Week 10 is here folks; it’s a Fantasy Football Friday here at Shooting the Moon. Today’s “Reality of Fantasy” will focus strictly on the matchups for Sunday. There are a lot of very intriguing games this weekend and this could end up being one of those weird weeks for fantasy. Basically there are a few great games for fantasy and a heap of games that could go any way. As usual I will be going over the best games to target and the ones to avoid. Since there isn’t any game where you should outright bail on, the “worst” matchups are just ones that I wouldn’t have a ton of confidence in. Let’s jump right in and get to the best and worst matchups of the week.
Best Matchup: Chicago vs. Tampa Bay
I love this entire game from a fantasy perspective. Both teams don’t play spectacular defense, which is music to my ears. Don’t be scared off by the injuries to Jameis Winston and Mike Evans. They had ten days to recover and look ready to go for Sunday.
That is all I need to hear to advocate going with Winston if you are streaming QBs this week. Evans should always be in your lineup anyway, and if he’s not we need to have a chat after this column. In other injury news here, keep an eye on Doug Martin. If he is good to go, he could be in line for some worthwhile touches, even if he doesn’t get his full workload.
On the Chicago side of this game, Jay Cutler is back and looked great against that tough Minnesota defense two weeks ago. Now I always have my worries about Cutler considering he can turn into a turnover machine at anytime. That being said this is the definition of a “plus” matchup against a defense that allowed a 500-yard passer two weeks ago, and most recently got 43 points put up on it ten days ago.
Start your studs on both sides, this could be a fun game. Las Vegas sports books have the over/under at 46 so they expect a good amount of points. I think that is a conservative number.
Worst Matchup: Los Angeles vs. NY Jets
Oh boy, where do I start with these two teams. First thing’s first, Los Angeles may be the worst fantasy offense in the past five seasons. There are players on Cleveland that I would trust more than the skill players for LA, and that is saying a lot. Todd Gurley reportedly has barely practiced this week and is going against one of the best run defenses in the NFL. As Bernie Mac would say, “Nuff said.”
The Jets have been a mess all season, and this is one of the more difficult matchups they will face all year. The Rams are stout against the run, which is bad news for Matt Forte and Bilal Powell. I was already not too high on the Jets receivers considering that Ryan Fitzpatrick is currently questionable and a game-time decision with a knee sprain. All signs point to him playing, but a banged up QB against this Rams defense usually doesn’t mean success.
This could be an ugly game, one of those matchups that makes us all happy that the Redzone channel exists.
Good Matchup: San Diego (vs. Miami)
As long as Philip Rivers is in at QB, the Chargers will always be a fantasy friendly offense. The only issue is outside of Antonio Gates and Melvin Gordon, which weapon do you trust. Well, at receiver I would put my money on Tyrell Williams and Dontrelle Inman. Obviously I would take whichever one draws Byron Maxwell, but that won’t be known until game day. San Diego should be able to throw the ball around all day against the Dolphins shaky secondary.
**Playoff Note: Definitely get some stock in this offense now as San Diego has a great playoff schedule (Weeks 14-16)**
Tough Matchup: Kansas City (vs. Carolina)
This could be another ugly game on Sunday. Kansas City is not the most prolific offense and doesn’t take a ton of deep shots despite the emergence of Tyreek Hill as a deep threat. Jeremy Maclin is banged up and Travis Kelce is one of the most underutilized weapons (yes, I realize that he is the leading receiver…still he is potentially Gronk-lite). Carolina has looked much better on defense coming off of the bye week. Don’t love this matchup and I wouldn’t be confident rolling with any of the Chiefs here.
Other Good Matchups: Arizona (vs. San Francisco), Atlanta (vs. Philadelphia), Dallas (vs. Pittsburgh), Pittsburgh (vs. Dallas)
Other Tough Matchups: Seattle (vs. New England), Washington (vs. Minnesota), Green Bay (vs. Tennessee), Houston (vs. Jacksonville), Jacksonville (vs. Houston)
Good luck with all of your fantasy games this weekend. I’m working on a brief “Heat Check” to finish off the week so stay tuned to Shooting the Moon. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.