Lance’s Week 4 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.
I forgot to get my predictions posted last week. I spent half of the week in Minnesota and the other half moving my stuff out of my apartment, so there’s reasons why it was lost in the shuffle. It’s alright though, the predictions weren’t all that special. I went 7-8-1 in my games and you’ll see how well I did with my fantasy starts and sits. It’s not going to be the same this week though, this has my partially undivided attention! As usual, I’ll start with my picks:
Overall Record: 27-20-1
NY Jets over Denver
The Broncos are starting Brett Rypien under Center, so I see this one being a heavy defensive game with the Jets will ultimately coming out on top.
Baltimore over Washington
The tale of two teams. Baltimore has done a tremendous job of building their team back up, while Washington has been a pit for broken NFL dreams. I think the Football Team is trending in the right direction, but this one will be a lopsided affair.
Pittsburgh over Tennessee
If this game happens then I’ll take Pitt, especially if Tennessee has a handful of players who aren’t able to play due to COVID.
Tampa Bay over LA Chargers
The Bucs continue on their crusade of devastation over lesser (or injury riddled) teams.
Seattle over Miami
Miami showed a spark and for all we know we could be in for one of Fitzpatrick’s magical three game stretches, but I’m gonna stick with Russell Wilson’s cannon.
Houston over Minnesota
The Vikings defense has been horrid, and they had to cancel team activities for a chunk of this week due to Tennessee’s COVID outbreak. I’ll take Houston in a runaway.
New Orleans over Detroit
This game is a little tougher to call than it would have been at the start of the season. Detroit showed life last week, while the Saints have lost back to back. I’m taking the Saints to get things going in the right direction again, I’d throw an exclamation point on the end of this sentence if I knew for sure Michael Thomas would be playing.
Dallas over Cleveland
The Cowboys passing game will be too much for the Browns to handle.
Cincinnati over Jacksonville
Joe Burrow gets his first official win in a hard-fought battle that ends with a passing touchdown as time expires, no push off this time.
Indianapolis over Chicago
The Bears are 3-0 and they do have Foles under Center, so plenty of hope, but Indy’s defense is playing insanely well right now and they’ve got a decently balanced offense that’s helping the defense out.
Arizona over Carolina
Kyler had an off game last week; I expect him to get back to normal and maybe do a bit more if he’s playing angry.
LA Rams over NY Giants
Another candidate for a lopsided affair. The Giants are just plain bad, and the Rams are playing a lot better than I expected coming into the season.
Buffalo over Las Vegas
Eventually Buffalo’s inability to play well both on offense and defense at the same time is going to come back to bite them. I’m thinking it will be this week or next week and my gut is leaning towards next. The Raiders are a lot more exciting this season, but the Bills are rolling offensively.
Kansas City over New England
This should be a great game to watch. The Patriots are outplaying my expectations and the Chiefs are still doing Chiefs things. This will be more like the 2018 battle and less like the 2017 battle, but KC will be the victors at the end.
San Francisco over Philadelphia
I almost took the Eagles, but they are just playing way too poorly right now for me to feel comfortable taking them even against a banged-up San Fran team.
Green Bay over Atlanta
For the sake of every Falcons fan out there, I really hope Atlanta doesn’t get out to a big lead again and then blow it. I think this will be a back and forth offensive slug fest with the Packers pulling away late in the second half.
Fantasy Starts and Sits
Record for QBs, TEs, Ks, 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.
Had I gotten my article out last week I would have gone 1-1 for QB (start Daniel Jones, sit Stafford), 1-1 for RB (start Jonathan Taylor, sit David Johnson), 1-1 for WR (start Corey Davis, sit Diggs), 1-1 for TE (start Hooper, sit Dalton Schultz), 0-2 for K (start Gonzalez, sit Gostkowski), and 2-0 for Def. (start Tampa, sit Chicago). Bit of a rough outing, let’s see if I can do better this week.
QB Record: 3-3
QB Start: Joe Burrow vs Jacksonville
Burrow has finished top 12 in fantasy once so far this season (week 2), though he was just on the outside last week. This week he pushes for top 5 against a beatable Jags defense both on the ground and through the air.
QB Sit: Carson Wentz at San Francisco
Might seem like a good idea to get Wentz in the lineup, because he’s facing an injury riddled Niners defense, but it’s not! Philly lost two more targets in the pass game with DeSean Jackson and Dallas Goedert going down, and as if that wasn’t enough, Wentz just hasn’t looked good. Poor decision making and questionable ball placement has really cost him early.
RB Record: 2-4
RB Start: Carlos Hyde at Miami
Carson shouldn’t play, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. Even if he does, knee injuries and Running Backs don’t mix well, so I’d still expect Hyde to get plenty of touches in Seattle’s run friendly offense. Miami also has a run friendly defense.
RB Sit: David Montgomery vs Indianapolis
With Cohen out Montgomery might be in your lineups already, swap him out if you can. Indy’s defense is playing insanely well right now and the Bears could very well find themselves needing to throw the ball early and often. If Foles decides to target him out of the backfield he might have a fighting chance, but I’d suggest you stick with Allen Robinson from this offense and potentially stream Anthony Miller and Jimmy Graham.
WR Record: 3-3
WR Start: CeeDee Lamb vs Cleveland
Cleveland’s secondary is a disaster right now, so every Dallas Receiver is a start. Since last week was Gallup and Wilson’s week, I’m gonna say this week is Cooper and Lamb’s.
WR Sit: Terry McLaurin vs Baltimore
Haskins had a difficult time against Cleveland last week, Baltimore’s defense is a whole different animal. If Haskins struggles so does McLaurin. Find space for him on the pine and start someone else, plenty of streamer options this week if you’re really in need.
TE Record: 4-2
TE Start: T.J. Hockenson vs New Orleans
Haven’t been able to watch many Saints games yet this year, so I’m not entirely sure why they’re struggling against Tight Ends, but they are. Take advantage of that with Hockenson this week, he’s quickly becoming one of Stafford’s more consistent targets.
TE Sit: Hayden Hurst at Green Bay
Green Bay is very tough on Tight Ends, so avoid Hurst as best you can. If you’re in a situation where you can’t (for instance I have Jonnu Smith and Hurst in my work league) then run with Hurst, he’s a better option than most of what you’ll find on the waiver wire and he’s still in a pass heavy offense.
K Record: 4-2
K Start: Mason Crosby vs Atlanta
As mentioned above, I believe this game is going to have a high offensive output and that won’t be strictly touchdowns.
K Sit: Jason Myers at Miami
Seattle should dominate, but Miami has not allowed many points to Kickers and that’s largely due to the fact that they haven’t been able to keep many opponents out of the end zone once they get down there.
Defense Record: 4-2
Defense Start: New York Jets vs Denver
No I’m not completely off the wall bonkers! The Jets defense seems to have one game a year where they just go nuts. This game is the best bet for it. If you need a streamer I’d consider the Jets (I am aware everyone else is saying stream Denver). The Broncos had a terrible offensive performance last week and they’re giving a second-year undrafted QB his first start this week (Brett Rypien), which means all green lights for New York.
Defense Sit: Buffalo at Las Vegas
I did pick Buffalo to win, but I’d avoid their defense this week. For the most part Vegas hasn’t had many problems putting points on the board and Buffalo’s defense hasn’t done much in fantasy land so far.
