Fantasy Friday: Week 11 Team Scouting Reports From SB Nation

San Fran tangles with the Packers, what does Niners Nation see happening?

The 49ers head into Green Bay for a battle between what Football Outsiders ranks as the top 2 defenses in the NFL. That certainly might make folks hesitant, in anticipation of another 49ers-Bears quality matchup. However, there remain a variety of fantasy options at your disposal.

The most valuable option for this game might in fact be the 49ers defense. Aaron Rodgers has been sacked more than any other QB in the league (41 times!). The 49ers pass rush has been a bit inconsistent at times, but I’d expect them to break through with some sacks this week. Several of their games when they’ve recorded 0 sacks, they’ve still gotten some pressure on the QB, so that should hopefully turn into actual sacks. Even if they give up a good deal of points, those sacks, any potential turnovers for an always aggressive defense, will make up for any lost points.

Frank Gore remains the top option for the 49ers offense. Glen Coffee returns from a concussion so Gore might lose some carries, but he’s still the workhorse of this offense. Throw in the fact that the team is mixing in some more RB screens and I’d say his value is actually increasing. The Packers have a solid rush defense, but Gore has shown that all it takes is one big run to make a game.

Vernon Davis was quiet last week against Chicago, but remains the most consistent receiving threat on this 49ers offense. Packers fans think the team will cover him with Charles Woodson, which would be intriguing to say the least. Woodson is a great corner, but I wonder if he can handle someone with Davis’s rare combination of size and speed. He’s turned into a must-start at the tight end position.

Michael Crabtree is not a must-start, but he continues to improve each week. If you’re out of your league’s playoff race at this point I say start him so you have something enjoyable to watch. But if you’re in the playoff hunt, now that bye weeks are finished, he’s probably not a guy to start these next few weeks.

Alex Smith has not been able to put together the huge numbers he had in the second half against Houston, so he remains a bench guy. Some might argue he’s due for a big game, but if you’re battling for a playoff spot, I just don’t think you want to gamble on a guy like Smith at this point.

Join Niners Nation.

What’s in the Cards this week for Arizona? Revenge Of The Birds lets us know.

Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin: Let’s face it, if they’re on your team they’re in your starting lineup. The Arizona Cardinals passing game is starting to click, everyone is healthy and they’re facing a defense that’s ranked 26th in the league against the pass. Warner should have a great fantasy day with at least 300 yards and multiple touchdowns. Fitz and Boldin should both approach or easily top double digit points as well.

Beanie Wells: Each week he’s inching towards fantasy credibility and this just might be the week that he busts the door down. The past two weeks he’s combined for 157 yards on the ground and two touchdowns but he’s yet to get more than 16 carries in any game this season. If he get 15 or more carries this week, he’ll most likely record his first 100 yard game as a professional. The Rams rank 28th against the run and no team in the league has given up more big plays on the ground (runs of 40+ yards).

Arizona Defense: Granted the Cardinals defense can be hit or miss at times but the past two weeks they’ve done a good job of pressuring the quarterback and forcing turnovers. If they can keep

Join the flock at Revenge Of The Birds.

Will MJD take a knee again this week? Doubtful, but what does Big Cat Country say?

Maurice Jones-Drew: If you believe in Karma, you have to believe in Maurice Jones-Drew. 10,000 ESPN fantasy owners lost because Jones-Drew took a knee at the end of the Jaguars-Jets game, for which MJD apologized and promised to make it up to his fans. Interestingly, even Jones-Drew lost this week because of it. Anyhow, the Bills run defense, despite the possibility of a very inspired Marcus Stroud, is vulnerable to MJD’s running style. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jones-Drew get to 150 yards and two scores on Sunday.

Mike Thomas: Should the Bills decide to sell out against the run, Mike Thomas in the Slot could be good for a score and 60-70 yards, if you’re playing matchups and need a WR 3, he’s your guy.

Big Cat Country for all Jags fans.

The Pack is back after winning last week, how do they look this week? Acme Packing Company reports.

QB Aaron Rodgers. He’s coming off a down week (for him) by only scoring 2 TDs, although his 2 fumbles (neither lost) might have hurt his fantasy value depending on your league’s scoring. On Sunday he’s facing the 49ers, who recently held QB Peyton Manning without a TD, and forced 5 INTs last week by QB Jay Cutler. Still he remains the number 1 ranked player in my Fleaflicker league. Unless you’ve got a great looking Plan B on your bench, Start.

RB Ryan Grant. The 49ers are an elite run stopping team, and Mike McCarthy didn’t call many running plays against the Vikings (another elite run stopping team). Sit.

WR Greg Jennings. His playing time last week was limited due to a knee contusion (although he wasn’t listed on the injury report). He appears to be limping again this week, and again he isn’t listed on the injury report. He only had 4 catches for 45 yards last week, and he’s going up against a great 49ers pass defense. Sit.

WR Donald Driver. Rodgers spread the ball around to his top 4 WRs last week, which isn’t a good sign for Driver’s fantasy owners. Though he’s averaged a TD reception every other game, and this is his week to catch one. Tentative Start.

Packers D. Last week, they dominated the high powered Cowboys offense for 3 quarters to go along with 4 sacks, and 3 turnovers. Again they are playing at home, and the 49ers offense aren’t bringing nearly as much firepower. Also, QB Alex Smith hasn’t impressed in his last 2 weeks, at home, against the weak secondaries of the Titans and Bears. Start.

Pack up the family and head to Acme Packing Company.

The Falcons desperately need a win, The Falcoholic looks at their chances from a fantasy perspective.

QB Matt Ryan: The sophomore slump is officially underway. If you’ve played Ryan the last few weeks, you’ve gotten some frustrating performances out of him, particularly if your league penalizes interceptions. He’s due to snap out of it with the weapons at his disposal, but it’s unlikely it will happen this week against a New York Giants team that can bring a ton of pressure up front. Don’t start him this week unless your other options are even worse.

RB Michael Turner: Turner will almost certainly not play this weekend, despite the brave front he’s putting on. He suffered an ankle sprain last week and has yet to practice. Even if the Falcons did trot him out on the field, it would be for the intimidation factor, as he’d be extremely limited. Bench him until he proves he’s healthy.

RB Jason Snelling: If he’s still out on the wire in your league, you need to add him immediately. Snelling is basically the only healthy back the Falcons have right now besides special teamer Aaron Stecker, and he was effective last week against the Panthers. A bruising back in the mold of Michael Turner, Snelling will get the ball as the Falcons try to balance out their offense and could end up with between 75 to 100 yards and a touchdown. He’s a sneaky good RB2 or flex play this week.

WR Roddy White: Somehow White puts up decent numbers even though Ryan is struggling mightily, but it’s difficult to recommend him when I don’t expect Ryan to have much success. He could pop off a few receptions, 50 yards and a touchdown or he could go for much more, but keep in mind that Tony Gonzalez is cutting into his targets. Consider that before you start him.

TE Tony Gonzalez: Once again, my advice about Gonzo basically mirrors White. He’s done a good job this year of getting open when Ryan is panicking. He’s a reliable target. But when Ryan isn’t performing well, Gonzo’s chances of having a huge game go down substantially. Because he’s at the tight end position where production is harder to come by, he’s still a solid play this week against the Giants.

K Jason Elam: Having now whiffed on at least three critical kicks this year, Elam is extremely hard to recommend for fantasy play considering the potential for pressure-packed situations against the Giants. Look elsewhere if you can.

Falcons Defense: Definitely not a recommend play this week. Brandon Jacobs could wear the Falcons down up front, and they’ve shown no ability to get to the quarterback in recent weeks. Combine that with a solid Giants passing offense and you’ve got a real chance to get spanked this week if you trot out the Falcons defense. You’ve got to have better options out there on the wire, so use them.

Get over to The Falcoholic if you’re a Falcons fan.

The Rams nearly pulled off a major upset last week, how will they do this week? Turf Show Times knows.

One win and a near upset of the undefeated New Orleans Saints and all of the sudden the St. Louis Rams aren’t so easy for fantasy players to ignore. The team still lacks reliable, every week fantasy players outside of RB Steven Jackson. At this point, guys like Donnie Avery, Brandon Gibson and Daniel Fells offer respectable, sneaky bye week options. This week’s game against the Arizona Cardinals will go a long way toward answering whether or not those players could move beyond bye week fill-ins to guys worthy of keeping on your roster. The first question we need to ask is whether or not we are seeing real progress from the Rams offense? Three things indicate that the answer is yes.

1) The offensive line is playing well. Signing C Jason Brown and drafting Jason Smith represented a major investment for the team and provided the basis for the rebuilding project as Spagnuolo builds from the foundation up. Smith is anchoring the right side of the line, overcoming any preseason questions about his adjustment to the three-point stance. The Rams favor the middle and right side for their running game, and Jackson continues to rack up more and more yards thanks to the entire offensive line functioning well as a unit.

2) Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is finally opening the play book. Besides a stellar job in run blocking, the OL is giving Marc Bulger time in the pocket, and the passing game is now throwing the ball downfield to Donnie Avery, forcing defenses to respect his speed and ability to get behind safeties.

3) The WR situation may be resolved. Maybe. Last week, Bradon Gibson, acquired from Philly in the Will Witherspoon trade, made a real impression, pressed into service for the injured Keenan Burton. One week wonder or not? It’s hard to say, but against the Saints Gibson showed great hands and the athleticism to get yards after the catch, exactly what the Rams have been missing from the wide receivers this season. If he’s the real deal, the Rams might have an effective enough passing game to score some points.

Obviously, Steven Jackson is a must start this week or any week. The Cardinals gave up 123 yards to Justin Forsett against the Seahawks last week. In week 8, DeAngelo Williams picked up 158 yards.

Donnie Avery looks like a good player to start this week too. The Cardinals allow 253.4 yards passing on average, and have allowed the fourth most, 32, passing plays of 20 yards or more.

Brandon Gibson is a risky start because he’s still relatively unknown. If he has another good week, definitely grab him off the waiver wire.

Follow the Rams at Turf Show Times.

The Chargers are hot, Bolts From The Blue examines their game for Week 11.

Chargers Defense – Start – Going up against either a hobbled Kyle Orton (who hasn’t practiced all week) or Chris Simms (who will be making his first start without a spleen), the Chargers will be coming with a lot of blitzers and looking for turnovers. With Denver’s starting RT Ryan Harris out for the game, expect lots of sacks and at least one interception for the Bolts.

Philip Rivers – Start – At this point it’s almost becoming a well-known fact that Rivers plays better against the Broncos than any other team in the league. For his career he has a QB rating of 110.7 against Denver, with 13 TD passes against only 4 interceptions. If the Chargers can keep Elvis Dumervil in check (easier said than done), expect a huge day from Rivers. If they can’t, there should still be plenty of statistics to make Rivers’ fantasy owners happy.

Antonio Gates – Start – If you have someone comparable against an easier D, you may want to sit him just because Denver has been so good at defending TEs this season. However, if you don’t you can look at his 5 catch, 70 yard performance from Week 6 against the Broncos and hope Mike Nolan hasn’t made an adjustment.

LaDainian Tomlinson – Sit – I know, I know. He’s supposed to be back, right? Don’t be fooled by a big game against the Eagles. The Eagles spent so much time trying to cover up their holes in the secondary (at one point they only had 1 legitimate CB left) that LT was facing 6 and 7 men in the box. Things will be much different against the Broncos, who trust their CBs to cover the Chargers WRs one-on-one and will blitz the hell out of Jeromy Clary (who struggles to handle Dumervil and is playing injured…if he even plays at all). Without Nick Hardwick back in the lineup, you can expect Tomlinson to get hit in the backfield quite a bit.

Vincent Jackson – Start – Don’t be concerned about his 1 catch for 10 yards performance against the Eagles. There were so many open receivers that Rivers simply didn’t feel like testing Asante Samuel. Against the Broncos, who have the personnel to cover Malcom Floyd and Legedu Naanee, Rivers will be more willing to “toss it up” and let his star WR fight for the ball. Against Champ Bailey, both Rivers and Jackson have had good success in the past. VJ’s 4 catches for 46 yards and a TD in the first matchup is about what you can expect this week as well, if not more.

Bolts From The Blue is homebase for Chargers fans.

The Titans have suddenly found success after a horrid start, here’s what Music City Miracles says about this week’s matchup.

The Titans head to Houston to take on the Texans on Monday Night Football this week. When these two teams met in week two Chris Johnson had 284 total yards and 3 touchdowns. While it is unlikely that he will put up those numbers again, he should have another solid game.

My sleeper for this game would be Vince Young. VY has always been better in prime time games, and you add in here that this game is in his hometown against a team that passed on him in the draft, and I think it all sets up for a big game. You obviously aren’t going to play him over the big boys, but if you are in a deep league or one that plays two quarterbacks he could be a good play.

WR Nate Washington is again a solid play in deeper leagues. He had another TD last week and will continue to get more targets with Justin Gage out of the lineup.

My advice last week was to play the Titans defense, and if you listened to me you were rewarded with two TDs. My advice would be to sit them this week. They have been vulnerable to the big play all year, and Andre Johnson has killed the Titans in his career.

Visit Music City Miracles for all your Titans needs.