NFL Matchups to Exploit in Week# 1

San Diego at Kansas City
Look for Rivers and Gates to hook up often against this porous pass defense of the Chiefs. They have improved somewhat in the secondary, but they are still way too vanilla. The Chiefs have one of the weakest pass rush lines in the league which should help out Ryan Mathews who might have good numbers running over those undersized K.C. linemen.

Start:
Rivers
Mathews
Gates

Risky Start:
Jamaal Charles

Sit:
Cassel

Baltimore at the New York Jets
With Revis still fighting for a new contract look for Joe Flacco to try and take advantage of that by throwing medium to long range shots to Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason. TE Todd Heap might be a nice play in TD only leagues when the Ravens work their way in to the red zone. Ray Rice will most likely have a poor rushing game against that Jet line but might have a great deal of passes thrown his way to compensate for his lack of rushing yards.

The same goes for Jets QB Mark Sanchez. He will have to throw often and accurately to score points against that Raven defense. The Raven secondary is in free-fall without Ed Reed. This will be a real test for Sanchez to try and take advantage of the situation. Look for either Edwards or Cotchery to benefit from that sickly Raven secondary and a Jets QB with a chip on his shoulder.

We will see how far Sanchez has come. He is a high risk/ high reward play in week # `1.

Start:
RIce
Mason
Boldin
Flacco

Risky Start:

Cotchery
Edwards
Heap
Sanchez

Detroit at Chicago

With the pass happy Mike Martz system in place and a Detroit Lion team making great off-season moves, this might be a high scoring Arena League match up to dream of! Well, not so fast. The Bear defense is still pretty good and if the Lions are to keep up with them in week # 1, their offensive line, (which is supposed to be improved) will have to keep Urlacher and crew out of Mathew Stafford’s grill.
I look for Forte and Knox to have big games, while Hester will go downtown a couple of times and he just might catch one for a TD. Jay Cutler is a good play in week #1 and this might be the game that will improve his fading confidence caused by an underachieving offensive line in pre-season.

Mathew Stafford might be a little riskier play. If the line does well in pass protect then Calvin Johnson will have a big game. I really like Jahvid Best since he will most likely be the recipient of dink and dunk passes to slice through the slow Bear secondary with blinding speed.

Start:
Cutler
Knox
Hester
Forte
Best
Calvin Johnson

Risky Start:
Stafford

Defensive teams to start in Week # 1

Arizona
Dandy Don might come out early in the second quarter and sing “Turn out the Lights!”
The Cardinal defense is the play of the week against a rookie quarterback, an offensive line that barely has a pulse, and the relief of knowing that Matt Leinart is not on the team anymore! Happiness will reign supreme as sacks, interceptions, and fumbles wreak havoc with the new-look Rams.

San Francisco

The 49er’s are hungry and have had a lot of off-season drama to deal with. They will blow off steam against the hapless Seahawks.

Sleeper Picks of the Week:

Carson Palmer. He will carve up the New England secondary like a Thanksgiving Day turkey. The Patriots have the youngest cornerbacks with the least experience in the league and have a ZERO pass rush. The recipe is here for Carson to have a big day. Ochocinco and T Owens will put up some nice numbers if they can tear themselves away from their reality television shows.

Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. Start them. They are playing Buffalo.

Enough said?

James