Lance's Week 7 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.
Man last week was a stinker for me. Missed a lot on my starts and sits and didn’t do much better on my picks. So, here comes my bounce back week. I dug a little deeper before making my picks, especially with my starts and sits, hopefully it works out. As usual, I’ll start with my picks:
Overall Record: 53-37-1
Philadelphia over NY Giants
The Giants may make this one more competitive than I’m currently picturing it in my mind, but there’s no reason the Eagles won’t be able to win. The Giants don’t have the pass rush of the teams that Philly has been having to deal with. And Philly’s defense is still good enough to punish Daniel Jones and take advantage of his mental mistakes.
Washington over Dallas
Dallas looked awful on Monday night, but it was against a superior Arizona team. Washington isn’t on that level, but what they do have is a mean group of D-Lineman that can wreck an injury riddled O-Line like Dallas’. The Football Team gets after Dalton, and it doesn’t really matter who they run with under Center, they should be able to dominate the Cowboys’ continued deficiencies on defense.
Tennessee over Pittsburgh
Two weeks ago I probably would’ve taken Tennessee coming off a week with minimal practice time and all that jazz, but now I’m gonna take the Titans in the battle of unbeatens. I love Pittsburgh’s defense, but losing Devin Bush is going to hurt big, especially when you have to deal with the likes of Derrick Henry.
Buffalo over NY Jets
This is a no-brainer, barring a bunch of bonehead mistakes by Josh Allen, there’s no way Buffalo loses. Heck even with a bunch of bonehead mistakes by Allen they probably still wouldn’t lose.
New Orleans over Carolina
I’m taking the Saints in a close one, way closer than they’d feel comfortable with. Bridgewater will play really well keeping Carolina in it, but it ends with a Brees march downfield and a last second Field Goal by Lutz.
Green Bay over Houston
Houston putting up a fight against the Titans, definitely surprised me, and for that I’ll say that I did actually consider them here. This is where the but comes in. But, they just aren’t that good of a team, there is only so much Watson can do to carry them and it’s going to be even harder on him with Jaire Alexander shutting down one of his two receiving options. Rodgers and company dominate the offensive side of the ball and leave Houston in the dust shortly after the second half starts.
Cincinnati over Cleveland
The Bengals fought hard in the first meeting between these two and I believe they get the better of them this time. Burrow had his best game against the Browns, and he’s going to top that performance by leading Cincy to win number two.
Atlanta over Detroit
Perhaps last week’s showing by Atlanta was purely due to that adrenaline rush teams seem to get the week after their Head Coach is fired. I’m gonna stick with them in this one. Detroit’s been an interesting team, but if Ryan starts picking apart their secondary they won’t be able to keep up.
Arizona over Seattle
The hardest game for me to pick between. Seattle is coming off their bye week which brings about the rested versus rusty question mark. Arizona is heating up. Realistically the game will probably come down to the final drive, so I’m going with the upset because I can.
LA Chargers over Jacksonville
Can Herbert get his first win? Or will the mustachioed Minshew lead his Jags further away from the top pick in the draft? I think this will be a fun, high-scoring affair, and I’m giving the edge to the Chargers who have more talent on defense than their foe.
New England over San Francisco
The Pats were embarrassed. That’s the reason why I’m taking them here. I think Newton and Belichick come into this one angry and leave with a win that leaves mouths agape.
Kansas City over Denver
Field Goals won’t cut it Denver. The Chiefs run up the score on their divisional rival.
Tampa Bay over Las Vegas
I toyed with the idea of picking the Raiders, but Tampa’s defense is on fire right now and I think they’re going to bring Carr back down to Earth.
LA Rams over Chicago
I see the Rams playing smart, quick pass football, that allows them to control the clock and move downfield. Also, I just don’t have faith in Foles (or Trubisky) to keep his team in this one.
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.
QB Record: 4-8
QB Start: Teddy Bridgewater at New Orleans
The Saints pass defense stinks. They’re saving grace is that they’re coming off a bye, otherwise they’d not doubt be bottom ten in the stats sheet (they’re already bottom five in pass touchdowns allowed). Bridgewater is coming off a tough game against Chicago, but he’s had some experience going against the Saints (I’m of course referring to practice time when he was in New Orleans).
QB Sit: Jimmy Garoppolo at New England
In case your head is trying to tell you that Jimmy G is about to explode and take San Fran back to the Super Bowl you need to temper your expectations. Prior to Sunday he was averaging 156 yards and basically 1 touchdown a game. The Patriots have had their struggles so far, but I don’t see Garoppolo getting the better of his old coach.
RB Record: 4-8
RB Start: Joshua Kelley vs Jacksonville
Jackson looked better in the first game post Ekeler, but I’m calling it a fluke. Kelley is the more talented player. Jacksonville’s defense has been bad against the run all season, but it’s been worse the last three weeks. There’s room enough for both Kelley and Jackson to dominate, but I’d stick with Kelley if you happen to have both on your roster.
RB Sit: Kenyan Drake vs Seattle
It’s not necessarily that Seattle’s defense has been good against the run, it’s the fact that their offense has been so dominant teams have had to abandon the run to try and keep up. I don’t see that going any different this week.
WR Record: 7-5
WR Start: Tee Higgins vs Cleveland
If you have Higgins, Boyd or Green I’d put them in for this matchup. The Browns pass defense ranks bottom five in pass yards allowed and tied for bottom five in pass touchdowns allowed. These two teams met back in week 2 and that was Burrow’s best game to date. Higgins was seeing the field for the first time and didn’t do a whole lot, but now he’s had plenty of games to prepare himself for a second run through and I believe he will set new single game highs in his young career.
WR Sit: Will Fuller vs Green Bay
Green Bay played well against the Bucs’ Receivers allowing 8 catches for 71 yards and 1 touchdown on 14 targets (that’s split between five Receivers). They looked horrible in other areas, but shutting down Mike Evans and for the most part Chris Godwin is not something to scoff at. Fuller is due for a letdown game and I think this will be it.
TE Record: 8-4
TE Start: Tyler Higbee vs Chicago
The Bears defense has only allowed four passing touchdowns so far this season, three of them have gone to the Tight End. If the Rams are going to bounce back from their loss and pull off the win over Chicago they’re going to have to get Higbee (or Everett) involved.
TE Sit: Darren Waller vs Tampa Bay
It’s tough choosing a high profile Tight End as a sit. I could see Waller finishing week 7 as a bust though. Tampa has a good, young secondary and a great defensive coordinator calling the shots (Todd Bowles). They shutdown Robert Tonyan last week and Hunter Henry in week 4, and they kept Noah Fant relatively under wraps in week 3.
K Record: 6-6
K Start: Jake Elliott vs NY Giants
There’s no reason the Eagles should be trying for a big comeback in this one. The Giants defense isn’t that good and their offense has been a mess. I expect Philly to move the ball freely allowing Elliott plenty of scoring opportunities.
K Sit: Brandon McManus vs Kansas City
That’s right, I’m doubling-down! I was wrong last week, but there’s a big difference between KC and NE. The Chiefs offense is a lot more prolific which is going to force the Broncos to go for it instead of kicking Field Goals.
Defense Record: 8-4
Defense Start: Philadelphia Eagles vs NY Giants
I’m sticking with the Philly theme here. Outside of their unexpectedly big game against the Niners in week 4, the Eagles defense really hasn’t done much in fantasy land. Which means they’re most likely available on the waiver wire. They’re a great streaming option as I expect their pass rush to get home quite a bit, plus Daniel Jones has been turnover prone.
Defense Sit: New Orleans Saints vs Carolina
With how poorly the Saints defense has been playing I wouldn’t expect them to capitalize on a Carolina offense that’s coming off arguably their worst game to date.
