Welcome back to the Midwest Sports Fans Fantasy Football Sleeper Focus for NFL Week 8.

In a recap, two weeks ago, I recommended that you pick up and start John Carlson, the tight end from Seattle. All he has done since is score touchdowns, which propelled him to the 11th ranked fantasy tight end. I told you two weeks ago to sit all of your Patriots, and in doing so, the offense was miserable. Last week I told you to start all of your Patriots, and it appeared that Tom Brady was wearing #16 as the Patriots offense did not miss a beat.

The concept of this weekly segment is to help fantasy football owners make educated, tough decisions. I am open to your questions and will provide advice to you via email, or if received early enough, I will post your question on our weekly segment. You can also interact with me via this site by posting a question at the end of this article. Responses have grown each week, and I am encouraged by all of the positive feedback I have received. I do not address the obvious “no-brainers” for who to start in my article, but try to provide insight into deeper issues.

Now, lets get down and dirty with Week 8.

We will open week 8 with a question I was sent yesterday by Robert from Youngstown:

“I picked up Carlson like you said and he was great. I also had Morris last week and wished he played the second half, that would have been huge. I also followed you on selecting Brad Johnson from the Cowboys for my QB as mine was on a bye. He had an awful showing last week, what do you expect this week since I can start two QB’s in my league.”

Robert, thanks for following my articles and I am glad almost everything worked out for you. As for Brad Johnson, I never saw that poor of a performance coming. There was so much uncertainty as to who was going to start last Sunday between Brad Johnson and Tony Romo that I think that was a huge distraction for the entire team. Wade Phillips I don’t believe has a clue of what is going on with his team as it is circling the drain.

Part of me thinks that Jason Garrett is failing on purpose, knowing that when Phillips is fired, it is Garrett’s team. I saw a source reported that Romo will not be playing until mid-November, which should eliminate any controversy as to who the starter is. The Cowboys have to win now, or this will be the worst actual team which appeared to be the best on paper in a really long time. I look for Jason Garrett to cater the offense more to Johnson’s style and abilities which will make Brad Johnson worthy of a start.

Moving on, Deuce McAllister will see additional carries with the loss of Reggie Bush; the question is, how many? I believe that only Deuce McAllister will be able to answer that question. If he produces, Sean Payton will continue to give him the rock. If he is not productive, we will see more of Pierre Thomas and Aaron Stecker. McAllister has shown flashes of his old self this year, and I anticipate him to be a good start if you are in need at the flex or running back position.

Another running back worthy of a start if in need is the Bengals new starting running back Cedric Benson. As I reported last week, Cedric Benson received the starting nod over previous starter Chris Perry against the Steelers. Benson did not set the world on fire, but did get 62 total yards on 15 touches against a talented Steelers defense. This week should be a walk in the park for him compared to last week as he faces the Texans D this week.

In the past week, a lot of owners were asking me my opinion on defenses. This week is no different. The top fantasy D in the league right now is the Titans. With that said, I do not like the Titans as a start this week for a few reasons. The first is they are playing the Indianapolis Colts. Yes, the Colts have only had one productive offensive game, which came against the leagues best defense, the Ravens. You know that the Colts offense is going to explode again, the question is, on who? Secondly, they are playing on Monday night, which always seems to generate scoring, regardless of who is playing. Defenses I like this week are the Jets, 49ers, Bills, Redskins and Ravens.

As always, thanks for getting your fantasy football insight with me. Post your questions here or you can reach me at profootballinsight@live.com

Kurt Fraschetti

[tags]fantasy football, sleepers, nfl[/tags]

(Update: Contrary to the reports from earlier this week that are referenced below, Tony Romo is not expected to start today.  He will play, only if things “go haywire.”)

Faithful MidwestSportsFans Readers, here is hot-off-the-press information. This is a must have to make your final lineup adjustments.

(And if you haven’t read this week’s Fantasy Football Sleeper Focus, follow the link and leave a comment if you have start ‘em-sit ‘em questions.)

Sunday versus Tampa Bay, Seneca Wallace will start at Quarterback for the Seahawks. Although he still is not 100 percent, Mike Holmgren is tired of the Charlie Frye clinic he has observed in the last two weeks. Charlie Frye will play backup as Matt Hasslebeck did not even make the trip.

It is now looking more and more likely that Tony “Favre” Romo will play this weekend versus St. Louis. At this point, I would not be excited to start Tony Romo for numerous reasons. If he sucks, they’ll pull him and say he’s injured. If he’s great, they will be up by a ton, and pull him to avoid injury. I see this as a great potential loss of points and not a good gamble on Tony Romo this weekend.

Finally, Clinton Portis has been downgraded to questionable for this Sunday’s game versus the Cleveland Browns. He will see the field, but the question is: how much? Leading into the week I expected Clinton Portis to absorb most if not all of the carries in the game due to his spellback, Ladell Betts, going down with an injury. With the signing of Shaun Alexander, I still did not expect Clinton Portis to lose carries to him as he does not yet know the offense. With the latest revelation, it is unclear how many carries Shaun Alexander will receive, which I am sure will depend on how Clinton Portis feels and performs throughout the game. At this point, Alexander was most likely given a handful of plays which the Redskins will be able to use him in.

Look for more information leading into Sunday morning. Remember, check with us, Midwestsportsfans.com, for all of your fantasy football needs.

Kurt Fraschetti

[tags]fantasy football[/tags]