Lance's 2022 Week 1 Predictions

Every week I’ll be putting out my predictions, they will include my winner for each game with a brief explanation, and 1 start and 1 sit for each fantasy football position. As usual, I’ll start with my picks:

Record Last Season: 163-108-1

LA Rams over Buffalo

Over the last three seasons the Bills are 6-10 against teams that would go on to make the playoffs in those years, I don't know about you but I see the Rams as a playoff team.

New Orleans over Atlanta

The Saints roll by the Falcons who figure to be one of the worst teams in the league this year, in case any of you had any doubts.

Carolina over Cleveland

Mayfield carries that massive chip into this game and gets the win over his former team.

San Francisco over Chicago

Trey Lance dominates a mostly talentless Bears defense, the hype from it becomes unbearable for us to listen to and we shut off all the sports talk shows for the rest of the week.

Cincinnati over Pittsburgh

This one could be relatively high scoring so I'd get your starters in for both teams, but I'm definitely taking Burrow over Trubisky.

Philadelphia over Detroit

The Lions could be a sneaky bet, but I think the Eagles talent on both sides of the ball will be too much for Detroit to overcome.

Indianapolis over Houston

Houston was a scrappy team last year, but this Indy team is much more talented.

Miami over New England

With the rumors about the offense struggling with the scheme change in New England I'm going with the safer pick.

Baltimore over NY Jets

The Jets aren't quite ready to compete with the loaded Ravens, that will be even more apparent with Flacco under Center.

Jacksonville over Washington

Lawrence gets year two started off on the right foot with a dominating opening win over the mediocre Commanders.

Tennessee over NY Giants

Doesn't matter who's catching passes for the Titans when Henry can run over the Giants all game long.

Arizona over Kansas City

Barnburner that goes back and forth all game long, but I like Murray's supporting cast more, so I say they get the job done.

LA Chargers over Las Vegas

Excitement abounds with all the new faces on each of these teams, but the Chargers secondary (even without Jackson) does a much better job than the flimsy mess the Raiders roll out.

Minnesota over Green Bay

These two should battle all year long for the North, the Vikings take battle #1 at home.

Tampa Bay over Dallas

Brady and his unending line of weapons show Dallas' defense isn't as good as they appeared last year.

Denver over Seattle

Wilson dominates his former team in his return to Seattle.

Fantasy Starts and Sits

Record for QBs, TEs, and Ds is based off if they finished top 12 or not

Record for RBs and WRs is based off if they finished top 24 or not.

QB Record: 0-0

QB Start: Mitchell Trubisky at Cincinnati

If you’re doing some sort of QB streaming strategy for your fantasy league this year then you’re the person this pick is directed at, also that’s a weird strategy and I’m interested in how it works out for you. Trubisky looked good in preseason, Cincy’s secondary is still an area of concern and I’d expect this game to be high scoring.

QB Sit: Mac Jones at Miami

If for whatever reason you drafted Mac Jones to be your starter you should probably bench him this week. As I said above, the reports from camp have been about how the offense has struggled to adapt to the new scheme. Until we know those struggles are over I would suggest not starting Jones.

RB Record: 0-0

RB Start: Javonte Williams at Seattle

Denver bringing Melvin Gordon back scared some people away from drafting Williams, but it shouldn't have. They let Gordon hit the market and waited over a month before signing him to a small one year deal. He's going to be insurance/a spell back for their starter which is Javonte Williams. Now that I got that out of the way, start Williams against a weak Seattle defense, Denver should be able to get up early and run the ball to milk the clock.

RB Sit: Saquon Barkley at Tennessee

Despite his lack of efficiency and his inability to stay on the field some of you still insisted on drafting him in the second round. Tennessee was one of the top teams against the run last year, so do yourselves a favor and leave him on your bench.

WR Record: 0-0

WR Start: Marquise Brown vs Kansas City

KC's secondary is still suspect until proven otherwise. Plus this game has the makings of a shootout. Brown should be Arizona's WR1 until Hopkins returns, so fire him up in one of your Receiver slots.

WR Sit: Brandin Cooks vs Indianapolis

This isn't taking anything away from Cooks who proved last year he's far from done. But Indy’s got a very talented defense with a tough secondary that's led by Kenny Moore, one of the top Corners in the league. And I'm not sold on Mills like some of the rest of you seem to be.

TE Record: 0-0

TE Start: Mo Alie-Cox at Houston

He's atop the depth chart and from what I can find he's healthy. The #1 target will be Pittman, but Matty Ice likes his Tight Ends, so don't sleep on Alie-Cox's value.

TE Sit: Mike Gesicki vs New England

There's two good reasons to bench Gesicki if you have him. The first is that New England was very tough on Tight Ends last season. The second is with all the new firepower in the offense there’s a decent chance Gesicki ends up being an afterthought.

Defense Record: 0-0

Defense Start: Denver Broncos at Seattle

I'm pretty sure everyone recognizes the value in starting the opposing defense when Geno Smith and/or Drew Lock are under Center for Seattle. Denver's stacked again, and this is a layup matchup, start'em if you got'em.

Defense Sit: Green Bay at Minnesota

Some of you have once again fallen back into the false hope that Green Bay's defense has given in fantasy land over the last several seasons. I'd suggest not hanging onto them at all, but not starting them this week would be a good start. In their last two trips to Minnesota they've given up 34 points (each game). And for those who want to say "oh but Cousins", Cousins has a 3.4/1 touchdown to interception ratio since joining the Vikings and in his last two home games against the Packers he's averaged 300 yards and posted 5 touchdowns with 1 pick. Buyer beware.