Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

Last week was a great start to the NFL season and my quest for the cash. Week 1, I correctly chose the Packers and the Dolphins to take care of business in my collective pools. The Packers looked solid against the Bears and the game was never really in doubt. While I wasn't impressed with the Dolphins performance against the hapless Redskins, I can breathe a sigh of relief booking the win and eliminating the Dolphins from my list of potential teams to pick in the single entry league.

I'm keeping it simple this week and picking the Saints to trounce the Bucs in their home opener. Not much to explain about this pick. Last week Dick LeBeau and the Titans defense held rookie QB Jameis Winston in check, and I expect similar results from Rob Ryan's Saints D. That Bucs offensive line brings back nightmares of the Lovie Smith/Mike Tice Bears O­lines that had Jay Cutler shoving J'Marcus Webb during games. Then there's the fact that the Bucs defense was soo bad it has ESPN analyst putting Marcus Mariota in the Hall of Fame after his first game! Drew Brees must be licking his chops.

The line on this game is Saints­10 or ­10.5 depending on your source, the largest of the week. I expect a majority of entrants in both pools to take the Saints and am willing to go down with the masses if it comes to that. I see this as a good opportunity to use an underwhelming Saints team in the single entry format league against a rebuilding Bucs team.