Season Kickoff; Green Light/Red Light

ShareThis

Finally, the NFL season opener--like most of you, I can hardly wait for tonight’s kickoff. New Orleans at Indianapolis is the perfect game to start the season, and all signs point to it being a high-scoring affair. Tonight’s game should be a fantasy bonanza.

Chances are you had your starting lineup set on draft day, but if you’re still on the fence whether to start or sit a player, here are a few recommendations:

GREEN LIGHT

Quarterback

Matt Leinart at San Francisco—The sophomore quarterback has two stud wide receivers at his disposal and should run roughshod over the 49ers defense, which allowed 223.2 passing yards per game and 25 passing touchdowns last year.

Running Back

Deuce McAllister at Indianapolis—McAllister will split time with Reggie Bush but faces a defense that ranked dead last in the NFL against the run last year. The Colts gave up 173.0 rushing yards per game, so both McAllister and Bush should fare well.

Wide receiver

Plaxico Burress at Dallas—Burress scored in both games against the Cowboys last year, and Eli Manning will try to shake the monkey off his back Dallas is much better against the run than the pass.

Tight End

Jason Witten vs. N.Y. Giants—Witten averaged 72.5 receiving yards in two games against the Giants last year and fares well with Tony Romo at the helm.

RED LIGHT

Quarterback

Jay Cutler at Buffalo—Last season the Bills ranked seventh in the league in passing yards allowed and 28th in rushing yards surrendered. Cutler will spend most of the day handing the ball off to Travis Henry.

Running Back

Warrick Dunn at Minnesota—The Vick-less Falcons face a last year’s stingiest run defense, and Jerious Norwood will steal some time from Dunn.

Wide Receiver

Laveranues Coles vs. New England—Coles and Chad Pennington are likely to be just as inconsistent this season as they were last year, and in week one they face a defense that allowed just 10 passing touchdowns in 2006. Last year against the Patriots, Coles recorded five receptions for 29 yards and no scores.

Tight End

L.J. Smith at Green Bay—Injuries continue to plague Smith and kept him from playing in the preseason, so he’ll be rusty and competing for looks against Brian Westbrook, Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis and Hank Baskett.

Submit your lineup, trade and other fantasy questions to Lisa Kelly Eason at lisakellyeason@yahoo.com.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

  position:fixed;width:100%;

 

position:fixed;width:100%;height:100%;background:#fff;left:0;top:0;text-align:center;

  position:fixed;width:100%;

 

position:fixed;width:100%;height:100%;background:#fff;left:0;top:0;text-align:center;

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
one * = five
Solve this math question and enter the solution with digits. E.g. for "two plus four = ?" enter "6".