Start/Sit: Redskins Style

Last week, I gave very little good advice. But in fantasy football, week 1 is all about your draft. If you had a bad first week, only one of two things probably happened:

1) You are a worse GM than Vinny Cerrato;

or

2) You had every bad matchup possible in fantasy football in week 1.

In week 2, you have now had a chance to make some adjustments, feel out the capabilities of a few of your bench players, and gauge when and where to put some of these guys in. What I hope you did NOT do was trade some of these guys after Week 1 who should come back in a major way this week.

Rebound Start of the Week

Jason Campbell, QB WAS- The Giants defense ate him up a little last week. But at 19-26, his accuracy was not that bad. He is still not going to be Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, but this week he comes home to face the St. Louis Rams. He is my Start of the Week mostly because the Washington Redskins offense has come to a crossroads. Jim Zorn is a guy who enjoys throwing the ball. He is not afraid to feed Clinton Portis, but at the end of the day, he is looking to move the ball through the air in chunks. Against the Rams, Zorn will have to weigh playing it safe to get the much-needed win against an opponent they should beat versus establishing their offensive identity by taking risks they would not otherwise take against a better team. My gut says Zorn takes the muzzle off of Jason Campbell this week and finds out what kind of game he can have if he throws a lot of deep and intermediate balls. I expect 300+ yards and 3+ touchdowns from JC this weekend. If you traded him after week 1, you will regret it.

Wha....what? Oh God....here comes Kanye!

Kanye West:“I respect you Jason Campbell but no way you are the Start of the Week. Drew Brees is the best QB EVER! EVER! No way anyone else should be the start of the week as long as he is healthy.”

Additional Rebound Hounds

Brett Favre, QB MIN- So he proved he could smile after a game where he only threw for 110 yards. That smile is going to be on steroids this week after a breakout performance against Detroit. Childress is going to lean on the running game late to close out what should be a blowout over Detroit, but he is going to let Brett air it out in the 1st half to see what he has. Last week Drew Brees threw for 6 touchdowns against the Lions and the Saints were probably only kind of sort of trying to score. If you were disappointed by Favre last week, give him a chance this week to redeem himself.

Santana Moss, WR WAS - If you sense a Redskins theme this week, please attribute it to nothing more than the fact they are going from playing the Giants to the Rams. In dating terms, the Rams are the girl you meet at a bar after you just got your heart trampled by the love of your life. With regard to what happens when you take this girl home (in football terms): she lets you catch 9 balls for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Chris Johnson, RB TEN- He has the kind of size that presents injury issues as the season goes on, but in week 2, Johnson is still relatively healthy and very dangerous. You don’t have to butt up against defenses like Pittsburgh’s every week (Thank you Jebus!) and I have always sensed a bit of a nasty streak in Chris Johnson. As in, he is going to make a point out of proving he is not 57 yard per game running back. Also, as the season wears on and Kerry Collins begins to show his age, the dumpoffs to CJ are going to increase steadily. In the open field after a screen pass, CJ is deadly.

Kellen Winslow, TE TB- I rained down some negativity on the Tampa Bay offense last week. They got some production in garbage time, but you know what--that counts in fantasy football. Against the Buffalo defense, Benjamin Watson was rather successful last week. Kellen Winslow is at least as talented as Watson and should be a regular target of Byron Leftwich this week.

Washington Redskins, DEF- This rounds out my “bet it all on Washington” theme this week. The Rams were shut out by the Seahawks last week. I know Seattle is better this year but come on...the Skins defense is one of the better units in the league. They held a Giants’ running game that last year averaged a league-best 5.0 yards per carry to barely over 3 yards per carry (and they held Brandon Jacobs to 2.9 yards per carry after a season when we had 5.0 yards per carry.) This defense is on a mission to make a statement and if they can’t make it against the Rams, you will never see me put them in this spot again.

Grab Some Pine, Son!

Carson Palmer, QB CIN- This pains me to write, but it is as obvious as the smell of Hennessy on Kanye’s breath. Denver is no world-beater on defense and he struggled against them. The Packers are LEGIT. If you have another option, I strongly advise you to avoid depending on Carson against a defense that made Jay Cutler look stupid all night long last week.

Kevin Smith, RB DET- I want to play him so bad, but I just can’t. Here are his next 5 matchups: Minnesota, Washington, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Green Bay. He is capable of getting points for sure. But the odds of him becoming a reliable and consistent scorer in your starting lineup any time soon are low.

Laveranues Coles, WR CIN- That Green Bay secondary is tough. Harris and Woodson comprise one of the best cornerback tandems in the league and Carson Palmer is going to struggling against the pass rush. Lav Coles could come up big later in the season, but for now, keep him on the bench.

Chicago Bears, DEF- in the season opener, the Steelers put up some impressive offensive totals against a stingy Titans defense. The Titans kept the point total respectable but Big Ben probably killed your bonus when he went over 300 yards. Brian Urlacher is out, which is huge, and the Steelers have a way of extending drives that suck the life out of a defense. Give the Bears a week on your bench if you can afford to do so.