sit:  Laverneous Coles, New York Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals. Although I can’t figure out how, the Bengals are actually in the top ten in defending the pass and have only given up six touchdowns through the air in their five games, and haven’t allowed a receiver to break 100 yards yet.  Coles and Favre seemed to have found their link in that game against the Cardinals when they hooked up for three scores, but I don’t see that happening again.  I think if the Jets are going to hit a big play it will go to Jerricho Cotchery, and if they get a short touchdown it will go to Dustin Keller or Chansi Stuckey.  Coles might catch five or six passes, but I believe it will be for short yards and they won’t find the endzone.

Sit:  Vincent Jackson, San Diego Chargers vs. New England Patriots. The Pats’ defense has started to look a little better lately, even though they gave up some late points to San Francisco.  New England is also a surprise team to be among the top defenses against the pass, and they too have been stingy with touchdowns through the air.  Early reports are that Chris Chambers might miss this game, leaving Jackson to be the likely top option, but Rivers was spotty against the Dolphins and reportedly has some bruised ribs.  Look for the Chargers’ passing game to be inconsistent again, and don’t expect too much out of Jackson this week.

Start:  Zach Miller, Oakland Raiders vs. New Orleans Saints. JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders’ offense seems to have woken up a little bit before their bye, and now they look to get RB Justin Fargas back.  Russell looks like he is taking some baby steps towards becoming a more consistent quarterback, which is good news for Miller owners.  He had his best game right before the bye in which he nearly broke 100 yards.  This week they face a Saints team that made Gus Frerotte look like John Elway, so the matchup is there for Miller to have another good game.  Another five or six catches for 80+ yards and hopefully a score should be there.

Sit:  Dallas Clark, Indianapolis Colts vs. Baltimore Ravens. Clark had just five catches in the first three games before his five catch game last week against the Texans.  But it isn’t pretty this week against the agressive, physical Ravens defense, which just up and slaps you in the mouth.  If I was Clark I wouldn’t want to be going over the middle against that defense, and things just still aren’t quite right with the vaunted Colts’ offense.  If you have any sort of better option, I would certainly put them in this week, as I can see Clark catching just three or four passes and not breaking 50 yards.

As always, your comments and questions (adds/drops, trades, lineup help) are more than welcome at [e-mail].  I guarantee a response within 18 hours.