Fantasy football is about more than just picking the best players and watching them go nuts. You have to be able to mix and match star players with bench players and understand which players are in good matchups and which players are in bad matchups.
Week 1 is always tricky when determining who to start and sit because the only information that we have to go off of is performance last season and during the preseason. Preseason stats are meaningless, so really you are just going off of how the opposing teams performed last season.
It is a tricky job but someone has to do it. Here are three star running backs that are not worth playing this week because they have a bad matchup.
Michael Turner vs. Bears
Michael Turner has been one of the most productive fantasy running backs over the last three seasons, but he does not have a favorable matchup against a great Chicago run defense in week 1.
If the Falcons are going to win this game, they will have to do it by picking on Chicago's weak secondary because the defensive line, led by Julius Peppers, is as good as there is in football.
The Falcons will try and give him the ball early to establish the running game, but when they see it doesn't work Matt Ryan will be asked to air it out.
Darren McFadden vs. Broncos
Normally a game against the Broncos defense would be the perfect storm for a running back to score big points.
But with Elvis Dumervil returning from injury and Von Miller looking like a monster off the edge already, there will be nowhere for Darren McFadden to run.
The Raiders offensive line will be forced to put more bodies on those two edge rushers, which frees up the defensive tackles and linebackers in the middle to stop the run.
Ray Rice vs. Steelers
This one is almost too easy because the Steelers do not allow anyone to run on them. They only gave up 62.8 yards per game on the ground in 2010, by far the lowest total in the NFL - Chicago was second at 90.1.
In two games against the Steelers last season, Rice had a total of 52 yards on 17 carries with no touchdowns.
Rice will be one of the better fantasy running backs in 2011, but do not count on him putting up numbers against the best run defense in football.
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