Bye Weeks: Bears, Buccaneers, Falcons, Jets, Packers, Raiders

Start 'Em

Anquan Boldin vs. Ari
Boldin salvaged his Monday night performance with a 5-yard TD in the closing minutes of the contest, but finished with a season-low 40 yards receiving. He has been spotty, but should be extra motivated this week against his former team and needs to be in lineups. It is critical that the Ravens get their offense on track and the Cardinals have been lit up by every decent QB they have faced. Despite two games in which they allowed less than 160 passing yards, (Week 3 @ Sea; Week 5 @ Min) their opponents have average 274.2 passing yards per game, the 5th highest total in the league.

Breaston is looking for a big game Monday night.

Steve Breaston vs. SD
The Cardinals likely miss the services of Breaston, who has developed nice chemistry with QB Matt Cassel in recent weeks. After a sluggish start, he has four straight games with 50 or more yards receiving. While won’t throw up eye-popping stats, you could do worse than plugging Breaston in during a bye week pinch. Fellow WR Dwayne Bowe should draw plenty of attention from the Chargers on Monday night, freeing up some room for Breaston. San Diego has not allowed much in terms of passing yardage (save 423 yards from Tom Brady), but have given up 10 aerial scores.

Antonio Brown vs. NE
During Week 7 @ Arizona, QB Ben Roethlisberger looked Brown’s way early and often, targeting him a team-high 9 times. Brown responded with the best game of his young career, grabbing 7 passes for 102 yards. Brown could get a few more looks due to Hines Ward’s injury, but even if Ward plays, Brown should produce WR3 numbers against a weak Patriots secondary. New England remains the only team in the NFL that has allowed more than 300 yards per game (322.2), and they allow 8.5 yards per pass, which is tied with the Colts for the worst in the league.

Fred Davis @ Buf
Davis burst out of the gates in 2011 as he averaged 5.5 catches for 95.5 yards and scored 1 TD in the Redskins first two games, prompting many to call for a breakout season. But just like that, his next two games were stinkers: 5 catches for 57 yards combined. In the two games following the Redskins bye (and demotion of Rex Grossman & injury to Chris Cooley) Davis has averaged 6 catches for 87.5 yards and scored his 2nd TD of the season. Now that the Redskins will be without Santana Moss for several weeks, there is even more upside. Davis leads all TEs with at least 15 receptions in yards per reception (15.1). It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Bills have given up 284.8 passing yards per game and 10 aerial scores.

Bench 'Em

Sidney Rice vs. Cin
Two words: Charlie Whitehurst. Actually, it’s the Seahawks offense that just hasn’t done enough to make Rice a valuable fantasy commodity. At this point it remains cloudy as to who will start at QB. Rice seemed to be a bit better with Tarvaris Jackson behind center as his numbers have gotten progressively worse with each passing week. I am not holding out hope; the reality is that this is Rice’s 5th year in the NFL and he has had one good season (2009 - with Brett Favre). The Bengals have one of the better pass defenses in the NFL; they have held opponents to 189 passing yards per game.

Michael Jenkins @ Car
Jenkins was a hot waiver add this week to many fantasy teams in the wake of his 3-catch, 111 yard, 1 TD performance versus the Packers. He may have some chemistry brewing with rookie QB Chrisian Ponder, but we shouldn’t forget that Jenkins played 7 seasons in Atlanta and last week marked the first 100-yard game of his career. Also consider that WR Percy Harvin missed a good portion of the game due to injury, which helped Jenkins get some extra targets. Inconsistency keeps him from being a viable WR3 play this week; he’s had double-digit fantasy points in just three of seven games this season.

Eric Decker vs. Det
In his last two games (sandwiched around a bye), Decker has produced just 4 receptions for 17 yards. QB Tim Tebow targeted him only 3 times last week; he was clearly more visible on QB Kyle Orton’s radar. Upon WR Brandon Lloyd’s departure to St. Louis, it was Demaryius Thomas, not Decker, who led the Broncos with 10 targets. What started out as a promising season for Decker (4 TDs in 4 games) has slowly turned bleak. Decker will still have his moments, but will obviously struggle to find consistency. The Detroit Lions are a particularly tough test; they have a top-10 pass defense with 10 interceptions that has held opponents to 204.6 passing yards per game.

Victor Cruz vs. Mia
Cruz, coming off his bye week, had his three big games sandwiched by two stinkers, and his 2 catches for 12 yards in Week 6 were a huge disappointment after he set career highs with 161 receiving yards and 8 receptions in the previous game. He is still raw and should continue to improve, but the combination of his inconsistency and several mouths to feed in the Giant offense does not help his situation. He is competing for looks with WRs Hakeem Nicks & Mario Manningham – who is still the Giants WR2. Furthermore, TE Jake Ballard has started to emerge as a viable option in the passing game and RB Ahmad Bradshaw has 19 receptions of his own. Cruz remains boom-or-bust.

Good luck in Week 8!

Quarterbacks