2008 Week One Preview - Part Two

Continuing on from last night's preview, we'll be posting the other two thirds today. Here's Part two for you:

Sunday 1pm EST (cont.)

Tampa Bay at New Orleans

This is far from an easy pick. The Saints' passing attack has fired well in preseason, but the ground game will be critical against a strong Bucs secondary. The Bucs Defence will have to be on top form to keep Drew Brees from dissecting them, but more important is how fit Jeff Garcia is. The 38yr old QB is limited by a finger injury sustained this week in practice, and without him, the Bucs odds lengthen dramatically.

Fantasy Pick: Drew Brees should be your starter if you own him anyway, but in case you weren't starting him: DO IT. Bucs receiver Dexter Jackson would not usually get a namecheck, but in leagues that count return yards, he comes up against a weak Saints coverage unit. He's worth a shot if you are struggling for a flex play. It goes without saying that the Bucs Defence should always be in any lineup.

Fantasy Drop: Where to begin? The backfield dynamic for both teams is so questionable that you won't find out for a couple of weeks who is a fantasy starter. In the meantime, avoid Earnest Graham and Reggie Bush if you have other options. Joey Galloway will suffer from both his and Jeff Garcia's injuries, which makes both players borderline fantasy picks.

St. Louis at Philadelphia

Like Kansas City, St. Louis will be lucky to get any respite outside of Missouri. The Eagles though, have question marks at Receiver which could severely affect the spread, so if you can get -10pts or more, take St. Louis to beat it. The Rams could actually push the Eagles close if they can establish a lead, but don't count on the Defence stopping many Eagles drives.

Fantasy Pick: Brian Westbrook will profit from the receiver issues, as well as being Donovan McNabb's favourite checkdown option. For the same reason, L.J. Smith could have a surprisingly good game. None of the Eagles backups are worth a play, but DeSean Jackson is a worthwhile pickup, especially as he also returns kicks. For the Rams, just don't pick anyone.

Fantasy Drop: Any Rams player, but especially Steven Jackson. Don't be surprised to see him get limited action in the first 2-3 weeks of the season, much like Larry Johnson last year after his own preseason holdout. The Rams will roll as their O-line rolls, but Marc Bulger is likely to be sacked enough that he is not worth a pick this week.


Houston at Pittsburgh

It pains us to say it, but the Texans probably can't win this. Houston aren't our favourite team (the pain of being impartial), but it's hard not to want them to do well after 6 years of absolutely abysmal play. Even after getting back on an upward trajectory last year, the Texans will still struggle to beat one of the better AFC teams. Having said that, the spread we've seen (-6-7pts) seems generous, and we think at that price, it's worth a punt.

Fantasy Pick: Ben Roethlisberger is fantasy gold, and so is Santonio Holmes, who could even overtake Hines Ward as Big Ben's favourite target this season. Ward is still a viable pick though, and sorely underrated around the league. As we've made clear, the Matt Schaub-Andre Johnson-Kevin Walter passing attack seems to be firing if preseason is anything to go by.

Fantasy Drop: Steve Slaton has all the potential to emerge as the starter in Houston, but while Ahman Green is still in the mix, and the team allegedly even considers bringing Tatum Bell in for a visit, you have to think that Slaton won't get enough carries to be a viable fantasy proposition. Rashard Mendenhall is in a similiar position in Pittsburgh. Basically be careful of any RB in this game.

Cincinnati at Baltimore

This epic clash of the titans could decide who represents the AFC in the Superb... nah, we can't do it. Neither team has any shot at winning much this year, and realistically it's coin-toss time, as the two teams are strong in opposite areas. The Bengals will bring an incredibly powerful attack against one of the best D's in the league, wheras the Ravens have pretty much never had any kind of Offence. The key factor could be whether Ravens Safety Ed Reed plays after suffering a nerve injury during preseason. Reed is not just a great player, he is one of the most intelligent football players in the league, and his absence would leave the team missing one of it's key components.

Fantasy Pick: Er... Pick someone else. No, seriously, if you have to pick someone, pick the Bengals passing attack of Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocinco, and T.J. Houshmanzadeh or the Ravens Defence. They can't all have bad games. We actually like Bengals RB Kenny Watson this year, but he'd be a desperation play this week.

We think...

Fantasy Drop: Joe Flacco may be the starter, but he'll need time to bed in before he's considered a safe fantasy bet. Avoid Willis McGahee too, who is hampered by injury and may not see as much action as normal. Any Bengals RB is a risk, but Chris Perry is a shambles at the best of times, let alone against the strong Ravens Defence.


Sunday, 4:15pm EST


Carolina at San Diego

No question that the Chargers are the better team on paper here. With the Panthers missing talismanic WR Steve Smith, they'll be relying on the injured D.J. Hackett, the ancient Muhsin Muhhamed, and the just plain bad Dwayne Jarrett to carry the load. That won't cut it against a relatively strong secondary, and as if that wasn't enough, this is the first true test of Panthers QB Jake Delhomme's surgically repaired elbow. None of this bodes well for Carolina.

Fantasy Pick: We still think DeAngelo Williams will be the beneficiary of Jonathan Stewart's selcetion in the draft this year. He has the speed to capitalise on weary Defences, and the Chargers D is almost constantly banged up. One player we do like is Chargers WR Vincent Jackson, who could finally be used as something other than a blocker for TE Antonio Gates - who is still the best TE in fantasy terms, in case you were wondering.

Fantasy Drop: Jake Delhomme may be a solid enough QB, but against the Chargers, in San Diego, with a distinct lack of playmakers at his disposal? We'd rather start Daunte Culpepper, who would at least guarantee that you wouldn't end up with negative points this week from your Quarterbacks.

The final part of our week one predictions will be up by the end of the day. We promise. Ok we don't promise, but if it's crime for a man to ignore his girlfriend in favour of an evening spent writing about men who beat the crap out of each other, then Warden, chain me the hell up, because we're as guilty as O.J. in a hardware store trying on childrens gloves.