Ask The Commish.com - Sit or Start

Where do we start here? First, Hass didn't play in the preseason as a precaution in order to rest his injured back. He says that he's at 100% right now, but his timing might be off. Next, Hass's top 2 WRs from last year are banged up as Bobby Engram is out with a broken shoulder. Meanwhile, Branch is trying to hurry back from knee surgery and just began practicing this week. He's probably coming back too soon from this injury. Sure, there's still Nate Burleson who is healthy, but their 4th WR Ben Obomanu landed on IR due to a broken clavicle. If you drafted Hass to be your unquestioned starter you should have taken the bleak WR situation into consideration.

Player Expected Output
Comp.	Att.	Comp %	Pass Yds	Rush Yds	TDs	INTs
16	29	55	219	6	1	1

Start Jon Kitna vs Tampa Bay

The knee-jerk reaction when it comes to Kitna is to highlight the fact that Martz is gone, which means that his passing numbers will deflate, right? Maybe. However, we are more inclined to play a wait-and-see approach with Kitna, especially given the team's musical chairs situation at the running back position. Meanwhile, all those years of drafting WRs with high draft picks means that the Lions finally appear to be loaded at that position with Calvin Johnson AND Roy Williams. For all of these reasons, we saw Kitna as something of a fantasy sleeper heading into the year. If you buy those arguments (and can live with the more than occasional interceptions), there is no better time to get a return on investment than Week 1, when the Lions match up against the pitiful Falcons. If you're worried about Kitna's preseason action being limited, that's horse puckey! Kitna was an amazing 18 for 21 for 280 yards with 2 TDs turning in a QB rating of 150.5 and an 85% completion rate.

Player Expected Output
Comp.	Att.	Comp %	Pass Yds	Rush Yds	TDs	INTs
24	34	71	291	9	3	0

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Running Backs

Sit Ryan Grant vs Chicago

Face it. No one had much success running against the Vikings last year, and there’s not much reason to think that that will change this year. In fact, that defense looks to be flat out scary this year with the addition of Jared Allen. In Rogers’ debut, the Pack will likely try to lean on Grant and the run game, but that’s playing into the strength of this formidable defense. Grant was one of the great stories at the end of the season last year, but the match-up definitely leans toward a disappointing debut for Grant this season. Then when you factor into account that Grant has missed time in the preseason due to nagging injuries, we think you might be better off if you bench him in favor of a better play if you have a solid RB to put in the lineup in his place.

Player Expected Output
Att.	Yards	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TDs
18	63	2	9	0

Start Thomas Jones vs Houston

Look for Thomas Jones to help ease Brett Favre's transition to NY. Last year, Jones was a bit of a disappointment, having to contend with 8 and 9 man fronts, as defenses were not worried about Chad Pennington beating them deep. You know that defenses will pay Favre a little more attention, which means that Jones should have some room to run. That starts this week against the Miami Dolphins, whose run defense was the worst in the league in 2007 (over 2400 yards on the ground with 18 TDs). The Jets could be up early in this one, which means that we could see a heavy dose of Jones. Note also that Jones turned in two 100+ total yard performances against the Dolphins last year. Making things even tougher on the Dolphins is the fact that they have installed another new coaching staff and that their two defensive leaders (Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor) no longer wear the swimming mammal on the side of their helmet.

Player Expected Output
Att.	Yards	Rec.	Rec. Yards	TDs
24	102	2	12	1

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Wide Receivers

Sit Santana Moss vs NY Giants

First we submit to you that Moss was a major disappointment last year. Next, we should point out that the Redskins offense has been terrible in the last two weeks of the preseason. Now we know that it was just preseason, but it left a bad taste in our mouth. Furthermore, Campbell tossed only 1 TD to his WRs through the 13 games that he played in last year. That means that you shouldn't out think yourself and get cute to start Moss because he is playing in the Thursday night game. Let him sit on your bench until the Redskins offense proves that their WRs are going to be productive.

Player Expected Output
Receptions	Rec. Yards	TDs
4	54	0

Start Jerricho Cotchery vs Houston

Miami has come a long way in one off-season. They should be a lot more competitive in games this year. However, we don't think they are going to start winning this week against the Brett Favre led Jets. We firmly believe that Jerricho Cotchery is going to be the go-to wide out for the Jets this year. He seems to have developed a nice rapport with Favre and is doing much more than Coles to get on the same page as his new QB.

Player Expected Output
Receptions	Rec. Yards	TDs
8	107	1

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Tight Ends

Sit Vernon Davis vs Arizona

Sure Davis is an amazing physical specimen, but there are a lot more nuances to the passing game than just running fast and displaying strength. Nitpicky things such as route running, knowing where to settle down in a zone and catching a football. Now we also ask of you... Since when has the TE been a featured role in the Mike Martz offense? Until we are convinced otherwise, keep Davis on the pine.

Player Expected Output
Receptions	Rec. Yards	TDs
4	31	0

Start Zach Miller vs San Diego

Miller will have the luxury of facing a Broncos defense that ranked 30th in fantasy points allowed to TEs in 2007 and with a banged up WR corps that will likely force Russell to check off to his reliable TE. As such, we expect that Miller should have a nice breakout performance this week and be a hot waiver wire commodity next week.

Player Expected Output
Receptions	Rec. Yards	TDs
6	71	1

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Kickers

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Defense

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Schedule

Week 1
TEN vs PIT	8:30	NBC
NYJ vs HOU	1:00	CBS
MIA vs ATL	1:00
DEN vs CIN	1:00
MIN vs CLE	1:00
JAC vs IND	1:00
DET vs NO	1:00
DAL vs TB	1:00
PHI vs CAR	1:00
KC vs BAL	1:00
WAS vs NYG	4:15
SF vs ARI	4:15
STL vs SEA	4:15
CHI vs GB	8:20
BUF vs NE	7:00
SD vs OAK	10:15
Entire NFL Schedule

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