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Upcoming Matchups -- Week 7

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Each week, you'll see a listing of the best and worst matchups both rushing and passing. If you can, exploit these matchups. Obviously, nothing is 100% in football, but each weekly matchup has been analyzed using statistics from each team's last four games. This is kind of a 'what have you done for me lately' aproach. When 'average' statistics are given, they are from that team's last four games. Let's get to it.

RUSHING
Good matchups
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Chicago -- The Bears have been allowing 128 yards per game on the ground. The last three games have seen struggling ground games (New Orleans, Minnesota, and Philadelphia) come to life. Let's see, do the Bucs struggle on the ground? I hope you aren't waiting on the answer. Tampa Bay has been rolling up the yardage (averaging 145). One thing though, Chicago hasn't been allowing many TDs and the Buccaneers haven't been scoring many. Still, Alstott should have a solid week.

St. Louis Rams vs Cleveland -- Oh, the woeful Browns. A great game for them is leading at the half (that means they got one last week). Anyway, Cleveland's run defense is allowing 147 yards per game, and Marshall Faulk is coming off his best game of the year. There's no way Faulk should see your bench this week, and in large leagues, you might think about starting Holcombe. He could get a couple of scores for you.

Oakland Raiders vs NY Jets -- Last week, the Raiders completely destroyed what was one of the league's best run defenses. Oakland ran for 195 yards against Buffalo. That would be good against a WAC defense, but doing it against the Bills is unbelievable. Anyway, Oakland has shown they can run on anybody, and the Jets aren't exactly stellar stopping the run. That's a great matchup for Tyrone Wheatley.

Bad matchups
Seattle Seahawks vs Buffalo -- Once again, the Bills allowed Oakland to rush for 195 yards last week. Throw that out, because the run defense will get some attention this week in Buffalo. There's no way they don't get that fixed this week. If for no other reason, it will improve because Seattle hasn't been able to run down a hill thus far in the season. That's right, the Seahawks (Ricky Watters specifically) is averaging a pitiful 80 yards per game with no TDs. How can they be that bad? Isn't Holmgren a savior? Oh wait, he's a passing coach....never mind.

Philadelphia Eagles at Miami -- Duce Staley and the Eagles ground game has actually looked good the last couple of weeks. Well, two weeks in a row ain't bad for Philly. The Dolphins are allowing 63 ground yards per game and zero TDs per game. If Staley reaches those paltry numbers this week, he should be proud.

New Orleans Saints at NY Giants -- Did you happen to catch the Giants absolutely stifle Emmitt Smith last Monday night? The Cowboys (who had been averaging around 125 ypg on the ground) rushed for an astounding 24 yards against New York. Ricky Williams hasn't been setting the world on fire and will not break out this week in New Jersey.

Chicago Bears at Tampa Bay -- The Bears have rushed for decent yardage this season. The problem is they don't score any TDs on the ground. Right now, they are averaging zero. Which happens to be the exact same amount of rushing TDs that Tampa Bay is allowing. I can do that math in my head. Furthermore, the Bucs aren't allowing many yards. No Enis envy this week.

PASSING
Good matchups
St. Louis Rams vs Cleveland -- St. Louis passing against anyone has been a good matchup all season. Playing at home against Cleveland will be scary. Will Warner throw three TDs in the first half? Or will it be the first quarter? Maybe Paul Justin will throw one.

Minnesota Vikings vs San Francisco -- If I was Randall Cunningham, I'd be a little upset at the timing of my benching. Jeff George will be awesome this week. The only QB not to look All-Pro against the 49ers has been Jake Plummer. The last two weeks have seen San Francisco give up 623 yards and NINE scores via the pass. Hey you!! Yeah, you....the Jeff George owner. Clean up your drool. You're in public. Do that when no one is watching.

Indianapolis Colts vs Cincinnati -- Manning is coming off of a less than stellar one TD effort. He will be looking for better numbers this week. The Bengals will allow it to happen. The last great fantasy QB Cincinnati faced was Kurt Warner. They gave up 337 yards and 3 scores that week. Manning and Harrison make many people happy this week.

Bad matchups
Philadelphia Eagles at Miami -- Fish defense good. Doug Pederson bad.

Cleveland Browns at St. Louis -- The Browns haven't been able to find yards or scores very often at all this season. Cleveland will be behind from the start this week, and Couch will have to throw. Normally, that's good, but against the Rams it's usually not good. St. Louis opponents have been trailing all year, but are averaging only 225 yards per game with almost two picks per contest.

Chicago Bears at Tampa Bay -- Tampa Bay's statistics are deceiving. They are allowing 236 passing yards per game. However, looking closer, you'll find something extremely interesting: against teams like Green Bay and Minnesota they are allowing 343 ypg and against QBs like Doug Pederson and Brian Griese they are allowing 129 ypg. It doesn't take a mental heavyweight to realize that the rookie McNown is a player that is comparable to Pederson and Griese. Chicago could be absolutely horrendous this week.