Week Nine Automatics/Don’t Do Its

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Who are fantasy football automatics and don’t do its for week nine. Zack has players under the radar to start and ones to also sit out.

Josh McCown
With the Bears coming off a bye week some may have forgot how McCown performed filling in for Jay Cutler against the Redskins. Green Bay has improved defensively but has not faced a stellar offense in quite awhile. Trestman is an offensive guru and will assuredly have some play calls up his sleeve from the extra preparation coming off a bye week.

Thad Lewis
Call it how you want to but Lewis has been a difference maker in all three starts that he has played in. Pulling off a near upset against the Bengals and doing so against Miami. He has a solid accurate arm and the Bills do a good job of calling correct play calls for him. Kansas City’s defense has been a bit vulnerable against the pass lately. Lewis should be able to make the same amount of factor plays that he has been doing the last three games.

Marshawn Lynch
I touched on Lynch in my fourth quarter killers. This is the perfect setup for Lynch to finally get rolling. Tampa Bay has been torched every week. At first it was just poor results from their offense as the defense held ground. But over the last three to four games it has been on both sides of the football. Look for Lynch to get going early and for the Seahawks to have a high tally of rushing yards.

Danny Woodhead
The favorable matchups for the Chargers as a top fantasy football team just don’t stop. Philip Rivers has been great to the first half of the season, and will look to continue to keep the offense motivated against a Redskins defense that gives up a lot of yardage. An unsung fantasy football performer has been Danny Woodhead. He isn’t going to rush for 100 yards, but he will outproduce plenty of fantasy football running backs that do.

Marques Colston
New York’s defense is going to get all it can handle and then some Sunday. Andy Dalton has never been a fantasy football stalwart yet he still torched them. Imagine what Drew Brees and Sean Payton will have in store Sunday? Colston has been the forgotten Saint. His stats haven’t been there and he seems to be dropping by the second in fantasy enthusiasts minds. Wait just a few more weeks on him. He should show some positive signs with this matchup against the Jets.

Others: Joe Flacco, Terrelle Pryor, Le’Veon Bell, Kyle Rudolph and Darren McFadden

Don’t Do Its

Tom Brady
Brady’s poor performance against a Dolphins defense that has been struggling should be a high indicator that the Patriots have issues. He was able to lead the Patriots back to a win, but also got away with a late fumble that was recovered by New England. If that had been scooped up and returned for a touchdown things could have been completely different. Statistically Tom Brady has never fared well against defenses that attack. Pittsburgh gave up some big plays early to Oakland and then settled down. They’ll be ready for Brady.

Nick Foles
Mike Vick tried to return from a hamstring and now Nick Foles tries to return from a concussion. The ebb and flow of the Eagles offense that is vital to Chip Kelly’s success is gone. I don’t see it suddenly surging with Nick Foles return. Foles last time out was a woeful outing against the Cowboys. Teams now know how to prepare for Foles and he has yet to adjust.

DeMarco Murray
Murray has been the hot potato fantasy football player that drives owners nuts. Coming off of an injury I would not trust Murray one bit. Minnesota’s defense showed strong pride last week in their loss to Green Bay. Down and out they held the Packers to a field goal from inside their own five yard line. Look for the Vikings to get after a Cowboys team still probing and searching to what happened last week.

Jason Witten
Dez Bryant was on the sideline being held back by Jason Witten at the end of their devastating loss to the Detroit Lions. Maybe Bryant should have been yelling at Witten. Before he was an automatic top five tight end week in and week out. The offense has not changed from a high volume pass offense, yet Witten’s fantasy production has dropped immensely. I believe the Cowboys as a whole will struggle offensively except for Dez.

Others: Chris Johnson, Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Matt Ryan, Jacquizz Rodgers, and Texans Rb’s