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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The following is my synopsis of Thursday’s ESPN Fantasy News e-mail from A.J. Mass.

Mass wrote: “One of the questions we receive frequently at ESPN.com is how on earth we come up with our weekly fantasy football projections. While we’re not exactly going to open up the vault and share our secret formula with the world, the question does have some validity to it. Why should you take the claim that David Garrard is a better play than Drew Brees in Week 6 at face value, especially if our own expert ratings might contradict those same projections?”

How I read that: A lot of you are really upset because our projections haven’t seemed to come to fruition this season, which only compounds the misery that comes with a Fantasy Football setback to a friend, family member, co-worker, or the trash-talking idiot that is the league commissioner’s basement-dwelling cousin. Our glances into the future have given most of you false hope this season, but the fact that we make some outlandish projections has you and your friends talking and coming back to the site throughout the week.

Mass wrote: “Here’s what you need to know about using our projections. It would be very simple for us to take our season-long projections, divide by 16 and simply trot out Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald and Peyton Manning (or Brees) at No. 1 every week. Simple, yes ? but informative? No way.”

How I read that: The difference between you and us is we are paid to do this and we’re not going to tell you how we do it. It’s job security, pal. We may analyze the matchups, imagine scenarios or sometimes just simply roll the dice to make our projections, but the one thing we do not do is take a season-long projection number and divide it by 16.

Mass wrote: “What our projections strive to do is point out which matchups are most and least favorable for each offensive player. By mathematically analyzing each team’s offensive tendencies in terms of play-calling and targeting choices, and then combining those statistics with the defensive strengths and weaknesses of that week’s opponent, the numbers we ultimately come up with show which players can be expected to perform better or worse than usual in a given week.”

How I read that: We do the same thing that you’ve done for years, but this explanation makes it sound a lot harder than what it really is. We just think about how many opportunities this player will have to score points on Sunday. In reality, we should be more in-depth and factor in tendencies such as this player is particularly good at running this route against this type of coverage and a team’s chances of throwing or running on a particular down and distance.

Mass wrote: “But these numbers are not to be taken as gospel; after all, predicting the future is an inexact science.”

How I read that: We’re doing the same thing that television, radio and newspapers have done for years and trotting out opinions that will only make you double- and triple-think your personnel decisions for the upcoming week.

Popularity: 10% [?]

One of my two leagues places an emphasis on quarterback performance by requiring each team to start two quarterbacks and awarding one point across the board for every 10 yards passing, rushing and receiving. Passing, rushing and receiving touchdowns each receive six points, with a two-point bonus given to every receiving touchdown between 40-49 yards and a four-point bonus given to every receiving touchdown between 50-99 yards. Quarterbacks receive an extra five points for 300-399 passing yards and an extra 10 points for exceeding 399 yards in passing. There are no bonuses for lengthy rushing touchdowns or for collecting at least 100 rushing or receiving yards.

As one competitor later put it on our message board, I figured this league would be “different” during Draft Day when one of my friends felt that he was set with Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers under center. I sent him an online message about having two quarterbacks with the same bye week. He took a second to think about it before responding that this was a two-quarterback league. His 3-1 record (the lone loss being a one-point setback courtesy of Peyton Manning’s Week Two heroics) told me that he would have this problem rectified going into Week Five.

Considering that my first win came courtesy of a 223-point explosion against another winless foe in Week Five, I have no business criticizing anyone. However, that is not going to stop me from analyzing the personnel decisions made by this friend in his game against an opponent with a 2-2 record. Bye weeks prevented this friend from posting starters in four of the 10 positions. Real life probably prevented him from correcting this problem, but he still would have been one quarterback short with the insertion of QB Shaun Hill, TE Anthony Fasano and K Jason Elam into his starting lineup.

This friend may have been conceding defeat and failing to comprehend how much of a role scoring can play in league tiebreakers, but he could have pulled out a tie. With Hill, Fasano and Elam’s scoring contributions from this past week, my friend would have had 45 extra points and a 114-114 tie.

The other competitor was limited to 114 points because he started Denver’s Correll Buckhalter and Jacksonville’s Mike Sims-Walker. Although he may not have learned of Sims-Walker’s team-imposed suspension until the receiver was scratched for Sunday’s 41-0 loss to Seattle, there was no reason to start Buckhalter when media reports throughout the week listed him as questionable at best.

Whether it was apathy or confidence, this personnel decision just demonstrates how “different” this league really is.

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