Every week, the Fantasy Aces will provide players, that they feel will surprise the fantasy world by having unexpected success in the upcoming week. An Ace, King, Queen and Jack - players who, in our opinion, are currently ranked outside the Top 10 but have the opportunity to produce as Top 10 players or close to it at their respective positions. The final selection will be The Wild Card – one player that has the opportunity to far exceed expectations based on a cozy match-up or prior production. Anybody can tell you to Always Start Your Studs but sometimes making the right decision for your #3 WR, flex position, questionable Quarterback or Tight End can be the difference in winning or losing. Getting off to a strong start really takes the pressure off as you move forward. Best of luck to all of you in Week 7!
Ace of Spade’s Selections
Ace: RB, Jonathan Stewart vs Bills ~ Stewart seems like he’s all healed up from his Achilles ailment and the Panthers may be getting back to what they did best last year and that was pound the football as much as possible. Certainly it helps to have a lead or at least be playing in a close game which shouldn’t be a problem this week as the Panthers will get to face the hapless Bills in their house. Williams should have a huge game and Stewart should post close to 100 yards as well and add a TD as he alternates touches with Williams and gets extra looks late in the game to close things out. Play him if you have him. (Laurence Maroney was another guy I debated using here.)
King: RB, Donald Brown @ Rams ~ Brown is a player that has great ability but because Addai has played so well ahead of him, Brown’s touches have been limited. Obviously if Addai were to go down Brown would be a STUD. However, even in this game, the Colts should get up so much and so quickly on the Rams that Addai may be chatting about family and TV shows he likes to watch with Peyton, while Brown gets to run out the game in the 4th quarter. If that’s the case, Brown could have his best statistical game of the season. Give him a shot and he could produce upwards of 90 yards and a TD.
Queen: RB, Larry Johnson vs Chargers ~ Regardless of what his yards per carry are, LJ keeps getting a ton of touches and in softer matchups is very useable. Now the Chargers have been an up and down group this year and other running backs have had success against them. Therefore, give LJ a long look this week as I think he could approach his totals from last week 90-100 total yards and maybe even cross the stripe. He not only makes for a great bye-week filler but just a solid start this week in general.
Jack: WR, Hakeem Nicks vs Cardinals ~ I had strong feelings about Nicks in the preseason and talked about that in The Draw as well. Nicks has huge hands, is a pretty polished receiver who can make big plays. Nicks got nicked up earlier in the season and both Smith and Manningham (moreso Manningham) were able to take advantage of the extra targets. However, Manningham is a little banged up and now Nicks is back and ready to roll. Nicks, as long as he’s healthy, will be a force to be reckoned with moving forward as seen by his 5 grabs for 114 yards and a TD in week 6. Nicks should post about 75-80 yards and a TD in week 7 against the Cardinals.
The Wild Card: TE, Sean Ryan vs Chargers ~ Ryan has been getting more looks in recent weeks and with the Chiefs in need of options other than Bowe who can make some plays, Ryan should continue to be targeted. Again the Chiefs are playing the Chargers in their building this week and last week the Broncos’ TE, Tony Scheffler tore the Chargers apart for over 100 yards receiving and a TD. Ryan will more than likely not match those numbers but about half the yardage with a TD should do just fine.
Ace of Heart’s Selections
Ace: WR, Jeremy Maclin @ Redskins ~ I don’t know about you but I was embarrassed for the Eagles last week, and I’m a Raider fan. What better way for the Eagles to prove they’re better than a TDless loss to the slums of the NFL than Monday Night Lights in game one of three against divisional matchups? DJax should get a lot of attention from the Skins’ secondary and Maclin has got to feel bad for putting up 6 for 142 and 2 TDs, then following up with 1 for 6 against Oak. He’s a solid low end #2, high end #3 this week and might be worth 6 for 70 and a TD.
King: QB, Mark Sanchez @ Raiders ~ Talk about what have you done for me lately, Jets win a few games and Sanchez is featured in Toyota commercials and taking the Jets all the way… lose the next three games and throw 8 interceptions and all is lost. Well fear not Jets “fans” this is Sanchez’s week to bounce back. Oakland is, well, they’re Oakland and sure they beat the Eagles last week, we all know that was so Vegas can get their money back from Giants’ 1pm disaster. Sanchez will throw up a reasonable game against Oakland this week, 250 yards, and 2 TDs.
Queen: WR, Chris Chambers @ Chiefs ~ Yup, Chris Chambers, the lineman sized receiver who’s been relatively ineffective for quite some time now. Here’s the thought, Rivers is going to Titan (59-0) the Chiefs this week who are full of all kinds of false hope since they took down the Redskins last week. What does that mean for the offense, everyone gets a TD, the good guys get two. Hard to predict yardage because this guy can’t get out of his own way, but I’d say 6 for 50 yards and a TD.
Jack: WR, Devin Hester @ Bengals ~ Cincy is #11 overall against the run which means Forte, who’s just recently come alive, is going to have a tough time moving the ball on the ground. On the flip side, Cincy is 28th against the pass surrendering an average of 254 ypg and 9 TDs on the year. Hester is a solid start on the road this week.
WR, Terrell Owens @ Panthers ~ You may not remember this guy so look somewhere around the 50+ mark on your YTD WR rankings. You drank the kool-aid and drafted T.O. thinking he’s going to do great things in Buffalo this year… so much for that idea, newsflash T.O. is garbage with a mere 215 yards and 1 TD. Awkward! He’s also playing the #2 ranked defense in the NFL with the backup QB under center. You’ve got to be questioning the logic at this point, but don’t. T.O. feeds off of matchups like this, and coming off of the big win last week (big for Buffalo standards) he’s bound to put on a performance. Plug him on one more time and cross your fingers because at this point he’s in line to be dropped for the next one week wonder.
Ace of Club’s Selection
Ace: WR, Mike Wallace vs Vikings ~ For some reason, beside the fact that he’s good, I liked him a few weeks ago and think he’s more comfortable in the offense and is being used more. If he is still available in your fantasy league, grab him, start him and hold onto him for future weeks. Most fantasy seasons are just around the half-way point, you can use Wallace down the road. I would expect he is gone in most leagues, but he’ll be worth every bid or trade you made for him. The Vikes will be concentrating on Ward and Holmes, leaving Wallace room to roam free.
King: WR, Jacoby Jones vs Niners ~ This is one of those weeks where I see the third wide receivers on most teams having a big day. This idea rings true with Jones as well. The Niners will probably put most of their defensive focus on Johnson and Walter, leaving Jones room to catch and run. It’s even better for you to start him if you’re in a PPR league. Look for a lot of short passes to move the sticks, where Johnson and Walter will get the long balls Schaub provides.
Queen: WR, Robert Meacham @ Dolphins ~ Answer these two questions for me: Who won’t Drew Brees throw to? Or who hasn’t he thrown to yet? The Saints made the Giants look silly, like a high school team last weekend. Plus, the Dolphins don’t seem to be anywhere close to the Giants, in defense. Look for Drew and the boys to have a huge fantasy day. Start every Saint, including Meacham and watch the fantasy gods shine upon you.
Jack: RB, Donald Brown @ Rams ~ Let’s face it, with every passing week I think the Rams look more and more terrible. I don’t think they can get any worse, yet they always seem to prove me wrong. They’re giving up big yardage to opposing running backs. So expect Addai to off big here and Brown to follow right along with him. If you’re looking to start someone in your flex spot, as a bye week filler, place Brown in the lineup.
The Wild Card, TE, Sean Ryan vs Chargers ~ Go ahead, laugh now, but I’ll be the one laughing later. The Chargers do not face opposing TE’s well. Sean Ryan is a sneaky start here. With Bowe and Wade taking up most of the attention of the defense, Ryan will do his fair share of production.
