Week 11. In past seasons you’d only have regular three weeks before the playoffs. Now we have another week, but the long season is taking a toll on many of our starters, meaning that your waiver wire skills are more important than ever. We’re here every Tuesday to help you out.
QBs:
Cam Newton, Panthers vs. The Football Team: I definitely want Cam on at least one of my squads for this game. Cam loves the limelight and he’s “home” in Carolina against a bad Washington team. I expect the Panther’s staff will draw up some plays that play to his strengths like they did last weekend, and you can bet that he’s going to pull it down and run anytime there’s pressure or good coverage. He’s going to want to show out in this game with the home crowd roaring. I don’t have confidence in him long-term or when they play a Top 10 defense, but for this week Cam will be worth a roll of the dice.
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins @ Jets: Although his injured finger was making it difficult for him to grip the ball Thursday night, Tua showed that he’s the best QB on the Dolphins. He should be more ready this week and healthy enough to tame a lame Jets defense that’s giving up over 400 yards passing every game.
Jimmy Garroppolo, 49ers @ Jaguars, Unfortunately, the Niners aren’t giving up on the season just yet, although they should. So Jimmy G gets another start. He’s a decent, average, capable quarterback who can put up some points on the Jags who are giving up 26.1 points per game.
Kickers!
Graham Gano, Giants @ Buccaneers, He’s second in the league in field goal accuracy and third in the league in field goals made. The Giants are playing Tampa Bay this week and likely won’t be finishing a lot of drives in the end zone. Gano should score more points than anyone on the Giants.
Randy Bullock, Titans at home vs. Texans: The Texans are allowing 8 points per game to opposing kickers and against two of the best teams they’ve played, the Bills and the Patriots they gave up 16 and 13 respectively. The Titans rank up there with the best in the AFC and I expect they’re going to put up some points this week.
Chris Boswell, Steelers at home vs. Chargers: The Steelers will give the Chargers a bigger challenge than most think, and they’ll take the points when they can get them against the high octane Chargers. Also, Chris Boswell will kick well just because he’s happy to be out of Pittsburgh in November.
Defenses:
Steelers @ Chargers: Justin Herbert has been so good that people forget that he is still just a second-year player. The Steelers D is good enough to make this an ugly game. On offense, they’ll run as much as they can and end up finishing drives with field goals.
Cowboys at Chiefs: The Chiefs were a great team to pick on this season because Patrick Mahomes was throwing picks. After one good win, everyone thinks the Chiefs are back. They are, but Mahomes is still going to throw some picks and with the good Cowboys secondary, he’s going to have to pull it down and run now and then, leading to sacks.
Raiders at home vs. Bengals: The Bengals are coming off of a bye week, but the Raiders are at home in their time zone, so there’s not a big rest advantage for the Bengals. The Raiders play better at home and their defense is legit and Joe Burrow is still a second-year QB. This could be a shoot-out, but the Raiders’ defense is good enough to give the Bengals’ offense plenty of trouble.
Thanks for reading and feel free to hit me up with questions on Twitter @ThePhilFactor
