Week 7 Fantasy Football Start Sit Advice is brought to you by Scott Pineau. Every week Scott breaks down this week's games and picks the winning team and who he likes fantasy wise, as a solid Starter.
Teams on bye: Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego
Seattle at San Francisco – Thur. 8:20 pm ET
If you enjoy watching two defensive juggernauts go at it then this is the game for you. Although the Giants were successful at pounding the Niners in the ground game, don’t think for a minute that Harbaugh and his staff won’t sure that up. I would expect Lynch to have a lot of short gains in this one forcing Wilson to be the guy that has to make the big play (and he has been making them). The 49’ers should win this one, though it won’t be easy. Start: Lynch, Davis
Arizona at Minnesota – Sun. 1:00 pm ET
John Skelton will be starting for Arizona and facing a solid/consistent Viking defense that ranks 10th overall, 11th defending the run and 10th against the pass. Other than RGIII scampering for three quarters of the field last week, the Vikings have been very good at preventing big plays. Still, this should be a fairly close game. But I’d say Minnesota gets it done. Start: Fitzgerald, Ponder, AP, Harvin, Rudolph
Dallas at Carolina – Sun. 1:00 pm ET
Dallas is getting desperate for a win. They just might find one in Carolina. The Panthers defense is very poor defending the pass and the run. Look for a bounce back performance with Romo and Bryant finally connecting. Look for the Cowboys to shut down the Carolina passing game and their linebackers to minimize the run game. Cam will break a couple of big runs, but I still expect Dallas to win by at least 10 points. Start: Romo, Jones, Austin, Bryant, Witten, Cam, Smith, Olsen
New Orleans at Tampa Bay – 1:00 pm ET
The Saints seemed to have turned a corner prior to the bye. We’ll see if they can keep up the momentum. Look for Brees to absolutely shred this Tampa Bay secondary. On the flipside, the Bucs have been developing something that somewhat resembles an NFL passing game with both Jackson and Williams getting some production at the same time. This will help their running game. And Tampa should keep things interesting. Saints pull away, though, by the middle of the 3rd quarter. Start: Brees, Sproles, Colston, Graham (check status: ankle), Martin, Jackson, Williams
Green Bay at St Louis – Sun. 1:00 pm ET
The Packers finally looked like the team that went 15-1 last year against the Texans. I don’t expect Rodgers to throw 6 touchdown passes in this one. He will have some trouble finding his receivers against this vastly improved Rams' secondary. The Rams will try, but ultimately fall short, very short. This could get out of hand before halftime. Note that the word is that Steven Jackson may have found himself in a timeshare with the youngster Daryl Richardson, giving St. Louis an intriguing one, two punch, but killing S-Jax’s fantasy value. Start: Rodgers, Green, Nelson, Jones, Bradford
Washington at New York (Giants) – Sun. 1:00 pm ET
Wow! Is RGIII anything other than electric? For the second time in three weeks I am calling a game that the Redskins are in a fantasy goldmine. I expect a full on shoot out, so make sure you have plenty of popcorn. I am picking the Redskins, who swept the Giants last season, to edge them out again. The Giants front seven looked great last week, but they will only flush RGIII out of the pocket where he is at his best both passing and running. Start: RGIII, Morris, Davis, Garcon (check status prior to game), Manning, Bradshaw, Cruz, Nicks (check availability), Bennett
Baltimore at Houston – Sun. 1:00 pm ET
This is a match between the only two AFC teams with winning records. This could be a very interesting game, but I fully expect the Texans to rebound from last week’s nightmare versus the Packers. The Ravens defense is in shambles, and the Cowboys gave their fellow Texans the blueprint for keeping the Raven offense contained. Houston by 10. Start: Flacco, Rice, Boldin, Smith, Pitta, Schaub, Foster, Johnson, Daniels
Tennessee at Buffalo – Sun. 1:00 pm ET
The Titans actually played very well over all against the Steelers last week. I am still waiting to see who will emerge as the leading receiver on Tennessee’s squad. Chris Johnson looks better, but can he keep it up against a Bill defense that will right come at him? The Bills only hope is their run game. Jackson and Spiller should pound their way to somewhere near or beyond 200 yards combined on the ground. I’m going with the Titans sparking what could be a mid-season surge. Start: Hasselbeck, Johnson, Britt, Fitzpatrick, Jackson, Spiller, Johnson
Cleveland at Indianapolis – Sun. 1:00 pm ET
Colts win. Browns lose. Luck should look like a man among boys in this contest, where he only needs to avoid getting baited by Haden into throwing a pick six. Wayne has been playing extremely well, and is beating the coverages for short, intermediate and some deeper routes. The Browns will struggle to move the ball and be forced to pass the ball more than they would like. Weeden is looking better and watch out for Josh Gordon getting some big plays. Start: T-Rich (check status), Luck, Wayne
New York (Jets) at New England – Sun. 4:25 pm ET
This is always an interesting match-up. I look for Rex Ryan to come up with some very creative schemes to try and bottle up the Patriots intermediate and deep passing game. The problem is they are living off of the run game and passes caught at the line of scrimmage. Rather than getting shot or run through with a bayonet, the Jets will bleed to death by the Patriots’ paper-cut style offense. Oh, and Shonn Greene is a fraud. Start: Tom Terrific, Ridley, Welker, Gronk, and NO Jets
Jacksonville at Oakland – Sun. 4:25 pm ET
Let it be known that MJD WILL bounce back this week. This could be ground and pound on both sides of the ball in a game where both team are desperate for a win, and might try to get that win playing fairly conservative if possible. I like the Raiders in this one, and they might run away with it (literally) early in the second half. Start: MJD, Palmer, McFadden, Moore
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati – Sun. 8:20 pm ET
The Steelers are still very banged up and getting older. The Bengals are coming off of two very disappointing outings where they can’t produce any offense until it’s too late. They might break that mold this week. This is a very difficult one to pick, but I’m going with Cincy dropping Pittsburgh below 500. Start: Big Ben, Mendenhall (check status), Wallace, Brown, Dalton, Green-Ellis, AJ Green
Detroit at Chicago – Mon. 8:30 pm ET
The Bears are coming off of a bye in control of their division, so I look for them at home with the 12th man to do everything they can to stay on course. Cutler and Marshall have looked fantastic of late, and the Bear’s defense is playing as well as any in the league. Stafford and Megatron will get theirs, but late when the game is already getting out of reach. Bears by a couple of scores. Start: Stafford, Johnson, Cutler, Forte, Marshall
