By Zac Bellman
Special to the Tribune

Loyal Readers of WNY,

I appreciate you all so much that I’ve decided to take a new approach to my articles for the foreseeable future. I’ve begun to realize that only featuring nine players each week may offer you helpful advice on some weeks, but I may be unintentionally leaving you out to dry if you have none of those players on your team. So Whole Nine Yards has undergone a bit of a makeover, and will now serve as a rankings system for the top 15 quarterbacks, top 15 running backs, and top 15 wide receivers each week. My basis for these rankings will be a combination of player skill, teammates around that player, and the matchup they have this week. These rankings will hopefully be more all-inclusive and allow me to help you with YOUR team. Thank you as always for reading and I hope this format helps you make those tough decisions at 11:55 on Sunday mornings.

QB rankings:

1. Peyton Manning (Broncos) at Dallas – Playing like the best QB in the league right now (16 TD’s, no picks) and will not move from this ranking for the foreseeable future.
2. Matthew Stafford (Lions) at Green Bay – Packers secondary may have made adjustments over the bye, but they can’t match up with strong receivers like Calvin Johnson.
3. Michael Vick (Eagles) at New York Giants – The Giants look lost defensively, and it should continue as Chip Kelly’s no-huddle offense comes into town.
4. Phillip Rivers (Chargers) at Oakland – Rivers plays consistently well against the Raiders and appears to be a reliable option this year from a fantasy perspective.
5. Drew Brees (Saints) at Chicago – Brees has passed for no less than 322 yards each game this season, so start him even against the Bears’ once strong defense.
6.  Tony Romo (Cowboys) vs. Denver – Romo tends to sling the rock a lot when his team gets behind, which is all but guaranteed against Peyton Manning this week.
7. Aaron Rodgers (Packers) vs. Detroit – Coming off a bye, Rodgers and the offense should have had ample time to prepare for the Detroit defense.
8. Terrelle Pryor (Raiders) vs. San Diego – Pryor is pegged to start this week after his concussion in week 3, and if his mind is right he should succeed against the Chargers’ 29^th ranked pass D.
9. Matt Ryan (Falcons) vs. New York Jets – On pace to pass about 700 times this season, Ryan will have chances against the Jets secondary.
10. Sam Bradford (Rams) vs. Jacksonville – Not high on Bradford but Jacksonville is giving up just about anything offenses are willing to try against them.
11. Tom Brady (Patriots) vs. Cincinnati – The Bengals front four generates a lot of pressure, which could hurt Brady’s value because he isn’t very mobile.
12. Eli Manning (Giants) vs. Philadelphia – The Giants’ offensive line cannot block for him right now but the Eagles are 31^st against the pass so he’s worth a flier.
13. Cam Newton (Panthers) at Arizona – Another QB coming prepared off a bye but Patrick Peterson will take Steve Smith out of the equation on many downs.
14. Matt Schaub (Texans) at San Francisco – Not the most popular QB right now but he hasn’t been playing that poorly other than the pick-sixes.
15. Alex Smith (Chiefs) at Tennessee – Smith is a top ten fantasy QB so far, but faces a really tough Titan pass defense this week so he’s probably not to be relied upon.

RB rankings:

1. LeSean McCoy (Eagles) at New York Giants – Getting a buck fifty and a touchdown every other week and by that logic he’s due against the Giants.
2. Reggie Bush (Lions) at Green Bay – Starting to look like the player everyone thought he would be coming out of USC in the Lions’ offense.
3. Arian Foster (Texans) at San Francisco – Appears to be back and heavily involved in the offense once again so he’ll get his despite a rough matchup.
4. Matt Forte (Bears) vs. New Orleans – Bears are committed to giving him 15-20 carries a game which is as much as you can ask for, plus he’s capitalizing scoring three TD’s in four games.
5. Frank Gore (49ers) vs. the Texans – San Francisco’s offense seems to have worked out some of the kinks and Gore is coming off a season-high 153 yards.
6. Giovani Bernard (Bengals) at New England – Bernard is taking more of BJGE’s carries and the coaching staff clearly is seeing that he brings a spark to the offense.
7. Marshawn Lynch (Seahawks) at Indianapolis – The Colts’ defense is flying below the radar and Lynch is without his starting offensive tackles, but he’s a must start.
8. Trent Richardson (Colts) vs. Seattle – Two weeks in Indy and he’s picked up a TD in each so no reason to sit him even against Seattle.
9. Maurice Jones-Drew (Jaguars) at St. Louis – Jacksonville’s only reliable weapon likely won’t be contained against the Rams’ 30^th ranked run D.
10.  Eddie Lacy (Packers) vs. Detroit – Showed some promise before sustaining a concussion early in week 2 against the Redskins.
11. DeAngelo Williams (Panthers) at Arizona – Williams is getting 20-25 touches a game and may finally be earning the role of consistent fantasy running back.
12. Lamar Miller (Dolphins) vs. Baltimore – Baltimore gave up 203 yards on the ground last week and Miller is gaining steam so he’s worth a start.
13. Danny Woodhead (Chargers) at Oakland – The Chargers are making good use of him in the passing game, so he’s worth strong consideration in PPR leagues.
14. Jamaal Charles (Chiefs) at Tennessee – Injury concerns slide him down a bit further than normal but he’s been an automatic double-digit performer all season so far.
15. DeMarco Murray (Cowboys) vs. Denver – Even if the Cowboys start to pass Murray gets an average of five catches out of the backfield each week so he’ll still get his touches.

WR rankings:

1. Demaryius Thomas (Denver) at Dallas – Thomas has proven to be Peyton’s most dangerous weapon and like his QB shouldn’t move much from this spot for a few weeks.
2. Calvin Johnson (Lions) at Green Bay – Green Bay’s secondary should be easy pickings for Johnson as they have not played a lot of bump and run to this point.
3. Randall Cobb (Packers) vs. Detroit – Cobb sees a lot of targets out of the slot and should be able to get back to the end zone again this week.
4. Victor Cruz (Giants) vs. Philadelphia – Cruz still gets his even though Eli Manning is struggling to get the ball down the field due to his pass protection.
5. Dez Bryant (Cowboys) vs. Denver – Bryant will see a good amount of targets even if he gets a lot of Champ Bailey on Sunday.
6. DeSean Jackson (Eagles) at New York Giants – Trending downward lately but expect that to stop this week as the Eagles should handle the Giants.
7. Jordy Nelson (Packers) vs. Detroit – The way Nelson is playing, Rodgers can literally throw the ball five yards out of bounds and he would still find a way to keep his feet in bounds and make the catch.
8. Julio Jones (Falcons) vs. New York Jets – Taken the number one role during Roddy White’s struggle through injury and leads the league in receiving yards.
9. Andre Johnson (Texans) at San Francisco – Johnson looked fine against Richard Sherman last week in what should have been his toughest matchup so far.
10. Eric Decker (Broncos) at Dallas – Peyton Manning, that is all.
11. Wes Welker (Broncos) at Dallas – See Eric Decker.
12. A.J. Green (Bengals) vs. New England – Andy Dalton is always looking Green’s way when the Bengals get to the red zone, and they will get their opportunities against the Patriots.
13. Brandon Marshall (Bears) vs. New Orleans – Seeing no less than five catches a week and Cutler is playing better than year’s past in Coach Marc Trestman’s system.
14. Denarius Moore (Raiders) vs. San Diego
15. Reggie Wayne (Colts) vs. Seattle – Wayne is Andrew Luck’s most reliable receiver and will get close to his usual ten targets even against Richard Sherman.