Fantasy Watch: Washington Redskins vs Kansas City Chiefs

Wow...talk about a game that not very many other people in the country are talking about. To suggest that this game has a lot of fantasy appeal would also be a little insulting to the average fantasy player's intelligence. But there are a few things worth considering in this game that could help with your fantasy lineups this weekend.

Jason Campbell - A "hot seat" coach has to fight and claw to prove to management he belongs. Zorn was brought here to mentor and groom Campbell and install an innovative offense (hold comments on this for another post.) If he is going to get fired, I see him going down swinging for the fences. Jason Campbell will once again be throwing early and often. He has thrown a few more interceptions this season than you would like to see, but the Chiefs did just give up a 250-yard performance to Miles Austin. You have to think that before we hit the meat of our schedule, Zorn is going to go balls to the wall with his passing game to rev it up. To me, that makes Jason Campbell a must-start.

Santana Moss - Well, Miles Austin did just have a 250-yard day against this weak pass defense. There aren't many fantasy players out there as off and on or streaky as Santana Moss. His 4 catch, 44 yard day last week is as sure a sign that he will blow up this week as any. If you own Moss, and you leave him on your bench this week, you will most likely hate yourself on Monday. Even more so than normal.

Chris Cooley- He went without a catch for the first time since 2004...that has to be killing him. After Samuels went down, he was asked to stay in and block, with mixed results. The line continues to be a debacle this week, so I worry that he will have more blocking assignments again. Barring last week's performance, Cooley has been a must-start fantasy player in all formats. But with this offense looking sluggish and the line looking banged up, I wonder about the use of the tight end this week. I am not recommending sitting him, because chances are if you have Cooley, you don't have a better tight end. But this might be a week to see how he does--if things are going away from him like last week, you should look into adding another tight end.

Clinton Portis- He continues to run hard for the most part. I have no idea how healthy he is, but the Chiefs excel at giving up yards. If Zorn wasn't so hell-bent on passing the ball, and if the line was a little healthier, CP could be at the top of the league in rushing easily. Back to reality: our line is a patchwork quilt--AGAIN--and Zorn desperately needs to validate his passing game. While conventional wisdom tells you that CP is a slam dunk in fantasy against this defense, recent history suggests that if he is going to get you a big chunk of fantasy points, he will have to break a few long runs to get the most from his touches.

Devin Thomas/Malcolm Kelly/Fred Davis- The "red shirts" were noticeably more involved in last week's game plan (Thomas and Davis more so it seemed.) Thomas impressed me. CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THOMAS IS NOT RUNNING BACK KICKOFFS!? Sorry for that. Until they are consistently productive, you simply can't start them as anything more than a bye week replacement.

Washington Redskins Defense- Oh Jebus...where do I begin? This is it right? If you drafted them, you were banking on this 6 game stretch. This is game 6 of that stretch. From here on out, this defense could be a very risky start. Against the Chiefs' offense, you would figure we should get turnovers and sacks. The name of this game (and the theme of tonight's Friday Night "Mights") is 3rd down. This defense simply has to find a way to get off the field on 3rd down. Period. End of story. If they can do 50% better on 3rd down, they go from a marginal fantasy start to a absolute stud must-start unit.