A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
The NFC Championship game was supposed to feature the high-powered offenses of the Packers and the Saints, but the Giants and 49ers thought otherwise.
The Giants embarrassed the Packers in Green Bay last week in a 37-20 win, and the 49ers beat the Saints, 36-32, in one of the greatest playoff games in recent memory.
Both teams feature tough defenses, but the offenses have come alive in the past few weeks for both teams.
I am skipping an introduction this week because I’m too mad at fantasy football.
In my league of 14 teams, I finished right in the middle of the pack in terms of points…but because I had the third most points scored on me, I missed the playoffs…by a lot.
I finished second to last.
Lame.
Sometimes, fantasy football goes that way. I will spare you my three heart-breaking losses of the year because, quite frankly, we all have them…and nobody else cares.
Jon will have the overall Week 12 start/sit post ready to go for tomorrow morning, but with three games on Thanksgiving Thursday I thought it might be helpful to do a special start/sit column for those games.
So in this post I’ll do just that, providing analysis and recommendations for the key players you need to decide on before Turkey Day.
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With bye weeks now a thing of the past, fantasy owners have one less thing to worry about as the playoff push begins. However, it’s also a great time to start looking ahead to identify guys who can help you during the fantasy playoffs and to pick them up while you can.
This week we’ll look at not only guys who can help in the short-term but also those who may pay dividends when it matters most.
Now this is what football season is about!
Denver found a way to beat the Jets last night, and New York can now pretty much kiss the playoffs goodbye. Important division games in Baltimore and New York will have a hand in deciding the future for all of the teams involved.
But let’s get to the fantasy world.
Asante Samuel thinks the front office in Philly is playing fantasy football; maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, but those guys do know how to put up numbers…and there is a new face from that squad who we would like you to give a chance to come Sunday night. From rookies to vets, we have it all in this week’s Stock Report.
Update: Our Week 10 start em, sit em advice is posted, and this week’s post includes an opportunity for one MSF reader to win free NFL tickets. Make sure you check it out after you finish going through the waiver pickups.
There are no teams on bye in Week 10, but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security.
The Texans, Colts, Saints, and Steelers are all on bye in Week 11, which means a lot of fantasy firepower will be sitting on benches during one of the final weekends of playoff positioning.
Don’t get caught snoozing; take this opportunity not just to improve your lineup for Week 10 but also to plan ahead for any lineup vacancies impending next week.
Week Eight featured fewer injuries and breakout performances than we’ve seen in recent weeks, but it did provide fantasy owners with a sobering reminder that we live in a world where Drew Brees, in a gift-wrapped matchup against a floundering defense, can be outscored by guys like Matt Moore and Matt Painter.
The good news is that we are through most of the bye weeks, and just four teams (Carolina, Detroit, Jacksonville, and Minnesota) are off in Week Nine. While most of those teams haven’t racked up many wins, there are some big fantasy names on those rosters for which owners may need a replacement.
I’mmm baaaaaaccccckkkkk!
Did you miss me?
Jon has himself a busy schedule this week, so he texted me this morning and asked if I’d be up for reprising my role as the author of our weekly Start/Sit column here at MSF. I have to admit, as soon as I saw his text I was pretty pumped.
Doing these posts every week, week after week, can admittedly be a bit of a grind, as I learned over the last couple of years; so I was happy to let Jon take it over this year and focus my efforts in other areas. But I’ve missed the weekly challenge of poring over matchups and stats and trends to figure out which players to recommend to you as starts and sits.
So it’s good to be back in the saddle.
Anyway, It’s not like I’ve been totally absent. I still offer commentary on Jon’s posts, answer questions in the comment sections, and monitor the @FantasyMSF Twitter account. So I haven’t really given you a chance to miss me even if you wanted to. Now though, for the first time all year, I have to go on record with start and sit picks.
I’m ready. Let’s roll.
Yesterday was a brutal Sunday in the NFL, both in terms of injuries and the quality of play. With so many prominent fantasy players banged up and six more teams on bye in Week Eight (Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, New York Jets, Oakland, and Tampa Bay), the waiver wire will once again be a popular destination.
Week Six saw relatively few big fantasy performances, and with some potent offenses among the six teams on bye in Week Seven (Buffalo, Cincinnati, New England, New York Giants, Philadelphia, and San Francisco), that may well repeat itself. The lack of reliable options at some positions, coupled with the bye week crunch, will surely send many owners back to the waiver wire where they will find some intriguing options, particularly at wide receiver.
Compared to the last couple weeks, there were relatively few impactful injuries during Week Five. Couple that with the fact that a number of the teams on bye next week (Arizona, Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Seattle, and Tennessee) aren’t exactly offensive juggernauts, and you might think there aren’t many worthy pickups on the waiver wire this week.
To a certain extent, you’re right. There are very few must-adds this week, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t guys out there who can help your team the rest of the way, possibly as soon as this week. (For more Week 6 analysis, here is this week’s Start/Sit column.)
As always, the players listed here are owned in fewer than 50% of Yahoo! leagues.
The first quarter of the season seems to have flown by, and Week Four brought a new wave of unlikely fantasy scorers like Jed Collins, Craig Stevens, and Jake Ballard. Hell, even Tarvaris Jackson put up solid fantasy numbers, lending credibility to any rumors that the apocalypse is near.
Six teams (Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Miami, St. Louis, and Washington) have a bye in Week Five, so many fantasy owners will be hitting the waiver wire in search of one week rentals to fill out their rosters while others are trying to fill holes created by injuries or ineffectiveness.
As always, the players listed here are owned in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
My fantasy team is about as good as the Bears’ O-Line against the Saints. Yeah…0-2, baby. But that doesn’t mean we can’t turn it around!
Let’s take a look at the fantasy football-relevant injuries going into week 3, including Peyton Hillis, Tony Romo, and Beanie Wells.
(Editor’s Note: The Sports Agent Corner is our periodic Q&A with Dallas-based sports agent Gary Glick of Synergy Sports, Inc. Learn more about Gary and see his list of past and present clients at the Synergy Sports website.)
MSF: Give us an update on your players currently on NFL rosters.
Gary Glick: Interesting year so far. We had several that were released and several doing well. One of the ones to watch is Mike Adams at Arizona (#27). He is small at 5’8” but has been very effective on special teams and is a very sure tackler.
MSF: How does the beginning of the UFL influence your landscape? Is this a place where you are going to actively direct your clients who cannot make it on an NFL roster right now? Is the UFL immediately on par, better than, worse than the CFL?
Just a couple of weeks ago it appeared like a realistic possibility that Michael Crabtree could sit out the entire 2009 seasons and re-enter the 2010 draft in one of the most ill-advised decisions ever.
Now, as we head into Week 7, Michael Crabtree is a starting WR in the NFL.
Amazing how quickly things change, huh?
Crabtree got into camp just as the 49ers were entering their bye week and has had two weeks to acclimate himself to the offense, to his teammates, and to life in the NFL. No-nonsense coach Mike Singletary apparently believes that Crabtree has acclimated himself quite well, considering he has reportedly pegged Crabtree to start over Josh Morgan this Sunday when the 49ers play Houston.
Now that Singletary has made his decision, fantasy football owners have their own decision to make: start or sit Michael Crabtree in Week 7?
