As I mentioned in an earlier post, make sure to check your rosters before the game tonight so that you don’t get screwed with a starter on your bench (or even worse if there are leagues out there that lock rosters after the first game of the week starts!) Anyways, I wanted to get this post out with time to spare before game-time tonight in case any of the 49ers or Bears players made the list. Here are our “Hits” and “Misses” for week ten, listing players you want to make sure are in your lineup, as well as those you might consider shelving for the week (or at least lowering your expectations!)

Quarterback
Hits
Misses
Drew Brees, Saints @ STL – I’ve mentioned before that I don’t usually include match-ups on here that are too obvious, but I took the lazy route this week and wanted to highlight Brees’ dream game against the Rams. A few weeks ago Peyton Manning went to St. Louis and threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns…expect similar numbers from Drew Brees this weekend. Donovan McNabb, Eagles @ SD – McNabb has been very hit or miss this year and it’s usually dependent on whether he can get DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin to catch one of his long bombs. The Chargers have been solid against the pass though and if they can protect against the deep ball, McNabb will have a long day.
Brett Favre, Vikings vs DET – The first time the Vikings played the Lions, Favre had a mediocre game, throwing for just 169 yards and two touchdowns. I expect a pretty big improvement over those numbers this weekend, with the game in Minnesota and Favre coming off a four touchdown domination of the Packers. Kyle Orton, Broncos @ WAS – Since the BYE week, Orton has played terrible (or should I say, very Orton-like) football. He just threw three interceptions to the Steelers on Monday Night Football and while the Redskins are not the Steelers, the outcome might be pretty similar.
Mark Sanchez, Jets vs JAX – Last week the Jaguars gave up 262 yards and two touchdowns to Matt Cassel, in Jacksonville. Similar numbers are likely from New York’s Golden Boy. David Garrard, Jaguars @ NYJ – The Jets held Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Matt Schaub to a combined ZERO touchdowns this season. Enough said.
Running Back
Hits
Misses
Chris Johnson, Titans vs BUF – As with Drew Brees (above), Johnson’s match-up with the Bills this weekend was almost too easy to even list here, but it was so favorable I just couldn’t resist. The Bills have given up 12 touchdowns on the ground to opposing running backs this season and over the past six games are allowing over 190 yards per game on average! Cedric Benson, Bengals @ PIT – Benson continues to prove anyone who knew anything about football coming into this season wrong, as he’s racking up some serious yardage and is already approaching the 1,000 yard mark. However, having to play against the Steelers IN Pittsburgh, I find it hard to believe he’ll break one thousand yards this weekend.
Ray Rice, Ravens @ CLE – As with the Bills, the Browns have also given up 12 touchdowns to opposing RB’s this season. Ray Rice has been solid in both the run and pass game all year and this game will not be any different. Knowshon Moreno, Broncos @ WAS – I’m not sure what happened last week, when Moreno racked up a whopping three yards on five carries, but you can safely say that he’ll do better than that this weekend…the question though is how much better? Probably not enough for you to want him in your line-up.
Pierre Thomas, Saints @ STL – Minus a little hiccup last week (against the Lions), the Rams were successfully allowing opposing running backs to have free reign over their endzone. Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Joseph Addai racked up eight rushing touchdowns against St. Louis from weeks five to seven and I see the PT Cruiser doing the same this week. Joseph Addai, Colts vs NE – The Patriots run defense is even better than the numbers show, as a flukey 195 yard performance by the Titans (in a game that they got smoked 59-0!) is raising the average quite a bit. They’ve allowed two rushing scores all year to running backs and that has been against some pretty good players (Thomas Jones, Michael Turner, Ray Rice, Ronnie Brown, etc.)
Wide Receiver
Hits
Misses
Sidney Rice, Vikings vs DET – The Lions continue to be one of the worst teams in the league at stopping wide receivers and this week Brett Favre and the Vikings come to town. Detroit is giving up around a touchdown per game to opposing wide receivers and this week it should be Sidney Rice that comes up with the score. Roddy White, Falcons @ CAR – While Drew Brees was able to inflict some damage on the Panthers secondary last week, Carolina has otherwise been pretty good against the wide receiver position (and gets to play at home this week.) The last time these teams played, Roddy White had just 53 yards (although he did have a touchdown.)
Derrick Mason, Ravens @ CLE – The Browns were torched by Joe Flacco and the Ravens receivers in week three, allowing 219 yards and a score to Derrick Mason and crew. Expect a similar outcome this weekend. Brandon Marshall, Broncos @ WAS – Marshall had a huge day last weekend, catching 11 passes for over 100 yards. This Sunday though he faces a Redskins defense that is the only thing Washington has going for itself at the moment.
Devin Hester, Bears @ SF – The 49ers have been Jekyll/Hyde this year when it comes to stopping the other teams wide receivers. According to schedule, this is an “off” game…not to mention Hester has been on fire as of late, catching 27 passes for 359 yards and a touchdown over the past four games. Santana Moss, Redskins vs DEN – While the Redskins have been tough against wide receivers, their opponents this weekend have been nearly as good. Moss really only has two good games all season anyways, so this shouldn’t be that heartbreaking of a decision to make.
Tight End
Hits
Misses
Antonio Gates, Chargers vs PHI – Maybe it’s a credit to their secondary, as they’re able to slow down opposing wide receivers, but the Eagles are giving up a lot of receptions, yards and touchdowns to the tight end position so far this year. Forget about the drops he had last week, as Gates is usually one of the more sure-handed tight ends out there. He’ll get a lot of looks from Philip Rivers this weekend and should put up solid numbers. Dustin Keller, Jets vs JAX – With the Jaguars, it seems to be the opposite situation of the Eagles. Their secondary has a lot of trouble slowing down opposing wide receivers and therefor the tight end isn’t used as much. Either way though, tight ends haven’t had a lot of success against Jacksonville this season and I don’t see Keller as being the one to change that trend.
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