Here is some last minute analysis on for week 9.  This is a make or break week and there have been many injuries and some intriguing matchups, this may help you as you look at your lineup Sunday morning.

Washington at Atlanta- The Redskins off a bye week and the Falcons are coming off a shootout loss against the Saints.  Even with the bye week the Skins are still lousy, but ATL’s defense has not been great this year and they are susceptible to the pass, with other teams on a bye, you can take a gamble on Santana Moss, and maybe even a look at Fred Davis, who is taking over for Cooley.  As for the Falcons, go ahead and play their top guys, I expect them to win easily.

Baltimore at Cincinnati- Great match up division rivals.  Baltimore’s offense is an enigma to me, I just do not get it, so many check downs.  Ray Rice is a fantasy must start as he benefits from the check downs, look for Flacco to put together something this week as well.  As for the Bengals, Carson Palmer has been great this year and I do not think that the Ravens D puts fear into teams as it once did, he should have a great game.  Look for Chad Ochocinco to make them “kiss the babies!”   Be careful of Cedric Benson, he has had a great season, but the Ravens know he was the first back to have 100 yards against them in about 2 years, they will be focused on stopping him.  Look for Chris Henry to make some big plays for the Bengals as well.

Arizona at Chicago- Wow, two teams that are some much alike, good one week and horrible the next.  I have been waiting for Fitzgerald and Boldin to do something, I have a feeling it may be this week, but the offensive line will have to protect Warner.  For Chicago, they will ride Forte as far as they can, I do expect Jay Cutler to have a good game as the Cards will put 8 in the box to stop the run.  Devin Hester has been averaging 80 yards a game the last few weeks, he is becoming a must start as a receiver.

Houston at Indianapolis- This is the biggest game in the Texans history and the Colts have lost Bob Sanders, and two cornerbacks to season ending injuries.  Look for a strong passing game for Matt Schaub.  We all know about Andre Johnson, but look at Jacoby Jones and Kevin Walter to get some looks as well as Ryan Moats to take some carries from Steve Slaton.  I still think the Colts will win, because they are the Colts and that’s what they do, for their players, its business as usual, play all of their normal guys and look for Garcon and Collie to make more of a difference this week.

Miami at New England- The Pats after a bye are unstoppable, but the ‘Fins have the Pats number.  We all know this is the matchup that started the “Wildcat” phenomenon, the the second matchup Bellichek stopped it completely.  With that said, you still have to play Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, they will get the ball early and often.  Keep this name in mind, Devon Bess, he may be a difference maker is this game as the Pats will look to stop Ted Ginn, Jr.  On the Pats side, play all of their receivers, and shy away from any of their RBs, as the Dolphins cornerbacks are young and Brady will be passing all day.  A few sleepers for the Pats, Sam Aiken, a third receiver who will be open because of Moss and Welker, and Chris Baker, TE, Watson has been banged up, this guy can catch the ball too.

Green Bay at Tampa Bay- Poor Tampa Bay, they have the Pack after they lost to Brett Favre last week.  I see no problem playing Rodgers, Driver, Jennings, and Grant and their Defense as Josh Freeman, the Bucs 1^st round pick will be making his first start.  The only bright spot for the Bucs is that Charles Woodson is out for GB, they may have a long pass play, that’s about it, stay away from any player on the Bucs.

Kansas City at Jacksonville- Bad teams means ugly games.  On the Jax side, MJD is a must start, and even Garrard and Sims Walker are guys to consider starting against a bad team.  For KC, wow, this is tough because they have some decent receivers but they cannot catch the ball and they are one of the worst offenses in the league, play guys at your own risk.

Detroit at Seattle- This is what Seattle needs, a team like Detroit to come in and help jump start their offense.  The Seahawks let Edge go, so they must like what they have at RB, but I don’t, these guys are not Stephen Jackson, but of you have to, you know Julius Jones will get touches.  Look at John Carlson and Deion Branch to have decent games as well.  For Detroit, Kevin Smith is a must start as Seattle’s defense has injury problems.  Megatron (Calvin Johnson) is still a game time decision, so keep an eye on the reports.  If you have to pick someone up, look at Bryant Johnson, he will have increased targets if Megatron does not play.

Carolina at New Orleans- I still do not think that the Panthers have solved their offensive problems, but they realized that they have to run the ball, so look at De Angelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart to get a lot of touches.  Do not count the original Steve Smith out, he makes things happen, keep him on your radar.  For the Saints, like the Colts, business as usual, I like all of their guys, Brees, Colston, Shockey, Thomas, and look at Bush to get more touches, they have been increasing each week.

San Diego at New York Giants- Two more teams that look great and then horrible, but I expect a shoot out and the Giants to win.  San Diego will throw the ball and Vincent Jackson is on fire, so look at Rivers and Gates to have big games too.  I am still not sold on their running game, but they are giving Tomlinson the ball, so he is a good play too, stay away from Sproles as his touches are going down. Manning will have a good game, but look for the Giants to run early and often, Bradshaw has been quiet, but I feel he will have a good game.  Their receivers have been good, but each week a new one steps up, Steve Smith is consistent, but Manningham and Nicks can be good plays as well in deep leagues.

Tennessee at San Francisco- Vince Young is back and the Titans have won, his stats are ugly, but the guy wins.  Chris Johnson is having a great season and should have another good game but do not expect a 200 yarder this week.  Nate Washington is healthy and coming along as well, keep an eye on him to see if VY looks at him more.  For San Fran, Frank Gore is back and running well, he is a safe play the rest of the year.  Michael Crabtree is for real and will eat up the Titans secondary.  Alex Smith and Vernon Davis are solid starts here too.

Dallas at Philadelphia- This should be a great game, an offensive game.  The Eagles have been putting McNabb in the shot gun more and it has paid off he is throwing better and more touchdowns.  Expect the Eagles speedy receivers to give the Dallas defense a hard time, Desean Jackson should continue to light up defenses.  Brian Westbrook should play this weekend, but look at the rookie, Lesean McCoy to steal some touches from him.  On the Cowboys side, I am not sold on Romo this game, the Eagles have stout defense and may great jumps in the passing lanes.  With that said, they have enough fire power to make this a great game.  Miles Austin will be held in check, but look for Jason Witten to finally have a good game, and Roy Williams is doing his best T.O. impression, he may do well also.  Don’t sleep on Marion Barber either.

Pittsburgh at Denver- Just like the Pats, the Steelers are great after a bye.  Denver is licking their wounds from another AFC North Team’s beat down last week in Baltimore, now they have the Steelers to deal with.  Expect the Steelers defense to pressure Orton and stop the Denver running game, in my opinion, only Brandon Marshall is a good start for Denver.  For the Steelers, Big Ben wants to be in the no huddle more, look for that this Monday, he has been great this year and is becoming a top fantasy QB.  With Ty Law expected to play corner back for the Broncos this week, that means their defense is banged up, look for the Steelers receivers to make a lot of plays, and look at Mike Wallace to have a deep pass in the play action.  Don’t worry about Hines Ward, he won’t be shut out this week.  Look for Mendenhall to carry the load on the ground, with Parker getting some touches.

Follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/sportsguymike and ask me questions about your lineup Sunday morning.

You can also email me at sportsguymike@gmail.com with fantasy questions and suggestions for my weekly blog!

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During the draft a couple things may be difficult to handle. A quick example of a couple of those distractions: 1. Focusing on who to draft when the two idiots sitting next to you are arguing for and against you taking a player. 2. Keeping your draft sheet clean of food and 3.Allowing a player’s name value sway your opinion of him.

It happens every year to just about every fantasy football player. A high pick will be wasted on a fading superstar. Maybe it was LaDainian or Fast Willie this year. In year’s past it could have been Garrison Hearst or Marshall Faulk. Their name draws you in. You remember the good times. You think how can this guy hurt me, he’s been stellar his whole career. You blurt out the name and immediately you regret it. As the single digit points come in week after week, you think about cutting him. The problem with cutting him is he’s a thoroughbred. He has a pedigree. DAMNIT, he’s a future hall of famer he’s going to turn it around. Meanwhile, your season slides further and further into the abyss.

We’re hitting the mid way point here in week 8 and those of you who drafted behind the curve are sitting there with a roster of: Jake Delhomme, Larry Johnson, Roy Williams and Randy McMicheal. Why would you have a team like that? Not because you weren’t prepared, but because the name value drew you in. I fell victim to it in one of my leagues, I’m not immune. I drafted Larry Johnson AND Willie Parker. OOF. I cut ways with Johnson this week, mercifully. I cut him for Chad Simpson Why Chad Simpson? Joseph Addai isn’t lighting the world on fire and I’m trying to be ahead of the curve. I did take out a small bit of insurance of Grandmama. I picked up Kolby Smith. When your roster is full of garbage wasting a space on Kolby Smith really doesn’t seem like too much of a risk.

Sports Guy Mike wrote in his article this week beware the one hit wonder. There’s no reason to start scrambling for Devin Thomas, Spencer Havner or Sam Aiken after their bigish weeks. (or Antwaan Randle El for that matter, I’ve made that mistake). What you need to do is try to PREDICT the one hit wonder not react to the one hit wonders. Unless you’re in a league like my favorite league, where we have specific roster requirements, you have a team full of starters with some scrubs on the bench. After your studs bye week passes you start trimming the fat off the team trying to get a team full of players that can give you the best chance of winning the rest of the way. That, my friends, is when you should try and get yourself ahead of the curve.

I had Jerome Harrison targeted in a number of leagues. I was able to grabbed him in a draft in one league and off the waiver wire in another. He helped me win a few games in both leagues. As you may have read last week I was quick to get rid of him. Hanging on to Harrison would have put me behind the curve. Whereas at one point in time he was a very ahead of the curve selection; his value peaked. After that it was time to cut bait and move on. My co-GM and I targeted two running backs that we knew were risky this season but could pay big dividends as keepers next year. We snagged Fred Jackson and Rashard Mendenhall. We knew that Jackson would give us a few weeks of productivity before Marshawn Lynch came back. Then we assumed that Willie Parker wasn’t coming back to Pittsburgh in 2010. We had no idea what Medenhall would give us this year but we had to take the risk. We had to try and stay ahead of the curve. Not every pick needs to be out of left field. You can pick those solid week in and week out starters. You just need to have a few picks that are distinctively ahead of the curve and hope that they pan out.

I figured I should put my theory to test here in Week 8:

QB ahead of the curve:

David Garrard: He’s going up against a porous Titans D that is literally historically bad.

QB behind the curve:

Matt Schaub: He’s been great this year but can he keep it up? The Bills D have picked off a league high 13 passes and Andre Johnson is nicked up.

RB ahead of the curve:

Beanie Wells: You’ve been hanging on to him on your bench, and now it’s time to unleash him. He may not be the starter but he’s going to get enough carries and catches to make him a valuable start.

RB behind the curve:

Willis McGahee: Yes, he swiped some TDs early in the year but that was early in the year. Remember we’re trying to stay ahead of the curve.

WR ahead of the curve:

I wanted to say Mike Sims-Walker but seriously the word on him has to be out there by now. The one I’m going with is:

Keenan Burton: Don’t know who he is? I’m not shocked. This wide out for the Rams will be getting a ton of looks against a below average Lions Defense. He’s averaging roughly 10 yards per catch and only has one less catch than Donnie Avery. Look for him to find the end zone this week.

WR behind the curve:

Brian Hartline: It was one week. He’s not going to average 30 yards a catch every week.

TE ahead of the curve:

Fred Davis: Ok ok he’s not playing this week. Stay on the look out for him though, you’ll thank me later. I’ll go with Brent Celek instead. Celek doesn’t get a whole lot of publicity. He’s quietly become one of the premier tight ends in fantasy football. In a tight game between the Giants and Eagles he’s going to have an impact in the red zone.

TE behind the curve:

Jason Witten: Don’t crucify me, he’s an every week start without a doubt. It’s becoming clear though that Miles Austin is taking some of his targets.

There is a flip side to being a head of the curve. You can let it get to your head. Instead of going for a sure thing, you’re grabbing that shot in the dark sleeper for shock value. The Commish of my favorite league loves to remind you about all the players he’s “discovered”. He won’t remind you that he proclaimed he discovered Micheal Koenen. Let that be the final lesson of being “ahead of the curve”. Don’t brag about that diamond in the rough. Just let the kudos come to you and hey if you feel that I helped you out send some kudos my way. You keep reading here and I will do my best to keep you ahead of the curve.

Follow me on Twitter @HackLasalle

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So let’s just jump head long into the deep end of the pool? Why am I gonna bore you with I’m in such and such a team league with such and such of rules and all that minutia that really doesn’t matter.

I’ve been texting my Co-GM. Now, if you don’t have a league where you have a Co-GM give it a shot. Best thing I’ve ever done. Me and my buddy work crap hours and don’t get to hang out a lot it gives us something to stay in touch with and it allows us to drive our significant others completely and utterly insane to the point that they will actually leave us alone with some cold ones and go do something else. Plus my Co-GM comes with some fringe benefits aside from being one of my best friends in the entire world. He may or may not work for a certain worldwide leader… So yeah we have a ton of stats at our disposal. Ones that most people wouldn’t even think of. We use it to supplement our general fantasy habits and actually used it to win a title and a decent sum of money ummm I mean pride and kudos. Yes, pride and kudos. All this makes what he texted to me next even more curious:

MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST TAKE THE ZERO
What??? On what planet is this ever a good idea? The problem we were dealing with is that our TE John Carlson is on his bye, our Defense the Broncos were on their bye and we didn’t particularly care to cut either of them. Plus the pickings on the Defense and TE pile in a very deep league were slim. We worried about ANY member of our roster that we carefully construct getting pecked off the scrap heap come waiver time. So in my Co-GMs defense this may have been a moment of clarity. Now, we’re not holding on to many gems but still guys who you’re holding out hope can put up some points. One of these guys was Jerome Harrison. Having the flu and for some reason being stashed behind an ineffective Jamal Lewis made him the first casualty. We weren’t worried about Harrison getting taken. He’s a Cleveland Brown and that city doesn’t export fantasy points, just crippling depression.

Harrison… GONE. New Defense for the Week? CIRCLE THE WAGONS! Let’s go Buffalo! The Bills have an underrated D. Now that the offense isn’t playing a silly hurry up offense they’re not ready or equipped for maybe the defense can stay off the field plus let’s be serious Jake Delhomme is good for a pick or ten. (I mean seriously when your fans are making this video, you’re in trouble.) We’re hoping that the Panthers don’t remember how to run the ball incredibly successfully and just continue their insanity and try and heave it down the field to an angry Steve Smith 1.0 (yeah we all know who I stole that from.).

That leaves us the fact of losing Carlson or a very promising Andre Caldwell. Do we take the zero? Do we cut Carlson and hope to grab him on waivers the next week? Or do we do the unfathomable and take the freakin zero!? These are stressful decisions that us fantasy geeks (and I use the term lovingly) deal with that people just don’t understand. This has legitimately consumed hours of my life this week. In fact as I write this I have my fantasy league window open with Ben Watson to be added and just waiting for my Co-GM to get back to me with who to drop because I’ve decided no matter what way shape or form I will not take the zero. And neither should you. Do you know why? Because this is FANTASY football. Not reality.

We take the zero in our every day life. The zero in the nookie department from our wives, girlfriends, strangers that we pick up in the bar that just actually need a place to crash and have no intention at all of hooking up with us. The zero from our bosses and co workers who give us no respect, bust our chops, look over our shoulders and tell higher ups that we’ve been spending hours staring at a Yahoo! Fantasy Football screen and quickly clicking on to a spread sheet when any one looks. I for one Fantasy Brethren am tired of taking the zero on a daily basis and I will be DAMNED if I’ll take the zero in my FANTASY world where I own a team named after a choice between two songs on Satellite Radio (2 Joints Or One Week) on a road trip to Boston.
So to you I say I’m Patrick Hackett, friends call me Hackett and I’m not taking the zero AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU!

Feedback appreciated.

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