The Fantasy Football Geek Blog

Even though there were some sabotage attempts on the Studs/Duds predictions last week, I was able to escape the week with a better success than failure rate again. While expected to excel, Priest Holmes and Antonio Gates fell flat on their faces, while Maurice Jones-Drew, Ryan Grant and Derek Anderson went on personal vendetta’s to prove that my "dud" designations were a load of crap. However, there were some silver linings…the Steelers passing game rolled, as did Brett Favre and Cedric Benson (!!! Well, he did great considering that he is Cedric Benson). As expected, Rudi Johnson was terrible and Philip Rivers attempted to earn me some brownie points for playing so horrendously that being categorized as a "dud" was an understatement. This week I promise to be a bit stronger with my predictions, so here we go…

Studs

Eli Manning / Plaxico Burress / Jeremy Shockey (NYG): The Lions just let up 259 yards and three touchdowns to Kurt Warner, so Eli and crew should be able to rack up some solid fantasy stats in this one against the league’s third worst pass defense.

Matt Schaub / Andre Johnson (HOU): Are all the pieces finally coming back together for the Texans? With Schaub and Johnson back on the field, this team becomes a much better passing team and is up against a defense that gave the St. Louis Rams their first win last weekend (the Saints).

Kurt Warner / Larry Fitzgerald / Anquan Boldin (ARI): Coming off a solid game against Detroit, the Cardinals now get to play a pass defense that is nearly as bad with the Bengals. The Bengals have let up the second most passing touchdowns in the NFL, so expect good things from this crew.

Willie Parker (PIT): The Jets successfully moved into dead last in rush defense this past weekend…and they now face a Steelers offense that has been very good recently. Willie Parker will see the rock a lot in this one and should put up some great stats.

LenDale White (TEN): Unfortunately the Bronco’s have been replaced by the Jets for the worst rush defense, but they’re still ranked 31st! White should have a big game as the Titans running game goes big this week.

Brian Westbrook (PHI): Westbrook is clearly the focal point of the Philly offense and this week that offense is going against a Dolphin’s defense that has allowed nearly 150 yards/game and 12 rushing touchdowns this season.

Chester Taylor (MIN): With Adrian Peterson out for at least a week, Taylor steps back into the starting role and gets to play against a weak Oakland defense that is last in the NFL in rushing touchdowns allowed (13). Taylor should go north of 100 yards and a score in this one.

Duds

New York Jets offense: Instead of naming individual players here, I’m just going to make a blanket statement that the entire Jets offense will be shut down by a dominant Steelers defense, that in terms of yardage, is now the number one passing and rushing defense in the NFL. This one will be UGLY!

Atlanta QB: Whether it’s Joey Harrington or Byron Leftwich at the helm, don’t consider starting them against a Tampa Bay defense that has only allowed six passing touchdowns all year.

Minnesota QB: As with the Vikings, it doesn’t matter who starts this week for the Vikings. Their passing game has been anemic all year long, which won’t be helped by the fact that they are up against a decent Oakland pass defense. This game could feature some of the worst quarterback play (or just quarterbacks in general) of the year…so get ready for a classic here!

Justin Fargas (OAK): Even though things are looking bad for the Vikings, they still can fall back on the fact that their rush defense has continued to be solid. They’re allowing around 75 rushing yards a game and have only allowed four rushing touchdowns all season. Does 75 yards and no touchdown sound appetizing? I didn’t think so.

Travis Henry / Selvin Young (DEN): I’m not sure who’s going to be starting for the Broncos at running back this week, but I don’t think it really matters. The Titans defense has been smothering running backs all season long and I don’t see it stopping this week.

J.P. Losman / Lee Evans (BUF): Here’s my prediction here…the Patriots go up big early in the game. Buffalo abandons its running game by the second quarter. Losman starts slinging bombs to Lee Evans (who is triple covered). J.P. Losman ends the game with around 4 INT’s.

Jamal Lewis (CLE): The Ravens as a team are a mess and need some massive changes next year to be competitive, however, they do still have a solid rush defense…which should hold Jamal Lewis this week. This game will be all about Derek Anderson and the Cleveland passing game anyways.

Slightly-biased scoring (Hits-Misses-Pushes)

Week 10: 14-5-9
Season: 70-29-34