Squish (268)
E-roc (127)
Shirley (66)
Jeff (53)
Tommy (53)
Mal (51)
Ken (44)
Amir (40)
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: donnie avery RSS
-
Hits & Misses - Week 14: Win or Go Home!
Brandon
-
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.
-
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 …)
-
The Wire - Week 12: Bottom of the Barrel
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week twelve. 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 Yahoo! leagues) in parenthesis. All I can say about the cast of characters on this week’s list is that hopefully you don’t have to rely on them too much…otherwise you’re in big trouble.
-
The Wire - Week 11: The Replacements
Brandon
Here are our waiver wire candidates for week eleven. 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 number of backup running backs who could have some immediate fantasy impact due to injuries to starters Michael Turner, Cedric Benson, Clinton Portis and Julius Jones.
-
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 …)
-
Matt
Donnie Avery’s nutritionist must be on vacation. He’s posted a couple of photos of his meals to Twitter recently, and now I’m hungry.
“At cracker barrel grubbin!!”
“I love my diet!”
-
Brandon
For those hoping Rams wide receiver Donnie Avery would be a good breakout candidate this season with Torry Holt gone, you might want to adjust your expectations, as early injury troubles are going to set him back a bit. He’ll miss the entire preseason and possibly two regular season games with a stress fracture in his foot, begging the question: Who will Marc Bulger throw the ball to when the season starts? All I know is that I won’t care, as he won’t be on any fantasy football roster of mine!
-
Hits and Misses - Week 12: Peyton ready for a playoff run
Brandon
Although the Patriots lost a close one to the Jets, last week ended up being a pretty good week for me in all areas of the fantasy football world. Not only did I win in nearly all of my leagues, but my predictions ended up with a stellar 19-4-5 record, led by great games from Turner the Burner, the Arizona passing game and DeAngelo Williams, along with sub-par efforts from Kyle Orton and Willis McGahee (even with Jake Delhomme doing his best to submarine me and one of my fantasy teams!)
With the playoffs fast approaching though, and me still needing a win or two more to clinch the playoffs in a few leagues, let’s move on to my picks for this week. I’ll start with the man who should help many a fantasy team make the playoffs in week 12 by handing out a good ol’ fashioned beatdown to San Diego…Peyton Manning.
Hits
- Peyton Manning, QB, Colts: This weekend Indianapolis will head to San Diego to take on a Chargers defense that has been one of the worst in the league against the pass (possibly due to the absence of their top pass rusher in Shawne Merriman?) For all those managers who drafted Manning with a top pick in their league and have been disappointed so far (although the past few weeks he’s been pretty good), this game should serve as redemption. The Chargers are allowing 267 passing yards on average to an assortment of signal callers across the league…and this weekend they take on one that is slightly better than your “average quarterback.” I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect 300 yards and at least two scores from Peyton this week.
-
Week 11 Wrap-Up: So much for that awesome Ravens defense
Brandon
Going into this weekend, the Baltimore Ravens were holding opposing team’s running games to a ridiculous 2.9 yards per carry. One week and a brutal beating by the defending Superbowl champs later, that number is up to 3.4 as they were manhandled in the trenches by Brandon Jacobs and crew. Let’s look at more from that contest and the rest of the action from week 11…
- New York Giants 30, Baltimore 10: The G-Men continue to show that they’re the team to beat in the NFC as they hand out a pretty serious beatdown to one of the better teams in the AFC. The Ravens were the team that didn’t let up 100 yard rushers…and I guess they can take pride in the fact that none of the Giants running backs hit the century mark. However, if you combine the stats of the three-headed-monster that they employ in their backfield (Jacobs – 73 yards, 2 TD; Bradshaw – 96 yards; Ward – 41 yards), it’s pretty apparent that as a whole (210 yards!), New York was way too much for the Baltimore defense to handle. (More …)
-
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 …)
-
Week 8 Weekend Wrap-Up: I guess Westbrook wasn't hurt, huh?
Brandon
In a weekend where the Saints and Chargers put on a jolly good show for those fortunate enough to witness the game in London, the real star this past Sunday was a guy who was questionable to even play. Philadelphia running back (although calling him just a running back is quite an understatement) Brian Westbrook left his team’s week six match with the 49er’s with what would be confirmed as fractured ribs and coming into this weekend, it was up in the air if he would even play. However, I guess a bye week was just what the doctor ordered to heal those ribs, because Westbrook went off in a big way! For those managers brave enough to plug him into their line-up, you were rewarded heavily after he rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns, while catching six balls for an additional 42 yards (for a whopping total of 209 yards and two scores!) It’s likely that Westbrook single-handedly beat a few fantasy teams out there. Anyways, enough drooling over Westbrook…let’s get to the rest of the action from the weekend…
- Philadelphia 27, Atlanta 14: Unfortunately for the Falcons, when they acquired Michael “The Burner” Turner in the offseason, they didn’t realize they were only getting half a player. Turner (58 yards) continued his trend of having difficulty against decent defenses in this one and while the passing game was running on all cylinders (Matt Ryan – 277 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT; Roddy White – 8 catches for 113 yards, 2 TD), the lack of a balanced attack might have cost them this one. (More …)
-
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 …)
-
The Wire: Waiver Wire pickups for week 7, 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.
Brad Johnson, QB, Cowboys (0.5% owned, Instant Starter) – Adding injury to insult, it appears that Tony Romo will be out for up to four weeks with a broken finger that he suffered in the loss to the Cardinals on Sunday. Brad Johnson will start for Dallas while Romo is out and he climbs into the driver seat of a very nice ride…but he hasn’t started in over a year and is 40 years old. If you are a Romo owner, or are just desperate for a quarterback, Johnson could be your man in the short term.
Donnie Avery, WR, Rams (2.4% owned, Grab ‘n’ Stash) – Avery was the first wide receiver taken in the draft this year, but it took him a few weeks to get his first catch in the NFL. Since week four however, he’s racked up 10 catches for 119 yards. While Torry Holt gets double covered, it seems that Avery is starting to step up and make the best of his opportunities. Don’t start him right away, but in keeper leagues, or in a deep league where you can afford to use a bench spot on him, you might think about scooping up Donnie and hoping this offense can improve a bit over the course of the season. (More …)
-
Late-round wide receiver sleepers
Brandon
After participating in a few drafts so far, I just wanted to list a few wide receivers that I’ve either drafted, or seen drafted in the last few rounds that could help your fantasy team this year (or in future years if you’re in a keeper league):
- Ted Ginn, Jr. (MIA): Should be the number one target for Chad Pennington in Miami, which means a lot more than it would have meant last season when the team was in complete disarray. Around 900 yards and five scores doesn’t seem out of the picture.
- DeSean Jackson (PHI): With number one receiver Kevin Curtis out for an extended period of time undergoing surgery for a sports hernia and number two receiver Reggie Brown already having hamstring issues, Jackson will be thrust into the action to start the season. He’s looked good in preseason and if that carries over to the regular season, expect quarterback Donovan McNabb to look his way all year long.
- Eddie Royal (DEN): Teammate Darrell Jackson was brought in to be the number two receiver alongside Brandon Marshall, but then the team drafted Royal, who has worked his way into a starting role this preseason. Expect Royal to put up some decent numbers in an offense that should be a lot better passing the ball this year, as Cutler will be a lot healthier after taming his diabetes and Marshall draws loads of attention from opposing defenses. (More …)
