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With the Dolphins taking the bye week off to recover I will use it to pat myself on the back for snatching Jay Ajayi and starting him against one of the league’s best rush defenses. So this week I’ll give my league-wide starters a little earlier so you can set your lineups accordingly. Week 8 has six teams on a bye and with midseason injuries stacking up, it can be difficult to navigate the scraps left to start this week.
START
Jameis Winston (QB, TB) – vs OAK: Jameis has had some up and down performances during his second year in the league. He struggled against Arizona and Denver, but those are two of the best pass defenses in the league. The Raiders have allowed the sixth most points by quarterbacks in the league this season. Winston plays well in cozy Raymond James Stadium, so I expect big things.
Mike Gillislee (RB, BUF) – vs NE: With the potential of Lesean McCoy missing this week’s game Gillislee looks to be the direct benefactor of the situation. The Bills rushed McCoy back too quickly last week against the Dolphins where he tweaked the injured hamstring, but by the time Gillislee was taking the snaps Tyrod Taylor was bombing it trying to get Buffalo a late stage winner. I think you can trust Gillislee to get a lot of touches this Sunday.
Davante Adams (WR, GB) – at ATL: So this seems crazy because last year Adams was a top 20 WR every week it seemed, but with the struggles of Aaron Rodgers have devalued all the Packer flex players minus Jordy Nelson. Last week, Adams put in his career-best performance with 132 yards and a touchdown on 13 catches. The Falcons secondary is pretty inconsistent and they seem to get in shootouts quite often this season.
SIT
Philip Rivers (QB, SD) – at DEN: Rivers is a solid start pretty much every week. The Chargers are perennially coming back in the 4th quarter which usually equals lots of passing attempts. I don’t like his match up in Mile High this week after he could only manage 11.12 points two weeks ago when he had the Broncos on his home turf.
Darren Sproles (RB, PHI) – at DAL: Sproles is on my fantasy bench because he’s still been able to throw up some good performances out of the backfield as a pass catcher. This week is not a good week to start Sproles even when your team is ravaged from bye weeks. 32.3% of Sproles total fantasy points this season came on a 73-yard receiving touchdown. That’s an alarming stat and I will be going to the waiver wire as soon as I submit this article.
Cameron Meredith (WR, CHI) – vs MIN: Meredith has stepped into the No. 2 receiver role in Chicago and ran with it. I don’t like his match up with Minnesota who will be looking to make a statement after their embarrassment in Philly in Week 7. To make matters more difficult, Jay Cutler returns to the starting lineup which Meredith has never showed any real rhythm with before Cutler’s injury.