1. Jason Witten vs. St. Louis. Regardless of who’s playing QB, Romo or Johnson, Witten should have a huge day against a poor Rams’ middle of the defense. If it is the back-up who does indeed line up behind center, look for him to target Witten early and often as the Cowboys scale down their play calling to compensate for the new QB. Johnson, a long-time veteran in the league, also knows that a great TE is a quarterback’s best friend and we see Witten going for at least 80 yards in this one with a score. We’d predict more, but we see Dallas jumping to an early lead and running from then on out.
2. Dallas Clark vs. Green Bay. Thus far, it’s been a very quiet season for Clark as he’s had to overcome an early injury that kept him out of the lineup and an offense that hadn’t yet found its rhythm. That all changed last week against the vaunted Ravens defense. The Colts showed they were back with an impressive air show. This week, they get the Packers; a far less formidable opponent on that side of the ball. The Pack will most likely be forced to play a LB vs. Clark while the rest of the secondary focuses on Wayne, Harrison and Gonzalez, so look for Manning to exploit that match-up all day and for Clark to put up solid yardage with at least one score, if not two.
3. Tony Scheffler vs. New England. All signs out of Denver point to a return to action this Monday night for the Broncos TE and that’s good news for fantasy owners. Scheffler has become one of Cutler’s favorite targets and should find favorable match-ups all night long. New England is still strong against the run, but they are vulnerable vs. the pass, as we all saw last Sunday, when the Chargers consistently attacked with the deep ball. Look for Belichick to focus his attention on stopping WR Brandon Marshall and the deep attack, which should mean a healthy evening out of Scheffler. 75 yards and a TD.
4. Chris Cooley vs. Cleveland. The Browns played its best game of the season Monday, knocking off the World Champs with a 35-14 victory at home, and we think they might have spent too much energy in the process to carry that type of an effort over to this one. Conversely, Washington is mad because they overlooked a winless Rams team who came into Fedex and pulled off the upset. One strong sign from that game however was the frequency with which Campbell looked, and directed balls towards, his TE. Look for that trend to continue again this weekend and Cooley to top the 70 yard mark.
Sleepers:
1. Owen Daniels vs. Detroit. Houston finally got its 1st win of the season last Sunday and Detroit kept on with its losing ways. In that game vs. Miami, Daniels was targeted often and finished with 70 yards in the contest. Look for Schaub to target his 2nd favorite pass catcher, after Andre Johnson, again in this game and we think he’ll finally catch one that results in six.
2. Zach Miller vs. New York Jets. Although the Raiders offense, and in particular, the passing game has been poor this season, Miller has been a lone bright spot and is developing quite a rapport with 2nd-year QB JaMarcus Russell. In a game against San Diego recently, he caught a 65-yard TD down the seam and in their blowout loss last Sunday against the Saints, he still led the team with 46 receiving yards. The Jets D is anything but intimidating, and we like Miller to continue his receiving success this Sunday. Look for him to eclipse 50 receiving yards and be targeted in goal line situations.
