NFL: Week 11 Fantasy Football Tips
Week Eleven of the NFL season is upon us and it is time for some weekly fantasy tips. Remember the Dolphins and Panthers kick the week off tonight. The schedule features what appears to be several lopsided matchups with the Chargers at Denver, Indy going to Baltimore, and the Jets going to Foxboro topping the bill for week eleven.
Injury Updates
DeAngelo Williams has been held out of practice this week, but, odds are he will play as well as Johnathan Stewart. Neither guy has barely practiced the past couple of weeks but have been good to go come game time.
Ronnie Brown was placed on IR yesterday due to the ankle/foot injury he suffered this past Sunday.
Miami tight end Anthony Fasano is not going to play for the Dolphins Thursday.
Brian Westbrook has been ruled out of this Sunday’s game due to the concussion he suffered against San Diego.
Clinton Portis did not practice Wednesday for the ‘Skins and remains extremely doubtful for Sunday as he recovers from a concussion.
Jermichael Finley returned to practice for the Packers on Wednesday.
Brett Favre has been limited in practice with a hip/groin injury but still is expected to play Sunday.
Julius Jones has been ruled out of this Sunday’s game against Minnesota with a bruised lung.
Michael Turner sounds like a guy who is going to try and go this Sunday but with a high ankle sprain it seems unlikely he will be that effective.
Kyle Orton did not practice Wednesday but it is expected he will play Sunday.
Cedric Benson is looking like a game-time decision for the Bengals on Sunday. If he cannot go then Larry Johnson or Bernard Scott will see the bulk of the carries.
Terrell Suggs has been ruled out of Sunday’s game with a knee injury.
The Panthers place Jordan Gross on IR this week with a broken ankle.
Dallas safety Ken Hamlin has been ruled out of this weekend’s game against Washington.
Marc Columbo is likely going to miss the balance of the season for the Cowboys with a broken leg.
Jacksonville corner back Rashean Mathis has been ruled out of Sunday’s game with a groin injury.
Corner back Tracy Porter will not play for the Saints this weekend.
Jets safety Jim Leonhard has been ruled out after having thumb surgery this week.
Start/Top Plays
Look for Rashard Mendenhall to shred a Chiefs defense that is allowing 141 yards on the ground this season.
Maurice Jones-Drew should run up a ton of yards against a Bills defensive front allowing 173 rushing yards per game this year. Jones-Drew has rushed for 530 yards and seven touchdowns over the past four games. He has rushed for at least 97 yards and scored a touchdown in each of those games including a pair of multiple touchdown efforts.
Kurt Warner has thrown for 601 yards and 7 touchdowns in the two games since his five interception performance against the Panthers. Look for Warner and company to light it up against a Rams defense ranking 25th in the league in passing yards allowed. Larry Fitzgerald has caught 16 passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns in those two games.
With Ronnie Brown on the shelf Ricky Williams becomes the lead back in Miami and is coming off his first 100-yard game of the season.
LeSean McCoy is back in the starting lineup with Westbrook back on the sidelines and the Bears have struggled to stop the run this season due to various injuries.
Ladell Betts has rushed for 184 yards and two scores over the last two weeks for the ‘Skins and with Portis still recovering from a concussion Betts looks to be the lead back for Washington again this week.
With Dwayne Bowe out for the next four weeks Chris Chambers becomes the big play guy for the Chiefs. He has posted 130 receiving yards and scored a pair of touchdowns in his two games with Kansas City.
Justin Forsett is coming off a 125 yard game and looks to get the start against Minnesota this Sunday with Julius Jones not expected to play.
Jason Snelling looks to be the odds on favorite to start at running back for the Falcons this Sunday.
Ryan Fitzpatrick has been named the starter over Trent Edwards this week.
Brandon Gibson is coming off a 7-catch 93-yard performance and with Keenan Burton going on IR this week Gibson looks to assume the starting spot opposite Donnie Avery.
For what it is worth JaMarcus Russell has been benched in favor of Bruce Gradkowski.
Players on the Rise
Chris Johnson has 759 yards, 623 rushing and 136 receiving, from scrimmage over the past four weeks for the Titans. He has scored two touchdowns in each of the last three games and has rushed for at least 128 yards in each of the last four games including a season high of 228 against Jacksonville in week eight.
Tom Brady has thrown for at least 300 yards, totaling 1,395, the past four weeks. He has thrown at least three touchdowns in three of those four games for a total of 13.
Randy Moss has caught six of those touchdowns passes and posted 524 receiving yards. Moss has had at least 129 receiving yards in three of those four games.
Wes Welker has 435 yards and three touchdowns of his own over the last four weeks for the Patriots.
Frank Gore has 417 yards, 278 rushing and 139 receiving, of offense and three touchdowns over the last three weeks for the Niners.
DeAngelo Williams has rushed for 640 yards (128 ypg) and 5 touchdowns over the past five games for the Panthers. He has rushed for at least 89 yards in each of those five games and 149 or more three times. He has scored in three of those games including a pair of two touchdown games and is averaging 5.9 yards per carry.
Ray Rice has scored in each of the last five weeks for the Ravens for a total of six touchdowns. He has also gained 684 yards of offense, 367 rushing and 317 receiving, over the last five weeks. Rice has six straight games of at least 100 yards from scrimmage.
Brandon Marshall has caught 16 passes for 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns the last two weeks.
Sidney Rice is coming off the first 200-yard game of his career and has had at least 136 receiving yards in three of the Vikings last four games.
Johnathan Stewart has scored in four of the Panthers last six games for a total of six times. He has also posted a pair of two touchdown games in the last three weeks.
Steve Smith is not putting up the big yardage numbers for the Panthers but he has scored in two of the last three games including a pair of touchdowns against Atlanta last weekend.
Adrian Peterson has scored in three straight games and has scored in seven of the Vikings nine games this season.
Joseph Addai has scored in six of his last seven games including a pair of touchdowns in each of the last two games for Indy. He has also had 180 yards of offense over the last two weeks.
Matt Hasselbeck is coming off back-t0-back games where he threw for at least 300 yards and a touchdown for Seattle.
Reggie Bush is not putting up big yardage numbers, but, he has scored five touchdowns over the last five weeks for the Saints.
Laurence Maroney has scored in four straight games for the Patriots.
Brent Celek has scored in three straight games for the Eagles.
Lee Evans has scored in three of the Bills last four games.
Greg Olson has caught 12 passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns over the last two weeks for the Bears.
Roy E. Williams has caught 10 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown in Dallas’ last two games.
Jeremy Maclin has scored in two of the last three games for Philly and is averaging just over 55 yards per game in those contests.
Devin Hester is averaging 6.8 catches and 81.4 yards per game over the last five weeks. With his speed it is just a matter of time until he starts scoring touchdowns again right?
Aaron Rodgers has thrown at least one touchdown pass in every game for the Packers this season.
Bench
Jay Cutler has thrown 6 touchdowns and 12 interceptions over the last five games for Chicago. He leads the league with 17 interceptions thrown this season while the Eagles’ defense is third in the league with 15 picks.
Dwayne Bowe has been suspended by the league for four games.
Players Not Getting it Done
Matt Forte has rushed for more than 41 yards just once in the last five weeks and that came against the Browns when he ran for 90 yards. The Cleveland game was also the only game he scored in the last five games.
Marion Barber still has not run for more than 53 yards in a game since his week two injury and has only scored twice in the six games he has played in since returning from the injury.
Felix Jones is struggling as well with just 128 yards of offense and no touchdowns in his four games since returning from a knee injury.
With teams now keying on Miles Austin he has just 5 catches for 69 yards and one touchdown the last two weeks. The touchdown came on a blown coverage by the Eagles. Teams seem to be willing to let the Cowboys try and beat them with Roy Williams and/or Patrick Crayton who have not been marks of consistency this season.
Matt Ryan has thrown 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions over the past five weeks. He has also failed to pass for 200 yards in three of those games.
Joe Flacco has not thrown for 200 yards in any of his last three games and has thrown just one touchdown pass.
Jason Witten has not scored since week two and has not had more than 53 receiving yards since week three.
Santana Moss has caught just 7 passes for 55 yards over the last two games for the ‘Skins.
Heath Miller has caught just 13 passes for 82 yards and no touchdowns over the last three games for Pittsburgh.
Mike Bell has just 47 yards on 13 carries over the last two games for the Saints.
Marques Colston has caught just 3 passes for 62 yards over the last two weeks.
Kyle Orton has thrown two touchdowns and 3 interceptions and has thrown for 200 yards just once over the last three weeks.
