Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

The final countdown! In a pinch for a skill player that will produce at a high level during your fantasy football playoff challenge, but not sure what route to go? Well, no need to fret the small stuff because the Bruno Boys will help make your lineup decision easier. From Quarterbacks to Defenses, we have you covered on who you should feel comfortable about plugging into your Divisional Round lineup. Now, it’s time to cut to the chase and read our Fantasy Football Divisional Start Ems advice.

QUARTERBACKS – START ‘EM

Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) vs. Arizona

With the game that Aaron Rodgers posted on the Arizona Cardinals during Wild Card weekend, is there really a better quarterback option than Brees? Your QB choices may be depending on your format, and Brees is no guarantee to win this game against playoff winner Kurt Warner, but if you are playing in a weekly format, Brees should be used. He plays at home against a Cardinals defense that is fresh off of allowing Rodgers to post 39 fantasy football points. This game should be a track meet that features many big plays, and Brees, as well as Kurt Warner, should be a valuable options when choosing your quarterbacks this weekend.

RUNNING BACKS – START ‘EM

Ray Rice (Baltimore Ravens) @ Indianapolis

After his Wild Card weekend game, in which Rice went for 150+ rushing yards and two touchdowns, how can you not rely on him against the Indianapolis Colts? Throughout the season the Colts had trouble stopping the run and you can expect the Ravens to try to hit Indy in the mouth on Saturday night. Baltimore game-plan will be to keep Peyton Manning and the high powered Colts off the field and it will likely feature a lot of Rice. Another key component to Rice’s success is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. While we don’t think the Ravens will jump out to the lead and run on every play like they did on the New England Patriots, Rice is just as valuable in the passing game and should log at least a handful of catches. For the Ravens to have a shot against the Colts, Rice will have to be the focal point for them. 

Chris “Beanie” Wells (Arizona Cardinals) @ New Orleans

This is more of an “in a bind” pick because there are so many good running back options this weekend for you. However, the New Orleans Saints ranked just 22nd against the run in 2009, and allowed over 19 fantasy points per game to the running back position. If you invest all your auction money into some of the bigger names, consider the rookie out of Ohio State. Wells should touch the football enough to hover around the 10-13 fantasy point range, as he posted nine points and averaged 6.5 yards per carry during Wild Card weekend victory over the Green Bay Packers.

WIDE RECEIVERS – START ‘EM

Malcom Floyd (San Diego Chargers) vs. New York Jets

With lock-down defensive back Darrelle Revis shadowing wide receiver Vincent Jackson for 60 minutes, Jackson’s counterpart could see most of the production on the outside. Quarterback Philip Rivers will have to go somewhere with the ball, so he should be keying in on Malcom Floyd this weekend. Looking down the list of wide outs that Revis has shut down, it’s hard to bet against him at this point. That should leave Floyd, who posted nearly 800 receiving yards and had 80-percent of his receptions go for first downs, with some opportunity to see additional targets and do what he does best…make big plays. It’s obvious that Rivers trusts him, and he could prove to be valuable for an affordable cost in your Fantasy Football Playoff Challenge.

Marques Colston (New Orleans Saints) vs. Arizona

It’s quite simple. As quarterback Drew Brees goes, so does Colston. All the 2006 seventh round draft choice out of Hofstra has done throughout his career is make plays (as evidenced by averaging over 1,000 yards and 8 TDs in his four year career). The Arizona Cardinals did not show much of a penchant for stopping the Green Bay Packers wide receivers during wild card weekend, as they gave up three touchdowns and 233 receiving yards to the Packers’ four wide receivers. Green Bay’s top play maker, Greg Jennings posted 19 points in that game, and it wouldn’t surprise us to see the Saints No.1 receiver do the same.

TIGHT ENDS – START ‘EM

Jason Witten (Dallas Cowboys) @ Minnesota

Yes, Witten put up a dud during Wild Card weekend; but he is the type of tight end you can trust when things get tough. While on paper there are better options (Antonio Gates and Dallas Clark had better seasons), if you’re lacking in auction money, you could “downgrade” slightly to Witten and likely not miss a beat. The main reason for this is because the Minnesota Vikings biggest weakness throughout 2009 was their inability to stop the tight end position. The Vikings allowed 8.3 fantasy football points per game to TEs, 5th worst in the NFL, and worst in the playoffs. This is enough to make us believers that Witten will bounce back after scoring just two fantasy points last week.

KICKERS – START ‘EM

Garrett Hartley (New Orleans Saints) vs. Arizona & Neil Rackers (Arizona Cardinals) @ New Orleans

If you didn’t happen to see the Arizona Cardinals Wild Card Round game against the Green Bay Packers, you either have not read this article, or probably didn’t fare too well in Wild Card weekend. Either way, realize that 96 points were scored in this game and even if the Saints and Cardinals don’t match these totals they both sport offenses to light up the scoreboard. With this game being in a dome weather is not an issue, and plenty of points expected to be scored, both Hartley and Rackers should flirt with top points at the kicker position in the Divisional Round

DEFENSES – START ‘EM

San Diego Chargers D/ST vs. New York Jets

The San Diego Chargers offense will actually determine how their defense fares in this football game. If San Diego scores points it should lead to good things for the Chargers defense. The reason is because it will force the New York Jets to throw the ball with turnover prone quarterback Mark Sanchez. However, if San Diego stalls on offense it will allow the Jets to show up with their defensive and run scheme that was able to work against the Cincinnati Bengals. Odds are, the Chargers offense won’t keep this a low-scoring game, which doesn’t bode well for the Sanchez’s chances to have a turnover free afternoon. It isn’t that the Chargers defense is amazing, it’s that they will almost undoubtedly try to force the New York Jets to throw the ball to beat them.

Divisional Round Rankings:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K  | DEF   (click to read)

Divisional Round Start & Sit:  START ‘EM  |  SIT ‘EM  (click to read)

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