Fantasy Week 3: Start 'em and Sit 'em

Alright folks, it's that time again!  Now is the time of year you pray you have depth on your roster because star players have been struck down by injuries.  This is also the time where wire waiver pickups may end up sealing your deal for a championship.  Every year there is some under-the-radar player that steps in for an injury and scores massive points.  Who will be this year's Arian Foster or Larry Johnson?  One of the start 'em RBs I list below just may be that man this year.

QBs:

Start 'em:

Rex Grossman:  He's been pretty effective thus far and is going against a banged up Dallas secondary.  He doesn't look like the same QB he was in Chicago.  He's averaged 270 yards in the past two games and has thrown for 4 TDs.  He won't be a fantasy stud, but he looks like a good #2 QB to have on your roster.  If you have a banged up Tony Romo or if you were foolish enough to think you could survive with Donovan McNabb as your starting QB, you may want to give Grossman a look this week.

Colt McCoy: This is going for a conservative pick here.  Outside of a poor Miami defense in the first two weeks, there is no reason to think McCoy would go off on a fantasy tear.  He isn't even a lock to throw for 200 yards in any given week and he normally won't put up 3 TDs in an outing.  With Miami's lack of ability to create turnovers though, McCoy becomes a safe pick if you need a QB that can give you 8-14 points.  Don't expect 2-3 TDs, but 180 yards with a score wouldn't be a bad prediction.

Mark Sanchez:  He's back to his INT throwing ways, but the Jets are struggling to move the ball on the ground and Oakland's secondary has been uninspiring without Nnamdi Asomugha.  Sanchez should be good for 200+ yards with 2 TDs.

Sit 'em:

Blaine Gabbert:  Rookie QB with limited weapons making his first start.  Don't expect another Cam Newton or Peyton Manning rookie outbreak here.

Jason Campbell:  He's been a pretty good QB so far and I expect Oakland to give the Jets a fight, but I think the Raiders will try to win through the ground.

Matt Cassel:  He's banged up and the Chiefs passing game looks pretty bad.  Luckily, the Chiefs can still run.  Unfortunately, their defense is so bad that the Chiefs have had to abandon the run game.

RBs:

Start 'em:

Dexter McCluster:  Looking for a player that could be the season's outbreak player and the next Johnson or Foster?  Look here.  Charles is out for the year and McCluster will split carries with Thomas Jones.  I expect McCluster to finish with more yards and will ultimately have more carries for the year than Thomas Jones.  The Chiefs still have a good run offense and McCluster is an explosive player.

Rashard Mendenhall:  He'll be going against a weak defense and a team the Steelers should easily dominate.  This means Mendenhall should see plenty of carries, yards, and maybe even a TD or two.

Ben Tate:  Even if Arian Foster does play, which isn't a certainty, he will almost certainly split many carries with Tate.  In fact, expect Tate to receive more touches than Foster.  He's going against New Orleans, an explosive offense, but Tate will still be featured plenty in what is sure to be a high scoring game.

Sit 'em:

Shonn Greene:  The running game has struggled and he's still splitting carries with LaDanian Tomlinson.  He'll be facing the Raiders, who I expect the Jets to attack through the air.

Joseph Addai: The Colts haven't figured out that without Peyton Manning, they should probably run the ball more.  Since they're going against the Steelers this week, it doesn't even matter if they finally figured it out.  The Colts woeful offense will continue and Addai will offer little support.

Willis McGahee:  He is only averaging 3.3 YPC and that is the exact number of yards allowed per carry the Titans defense has given up.  He's not an explosive player and the Titans haven't exactly been easy to run on.

WRs:

Start 'em:

Vincent Jackson:  If you have held him out of your lineup to see how he performs, it is time to start playing him on a more regular basis.  He's a big target Rivers loves and is a great red zon target.  He sat out practice, but it has been finally reported as abdomen soreness.  While VJax is expected to play, his co-partner Malcom Floyd may miss the game.  That means even more targets for Jackson.

Steve Smith : His rookie QB is doing a good job of gaining a lot of passing yards and Smith is finally seeing chunk yards again after enduring a season with Jimmy Clausen and Matt Moore as his QBs.  Smith will be going against a struggling Jacksonville secondary that may without Derek Cox yet again.

A.J. Green:  He has been doing pretty well for the first few weeks of the season and will play an underwhelming 49ers secondary at home.  On top of that, the game is a scheduled 1pm EST game at Cincy.  The 49ers are historically bad on the east coast for the early games.  On the flip side, 49ers QB Alex Smith has a 99.8 QB rating when he throws passes before 3pm EST on days with 4 clouds in the sky with less than 3.4 mph winds heading in the southeast direction.  Maybe that offsets the 49ers' poor early game performances.  Maybe.

Sit 'em:

Chad Ochocinco:  For all the hype he received going to New England, he's been about as effective for the Patriots offense in the past two weeks as Randy Moss was for New England in weeks 16 and 17 of last season.  For those that caught it and realized Moss was not on the roster, you just realized exactly how much of an impact Ochocinco has had thus far.

Denarius Moore:  He's tempting because he had a big week against Buffalo.  If Oakland starters Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy return, Moore will see himself pushed back on the roster and would see his targets drop.  If Heyward-Bey and Murphy don't return, which is the more likely scenario, Moore will be matched up against Darrelle Revis.  Neither scenario is very attractive.

Derrick Mason:  Both Mason and Plaxico Burress have been unimpressive with the Jets, but Mason has been as nonexistant as Ochocinco has been for New England.  He has 26 yards on 4 receptions through two games.  It's probably not a good idea to have Mason in your starting lineup until he proves something.

TEs:

Start 'em:

Rob Gronkowski:  He is already a great red zone target, but Aaron Hernandez is out, meaning Gronk will see even more targets his way.  He should end up becoming an every week start at TE.

Jermaine Gresham:  He's become a good target for the Bengals and once again, will face an uninspiring 49er defense that has allowed 3 TDs on 4 possessions when there is 4 clouds in the air and the sun is in their eyes.  Only Jerome Simpson and AJ Green have been targeted more this season, but Simpson's status for Sunday is in doubt after police found Ricky Williams' pot stash in Simpson's house.  Gresham has a good chance to reach 50+ receiving yards and I think he can haul in a TD.

Sit 'em:

Ben Watson:  Miami has just been awesome at shutting down TEs.

Marcedes Lewis: He hasn't been used much in Jacksonville's offense.  He's a big name, but he's had little production thus far.  Maybe that will change with Blaine Gabbert at QB, but I wouldn't bet on a big turnaround just yet.  Give him a few weeks to show he can turn it around before he's thrown in the lineup.

Zach Miller:  He's a great talent at TE, but his talent is being wasted by having Tarvaris Jackson as his starting QB.  What a shame that his talents couldn't be used in a better location... such as South Beach.

Authors:

Start 'em:

Finhead83: He has Bacon's entire photo album since birth.

Sit 'em:

Little Nicky:  He lost his stilts and thus has been unable to reach the door knob to leave his bedroom.

Sorry for the shameless self promotion at the end!  That's all for this week folks!