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For fantasy football I’m bringing back Play Or Stay Away. Every roster is difference so it takes some common sense on your part to interpret these. Just because I say to play Fred Davis, that doesn’t mean that you bench him for Gronk if you have both. And just because I said to stay away from Antonio Gates, don’t do so if your only other TD is Tony Moeaki. I’m just talking about how these players compare to their rankings for the week.

The first few weeks are tough to judge. We don’t know which Ds are for real and which got lucky, we don’t know how players are going to be used yet. Is Welker’s role really diminished or was that just a game plan for one week? Although it’s hard to judge this early in the season it’s really important to start evaluating your rosters and others so you can buy and sell players before everyone else catches up on the trend.

Simon wishes he didn’t draft Roy Helu in the 8th round.

I’ve set up a full starting roster for plays and a starting rosters of stay aways. I didn’t do kickers because who knows? Use this info to pick up an early win in the season.

Play

QB - Robert Griffin III vs Stl

RBIII has the tough matchup of the team that held Stafford to a miniscule 355 yards. I don’t actually expect those yards from RGIII, but he will make up for it in rush yards. Even if Garcon doesn’t play (seems like he won’t), I’d still feel confident in this matchup.

RB - C.J. Spiller vs KC

This is more about Spiller than KC, although KC gave up 40 points last week. I’ve liked Spiller since college and have been disappointed by his use by the Bills. We see what he can do when he gets the balls. Last week he rushed for 169 yards and had 25 more receiving. Lasy year after Jackson went out, Spiller got 55, 83, 46, 91, 111, 60 rushing yards and in all games except 1 (when he got 111 yards) he made at least 3 receptions, one game with 9.

RB - BenJarvus Green-Ellis vs Cle

Last week vs Bal GJGE got 18 carries, 91 yards, and a TD. Does anyone think that he will do worse against the Browns? We know he won’t fumble, gets positive yards, and we know he stays in the game on short downs.

I haven’t put my full support in someone with this many names since Mary Elizabeth Winstead

WR - Percy Harvin vs Ind

I’m sure you’ve heard this by now, but since Christian Ponder has become the starting QB, no receiver has more touches than Harvin. Last week Harvin had 6 catches, 5 carries, and 3 returns. There is a new type of offensive skilled hybrid position (like Cobb in GB) and Harvin is the best on ein the game.

WR - Wes Welker vs Ari

This is total speculation. All week in New England people have been talking about the demise of Welker and his lack of a role in this offense. For the year, I agree that it won’t be the Welker that we’ve seen but this week, I expect the Patriots to silence that talk.

TE - Fred Davis vs Stl

I’ve never nee a fan of Fred Davis, but this week should be big. I originally wrote about Greg Olsen here, but the close it gets to game time the more likely it seems that Pierre Garcon is playing. RGIII will need someone to get the ball to and this week Davis seems to be their best weapon.

D/ST - New England Patriots vs Ari

I’m all in on the Pats D this year, which is a crazy thing to say. First of all, we’ve seen the improvements on D from the draft plus the Pats have possibly the easiest schedule. Teams will be down and forced to pass, the Pats pass rushers will salivate. Larry Fitz is the only person on the Cardinals that strikes any fear in the Patriots eyes, luckily for New England, Kolb is throwing him the ball.

Stay Away

QB - Mike Vick vs Bal

I chose Vick because this week I have to choose to play Vick or RGIII and as you can guess I’m benching Vick for Griffin. First of all, he got embarrassed by the Browns and now he’s got the Ravens. Quite a defensive upgrade. Teams have learned that Vick can’t handle the blitz, so blitz is exactly what they will do. Vick has been around long enough to know how to adapt to a rush, but he still hasn’t. Oh well. n top of all that Macklin and Jackson are both playing hurt.

This is how I feel about having Mike Vick in two leagues. I just keep stepping on the rakes.

RB - Michael Turner vs Den

Can people finally acknowledge that he’s not a #1 RB in fantasy anymore? Turner had 11 touches last week while Rodgers had 11 (7 rush, 2 rec, 2rt). Turner only managed 32 yards in a game where the falcons won 40-24. If he’s not getting carries at that point, when will he? These team is going to have a slpit backfield all year and Rodgers will be the more dynamic player. If Turner couldn’t burn the Chiefs, good luck against the Broncos. You still think Turner is a #1 RB?

RB  -Trent Richardson vs Cin

Sure, the Bengals are a better matchup than the Eagles, but stay away. Did you see Weeden last week? Teams are going to load up in the box and force the Browns to pass. Once that happens, Wedden will give the ball away and the Browns will forever be playing from behind. That formula means less rushing. He has no o-line, no offensive weapons. It’s going to be a long year for Trent. 

WR - Kevin Ogletree vs SEA

So you saw what Ogletree did last week and overspent for him in free agency. Hopefully it didn’t cost you FAAB or waivers and you just picked him up for nothing. Too bad for you he won’t do it this week. The Cowboys have so many weapons, what makes you think that the #3 wr will be their best weapon again?

If you really want to pay to be disappointed just go see Snow White and the Huntsman.

WR - Antonio Brown vs NYJ

At first I was thinking that Mike Wallace would be a sit but it ends up that Revis plays Brown more than Wallace while Cromartie covers Wallace. That’s probably not good news for Brown owners.

EDIT: Revis is out.

TE - Antonio Gates vs Ten

ESPN has Gates ranked as the #3 TE. He’s not the same Antinio Gates that we loved. The problem is that he can get a ton of points any given week but other weeks will get low totals (like 4 points last week). It’s hard for me to see how he can rank ahead of Hernandez, Davis and Pettigrew. He’s still a top-10 TE, but I just see a bunch of options I’d prefer over him. Including Fred Davis.

D/ST - Seattle Seahawks vs Dal

We saw what they did to the Giants D last week, I’m yet to believe that the Seahawks D is better than the Giants D.