Fantasy Friday: Week 10
PITTSBURGH (93-7 THE FAN) -- There is only 2 more weeks of byes, after that every fantasy team and owner should be at full strength baring a season ending injury. So how can you improve your team at this point? Own the waiver wire.
You probably have players on your team now that you picked up just to cover you on bye week or due to a week-to-week injury. Those players are disposable. Drop those players and load your bench with injured stars that will be making their way back in the upcoming weeks. The sooner that you can do this, they better off you will be come playoff time in your league. Some of the names to watch for are Danny Amendola, who seems to be fully recovered from a broken clavicle and is expected to return this week. Green Bay Packers like Cedric Benson and Greg Jennings also look to be nice additions to your roster for the stretch run as both are expected to be back in uniform in the next 3-4 weeks. If you can afford to grab guys like this now, do it, you will be one step ahead of the rest of your league.
Here are my stars and duds for week 10.
Quarterbacks To Play:
Carson Palmer: Palmer went for 414 and 4 scores last week against the Buccaneers, this week he faces the depleted Ravens defense. Since his bye week in week 5, Palmer has gone for 1,274 yards and 8 touchdowns in 4 games. Another factor to think about is the Ravens dominance at home, owning the NFL's longest home winning streak. If that is the case again this week, that means Palmer will be playing from behind much of the game and throwing even more than he would normally.
Ryan Fitzpatrick: One paper this game is a complete mismatch, but for fantasy purposes Ryan Fitzpatrick against the Pats is always a good bet. Fitzpatrick has had more success against the Patriots than any other team his has faced in his career. In 6 career games, his team has gone 1-5, but Fitzpatrick has passed for over 1,700 yards and 11 scores. In those 6 games, the Bills have been held to under 21 points just once.
Quarterbacks to Bench:
Matt Schaub: A rule of thumb this year, don't start a QB against the Chicago Bears defense. Matt Schaub is a questionable play recently anyway, but especially against the Bears. Schaub has protected the ball well this season, but the Bears defense leads the league in takeaways and has at least 1 INT in every game this season and more than one in 6 of their 8 games.
Running Backs to Play:
Doug Martin: You have to play the hot hand and Martin has been hotter than hot. 386 yards and 5 scores in his last two game and he is going against a Chargers defense that will be flying across the country and playing in a 1pm game.
Isaac Redman: The Steelers should be up big for most of this game. The new look Steelers know how to win games, throw early to get the lead and run late to keep the lead. Expect seeing a healthy dose of Isaac Redman on Monday night.
Running Back to Bench:
Pierre Thomas: Darren Sproles missed last weeks game with an injury and as a starter Thomas only got 6 carries and 2 receptions. As they always do, the Saints spread the ball around. 4 different players had carries for the Saints and 3 of those had at least 6 runs. At this point you can't really trust any Saints running back.
Jamaal Charles: The Steelers defense has been good, not great, but solid. They rank 7th in the NFL in rush defense and haven't allowed a 100 yard rusher since week 3. Throw that in with the fact that the Chiefs have no real passing threat, you can be sure that Ryan Clark will be the 8th man in the box to slow down Charles all night on Monday.
Wide Receivers to Play:
Steve Johnson: As mentioned with Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Bills offense has had a lot of success against the Patriots recently and Steve Johnson is one of those main contributors in that offensive attack.
Brandon Lloyd and Wes Welker: The only people more successful than the Bills offense when they play the Patriots is Tom Brady and his pass catchers. Brady has picked apart the Bills year after year and expect guys like Welker and Lloyd to be getting tons of targets Sunday.
Wide Receivers to Bench:
Jeremy Kerley: The New York Jets passing game has not been good recently anyway, never mind the fact that they have to travel across the country to play in one of the toughest stadiums against on one the better pass defenses in the league. Yeah, that is not a good match-up.
Eagles wideouts: The Eagles offense has been very average despite the dynamic playmakers on the roster. Michael Vick seems to have zeroed in on LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek much more recently and that is taking targets away from guys like Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson. Last week Celek led the team in targets.
That is your Fantasy Friday update for Week 10, as always good luck and don't forget to update your rosters.
