Week 1 Start 'em & Sit 'em

Well, since Joe has decided he was "too busy" moving into a new apartment and starting graduate school to contribute to a trivial fantasy football blog, you'll just have to choose your own AFC fantasy studs, duds and sleepers. Way to let the faithful blog readership down, Joe.

Anyway, I'm gonna do my best to provide some advice for the opening slate of games. The first few weeks of the season are always hard to predict in in the NFL because it's such an up and down league. But I'm going to let you know who to start and who to sit in the first week of the fantasy season. Of course, I am not going to go through every single player. It doesn't take someone like me to tell you that if you have Peyton Manning on your team, you should start him every week. What I'm trying to do here is provide you with some advice on players whom you are debating whether to insert into your starting lineup.

START 'EM
1. Vikings Defense. They should shut down the Falcons running game, which means Joey Harrington will have to beat them.
2. Brett Favre, Packers. Opening up a new season at Lambeau against a Philly defense that struggles against the pass.
3. Travis Henry, Broncos. Two things here. He's going against the team that gave up on him, and the Bills have a bad defense.
4. Fred Taylor, Jaguars. Will be playing like he has something to prove. And he's going against the Titans' front seven.
5. Eli Manning, Giants. The Dallas secondary wasn't a very good unit before Terrence Newman got banged up.

SIT 'EM
1. Warrick Dunn/Jerious Norwood, Falcons. They'll be going against the league's best run defense from a year ago.
2. Panthers Defense. Opening up on the road in a dome against the high-powered Rams.
3. Clinton Portis, Redskins. Going against the Dolphins, who can actually play some defense.
4. Vince Young, Titans. The Jaguars will make his life miserable all afternoon.
5. Cedric Benson, Bears. This game will really show the talent disparity between the AFC and NFC. San Diego in a blowout. Grossman will be in the fetal position crying and peeing himself by the end of the first quarter.