The Oakland Raiders head out on the road to face off with the Houston Texans in a tough matchup for the up and down Raiders offense. One upside to this is Houston's rush defense is quite awful, ranking 30th in Football Outsiders' defensive efficiency ratings. The Raiders will look to ride Darren McFadden through a matchup of AFC contenders.
The question is if anybody else can step up on the Raiders. We know Sebastian Janikowski is always a solid fantasy option, but what about the other skill positions or the defense? The defense lucks out in not having to face Andre Johnson, but they still have to deal with the always tough Arian Foster. He could chew them up fairly well. Throw in always tough Owen Daniels, and I'm not sure this is a good matchup for that defense.
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Darren McFadden
numberFire.com Projections: 15.63 FP - 97.91 rushing yards, 0.66 rushing touchdowns, 2.60 receptions, 34.38 receiving yards, 0.09 receiving touchdowns
Analysis: McFadden remains an elite fantasy running back. As long as he is healthy there is no reason not to start him. Ever. You don't play matchups or any of that nonsense. If you don't think you should start McFadden this week, I'm not really sure what to tell you.
Sebastian Janikowski
numberFire.com Projections: 8.04 FP - 1.58 FGM, 2.62 XPM
Analysis: As always, just plug and play with Janikowski. The Raiders might not win this game, but they'll be able to move the ball at least into field goal range, which is always a little longer with Seabass.
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Raiders Wide Receivers
Analysis: At this point, the Raiders have Jacoby Ford back, and it looks like Louis Murphy might rejoin the fold as well. If that's the case, it is rather difficult to see who is the go-to guy in the offense. Denarius Moore got off to a hot start but has since cooled down. It really is a huge question mark as to which of these guys should be in your lineup. It is likely worth stashing them on your bench until roles are figured out.
Other than that, the Raiders are tough fantasy plays this week. We discussed the defense above. Michael Bush remains a fantasy handcuff to Darren McFadden and nothing more. Jason Campbell could bounce back from the Patriots game, but this is probably not the matchup in which to bring him back to your starting lineup.
Our weekly Raiders sit/start suggestions are based on a combination of our knowledge as fans and the weekly projections of numberFire.com. Head over to numberFire.com to get a full breakdown of their weekly projections.