A:

I will go Charles over Benson. I don’t subscribe to the theory that you Dance With What Brung Ya. I’m just trying to win game. I start the guys that I think will score the most points. And Charles, matched up against a really bad Buffalo defense, should outproduce Benson against a really good Minnesota defense. In his last four games, Charles averages 78 yards rushing and 20 yards receiving, with 5 TDs in those four games. Maybe Benson punches out 60-70 rushing yards, but he won’t catch many passes, and Minnesota has allowed only 3 rushing TDs all year. At receiver, I’ll go Boldin over Meachem – should catch more passes.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

The run just isn’t working for the 49ers. I don’t think it’s so much Gore as the offensive line – the blocking isn’t there. I realize he ran for 207 yards in the earlier meeting against Seattle, but 159 of those came on two carries. His other 14 attempts went for only 48 yards. So I wasn’t surprised at all to see them instead go after Seattle’s suspect secondary. The Seahawks are far weaker this year against the pass (they’re actually above-average in run defense). The 49ers, meanwhile, have become a passing team; they’ve given up on all that offseason talk about being a physical, blue-collar team. In their last 10 games, they’ve averaged 217 yards passing versus only 82 yards rushing. (217 for passing is near the NFL average; 82 for rushing typically will rank in the bottom 4 in the league). In those 10 games, San Francisco has scored a 17-4 ratio of touchdowns passing versus rushing.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I was talking to some students at Mora’s old high school last Friday – Interlake in Bellevue. Only a couple of the students realized that he had gone there. As for Jones and Forsett, I believe you will see the playing time even out a little bit this week. Against San Francisco, Jones held a 20-5 edge in rushing attempts and a 5-3 advantage in catches. I heard Mora say on Monday that Forsett’s playing time was limited because of a thigh injury he suffered last week in practice. Mora implied that had Forsett been healthy, he would have played more. For the opponent they’re playing this week, I think Forsett might be a better fit. Houston’s defense is much better against the run than the pass, and Forsett is far more dangerous than Jones on dumpoff passes. I believe both backs will get 40-plus percent of the work this week. Jones probably will still get more touches, but Forsett might outproduce him. (I don’t think either will be particularly good). With these backs, I’m more interested to see if one plays well enough to be more of a full-time guy for next week. The Seahawks in week 15 are at home against Tampa Bay; one of these backs could be very good in that game.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

You can’t make drops a scored fantasy scoring – for either quarterbacks or receivers. It’s too subjective. Occasionally, you’ll see a ball that simply clangs off the hands of a receiver – the old Braylon Edwards special. But more often, the throw isn’t on target, or the receiver gets blown up by a safety a nano second after the ball arrives. To score these plays, you would need to review each one, and that’s not something that’s possible, even if you had access to all the plays.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I would start Wayne. In that offense, there will be weeks where he is down. That’s just the nature of the beast. But he’s still the No. 1 receiver on one of the league’s best teams. I remember him catching 3 TDs in a game up in Denver a few years back. Meachem may have scored in five straight games, but he’s the guy who’s more likely to be underused. The Saints have a lot of weapons, and I figure they’ll have a lot of success with their running game this week – that Atlanta defense they’ll play is horrible. When New Orleans can run the ball effectively, I start to get nervous that Drew Brees (and Meachem) will be underused. In the last four games that New Orleans has run for over 150 yards, Brees has averaged only 193 passing yards, with just 5 TDs in those four games.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

That will be a difficult decision for you this week. Both guys have very good matchups. The Panthers prefer to run the ball, but this week they’re playing a New England defense that’s simply a lot weaker against the pass. In their last 25 games, the Patriots have allowed 45 TD passes versus only 7 TD runs. That’s the most-skewed ratio in the league. In the same 25-game span, Carolina’s offense is at the other end of the spectrum, scoring on almost twice as many runs (41) as passes (22). We saw this dynamic in play last week in Miami (another run-dominant offense), with Chad Henne passing for 335 yards. Previously, he had passed for 175 yards in four of five games. If the Panthers pass for 200-210 yards, which I believe is a realistic estimate, that will put Smith in line for about 80 yard. And if the Panthers throw a touchdown (and I’m guessing they will), there’s about a 40-50 percent probability he’ll catch it. It’s also, however, a nice matchup for Bess. He’s playing well, and the Dolphins are playing against the same type of defense. The Jaguars got ripped up by Chris Johnson in one game at Tennessee, but otherwise opponents have consistently gone after their pass defense. In its other 11 games, Jacksonville has allowed an average of 259 passing yards, with almost four times as many touchdowns passing (19) as rushing (5). So a tough call for you. With Smith, you get the big-play ability and maybe a touchdown. Bess works almost exclusively underneath routes (he averages under 10 yards per catch) and has scored only 2 TDs in two years. With Bess, you don’t have to worry about weather.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

They’ll use a committee. Chris Brown will start. Ryan Moats will also play (Moats got twice as many touches as Brown last week). And youngster Arian Foster should get on the field as well. I don’t see any of these guys having any fantasy value this week against the Seahawks. Seattle is much better against the run than the pass.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

Les Campbell does the Newsblast, but in that arena, he’s restricted to slipping in a funny line here and there. To truly appreciate his talents, you should look at the dozens of greeting cards he’s put together – Birthday, Christmas, Get Well, Thank You, etc. He’s started his own company, “Greetings from Uranus”. If you go to his website, you can see samples of all of the cards they have for sale (as well as where you can buy them).

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

If you want to start Meachem, I will sign off on that. He’s scored five weeks in a row. And he may be starting to really hit his stride. He’s caught 5 and 8 passes the last two weeks. My thinking was that the Saints, at Atlanta, will be able to run the ball effectively this week, probably grinding out 150-plus rushing yards against a weak Falcons defense. If they’re running the ball and have a lead, that will reduce the volume of passes you’ll see. Drew Brees has passed for 371 and 419 yards in his last two starts. As I mentioned in the other letter, in the last four games that the Saints have run for 150-plus yards, Brees has averaged only 193 passing yards, with 5 TD passes in those games. So I was thinking that it was more realistic to project Brees to pass for something like 270-280 passing yards in this game, with 2 TDs. When you run the numbers that way, and factor in all of the other pass catchers they have, Smith projects to be more valuable than Meachem. But I will concede I could be wrong. I thought the Saints will run, rather than pass, the ball last week in Washington. And unlike Carolina, the Saints will play this week in a climate-controlled dome.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I think you’ll do better with an extra kicker – one with a nice matchup in the playoffs, perhaps. Buckhalter and the Jennings could all start games in theory; maybe the guy ahead of them gets hurt. Buckhalter might get 40 percent of the work in Denver anyway. But I just don’t see it as likely that you’ll wind up using any of those players. I’d rather have a seemingly insignificant kicker with a good matchup – maybe Shayne Graham or Billy Cundiff, who have home games against bad teams in weeks 14-16.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I wouldn’t use the Saints. I’d rather have a defense that I could count on for some sacks and interceptions. Ravens (vs. Chicago), Arizona (at Detroit), Steelers (vs. Green Bay), Denver (vs. Oakland) look like the best bets. Sleeper defenses (and this is just via ballpark glance): Jets (vs. Atlanta), Seattle (vs. Tampa Bay).

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

In the NFL, when breaking a three-way tie in a divison, you look at overall record against others in the tie. So the team with the 3-1 record would win. The NFL has it set up differently for a three-way tie in a conference. In that one, the head-to-head deal would only apply if there was a sweep (one team went 4-0 or 0-4). So in a three-way conference tiebreaker, the winner would be the team that had scored the most points. For your league, I would argue that the division tiebreaker is more appropriate, since each team has played twice (in the same way teams play twice in NFL divisions). For the NFL conference tiebreaker, they’re looking at teams that have played each other at most once. (If the Jets, Steelers and Jaguars all finish 10-6, for example, the NFL doesn’t want to give that spot to the Jaguars on the basis of them having beaten the Jets – the Steelers haven’t even played either team).

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I would go with Brandon Jacobs. When he’s on his game, he’s a pretty good back, and he’s plays for a good team. I could see him punching in 10-12 touchdowns next year. I don’t know that Williams will be a starter again next year. I’m confident the Seahawks will pull the plug on Jones.

• Comments
• Add Comment