Throughout the 2011 season, Tyler Loechner and Alex Miglio will select Twitter questions and answer them right here at PFF Fantasy. Although you’re bound to have your questions answered almost immediately from the staff on Twitter, we will choose a handful of good questions each week and give them more in-depth answers. Here are this week’s questions and answers:
Went into my buy with Jennings nad Big Ben came out with neither. so i guess Decker or Holmes. Ten QB vs ZONA QB? [sic] – @jimpemba777
Loechner – This tweet decoded: Eric Decker or Santonio Holmes? Matt Hasselbeck or John Skelton?
For starters, it would shock me if Big Ben didn’t play. In addition, Hasselbeck is injured but expected to play. Just monitor those two situations as the games approach.
If he plays, I would start Big Ben. I think Alex would disagree with me (he would go with Skelton). But unless he doesn’t play – I have to go with Roethlisberger. The matchup against the 49ers doesn’t scare me. If Skelton was able to throw 3 touchdowns against the Niners, Roethlisberger should have no problem. It’s San Francisco’s run defense that is truly strong. If Roethlisberger doesn’t start, go with Skelton.
I would roll the dice and play Decker over Holmes this week. I know Holmes has scored a touchdown in three straight games, but he also has just 92 yards in those games. Decker has a great matchup against New England (-21.8 pass coverage rating). You can bet the Broncos will throw it more than usual this Sunday.
Do you start Tebow over Rivers? #fantasyfootball #chargers #broncos – @NLSFootball
Yes. How can you go against Tebow these days? In all seriousness, he has been average in fantasy terms over the past couple of weeks, but he has a fantastic matchup against the Patriots Swiss Cheese. The truth is, if Broncos receivers were a bit more reliable, Tebow would have put up a much better stat line last week. I have Tebow rated as my no. 3 QB this week, while Rivers is out of the top 10 thanks to a poor matchup against the Ravens defense. I know, December is when the Chargers turn it on, but I don’t think Rivers is going to have a great day against Ed Reed and that Baltimore D.
Miles Austin or Steve Smith (CAR), who should I start in a standard scoring league? – @jrdriv
Loechner – You must be pretty stacked at wide receiver if you are having to make this decision. I say go with Steve Smith, but if you can squeeze Miles Austin in as a flex play it wouldn’t be bad.
Smith has the sixth most targets and receptions among receivers. He also has 1,278 yards, an average of 98 yards a game. Smith has been targeted at least six times every single game this season, something that won’t change even against Houston’s second ranked coverage unit (25.8 PFF rating).
Austin returned from injury last week and had a successful game. However, Dez Bryant has overtaken the “best receiver in Dallas” role, and Laurent Robinson truly has a connection with Tony Romo. Austin will be fighting those two and Jason Witten for targets.
Smith has 111 targets on the season. All other Carolina receivers have 116 targets combined. Cam Newton looks his way enough to make him a safe start. Austin is more of a hit-or-miss play.
Championship game! Pick 2: Julio, TGonz, MWillTB, Garçon. Opponent QB is Ryan. 10-pt Bon for 150+yds, 1pt per 5 recs – @ilikemunkeys
Miglio – Well, I hope you picked Julio and stayed away from Gonzalez! I think Mike Williams is your other choice here — I expect Dallas to run out to a lead against Tampa Bay, and the Buccaneers will have to throw a lot. The scoring rules are interesting, though, and I think Garcon has a chance to churn out one of his great games — he is either really good or really bad, and he has a pretty good matchup this week.
Any chance I should play Hillis over Mathews in my PPR flex this week? – @MatthewGhanem
Loechner – No. Play Mathews. He’s been a stud recently and Hillis has not. Do not fall victim to over-thinking yourself come playoff time. Colt McCoy will be out, so the Browns will have to hand the ball to Hillis a lot, right? Maybe. But even so, Hillis has just not performed.
Since returning from injury, Hillis has received 19, 12, and 10 carries in each game. His yardage: 65, 45, 25. As for the PPR business, Hillis has just three catches in the last three weeks. Nothing has been good.
Mathews, on the other hand, has three straight 100-yard games on the ground totaling 363 yards. He also carried the ball over 20 times in two of those games. He also has 10 catches over that span.
His matchup against Baltimore might be scary on paper, but again: don’t over-think yourself. The Chargers have played great football in back-to-back weeks and got Tebowed the week before. I expect the game to be very competitive, so fantasy points will be aplenty.
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