Squish (252)
e-roc (119)
Jeff (53)
Mal (45)
Tommy (45)
Ken (42)
Amir (37)
Tj (29)
Here are our “Hits” and “Misses” for the upcoming games, listing players you want to make sure are in your lineup, as well as those you might consider shelving for the week (or at least lowering your expectations!) In most leagues out there this is the first week of the playoffs, so you absolutely need to win if you want to continue your journey towards that league championship. Hopefully a few of these hit and miss suggestions will help you make those tough roster decisions and if they don’t, please feel free to leave a comment with your specific situation. Good luck!
Latest Updates: antonio bryant RSS
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Hits & Misses - Week 14: Win or Go Home!
Brandon
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The Wire - Week 14: Who's Starting Vince Young in the Playoffs?
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week fourteen. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis. This week we start off with a few quarterbacks who’s play has improved dramatically over the next few weeks. Early in the season, did you ever imagine starting Alex Smith or Vince Young (or Bruce Gradkowski?) in the playoffs? Me neither.
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The Wire - Week 13: The Hunt for the Playoffs
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week thirteen. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis. With the playoffs rapidly approaching (only one week of the regular season left in my two main leagues,) many teams out there are probably in a “must win” situation this week. Hopefully some of the players below can get you a much needed victory and give you a chance at that championship trophy (or pride, cash, whatever else you get for winning a fantasy football league.) Anyways, let’s get to the waiver wire picks for this week, starting with a few wide receivers that could help your cause… (More …)
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The Wire - Week 9: Desperate Times
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week nine. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis (and if you see an asterisk by the players name, it means they’re on a BYE this week.)
Before we start, don’t forget to enter in our contest to win a $50 NFL.com gift card!
This week the talent is really starting to fall off the cliff, with the only real interesting additions to the list being Texans’ running back Ryan Moats and Chargers’ receiver Malcom Floyd…but even they don’t raise all that much excitement. Anyways, here’s the guys that are still available out there in case you’re in desperate need of help at a position. Hopefully you don’t have to rely on these guys too much!
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The Wire - Week 8: What Can Greene Do for You?
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week eight. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis (and if you see an asterisk by the players name, it means they’re on a BYE this week.)
We’re finally starting to narrow down the list, with only a few new additions this week and a bunch taken off. The biggest additions by far will be Jets running back Shonn Greene, who is replacing the injured Leon Washington as the backup to Thomas Jones, along with the newly anointed 49ers quarterback, Alex Smith. If you counted on Leon Washington or Shaun Hill (probably less people counting on him), you better take a shot at the waiver wire and see what you can do. Anyways, let’s get to The Wire for this coming week…
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The Wire - Week 6: Week of the Wide Receiver
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates going into week six. As usual, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so you make your roster moves accordingly. You’ll also see the percent owned in parenthesis (and if you see an asterisk by the players name, it means they’re on a BYE this week.) We begin with a whole slew of wide receivers, a few of which racked up some serious stats (Miles Austin, Austin Collie, Jeremy Maclin) this past weekend.
UPDATE: Added Chad Henne to the list (Oct-13) (More …)
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The Wire - Week 5: Maybe the Steelers do have a running game!
Brandon
As a firm believer in the Continuous Quality Improvement model, I’ve once again updated the look and feel of The Wire for your enjoyment. The list is now organized by position, which seems to make more sense since you are undoubtedly looking to fill a certain spot on your roster with these waiver wire pick-ups. However, it’s still organized in order of the ownership percentage (in parenthesis) so you know the odds of the player being available in your league. Also, the classifications have changed slightly (I just didn’t like the old ones for some reason.) So for this week, you’ll find players who are either [Startable], a [Stopgap] to get you past a BYE or injury, [Worth a look] and spot on your bench, or [One-week-wonder]s who don’t warrant a roster spot, so make your roster moves accordingly. Anyways, let’s get to the good stuff…the actual player list, starting with a player who might be able to return the Steelers back to the bruising style of running they once had (but which Fast Willie Parker lacked)… (More …)
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Last minute hits and misses heading into your draft
Brandon
If your league hasn’t had it’s draft yet (such as the two Matt and I are in), I felt it necessary to share my last minute thoughts on some key players at each position. I’ve created two teams, The Hits and The Misses, that include players you should target or avoid in your league’s draft. Keep in mind that I’ve intentionally left out some of the most obvious guys and focused on the players that you might not have thought about as much.
The Hits
QB: Aaron Rodgers, Packers – Rodgers quietly had one of the best years of any fantasy quarterback last season, throwing for over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns. The offense returns intact (and a bit healthier overall) and should allow Aaron to put up even better numbers this year. In many leagues, he’s being drafted after Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Kurt Warner, but when all is said and done, he could have better numbers than all three of them. (More …)
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Matt
WRs are dropping like flies today… Steve Smith was carted off the field with a shoulder injury, and Antonio Bryant will miss the entire preseason to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
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2008 Fantasy Football Playoffs MVPs
Brandon
This season has been one of my best years ever in terms of fantasy football, as I made the championship in three seperate leagues, while playing in the third place game in two others. For that reason, I figured it made sense to create an All Fantasy Football Playoffs MVP team, highlighting the players that either caused me joy or pain over the past few weeks. Interestingly enough, only one of these players even made the Pro Bowl (Wes Welker…as a reserve). Anyways, let’s jump into the MVP awards for the 2008 playoffs…
Quarterback
Philip Rivers, SD: Rivers was the top quarterback in the league nearly the entire season, so it’s fitting that he would continue his fantasy football dominance of the position through the playoffs. This past Sunday, when some of you may have been playing in the Championship game of your league, Rivers threw for nearly 290 yards and four touchdowns, probably carrying more than one team out there to a league title. Let’s also mention that he’s thrown a combined nine touchdowns over the past three weeks, while averaging around 280 passing yards or so.
Honorable Mention: Matt Cassel, NE (More …)
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Hits and Misses - Week 16: Take a ride in the PT Cruiser!
Brandon
Of all the cars out there to get a nickname from (see: Cadillac Williams), I’m not sure I would want people calling me the name of one of the worst new vehicles to come out this century, but whatever works I guess! It apparently IS working for Saints running back Pierre Thomas, who has put up some great fantasy numbers over the past few weeks in an offense that is traditionally pass-first (and made a lot of fantasy team managers very happy in the process.) This weekend you should have the PT Cruiser parked right in the RB1 or RB2 slot on your roster when the Saints head to Detroit, helping your team cruise to a fantasy football championship!
Hits
- Pierre Thomas, RB, Saints: Although I recommend a few of our readers sit the PT Cruiser last week, this week my tune has changed a bit. The Saints head to Detroit on Sunday to play a Lions team that has been absolutely dreadful against the run this year, allowing 169 yards per game (4.9 ypc) to opposing tailbacks, while allowing them to rack up 26 touchdowns. With Reggie Bush out of the picture, expect a big day for Thomas.
- Antonio Bryant, WR, Buccaneers: For all of you who snagged Antonio Bryant off the waiver wire in the middle of the season, you have to be loving your decision at this point. In most leagues, Bryant has now racked you up around 300 yards and a couple touchdowns through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and I’m predicting that he’ll continue that trend against a bad San Diego Chargers defense. You know those commercials that ESPN had for the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame? If Bryant comes through this weekend, I think you need to add him for next year’s ads. (More …)
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Week 9 Weekend Wrap-Up: Halloween hang-over
Brandon
While I wish I could write about something super-exciting that happened this past weekend in the NFL, there just wasn’t a whole lot going on worthy of it. The most interesting thing to happen was probably the Chiefs near-victory over the heavily favored Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so we’ll start there…
- Tampa Bay 30, Kansas City 27: While the final outcome of this game was pretty predictable (TB beats KC), the score was no where near what we all expected. I’m not sure which stats are more interesting: 1) a non-quarterback for both teams (RB Earnest Graham for the Bucs, WR Mark Bradley for the Chiefs) threw a touchdown pass (with the Chiefs quarterback Tyler Thigpen catching the touchdown from Bradley) or one of the top run defenses in the league let up over 100 yards to a rookie (Jamaal Charles) who plays for the Chiefs. Anyways, in the end it doesn’t matter what the score was, as the Chiefs couldn’t find a way to stop the Jeff Garcia to Antonio Bryant (8 catches for 115 yards and a TD) connection all day long.
- New York Jets 26, Buffalo 17: I’m surprised that the Jets even won this game, considering the play of Brett Favre (201 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT.) Either way though, as a Patriots fan I can’t complain about how bad either of these teams look these days. Honestly, even though they’re the only team in the division without a winning record, the Dolphins are the team that scares me the most to challenge New England for the division crown. (More …)
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Ask the Geeks - Week 9
Brandon
Here are our responses to the first couple of questions for the week. Remember, you can always ask us questions by clicking the Ask the Geeks logo on the left sidebar (or this link).Scott asks: I have been offered Jay Cutler for Steve Smith. I am allowed to play 2 QB’s in my league. One of them can fill the open offensive position. My current WR’s are Smith, A. Johnson, Holt, A. Bryant, S. Holmes. My QB’s are Rivers and Russel. RB’s are L. White, Slaton, Fargas, J.Stewart. Right now I’ve been alternating between Stewart and Russel in the OP position. Do you think I should make this trade knowing that QB’s predominantly score more or am I losing too much of a stronghold on my WRs?
Brandon’s take: Scott, I was curious how many wide receivers you start in your league (not counting the OP position)? If you only start two, then I would definitely go for this trade. Jay Cutler is a HUGE improvement over JaMarcus Russel and he’s a guy you could leave in the OP position for the rest of the season. In that case, Andre Johnson and one of your other receivers should suffice to hold down the WR position. Even if you start three wide receivers, due to the fact that you get more points from quarterbacks than other positions, I’m still leaning towards you making the deal. Cutler should return from the bye week with his finger back in working condition and he should resume his regular destruction of opposing defenses. Steve Smith will continue to get tons of looks from Jake Delhomme, but in math terms:
(Jay Cutler – JaMarcus Russell) > (Steve Smith – Torry Holt)
Matt’s take: *shakes fist at Brandon for making him do math* I’d make the trade. I count no fewer than five weak secondaries on the Broncos’ upcoming schedule, which means the fearsome Cutler-to-Marshall machine will have lots of opportunities to do some serious damage. Especially in a two-QB league, a guy like Cutler is a game-changer who can singlehandedly win your matchup for you any given week. Can you say the same thing about Steve Smith?
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The Wire: Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 9, 2008
Brandon
Here’s a look at the players to target on your league’s waiver wire this week. This list is ordered by the percentage of ESPN leagues in which the player is available; even if you’re not a ESPN user, it’s a decent indication of how likely you are to find the player on waivers in your league. We also note here how strongly we feel about this pickup with three categories: Instant Starter, Grab ‘n’ Stash, or Desperation Pickup.
Nate Washington, WR, Steelers (6.6% owned, Desperation Pickup) – While his reception totals for each game this year aren’t all that consistent, Washington still manages to get some solid yardage and has been adding touchdowns to that as of late. I can’t recommend you start him on a weekly basis, but if you’re in a bind and it looks like a good matchup, you might consider him at the WR3 or flex position.
Ted Ginn, Jr., WR, Dolphins (19.6% owned, Instant Starter) – Obviously you shouldn’t count on an other-worldly 175 yard performance from Ginn each week, but besides a bogus game in week 6, Ted Jr. has been pretty decent this year in his rookie season. He gets to play the lowly Broncos defense this week as well, making him even more appealing. (More …)
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The Wire: Waiver Wire pickups for week 8, 2008
Brandon
Here’s a look at the players to target on your league’s waiver wire this week. This list is ordered by the percentage of ESPN leagues in which the player is available; even if you’re not a ESPN user, it’s a decent indication of how likely you are to find the player on waivers in your league. We also note here how strongly we feel about this pickup with three categories: Instant Starter, Grab ‘n’ Stash, or Desperation Pickup.
Malcom Floyd, WR, Chargers (0.8% owned, Desperation Pickup) – Floyd is making the most of starter Chris Chambers being out and has a touchdown in the past two games (along with a 70 yard average.) San Diego plays in London this coming weekend, so expect Chambers to try his hardest to get out on the international stage, but Floyd will continue to get some looks.
Josh Morgan, WR, 49er’s (2.5% owned, Grab ‘n’ Stash) – The rookie showed promise in the preseason, but hasn’t lived up to the hype until this past weekend, where he had five catches for 86 yards and a touchdown. As he gains more experience, expect him to become a bigger part of this offense. He’s a great keeper league prospect at this point. (More …)
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Week 7 Weekend Wrap-up: Running backs gone wild!
Brandon
After staying up late to watch my favorite baseball team lose to the Tampa Bay Rays (!) last night, I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle staying up for what will most likely be a disaster of a game tonight when the Fantasy Football Librarian’s boys from Denver come into Gillette Stadium to take on the Patriots…but I’ll give it a shot. The good news is that even though the Sox are done and the Pats chances tonight are not all that promising, the fantasy football gods seemed to shine down on me this week and I should pull off some solid victories in most of my leagues (although the fact that Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall having huge games against New England would help many of my teams causes quite the personal conflict!), including a potential victory in which I idiotically started Larry Fitzgerald on a bye. Anyways, enough of my rambling about New England sports and my fantasy teams, let’s get to the action from the weekend that caused my good fortunes, including a few running backs gone wild!
- Tennessee 34, Kansas City 10: I was pretty pumped about this game for one reason…the Chiefs helped me break the FFGeekBlog Hits/Misses cover curse! Kansas City came into this game allowing 180+ yards per game on the ground and what do you know…the Titans nearly doubled that average with 330+ yards. Hopefully you took my advice and started LenDale White (149 yards, 3 TD) and Chris Johnson (168 yards, TD), as you were rewarded heavily. (More …)
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Ask the Geeks - Week 4
Brandon
Well it’s week four and many of you are probably feeling the effect of poor planning when you took three starters that all had the same bye week (don’t worry…you’re not alone!) Anyways, hopefully we can offer you some advice to get you past the bye week blues and maintain your first place spot in the standings…Wendy asks: Hey Geeks, I need help picking my #2 wr for week 4. I am playing Cotchery. I can pick up one of these guys off waivers. Who is the best option?
Chad Johnson vs. Cleveland (huge game vs. them last year, but is injury keeping him from breaking out?)
Torry Holt vs. Buffalo (is he worth a shot with trent green the new qb?)
Donald Driver vs. TB
Antonio Bryant vs. GB
Brandon Lloyd vs. PhiladelphiaThanks!
Brandon’s take: Hey Wendy, although the stats go against what I’m saying, I have to believe that Mr. Cinco is ready for a break out week. Cleveland hasn’t been known as a defensive powerhouse and Ocho Cinco (the man formerly known as Chad Johnson) is apparently feeling good enough to ditch the shoulder support he was wearing in previous weeks. I think Antonio Bryant is more of a one hit wonder, while Brandon Lloyd and Donald Driver are going against tough defenses. Torry Holt could be in for a long day with Bulger now out of the lineup. Go with Ocho Cinco…the ultimate high risk, high reward play. (More …)
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The Wire: Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 4, 2008
Brandon
Here’s a look at the players to target on your league’s waiver wire this week. This list is ordered by the percentage of ESPN leagues in which the player is available; even if you’re not a ESPN user, it’s a decent indication of how likely you are to find the player on waivers in your league. We also note here how strongly we feel about this pickup with three categories: Instant Starter, Grab ‘n’ Stash, or Desperation Pickup.
Correll Buckhalter, RB, Eagles (5.6% owned, Desperation Pickup) – Although starter Brian Westbrook’s ankle injury isn’t as bad as initially expected, he’s still listed as day-to-day and there’s a potential he won’t be able to go this Sunday. If you’re a Westbrook owner, you better have Buckhalter on your waiver claim list just in case.
Brian Griese, QB, Buccaneers (6.9% owned, Grab ‘n’ Stash) – Don’t expect him to throw 60+ times on a regular basis (or ever again most likely!), but you can expect Griese to put up decent fantasy stats if you’re in need of a backup quarterback. The team seems to be focusing on the passing game lately for some reason (just ask Earnest Graham owners), but he’s got some tough matchups the next few games, so you probably won’t want to lean too heavily on him right away. However, late in the season he could be the man who limps your team into the playoffs as he gets to play defensive lightweights such as Detroit and New Orleans.
Brandon Lloyd, WR, Bears (8.0% owned, Instant Starter) – While Griese was bombing it to Antonio Bryant, Kyle Orton of the Bears was doing just the same to Brandon Lloyd, who seems to be his new favorite receiver. Lloyd has racked up 190 yards and a touchdown on 11 receptions over the past two games and could be a decent WR3 play for the time being.
