Liz Loza, ESPN's fantasy football and betting writer, opens her Week 7 lineup column with a reflection on attending a professional football game. She describes the energy of the stadium, even as her favored team, a 12.5-point road underdog, struggled against Buffalo's rival and lost. Between the food poisoning and the injuries, she admits she missed key details while living in the moment, such as Blake Grupe's trip to the medical tent and Davante Adams' ruptured hamstring on the final possession. Those details only came into focus later, when the injury was confirmed Monday morning and the replay could be studied.
The experience shapes her approach to fantasy decisions. More information can always be gathered, she argues, so a first take does not have to be the final one, and new data creates room for nuance. She says she is allowed to change her mind, and so are her readers.
That mindset carries into her Start and Sit section. She addresses C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans, who has remained buried in weekly rankings despite a caller's success streaming him. Liz had doubted Stroud's reliability and felt his numbers were inflated by a fluky rushing score in Week 5. Then the 25-year-old quarterback completed more than 70% of his passes for 312 yards and three scores against the Jaguars, delivering nearly 23 fantasy points.
The column pairs these weekly lessons with her broader point: fantasy managers should weigh the facts against their feelings. Her lineup advice on Josh Jacobs and other Week 7 options follows the same principle, asking readers to reassess their assumptions as the evidence changes.
Source: ESPN NFL · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing