Week 9 Where to Put 'em

Put 'em In The Game: Joe Flacco
You've gotta love the match up. Joe Flacco has been an elite QB this year. When he faced the Bengals in Week 5, he went 22-31 for 186 yards, 1 TD, and 2 picks. That's a poor performance that he'll want to rebound from. Cincy ranks 30th in the league against the pass and Flacco will take advantage of that.

Put 'em In The Game: Matt Hasselbeck
The last time I put Hasselbeck on the Start'em List, he failed me and all of those owners who started him based upon his match-up. Well, here he is once again, and based upon his match-up, how can you not start him? He's 6th among QB's this week in the FFN rankings because he's facing the Lions who have been torched through the air all season long. Give 'em the start.

Put 'em In The Game: Julius Jones
Hasselbeck becomes a good start when playing the Lions and Julius Jones gets to take advantage of the situation as well. Detroit ranks 21st against the run giving up an average of 117 yards per game on the ground. Check to see if he's still available in your league. He's still available in 25% of FleaFlicker leagues.

Put 'em In The Game: Pierre Thomas
Coming in this week at #8 among RB's is Pierre Thomas with a favorable match-up against the 24th-ranked Carolina Panther's rush defense that's allowing an average of 127 yards on the ground.

Put 'em In The Game: Jamaal Charles
This may not work out, but I like the odds on Jamaal Charles this week as he becomes the featured back in the KC offense. He may be ranked 25th among RB's this week on FFN, but I think he'll outperform his projection. The Jaguars are ranked 25th against the run giving up 128 yards per game on average. Larry Johnson has been on a downward slide averaging just over 2 yards a carry. Charles is certainly much more explosive and that's evident in his 5.0 yards per carry average. If you need a filler this week, Charles just may be your man considering the fact that he's available in 63% of all FleaFlicker leagues.

Put 'em In The Game: T.J. Houshmandzadeh
Housh stunk it up his past two games with 4 receptions each game for a paltry 34 and 24 yards respectively. I hate to pick on the Lions but I'm confident that Seattle will do that for me. Expect a rebound from Housh this week.

Put 'em In The Game: Greg Jennings
Jennings didn't see any action until the start of the 2nd half last week, but once the Pack involved him in the offense, the tempo of the game picked up. That was against the Vikings. This week he gets the Bucs and that means that every Packer should be in your lineup. Tampa Bay has a middle-of-the-road pass D that gives up 214 yards per game. There's no way that Rodgers throws for less than 300 yards in this game, so start Jennings and Driver.

Put 'em In The Game: Dwayne Bowe
He's fresh off of a bye. Jacksonville is 25th against the pass. These are great reasons to start Bowe who finds himself ranked #12 this week on FFN among WR's. Oh yeah, the Jaguars give up more than 20 points to lead WR's on average.

Put 'em In The Game: Vernon Davis
What do you want me to say? The guys on fire and there's no slowing him down now. Oddly enough, his trajectory this year is not based upon an increase in his production. It's due to the fact that he's getting more than double the number of looks this year versus 2008. This week he faces a poor Tennessee secondary that surrenders points through the air.

Put 'em In The Game: Jason Witten
Miles Austin has become Tony Romo's favorite target as of late and Witten hasn't been producing like many had expected. He's ranked #5 among TE's this week against a very respectable Philly D, but the Eagles tend to give up points to TE's and Witten's not your average TE.

Put 'em On The Bench: Matt Schaub
Sit Matt Schaub? Are you kidding me? Well that depends. If you have a stronger play this week, then yes. Schaub is ranked 15th among QB's this week facing the 7th-ranked Indy pass defense that has only allowed 3 TD's all year long. The loss of Daniels is an unknown variable this week, but I can't imagine that it's going to help the situation.

Put 'em On The Bench: Ben Roethlisberger
Surprised to see Big Ben here? So am I, but I'd put Kyle Orton here too. They're playing against each other and each is bringing a tough D with them. Denver allows 180 yards/game with a whopping total of 4 TD's all season. Big Ben will most likely do better than 180 yards, but the Denver D is for real this year.

Put 'em On The Bench: Knowshon Moreno
I'll be sitting Knowshon this week as he faces a ridiculously tough Steeler's Defense that ranks #1 against the rush and has only given up 2 rushing TD's all season. He's still sharing duties with Buckhalter so that makes it very difficult for him to have a fantasy-worthy weekend.

Put 'em On The Bench: Marion Barber
Romo's been pretty pass happy lately and that's been working out for him. Barber on the other hand hasn't performed well since Week 2. Philly has a respectable rush defense allowing just over 100 yards/game on the ground and they've only given up 4 TD's all year on the ground. Barber obviously has the potential to do well, but the odds aren't with him this week.

Put 'em On The Bench: Anquan Boldin
He'll play. He won't play. He'll play. He won't play. Boldin has not been the productive player we all hoped he'd be. His nagging injury and Warner's poor performance have hurt his value.

Put 'em On The Bench: Santonio Holmes
Holmes looked great in Week 1. Unfortunately nobody knows where that guy went. Holmes hasn't lived up to that game since. (See Big Ben above) Denver's defense is for real and the only WR's who have done well are the short route possession receivers (hello...Hines Ward anyone) which Holmes is not.

Put 'em On The Bench: Roy E. Williams
I don't know about you, but I've basically given up on Roy Williams. Miles Austin put the final nails in the Williams coffin over the past few weeks. He's ranked #52 this week among WR's on FFN against the 10th-ranked Philly pass defense.

Put 'em On The Bench: Kellen Winslow
Kellen Winslow will face a tough Packer's D this week that ranks 9th in the league against the pass. While I think there's always the potential for Winslow to go off like Week 5, he's coming off two poor games prior to the bye week where he managed just 2 and 3 receptions respectively. He's currently ranked 8th among TE's this week and I think that may be too optimistic. We'll see.

Put 'em On The Bench: Heath Miller
Heath Miller has quietly become one of the best Tight Ends in the NFL, but he's got the worst possible match-up this week against the Broncos who allow less than 4 fantasy points per game to opposing TE's.