Today’s Pigskins Week 10 fantasy football rankings

Last week started with a ton of points between the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and that’s how the rest of the weekend went for the most part.

In addition to Atlanta, 11 other teams scored at least 25 points in Week 9, which is what most fantasy footballers want to see. Of those teams, eight scored at least 30 points.

So that means everyone had a good week, right?

Far from it.

Dez Bryant had a complete no-show against the Cleveland Browns after carving up the Philadelphia Eagles the week before. In his place, Rishard Matthews and Michael Thomas caught a couple touchdowns at the top of the wide receivers list.

For every Jordy Nelson or Odell Beckham Jr., there was a Taylor Gabriel or Quinton Patton with similar numbers.

At the least, running back was mostly run of the mill with Melvin Gordon and Latavius Murray leading the way, although both were against good run defenses. The unfortunate thing was that Kapri Bibbs outpaced backs such as Le’Veon Bell and Todd Gurley because he had a 69-yard touchdown reception.

At tight end, Jason Witten and Antonio Gates were at the top of the list for the first time in a while. I guess that’s what happens when Rob Gronkowski doesn’t play.

The upcoming week is a bit interesting. There are top defenses going against top offenses in a number of matchups. The Saints host the Broncos and the Eagles host the Falcons in two of the games that stick out.

One thing to keep an eye on will be how the Seahawks offensive line holds up against a mediocre Patriots front. If Seattle can’t run the ball against New England, it may be time to sell Christine Michael, who has really fallen off in the last month.

The worst news for Michael owners may be that the Seahawks have to face the Packers, Rams and Cardinals in Weeks 14-16, three of the best run defenses in the league. In addition, Thomas Rawls will be back soon and C.J. Prosise is already cutting into Michael’s workload.

The highest scoring games of the weekend will likely fall to the Bears-Buccaneers, Packers-Titans or Dolphins-Chargers games. None of those teams are all too trustworthy, but that’s what we’re left with fantasy-wise.

Jay Cutler may surprisingly be one of the better bye-week quarterbacks to turn to as he faces a Buccaneers defense that continuously gets torched. Cutler is hard to trust, but he has the weapons for success.

I’ve explained my reasons for trading Aaron Rodgers, but if he keeps stacking up points in garbage time, that may not hold true. Still, it can’t be ignored that he failed to do much for most of the game against the Colts, who have one of the worst pass defenses in the league.

Both the Chargers and Dolphins have thrived via the ground game in recent weeks, but both passing games should have success in this one. Obviously, there’s more confidence in Philip Rivers than Ryan Tannehill, who is one of the last QBs to trust right now.

If Ben Roethlisberger returns to form, the Steelers game against the Cowboys should also have plenty of points. Expect a return to form for Le’Veon Bell, who struggled to do much of anything against the Ravens.

For daily fantasy purposes, all signs point to David Johnson going off against the 49ers. He could easily go for 150-plus total yards and a couple touchdowns and no one would be surprised. San Francisco just let the Saints run for 248 yards against them, a team that is usually known for its pass-happy ways.

Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders continue to have friendly matchups, but Trevor Siemian isn’t getting the job done. If either can’t find room against this Saints defense, there may be no hope for them.

On Monday night, there’s no reason to be confident in this Giants team yet, especially against the Bengals, who are returning from a bye. Don’t be so sure Eli Manning will have another top-end fantasy showing.