Solving The Puzzle - Week 7

So I’ve decided to take a pin to the full “Thought Bubble” articles and hopefully make something a bit more enjoyable to read (and write).

With the Hype Train, Monday Maybes and Waiver Fire being popular articles I’m hoping that “Solving the Puzzle” will be just as liked and complete the set.

Solving the puzzle will attempt to come up with the logical arguments and find some of the facts you’ll need towards setting your line-up for Sunday. Which matchups are a few pieces short of a jigsaw and which players are holding the top trump card? This is still a work in progress but here is the week 7 puzzle.

Fixtures:

Tennessee	@	LA Chargers
New England	@	Chicago
Buffalo	@	Indianapolis
Detroit	@	Miami
Minnesota	@	New York Jets
Carolina	@	Philadelphia
Cleveland	@	Tampa Bay
Houston	@	Jacksonville
New Orleans	@	Baltimore
LA Rams	@	San Francisco
Dallas	@	Washington
Cincinnati	@	Kansas City
New York Giants	@	Atlanta

Handy Hints:

Here are a few players who may be worth starting this week with a few clues as to why.

Kerryon Johnson (DET) – The Dolphins are one of the worse teams at defending the run but arguably one of the strongest against the pass. With Theo Riddick likely to miss out it’s up to Johnson and Blount and Kerryon should have a great chance to assert some authority.

Taylor Gabriel (CHI) – Unlike the Dolphins, the Patriots can’t really defend the pass to well and Trubisky should have plenty of time to pick out some passes. With Allen Robinson questionable, expect Gabriel to be a key part of the game plan.

Duke Johnson (CLE) – With the big news of Carlos Hyde being traded to the Jaguars it’s now up to Duke and Chubb to advance the Browns on the ground. Chubb can pull off big plays but really in these early days without Hyde, you have to expect Duke to get most of the work.

Jermaine Kearse (NYJ) – With Terrelle Pryor being released, Quincey Enunwa out injured and no clear tight end option the Jets now have Kearse and Robby Anderson as their primary pass catchers. They face a Vikings team missing a number of key players on defence and who aren’t playing to the best of their ability either.

Jordan Reed (WAS) – Crowder and Richardson are both missing, Thompson is questionable and Doctson is just disappointing so really, who else can Alex Smith pass to?

Stirling Shepard (NYG) – You can play anyone against the Atlanta defence currently and so OBJ and Engram are good plays too but Shepard is on a few benches but may be worth squeezing into the flex if you feel you can.

Antonio Callaway (CLE) – Play any receiver against Tampa Bay. Landry is heavily owned and is due a big week which leaves Callaway as the next option either off waivers or off the bench. He might only have 3 catches but those could be 2 long touchdowns and a big connection.

The Trick Question:

Colts vs Bills

I’d be very careful before thinking about firing up the Colts. The Bills are currently a top 10 defence if you look at the stats. Luck, Hilton and Ebron are weekly starters but may not reach the heights you would expect and Hines and Mack aren’t slam dunks either. Also, bear in mind Derek Anderson May play conservatively to settle in and opportunities and points may be hard to come by for both teams.

Broken Pieces:

This is going to be a list of Injuries to look for over the weekend. I’ve removed people already ruled out and I’ll post their latest situation and where you need to be planning alternatives:

Hopefully, over the week you’ll have heard the news on people ruled out already, including Devonta Freeman, Dalvin Cook, Leonard Fournette, Cooper Kupp, Quincey Enunwa, Ted Ginn, Ryan Tannehill and Josh Allen.

Player (Team)	Position	Designation	Comment
Calvin Ridley (ATL)	WR	Healthy
Mohamed Sanu (ATL)	WR	Healthy
Greg Olsen (CAR)	TE	Healthy
Allen Robinson (CHI)	WR	Questionable	Game time Decision
Khalil Mack (CHI)*	DST	Questionable	Game time Decision
Giovani Bernard (CIN)	RB	OUT
CJ Uzomah (CIN)	TE	Healthy
DeAndre Hopkins (HOU)	WR	Healthy
Keke Coutee (HOU)	WR	Healthy
Will Fuller (HOU)	WR	Healthy
Ryan Grant (IND)	WR	OUT
TJ Yeldon (JAX)	RB	Healthy
Melvin Gordon (LAC)	RB	Questionable	Late Decision, Pessimistic.
Vikings DST (MIN)*	DST	Q x4
Sony Michel (NE)	RB	Questionable	Expected to Play
Julian Edelman (NE)	WR	Questionable	Expected to Play
Josh Gordon (NE)	WR	Questionable	Expected to Play
Rob Gronkowski (NE)	TE	Doubtful
Isaiah Crowell (NYJ)	RB	Questionable	Expected to Play
Pierre Garcon (SF)	WR	Questionable	Game Time Decision
Dante Pettis (SF)	WR	OUT
George Kittle (SF)	TE	Healthy
Matt Breida (SF)	RB	Healthy
Chris Thompson (WAS)	RB	Doubtful
Adrian Peterson (WAS)	RB	Questionable	Expected to Play
Jamison Crowder (WAS)	WR	OUT
Paul Richardson (WAS)	WR	Doubtful

Week 7 Quiz:

Just to end on a bit of fun I’m going to post a few quiz questions for people to have a guess at.

For these take the shirt number of the player you feel will top that statistic and follow the instructions. These are for the Sunday games as I’ll give the answers and a shoutout to the closest scorer during Monday Maybes.

1. QB with most passing yards X Wide Receiver with most receiving yards
2. RB with must rushing yards + TE with most receptions
3. First DST player to score a TD - QB with most interceptions

Good Luck with that. Send in your answers by commenting on here or tweeting me @FFthinker with the hashtag #nflpuzzle