Ray's Week One In It To Win It

Going into the first week of the season, it is difficult to assess what players actually have good matchups. There is too much parity in the league from year to year to rely on statistics from last year, and the preseason can be very misleading as well. Add in the fact that most players are hesitant to bench the guys they took early in the draft the first week of the season, and you realize why average fantasy players examine their week one lineup like they should. Don’t be average.

In It to Win It

Julius Jones – Jones faced a bad St. Louis defense early in the year last year. He came out of that matchup 140 yards and one touchdown richer. Even with Edge James there, Jones should still get the bulk of the carries early in this season, and against a sub-par St. Louis team, Jones has the chance to go for over 100 yards again. Get him in your lineup.

Vincent Jackson – In his last game against Oakland, Jackson went for almost 150 yards and hauled in one touchdown, and that was with a fully healthy Nnamdi Asomugha in the Raiders secondary. With the Raiders pro-bowl cornerback hurting, expect San Diego to try and exploit the Raiders secondary deep. Jackson should get close to 120 yards and a touchdown.

Chris Henry – Henry has looked fantastic in the preseason, but admittedly most of his damage has come against backup defenses. Lucky for you, Denver defense is full of backups. It is hard to look at least season statistics to see how bad Denver’s defense was because of all of the player movement following the “successful” hiring of Josh McDaniel’s, but the six passing touchdowns they have given up in the preseason this year does not lie. Cincinnati will exploit that shoddy secondary, and I expect Henry to get a touchdown in this game.

Ride the Pine

Jay Cutler – Cutler, already known for his gun-slinging ways, is walking straight into Tombstone this week. Not only will Cutler feel the pressure to perform in his first start with the Bears, he is also facing a ball-hawking defense that picked off eight balls in the preseason and loves to get pressure on the quarterback. I think this could be a disastrous week for Cutler. He may get two touchdowns, but I think he could throw four picks. I would not want him in my lineup.

Wes Welker – This has more to do with the uncertainty about Welker’s injury than it does about Buffalo’s pass defense, but it is important to note how decent Buffalo was against the pass last year and this preseason. Still, I mostly dislike Welker because of how New England handles injuries. We still, four weeks after the fact, have no idea what is wrong with Welker and have no idea if he will play. It would not surprise me if Bill Belichick had Welker on his active roster and simply did not use him during the game. I would be very wary of Welker this week.

Jamal Lewis – I really do not need to tell you much more than that Pat and Kevin Williams will be allowed to play this week. Jamal Lewis is normally not a good start, but he is pretty much unstartable with the Williams brothers in the lineup. He could actually rush for negative yards this week.