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Start ‘Em And Bench ‘Em Week 14

Week 14 of the NFL season is upon us, so here is your Week 14 Start ‘Em and Bench ‘Em!  As always I don’t do Kickers, and check your injury reports before starting anyone.  Also, not every obvious guy will be on here each week.  The Starts are the guys I think will have an especially good day and the Bench is guys you should be warned about, not that you shouldn’t start them if there are no better options.  Always start your stud guys unless there is an especially bad matchup or an injury.

RB Start ‘Em:

Brian Westbrook vs Seahawks, Peyton Hillis vs Bills, Chris Johnson vs Colts, Rashard Mendenhall vs Bengals, LeGarrette Blount vs Redskins.

Sleeper:   Tim Hightower vs Broncos

RB Bench ‘Em:  

Cedric Benson vs Steelers,  Mike Hart vs Titans, Jahvid Best vs Packers, Brandon Jacobs vs Vikings.

QB Start ‘Em:

 Ben Roethlisberger vs Bengals, Aaron Rodgers vs Lions, Eli Manning vs Vikings, Josh Freeman vs Redskins, Michael Vick vs Cowboys.

Sleeper:  Alex Smith vs Seahawks

QB Bench ‘EM:  

Matt Schaub vs Ravens, Carson Pamler vs Steelers, Matt Ryan vs Panthers, Brett Favre vs Giants.

WR Start ‘Em:

Mike Wallace vs Bengals, Roddy White vs Panthers, Steve Johnson vs Browns, Brandon Lloyd vs Cardinals,  Anquan Boldin vs Texans.

Sleeper:  Jacoby Ford vs Jaguars

WR Bench ‘Em:  

Devin Hester vs Patriots, Mike Sims-Walker vs Raiders, Santana Moss vs Buccaneers, Brandon Marshall vs Jets. 

TE Start ‘Em:

Greg Olsen vs Patriots, Jacob Tamme vs Titans, Ben Watson vs Bills, Tony Gonzalez vs Panthers, Antonio Gates vs Chiefs.

Sleeper: David Johnson vs Bengals 

TE Bench ‘Em: 

Bo Scaife vs Colts, Visanthe Shiancoe vs Giants, Andrew Quarless vs Lions, Joel Dreesen vs Ravens.

DEF Start ‘Em:

Steelers vs Bengals, Jets vs Dolphins, Ravens vs Texans, Titans vs Colts, Falcons vs Panthers.

Sleeper: Patriots vs Bears 

DEF Bench ‘Em:

Bengals vs Steelers, Houston vs Ravens, Dolphins vs Jets, Lions vs Packers, Vikings vs Giants.

RANDY MOSS A VIKING AGAIN! FAVRE, MOSS, TATE VALUES WAY UP.

Randy Moss has been traded from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings, the team that drafted him, for a 3rd round draftpick on Wednesday.  The Patriots receiver has verbalized recently that he has felt unwanted in New England when they refused to extend his contract that ends at the end of this season. 

Fantasy wise, this puts the values of Moss up significantly, considering that Moss will be the only reliable  receiver on the struggling Vikings pass offense until Sidney Rice comes back from a hip injury that is supposed to keep him out until at least week 6, probably longer. 

This also raises the value of Brett Favre, who has disappointed fantasy owners thus far with only TE Visanthe Shiancoe as the Vikes only pass catcher who has proved reliable in the first 3 games of the Vikings season.  Having Moss to throw to figures to make Favre’s numbers much better.  This goes up even more when Rice returns.

On the New England side, WR Brandon Tate, who has wowed everyone with his extraordinary soecial teams play has a major increase in his value as well, as he reportedly will become the Pats #1 receiver.  Tate should be added in every league, and he is probably available as of this writing at almost 10 am Wednesday.  Get him if you can.  He may not be what we expect, or he may save your season.

Ryan Torain Listed As The Backup To Portis

Redskins RB Ryan Torain was listed in the updated media charts as the backup to oft-injured RB Clinton Portis.  Torain is an interesting player for fantasy purposes.

If Portis goes down (which is very likely), Torain is a good stash in a deeper leagues if you have room on your bench.  It’s worth noting that Torain received the same amount of carries as starter Clinton Portis, and had 2 more yards than Portis. 

Former backup Larry Johnson was released by the Redskins last week, and Willie Parker was released several weeks ago.

Also worth noting is that coach Mike Shanahan has a reputation of getting career years out of most any RB in his offensive system.

Steven Jackson Has Groin Strain; Kenneth Darby An Option If Jackson Is Out

St Louis Rams RB Steven Jackson stained his groin in Sunday’s game against the Washington Redskins.  If Jackson misses any time, backup RB Kenneth Darby should be a good option if you are looking for a RB option  for week 4, especially with bye weeks starting.  Darby finished the game with 14 rushes for 49 yards and one TD,  and one catch for 8 yards in relief.  He did share carries with Keith Toston, but Darby was the one with the most carries of the two as well as the score.

Pierre Garcon Doesn’t Make Trip to Denver, Collie a Good Sub

ESPN’s Stephania Bell reports that Colts WR Pierre Garcon did not make the trip to Denver and is OUT against the Broncos.  WR Austin Collie should be started with confidence for week 3 if you have no better option.

Knowshon Moreno Injured In Practice/Ruled out Sunday

Broncos RB Knowshon Moreno was injured in practice today and has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Colts.  Correll Buckhalter is the likely starter and is available in many leagues.  Not sure I’d start him as a RB2 with the recent addition of Lawrence Maroney, but certainly worth a flex spot if you have no better option. 

We don’t know how long Moreno will be out yet, so Buckhalter, (and to a lesser degree Maroney)  is worth a pickup in case Moreno misses more time.

Mid-week QB changes mean more fantasy lineup changes than just the QB’s

This week, Mike Vick was announced as the new starting QB for the Eagles over Kevin Kolb.  Today, is was announced that Bruce Gradkowski will be the new starter for the Oakland Raiders over Jason Campbell.  Obviously, if you planned to start Kolb or Campbell this week, this will change your plans but there are more fantasy lineup implications to this than just those two. 

Gradkowski loved throwing the ball to Louis Murphy last season.  Gradkowski played 4 full games after getting the nod over Jamarcus Russell and before going down with an injury in week 14.  In those 4 games, Gradkowski threw 6 TD passes.  3 of those 6 were to Murphy.  Murphy without Gradkowski?  1 TD. 

Yardage wasn’t that much for Murphy even with Gradkowski, so I wouldn’t make him a starter at WR if you have better options until you see more yardage production.  But if you are looking for a flex play in a 12 team league or some extra depth at WR, Murphy is a good pickup if you can get him.  Grab him now if you want him.

As for the Eagles; Kolb owners (especially those who took him early in drafts) are not happy today.  I hope you had the sense to draft a quality backup if you drafted Kolb without knowing how good he’d be.  If you didn’t, try to grab Vick if he’s still availabe.  If not, see if you can get Vince Young, Josh Freeman, Alex Smith, or Chad Henne off of the waiver wire.  If not, make a trade.  You might get a guy like Joe Flacco cheap right now and relish in it when he finds his rhythm.

Bump up DeSean Jackson in value, as well as Jeremy Maclin now that Vick is in.  Brent Celek may be valued lower, as Vick doesn’t usually go to the Tight End as much as Kolb or McNabb.  So grab a good backup TE if you don’t have one. 

As always, ask questions if you like, and I will answer them as I see them.  Look for Start ‘Em and Bench ‘Em for week 3 in the next couple of days.

Top 10 Fantasy D/ST’s

My top 10 D/ST’s’s for fantasy football.  In my opinion, this is how the season’s D/ST’s should shake out in terms of fantasy scoring.

1. New York Jets

2. Baltimore Ravens

3. Minnesota Vikings 

4. Philadelphia Eagles

5. Pittsburgh Steelers

6. New Orleans Saints

7. Cincinatti Bengals

8. Dallas Cowboys

9. New York Giants

10. San Francisco 49ers.

Top 10 Fantasy TE’s

My top 10 TE’s for fantasy football.  In my opinion, this is how the season’s TE’s should shake out in terms of fantasy scoring.

1. Antonio Gates – SD

2. Dallas Clark – IND

3. Brent Celek – PHI

4. Jason Witten – DAL

5.Vernon Davis - SF

6. Owen Daniels - HOU

7. Jermichael Findley - GB

8. Tony Gonzalez - ATL

9. Visanthe Shiancoe -MIN

10. Zach Miller – OAK

Top 10 Fantasy WR’s

My top 10 WR’s for fantasy football.  In my opinion, this is how the season’s WR’s should shake out in terms of fantasy scoring.

1. Andre Johnson – HOU

2. Miles Austin - DAL

3. Roddy White – ATL

4. Greg Jennings – GB

5. Randy Moss – NE

6. Steve Smith – CAR

7. Marques Colston – NO

8. Brandon Marshall – MIA

9. Reggie Wayne – IND

10. DeSean Jackson – PHI