Fantasy Football

Week 10 Fantasy Football Game Previews & Predictions: Throwdown in the Meadowlands

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The Meadowlands (credits below)

Thursday night football is here and to me, that means the start of playoff positioning for those of us lucky enough to still be alive for the postseason in fantasy football. Thursday games are awesome. There is only one and not everyone has the NFL Network to watch, but just getting an early start for a player or two in my league gets the excitement started early.

This is a weird week, a bye for bye weeks before the final bye week next week. Confusing I know, but so is the NFL’s decision to split up late bye weeks. Not sure whey the NFL didn’t make all the bye weeks consecutive, but you get a break from byes for the first time since Week 5, so if your team is healthy, you are ready to go.

Here is a look at the week:

Oakland at San Diego: Who would have thought we’d have a week when the only sure thing for the Raiders is Michael Bush. With McFadden out, play Bush against the Chargers, but don’t play Carson Palmer and good luck with their receivers. Ford, Heyward-Bey, Moore, Reese? Who knows who will get the passes now? I was riding the Heyward-Bey train for a few weeks, but I trust the Raiders no more and dumped him for Laurent Robinson. I even considerd playing Heyward-Bey over Vincent Jackson last week because he had been more consistent in recent weeks, but thank goodness I didn’t. Nice to see you again Vincent, now please put back-to-back good weeks together and I am betting he does. Phillip Rivers should be good again too.

Arizona at Philadelphia: Beanie Wells, oh, Beanie Wells. Just when your owners like me started to get excited, you post 3.3 points and I no longer trust you anymore. Larry Fitzgerald is the only Cardinal to play, but I wouldn’t even be too excited about him. I picked up the Philly defense this week and you should too. I got lucky last week when my trade offer for a buy-low DeSean Jackson for sell-high DeMarco Murray was rejected. Thanks for that. With DeSean, you are now just praying for a couple deep balls and those could come this week. Michael Vick, Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek should come through against Arizona as well.

Tennessee at Carolina: I also tried to buy-low on Chris Johnson and was rejected and I stick by that plan. Johnson will build on last week’s performance, but hard to trust any other Titans. Cam Newton and Steve Smith will find a way once again this week.

Houston at Tampa Bay: Come on back Andre Johnson, I need you. However, I think he will get another week off before the bye despite good reports from him early this week in practice. Ben Tate was great last week, but I can never start a back-up running back because those dual 100-yard rushing performances from him and Arian Foster last week are a rarity. If you have a starting running back in the league, keep him in over Tate. LaGarrette Blount is a top-20 running back, but no other Bucs are ready for a 10-team league.

Washington at Miami: Well, hello Helu, maybe you are finally the guy who Shanahan will rely on at running back in back-to-back weeks. Pick him up if he’s available, but I’m not playing him until he is the feature back for at least two weeks in a row. Matt Moore, AFC offensive player of the week. I say that again and again and I still don’t believe it. Reggie Bush with a 20-point week. I say that over and over again as well and can’t believe it. Trust those guys to do it again at your own risk.

Jacksonville at Indianapolis: There is officially no Colt I would count on, not even Reggie Wayne. Maurice Jones-Drew the only Jaguar to trust as usual, but I’m taking a flyer on their defense this week. From this point forward, I may just try to pick up whatever defense is playing Indy each week.

Denver at Kansas City: Last week I picked up the Oakland defense, figuring whoever played Tebow would get plenty of turnovers and sacks. I got minus-5 from the Raiders defense, so that plan has gone away. Tebow will find his way to 15-20 points each week and those who feared Eric Decker would become useless with Tebow have been proven wrong. Willis McGahee’s performance was not a fluke, he won’t match those numbers again but he is a reliable RB2 now if healthy. Matt Cassell, Dewayne Bowe, and yes, Steve Breaston, will all be good against Denver, but I think Jackie Battle’s inability to take control of the starting spot means less carries going forward for him.

Buffalo at Dallas: Like last year, Ryan Fitzpatrick started out underrated, got off to a hot start, and then faded. I don’t expect much from the Bills passing game here either but Fred Jackson will be good again. I’m interested to see what happens to DeMarco Murray if Felix Jones returns. As a Murray owner, I think he has to remain a 17-carry guy and in that case you have to play him, but I worry Jones will cut into Murray’s carries more than he should Here’s hoping Jones is back to being a third-down back and Murray is the feature back the rest of the way. Tony Romo, Jason Witten, and Dez Bryant will all be good against Buffalo and I think Laurent Robinson becomes a 10-point per week receiver as long as Austin is out, especially considering the weak schedule Dallas has in the next few weeks.

New Oreleans at Atlanta: Shootout alert, get all your reliable guys in there. Matt Ryan will get close to last week's 21 points and Julio Jones, Roddy White and Michael Turner will all be good. Drew Brees and Marques Colston and Lance Moore will be good, but that running game remains unpredictable. Pick up Chris Ivory, but wait to see if he continues to get a heavy workload before playing him.

St. Louis at Cleveland: I’d play Steven Jackson and….nobody else.

Pittsburgh at Cincinatti: How did Andy Dalton go eight games without having to play either Baltimore or Pittsburgh? Crazy. But he’s got them four times in the next eight weeks, so sell high if you can. AJ Green will still get his catches and Cedric Benson will be fine. Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Wallace will be good and I think Rashard Mendenhall bounces back, but not confident enough yet in Antonio Brown despite all those targets. Take a shot on the Pittsburgh defense, this could be a wake-up call for all Cinci’s offensive rookies.

Baltimore at Seattle: Trap game here for Ravens, I think they struggle in a low-scoring game with the Seahawks. Your usual Ravens like Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, and Anquan Boldin will get points, but less than you think. Marshawn Lynch owners who got excited last week will go back to being disappointed with him and Tavaris Jackson and the passing game will struggle too.

New York Giants at San Francisco: Giants are banged up and I think that catches up to them this week. Eli Manning will be average but his best receiver may be Jake Ballard, who I think is due for a big second half. Don’t want any part of that running game either. This should be another low-scoring game so I don’t love any Niners either because I fear Frank Gore is beginning a second-half injury decline.

Detroit at Chicago: Matthew Stafford got a week off to recover from injury and he and Calvin Johnson should pick up where they left off. I'm buying the Earl Bennett hype, he's worth a pick-up but not a play this week as he could become Cutler's top target. Matt Forte should bounce back from those fumbles and have a solid day.

New England at New York Jets: The concerns about the Patriots offense will grow this week. Brady and Welker will be solid, but not great, as I think the Jets will slow them down. However, if you can buy-low on those guys do it because they will bounce back later this season. Don't try to start any Patriots running backs this week however. I think the Patriots defense has one of its best weeks too and keeps it close with New York, but Dustin Keller could be a sneaky play at tight end after a frustrating season.

Minnesota at Green Bay: I predicted great things for Percy Harvin at the start of the season and then started recommending against him two weeks ago. I am giving him one more shot. His injury-prone body has had a bye week to recover and I think this is the week for him, especially against a Packers defense that gives up a ton of passing yards. You heard it here first: 19 points from Harvin, as the Viks try to get him involved in lots of ways and he should also come up big late as Minnesota tries to come from behind. I'm playing Harvin this week and you will be rewarded too. So come on Percy, give me one big week. Play all your usual Packers in another typically big offensive performance for Green Bay.

Written by Steve Mims exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. Follow Steve on Twitter @nwsportscards

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(May 24, 2010 – Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images North America)


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