Week 8: Heroes, Bums, and Sleepers

Heroes

1) Peyton Manning (QB - DEN)
You can start Manning and pretty much every pass-catcher in this offense. Saints/Broncos has shootout written all over it, and if the game follows the usual Broncos script, we should see Peyton entering comeback mode at some point in the second quarter. Note that Josh Freeman set career highs against the Saints on  Sunday. Note also that Josh Freeman is not a Hall of Fame caliber QB.

2) Matt Forte (RB - CHI)
Carolina is a flaming mess at this point, losing Jon Beason and their GM this week. With the injuries and distractions, Carolina will go soft on defense (and they're already pillow soft). throw in the fact that Jay Cutler's a little banged up, and Forte should be the focus of the offense.

3) Ben Roethlisberger (QB - PIT)
The last time Big Ben played a secondary as bad as Washington's, he lit up the Raiders for 4 TDs and 384 yards passing.

Bums

1) Calvin Johnson (WR - DET)
In case you missed Monday Night Football, the Bears showed America the textbook method to shutting down the Lions offense: take away Calvin, let Stafford figure out if there's anyone else he can trust. Now, I rave about Seattle's secondary every week, so it shouldn't surprise anyone when I say that three Pro Bowlers should be able to contain Calvin. I'm feeling a pedestrian 70 yards for Megatron on Sunday.

2) All your Rams
London games are historically low-scoring, and the Rams themselves have been historically low scoring in the past six years or so. Never underestimate 7-hours worth of jetlag, which is what the Rams will face as opposed to the Patriots 6-hours of sleep alteration. If I had to start one Ram, it'd be Chris Givens--a deep threat going against a Pats D that can't handle deep threats.

3) Victor Cruz (WR - NYG)
He struggled against the Cowboys in Week 1, dropping seemingly every pass that hit his fingers. Nicks is back, and the Cowboys are ranked 7th against opposing fantasy wideouts. After four straight weeks with at least one TD, Cruz is due to lay an egg.

Sleepers

1) Dolphins D/ST
The Jets have been living off the run these past two weeks, and Miami specializes in building brick walls at the line of scrimmage. Plus the Dolphins are fresh off a bye and the Jets are fresh off a gut-wrenching OT defeat.

2) Montario Hardesty (RB - CLE)
Check Richardson's status, but if Hardesty starts his should have a solid game at home against a so-so San Diego defense playing at 1 pm.

3) Joel Dreessen (TE - DEN)
Total gut call. He's eclipsed Jacob Tamme in terms of targets, but it's hard to say which one will catch a TD this Sunday night (if either do).