Week 11 Pickups

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but another week, even more injuries. This time, the breakout star RB Mike James went down with a fractured ankle in Monday Night Football. He is likely out for the rest of the season. His direct backups are Brian Leonard and Bobby Rainey. Of the two back, Rainey appeared to be more impressive, averaging more yards per carry and catches out of the backfield. Leonard received more carries overall however. It will be difficult to say whether either back has the nod over the other, but I would lean towards betting on Rainey.

We also saw the first good game in Mark Ingram's career. This can be tempered on the fact that it was the Cowboys banged up defense and New Orleans was gashing their defense all day. He is worth a speculative add, however, as he could be more productive that Pierre Thomas.

Andre Brown already will be gone. If you are only reading this now, you should have listened a month ago when I told you to pick him up. Shane Vereen is also coming back this week. He should be competing with Stevan Ridley for the starting RB at New England. It may be too late to pick him up as well.

Riley Cooper followed his 3 TD performance up with a 2 TD game against Green Bay. Everyone else is really high on him right now, but I'm not. To me, the 3 catches for 102 yards puts him in the range of a Kenny Stills type of player. He can break open, but he is still a boom or bust player.

Rishard Matthews is actually the more intriguing wide receiver. He played a break out game for Miami on MNF, but you still have to realize that Mike Wallace has Darrelle Revis on him the entire game. Still the 11 receptions for 120 yards and 2 TDs can't be ignored. He may put up the best numbers for the rest of the year between him, Wallace, and Brian Hartline. Miami will need to throw the ball as well since they absolutely can't run the ball.

If anyone dropped Jarrett Boykin after his dud of a performance last week, pick him up. Seneca Wallace got injured and Green Bay upgraded to his backup Scott Tolzien, who didn't have any trouble finding Boykin for 8 rec and 112 yards.

Nate Burleson is going to come back next week. There isn't a whole lot of buzz around this, but there should be as he will instantly be an upgrade at WR2 for the Detroit Lions. They desperately need someone to catch the ball when Calvin is double teamed and other teams are wising up to the Reggie Bush screen passes. The main problem is that Burleson is more of a yardage player and not much for grabbing TDs.

Jake Locker is out for the season. Ryan Fitzpatrick did admirably in his place if you need a replacement at QB. Jay Cutler re-injured himself as well and Josh McCown is probably a top 15 QB for next week.

Week 11 Defense and Kickers

Most people were unlikely to drop Steven Gostkowski; but if anyone did, he would be the first person to pick up. Nick Folk (NYJ) and Ryan Succop (KC) are both coming off of the bye weeks and both have been doing well over the past month. Either one of them would be a good play for this upcoming week. Nick Novak will also have some good match ups over the last portion of the FFL season.

As far as Defense/Special Teams is concerned, it is pretty sparse for Week 11. Most people should have already picked up Carolina or Arizona; nobody dropped KC. Green Bay and Chicago are both injured/ineffective. New England, New Orleans and Denver all have bad match ups.

If you want a speculative bet, you can try either side of the New York Jets vs Buffalo match up. If you are looking ahead to next week, take Houston, who is playing Jacksonville next week and has a decent match up against Oakland this week.