Week 1 Preview: Key Matchups and Their Fantasy Relevance

Lions at Buccaneers

This game has me far more excited than any other in week 1. Last season in week 15 the Lions beat the Buccaneers 23-20 in Tampa Bay and this game is essentially the reason that the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl.  This loss for Tampa cost them the Wild Card spot that ended up going to Green Bay instead.  Both of these teams are young and quickly rebounding into legitimate playoff contenders.  In this game last season Calvin Johnson racked up 152 yards receiving and did so with Shaun Hill at QB.  LeGarrette Blount also had a big game with 110 yards on the ground but the Lions are a much more complete defensive front 7 now and Blount will have difficulty unless Josh Freeman is able to move the ball through the air effectively. This shouldn’t be that tough considering the Lions did not address their secondary and have been susceptible to the big play.  Their hope is that the pass rush will be considerably better and will make their defensive backs not need to maintain the coverage very long.  I think the Lions are going to win this one, with big performances from all the major fantasy players in what I see as a high scoring game. I have Freeman, Mike Williams, Blount, Stafford and Calvin Johnson all ranked very high at their positions and think they are all worth a start in week 1.

Saints at Packers

The past two Super Bowl champions meet tonight to Kickoff the season and it’s hard not to be excited about these two high-powered offenses meeting up to get us all excited for the rest of the 2011 season.  What interests me most however is the defenses.  Each team is known for their ability to use disguised blitzing schemes to disrupt the rhythm of opposing quarterbacks.  This is shaping up to be another high scoring affair that is likely to be decided by a big turnover.  Both Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers are automatic starters, but Marques Colston has been inconsistent at best over the past couple of years and is a mediocre WR2 at best in my rankings this week.  The Packers have said that they plan to split carries between Ryan Grant and James Starks, but Grant is who they would likely turn to on the goal line and makes a much better RB2 or flex play.  My money is on the Packers to win this one, because of their play makers on the defensive side of the ball, but there should be plenty of fantasy points to go around for all the usual suspects.

Steelers at Ravens

This rivalry ALWAYS provides us with hard-hitting and entertaining football.  It does not typically lead to an abundance of fantasy points.  Anquan Boldin is the one guy that might be a surprise with a big week 1 performance now that Lee Evans is there to stretch the field vertically and open up passing lanes across the middle for Boldin who has always been more productive with a deep threat on the other side of the field.  Ray Rice and Rashard Mendenhall both need to be started regardless of the very difficult match up and Big Ben is still 8th in my rankings.  Flacco on the other hand has never beaten the Steelers with Roethlisberger running the show for Pittsburgh and is not a viable week 1 starter unless its a 2 QB format. Mike Wallace is also still worth a start given his speed and big-play ability will still force Ben to look his way deep a few times throughout the course of the game.  I like the Steelers to win this one, but it will be pretty close and very entertaining.