Week 10 Bold Predictions

With my Friday Nuggets column, I already said quite a bit regarding certain players that I think will either do well or do poorly this week. So with that in mind, I'm going to try to touch on some other players in this entry and attempt to truly toss out some bold predictions. Here goes...

• Astute fantasy owners can tell you that the Buffalo Bills cannot defend tight ends. They play Detroit this week. Detroit has Pettigrew and Scheffler. Who fared better when Hill was the QB earlier in the season, and who is a better match for Hill's below-average arm? That's right, Pettigrew. He is a great bet for 10 fantasy points this week and I say he gets it.

• No guts, no glory: I thought C.J. Spiller would score a TD last week, and I'm going to predict that he scores one this week.

• A sieve of an offensive line for the Bears against what looks like a resurgent Jared Allen and the Vikings' defensive line? No thanks. And that means less than 15 fantasy points for Cutler, less than 10 for Forte, and less than 7 for Johnny Knox.
  

• Peyton Hillis goes for at least 15 fantasy points in what looks like a bad matchup against the Jets. I just think dude is for real.

• Chad Ochocinco is held to no more than 5 fantasy points against the Colts. Again.

• The Haitian, Pierre Garcon, will lead the Colts in receiving after being held in check last week.

• Ronnie Brown has at least 15 fantasy points on Sunday. I have a hunch that the Dolphins will feature the Wildcat a lot more in this game.
  

• Tampa Mike Williams just keeps on rolling, even against a top-rated pass defense like Carolina's. He has at least 10 fantasy points, again.

• Dwayne Bowe's recent history against the Broncos is terrible. Champ Bailey can explain that one to you. So despite the fact that Bowe has been white-hot lately (7 TD's in his last 5), I say that Bowe is held to less than 5 fantasy points Sunday.

• The Seattle offense will look semi-competent Sunday at Arizona, and Marshawn Lynch will go over 10 fantasy points.

• Going out on a limb with this one, possibly for 12-team or 16-team owners looking for a WR3 this week and are desperate: Brandon Gibson leads the Rams in receiving and has at least 80 yards or 8 fantasy points.
  

• Take note, PPR leaguers: Danny Woodhead will make at least 6 catches on Sunday night against the Steelers. And in standard-scoring leagues, I say he totals 80 yards or more because he will be on the field for at least 75% of the Pats' offensive snaps.
  

• Jeremy Maclin has at least 15 fantasy points and outproduces DeSean Jackson this week for the Eagles on Monday night against the Redskins.
  

Friday Nuggets

Just some more nuggets of wisdom for your fantasy consideration, after a Thursday night game that saw the Falcons nip the Ravens...

• Don't sleep on the viability of Shaun Hill for the rest of the season. I realize that scoring systems can vary, but in one of my leagues, Hill averaged just over 23 PPG in the 4 games that he started and finished this season. Matthew Stafford, when he got a chance to play, averaged almost exactly the same. In the game that Hill missed the 2nd half (against the Giants), Drew Stanton--yes, Drew Stanton--came in and got 20 fantasy points. The Lions' QB position is averaging about 22 PPG this year. They throw the ball an average of 42 times a game. They have Calvin Johnson. It's just a system that's working, and I see no reason that Hill isn't a low-end QB1 for the rest of the year in 12-team leagues. I'd much rather own him than, say, Donovan McNabb.
  

• Sell high on LT and buy low on Shonn Greene if you can. Remember how Greene was a top-10 pick in many drafts and LT was an afterthought? Well, clearly Greene doesn't have that high of a ceiling, but Greene obviously has talent. He's outproduced LT in 3 straight games in terms of YPC. LT is 32. He's slowed down considerably after such a fast start. And Rex Ryan has come out and said that they want a "50/50" carry distribution going forward. On a team that is going to run the ball so much, and considering that LT will still catch the RB passes, he still has value, don't get me wrong. But he's trending in the wrong direction and Greene's arrow is pointing up. Instead of the 10 touches or so that Greene has been getting lately, perhaps now it's more like 15, and that has RB2 value in the right matchups and certainly it has flex value each week.
  

• Week 10 should be a good time to get the Blair White Project back in lineups, as the Colts face the Bengals. Austin Collie will be out, and White becomes the slot receiver this week. Of course, the Colts very often go 3-wide, so White will be out there most of the time. The Bengals have struggled to cover 2nd and 3rd WR's all year. Peyton Manning, as I've said in this blog before, exploits mismatches and doesn't just force-feed one guy targets because he needs the ball. I again expect Jacob Tamme to excel, but White should have a good shot at posting WR3 numbers this week.
  

• I've heard some say that this will be a bounce-back week for Chad Ochocinco, because he pouted last week and they will try to get him the ball to appease him this week. Look, that could happen, but I don't feel good about Ocho at all. He's just not playing well. Something bad seems to happen whenever they try to throw him the rock. He'll drop a pass, or Palmer will overthrow him, or he'll take a huge hit and the pass will fall incomplete. I just don't think he and Palmer are on the same page, for whatever reason, and with Owens playing as incredible as he is, I don't think Palmer will feel compelled to target Ocho a ton more. And even if he did get some more targets, who's to say what Ocho would do with them? Remember, Palmer isn't exactly guaranteed to be the Bengals' starting QB next year, so he is going to throw the ball to the guy he thinks will make him look the best. Right now, that's T.O., and it's not even close.
  

• You're starting all your Jaguars and Texans this week on offense. Schaub, Garrard, Foster, Jones-Drew, Andre Johnson, Sims-Walker, Mike Thomas, Marcedes Lewis, Joel Dreesen (yep), Scobee, and Rackers. Neither of these teams could stop a competent high school pass offense.
  

• I expect Vince Young to start this Sunday and based on the addition of Randy Moss and the fact that the Titans' schedule looks incredibly favorable for passing for the next month, some might say that Young warrants QB1 consideration going forward. He's also playing well in real life, with a QB rating of over 100. But look, I just don't see it. While it's true that Young could post some good games, the facts are that he also is prone to many single-digit fantasy efforts. Why? Well, because Jeff Fisher is the coach, that's why. In games where the Titans have a decent lead, Fisher plays ball control football and pounds away with Chris Johnson. This is not a team that will throw that much if they don't have to. So yes, it's nice that they have Randy Moss now and a good schedule, but don't get carried away with Vinsanity. Pick him up as a high-upside backup if your current backup is weak, but I can't recommend more than that.

• I don't see Chad Pennington's insertion into the starting lineup as a bad thing for Brandon Marshall. It's not like Henne Pasta was getting him the rock that well, and it's also not like Marshall had a high yards-per-catch average with Henne. If nothing else, Pennington is accurate, and might be more effective with the short and intermediate throws to the Marshall Plan. And Marshall is dangerous if he can catch a pass in stride and use that physical style to gain yards after the catch. So Marshall owners, don't fret.
  

• Have you really watched Jimmy Clausen play quarterback this year? If you haven't, I'm here to tell you that it's a downright ugly visual. I mean, Clausen Pickles really is not ready for the big show. As a result, since Clausen is going to be the starter Sunday (and if he happened to get yanked like he did in Week 9 after coming on for the now-on-IR Matt Moore, Tony Pike waits in the wings)...you can't play any of your Panthers on offense, if you happened to have the unluckiness of owning any. I can't even recommend Steve Smith as a WR3 in 12-team leagues this week. The only player I can even come close to saying is flex-worthy is Mike Goodson, just because they literally have nobody else that can play, and since it's likely Carolina is going to get blown out, Goodson has the chance to rack up some yardage on dump-off passes since he is also the passing-down back. ESPN, Yahoo, and Rotoworld's rankings all have Goodson ranked about 30th among RB's this week, and that's about how I see it as well, since he realistically should get at least 15 touches against what is a bad Tampa rush defense.
  

• Oh, and the above means that the Tampa Bay defense is a wonderful spot-play this week. Seriously, it's very difficult to imagine Carolina scoring more than 10 points this week, barring a defensive TD or a punt or kick return TD. If you're the type that's been rotating defenses all year, and you don't like your matchup this week, see if the Bucs are available.

• Josh McDaniels came out this week and said that they need to get Knowshon Moreno more involved going forward. That's nice and all, Josh, but I'm not exactly rushing out to trade for Moreno. The strength of this team is in its passing. The defense they have is awful, which means you just don't get as many rush attempts as you'd like, even if you were a good running team. And one other thing: Tim Tebow is the goal-line "back" on this team. Knowshon just isn't going to get easy 1 and 2-yard TD's. That's Tebow's role now, and you can't really argue with that, considering how good he is at it. Knowshon has a lot of talent, but he's at best a lower-end RB2 going forward.

• If Seattle's offense looks competent this week, after having looked so pathetic in the last couple of games, we'll know why...Russell Okung. If Okung can suit up, that is. When Okung was out early in the season, the Seahawk offense looked terrible. Okung came back, and all of a sudden it was a decent-enough unit. He got injured again, and it was right back to being bad. If he can play this week, and they do OK, that will be too much evidence to ignore. You probably aren't playing Hasselbeck in any fantasy leagues--I hope--but Mike Williams and especially Marshawn Lynch owners, watch this one closely. If Okung is in there and Lynch and/or Williams post decent stat-lines, I would say that it gives you a blueprint going forward as to when to use these 2.
  

• You should already know that you're starting all your Giants against Dallas this week, which includes the NY defense and any IDP's if you have those. But news came out Thursday that Steve Smith is probably out 1-2 weeks. If you're a Smith owner, and have the room to make an add, immediately add Mario Manningham. Manningham will be a WR2 this week. Trust me on this one. I'm bullish on him this week because not only is the matchup great, of course, but Manningham was a starter last year and has even had some good games this year. Eli and he have a decent-enough rapport and familiarity with each other that it shouldn't be a tough transition for him to go back to starting this week and pick up Smith's targets. And Manningham has big-play ability.

• As for Dallas, I'm going to advise for one more week of patience, Miles Austin owners. The guy has had some bad games lately, there's no doubt. But it's not like Austin has forgotten how to play WR. It's just been a tough period lately for the whole team. But let's break it down. Austin has had 4 bad games this year. The first came in Week 3, after big weeks in the first two weeks, so one bad week would've been nothing to be alarmed about. He had a bad stat line against the Vikings, but was jobbed out of a 76-yard TD in that one so he should have had a big game there. His next bad game was the game Romo was knocked out of, so clearly that's completely understandable. And after a 117-yard Week 8, he bombed last week in the blowout loss, a game that the team quit from virtually the second series on, but even so, Kitna missed a wide-open Austin on what would've been a long TD on one of his few targets. With a coaching change to Jason Garrett, I just believe that the team is going to make more of an effort to get Austin the ball going forward. It was insane that Austin wasn't getting targets at all last week in a blowout. So I have a hunch that Austin will rebound this week, even in a game where the Giants figure to dominate. If Austin posts another clunker this week, then it's officially time to sell low and just get what you can.

• If your starting QB is on a bye this week or if you are in a two-QB league, I'd try to steer clear of Sam Bradford this week. Bradford is playing very well overall this year for a rookie, but he's been much better at home this year than he has on the road. That said, if you're in a two-QB league and with the byes, it's possible you may not have a better option in the #2 role. But if Hill were available, I'd definitely try to get him.
  

Week 9 Prediction Results

Well, the Fantasy Leprechaun fared much better in Week 9 than he did in Week 8. For Week 9, there were more predictions, and 19 came out as "wins", 14 came out as "losses", 1 was a "push", and 2 were "no plays" due to injury (I don't count those as losses, as that has nothing to do with being a bad forecaster of fantasy football).

Among the highlights:

• Seyi Ajirotutu's big game, rewarding owners who had the guts to play him with over 20 fantasy points.

• Greg Olsen catching a TD pass, yet another against the Bills.

• Shiancoe liking life much better without Randy Moss, in terms of his individual production, as he, too, reeled in a TD.

• Continuing the TE theme, I called for Aaron Hernandez to cross the chalk for his first TD of the season, and he liked doing it on his first time so much that he did it twice.

• Brandon Jackson showed why any offensive player against Dallas is a good start these days.

Among the lowlights:

• Andre Johnson barely going for 40 yards, and had a gigantic drop on the Texans' last drive that caused an INT and cost his team any chance to win the game.

• Another clunker from Chad Henne, one that led to his benching for Week 10.

• I thought Ray Rice would struggle with the tough Miami run defense. Oops.

• Jon Kitna was not able to replicate his "garbage time" stats from the previous week.
  

Week 9 Bold Predictions

It's that time you've all been waiting for...here are the Leprechaun's bold predictions for Week 9.

• Patrick Crayton in such a great matchup, and considering the circumstances around him, wouldn't be such a bold prediction to get 10 fantasy points; but predicting that Seyi Ajirotutu will do that qualifies as such. I say the Fresno State product does it.
  

• Andre Johnson again goes for 100 yards and a TD.
  

• LeGarrette Blount, not exactly a speed burner, will struggle on the turf at Atlanta and have trouble approaching 60 rushing yards. He could go over 10 fantasy points because he's an OK bet to score a TD, but I'll predict less than 7 fantasy points anyway.

• Rowdy Roddy White will have no trouble escaping Aqib Talib's coverage and will go for at least 100 yards and a TD.

• Tampa Bay Mike Williams keeps it going with at least 10 fantasy points.

• Robert Meachem leads the Saints in receiving yardage this week.

• Jay Cutler gets at least 20 fantasy points against the Bills in a game played in Toronto's Rogers Centre, in a dome. Johnny Knox gets at least 10, Matt Forte gets at least 15, and Greg Olsen scores a TD.

• In the same game, Ryan Fitzpatrick gets at least 20 fantasy points, Steve Johnson again scores a TD, and C.J. Spiller has a TD in either the return game or as a RB.

• Larry Fitzgerald gets over 10 fantasy points based on the sheer volume of targets he will get at the Vikings on Sunday; he is also from Minnesota so don't forget about motivational factors here.

• Visanthe Shiancoe will be the only member of the Minnesota passing game worth starting, as he scores a TD for the first time in almost two months.

• Aaron Hernandez gets loose for his first TD of the season against the Browns, and has at least 50 yards receiving as well.

• I'm going back to the Miami passing well this week. I'll again call for good games from Chad Henne (at least 18 fantasy points), Brandon Marshall (at least 100 yards or 10 fantasy points), and Davone Bess (at least 6 catches in PPR leagues and at least 8 fantasy points in Non-PPR).

• Ray Rice will continue to disappoint, going for less than 10 fantasy points.

• I love the Giants' skill players this week at the Seahawks. That means Eli Manning goes for at least 20 fantasy points, Ahmad Bradshaw goes for at least 15, Brandon Jacobs has at least 10, and Hakeem Nicks has at least 15. Steve Smith is a good play as well, so I'll give him at least 6 catches for at least 80 yards.

• Jacob Moons Over My Tamme gets into the end zone again and has at least 10 fantasy points.

• Austin Collie comes back and, like Tamme, has at least 10 fantasy points.
  

• LeSean McCoy gets at least 150 yards from scrimmage, and if he gets a TD along with that, will go over 20 fantasy points.
  

• Brent Celek continues to struggle, failing to reach 40 yards receiving.

• Darren McFadden and Jamaal Charles both go nuts on Sunday, each piling up at least 20 fantasy points.
  

• With the Raiders Asomugha-less, Somewhere Over Dwayne Bowe goes for 100 yards receiving or 10 fantasy points, one or the other.

• The Packers will feast on the Dallas defense, with Aaron Rodgers compiling at least 25 fantasy points, Greg Jennings having at least 15, and Brandon Jackson having at least 10.

• Jon Kitna continues to be the definition of high-scoring garbage time fantasy QB, as he comes up with at least 20 fantasy points.
  

• Ben Roethlisberger has at least 20 fantasy points and Mike Wallace has at least 100 yards receiving or 10 fantasy points.
  

• Hines Ward has at least 10 fantasy points.
  

• Rashard Mendenhall goes for at least 100 yards from scrimmage and 15 fantasy points.
  

• Terrell Owens continues to out-produce Chad Ochocinco, as T.O. gets at least 10 fantasy points and Ocho is held to no more than 5.
  

Ten Observations

Just some nuggets of Leprechaunian wisdom for you...

• Owen Daniels cannot be in lineups right now. The guy's banged up, and if you don't believe that he isn't 100% from his offseason ACL surgery to his knee, well, now his hamstring is barking at him. He had 9 yards receiving on Monday night coming out of a bye week, and now he's the least healthy he's been in weeks. If you have space on your roster for a second tight end, fine, go ahead and hold onto him, but in most leagues you can do better with a roster spot.

• Seyi Ajirotutu is a deep sleeper this week. Look, sometimes fantasy football is about opportunity. And for this week only, you have to look at the facts. San Diego is at Houston. You know Houston can't defend the pass. They are playing Philip Rivers, the most accurate QB in football. This game figures to be high-scoring and it's quite possible the Chargers will be in throw mode for most of the second half. Actually, when aren't they in throw mode? Malcom Floyd will miss the game. So will Electric Legedu Naanee. Buster Davis is on IR. And so Ajirotutu is going to be on the field for basically every play. And although Patrick Crayton is surely the safer option among the Charger WR's this week, it's Ajirotutu that has far better athleticism and he is a better deep threat. Houston has given up 23 pass plays of 20 yards or more. I see Ajirotutu as a WR3 in 12-team leagues this week, with legitimate big-play upside. Just realize that the Chargers have a Week 10 bye, and then Floyd could be back in Week 11, so he's likely just a one-week play. But if you're rostering a guy like Kevin Walter or Danny Amendola or (gasp) T.J. Houshmandzadeh, pick up Ajirotutu and thank me when he has a good game.
  

• It's time to get Visanthe Shiancoe back in your lineups this week, as he should be a top-10 TE play, perhaps going forward. In Weeks 1 and 2, Shiancoe totaled 10 catches for 162 yards and a TE, evoking memories of his solid 2009 campaign. Then he had just one catch for 7 yards in Week 3; hey, no problem, it's just one game right? But then the Vikings had their Week 4 bye, and then they traded for Randy Moss. Moss' presence took a lot of Shiancoe's targets away, especially in the red zone, and since Harvin exploited mismatches over the middle when Moss was there, that also hurt Shiancoe. In the 4 games that Moss was a Viking, Shiancoe totaled just 96 yards with no TD's. But now the circumstances have changed. Moss is gone, and Harvin is hurting. The opportunity is once again there for Shiancoe to reclaim his over-the-middle targets, and red zone chances as well. He could be available in your league because he's been quiet this season since Week 2. Snap him up if you've been playing a guy like Kellen Winslow, which reminds me...

• Kellen Winslow is another guy I don't trust right now. It's not just that he hasn't scored a TD all year, despite an improved Tampa Bay offense. That could possibly be a fluke. It's that he doesn't look healthy. He's been limited in some practices all year, but again, that alone doesn't bother me so much. But I played him in one of my leagues last week (a league where I've had to deal with the season-ending loss of Finley), and I was watching him closely. The guy is gimpy. He came off the field at one point and you could see him favoring one leg. The bottom line is that with his production suffering, and with him playing hurt, you might as well get a guy in there that's at least healthy. Shiancoe is a guy that qualifies as such.
  

• Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Wallace will be outstanding plays on Monday night against the Bengals. The Bengals are not getting any pressure on the QB whatsoever this season, so Big Ben will have time to throw, which is actually something he usually can't depend on. Whenever Ben can extend the play, he looks to Wallace deep, possibly the fastest WR in the league. Ben may not even have to extend plays against Cincy; he may just be able to take a deep drop and chuck it deep to 60 Minutes. I like Wallace to get deep for at least one 40+ yard catch, and the matchup is ripe for Ben to rebound after last week's rough outing at the Saints.

• I mentioned the other day that I liked Nate Washington as a pickup in light of Kenny Britt's hamstring injury, and that was before the news that Randy Moss was acquired by the Titans. I still like Nate, though, even with this news. Washington is still going to be on the field in all two-wide sets (which is basically all plays except for obvious running downs), and if defenses still pay attention to Moss with their top cover CB, which is likely, Washington is going to have an even worse CB on him than what I thought a couple of days ago. Yeah, it's possible that he doesn't get as many targets as he would have if Moss weren't there, but I still like Nate's potential upside anyway, going forward. And it's possible Moss will continue to be of more help to his new team as a decoy, like he was with the Vikings and Patriots this year. I mentioned this already, but if you're rostering a WR with no upside that you should never play like Housh or Walter, feel free to take a gamble on Washington.
  

• Don't be afraid to use a red-hot Dwayne Bowe this week at Oakland. Asomugha's ankle injury last week looked serious, and even if for some reason he suits up this week (which I consider highly doubtful), he won't be close to 100%. Throw in the fact that Bowe is moved all over the field and that if Asomugha even played he wouldn't be asked to shadow anybody because of the ankle (he would stay stationed on one side of the field), and what you have is a guy who's a safe start this week since he's been lighting it up.
  

• Ah, what to do with Jonathan Stewart? Despite a not-100-percent foot in his first two years, J-Stew always looked explosive whenever he got the chance to play. He had offseason surgery on that foot, which led most to believe that he would be even healthier this year and, thus, better. Of course, Carolina has been terrible this year, and even DeAngelo Williams hasn't looked good when he's played. Williams could be back next week, so this could be J-Stew's last chance to start for a while. He gets the Saints at home this week, who are a relatively neutral matchup. But if you have more reliable options at the RB2 or flex spot in your league, like Brandon Jackson or Brandon Jacobs, I would feel more comfortable with them. The facts are that J-Stew has 28 carries for 59 yards in the last two weeks, is averaging 2.8 yards per carry this season, and has averaged more than 4 yards per carry in just one game all year. There's still upside with J-Stew, but there is also considerable downside. Considering that Carolina just doesn't move the bell well, and that the Saints' defense is healthier and looking better, I just think there's too much downside to count on J-Stew this week unless you have weak options behind him. Again, I'd rather roll with Brandon Jackson (playing well in an offense that will move the ball easily against Dallas' rolled-over defense) or Brandon Jacobs (the Giants move the ball easily and even in a 10-touch-a-week role, Jacobs has averaged 13 fantasy points a game in his last 3 and 10 in his last 5).
  

• Antonio Gates owners could be in a tough spot this week, as the no-doubt-about-it #1 TE appears to be in legitimate danger of missing this week's game at the Texans. The good news, at least, is that it's a 10AM PST start, meaning you'll know at the soonest possible time if Gates is going to play. Obviously, if he is active, you are starting him. But you should be prepared for the very real possibility that he won't play. Couple that with the fact that the Chargers have a Week 10 bye, and forward-thinking Gates owners should pick up another TE now. You're going to need one next week anyway, so you may as well get the jump. As I've said, I like Shiancoe as a capable replacement for this week and going forward. If Jacob Tamme is available, I prefer him to any possible TE add. Other guys that could be available in your league that are worth gambling on are Brent Celek (says he's much healthier after his bye week) and Todd Heap (averaging a respectable 45 yards per game and has 3 TD's on the year, and Flacco likes targeting him in the red zone).

• You obviously don't need me to tell you that you're starting Adrian Peterson this week. But if you play in a salary-cap game like ESPN's Gridiron Challenge or something like that, you simply have to play AP this week. Arizona is a pushover run defense, and even worse on the road (the game's in Minnesota this week). Minnesota is 2-5 and this game is an absolute must-win for them; they can take no chances. Randy Moss just left town. Percy Harvin is banged up. Sidney Rice isn't ready to play for at least another week. The circumstances here suggest that AP is in line for his biggest workload of the season against an opponent that can't stop running backs, including the immortal LeGarrette Blount last week. I think AP's just a little better than Blount.

Week 8 Observations

These are some things that I noticed from watching Week 8's play that you might be able to use to help you going forward:

• Dallas is finished. Donezo. Kaput. Finito. Cooked. They look like they have literally quit on Wade Phillips, and it's not pretty. The defense isn't tackling, and I don't care what defensive rankings Dallas has: going forward, if you have players that are matched up against the Dallas defense, get them in there. Dallas has mailed this season in, and when defensive players aren't giving max effort, you simply have to play guys going against them. An example of that is Brandon Jackson this week. If you just look at the numbers, it seems like a tough matchup. And the Packers like to pass. But you have to get a RB in there that's actually playing pretty well lately and facing Dallas. Trust me on this one.
  

• Jon Kitna is going to feed Dez Bryant targets. Unless you are just loaded at WR, Bryant needs to be in your lineup on a weekly basis. The targets have finally caught up to Dez's enormous upside, and since Dallas' defense has quit, the Cowboy offense is going to be throwing a lot in the second half of games. Congratulations if you exercised patience with Dez through a rough period early in the season.
  

• Matt Schaub just isn't playing well. Sometimes a guy's numbers will be down, but he's still playing good football. Schaub isn't. He doesn't look very aware in the pocket, and he's holding onto the ball too long, and his ball isn't coming out with as much zip unless he has a ton of time. I don't see Schaub as a no-doubt-about-it starter anymore, although it's likely he's better than your second option. But if you have a guy like Eli Manning along with Schaub, I might see what you could get in a trade for Schaub, especially since Eli just had his bye week.

• Arian Foster is totally the real deal. Don't even think about trading him.
  

• Darren McFadden is a beast, too. If you could truly get a surefire stud for him, I might consider a trade since Darren comes with some injury risk, but unless you get that true stud, don't trade him. He simply has too much upside every week. He's like Jamaal Charles in that he can take it to the house on any given play, and McFadden isn't sharing carries as much as Charles is.
  

• Philip Rivers is throwing for 300 yards a week with no Vincent Jackson, then no Malcom Floyd, and last week he did it with Patrick Crayton as his feature WR and with teams knowing that Antonio Gates is their only proven playmaker. Rivers' accuracy is truly unbelievable and he is a surefire QB1 starter every week, and can never be benched under any circumstances. Just wait until he has V-Jax and Floyd back during the fantasy playoffs.
  

• Ryan Fitzpatrick played poorly at Kansas City, but guess what? I'm more convinced than ever now that he is going to hold legit low-end QB1/high-end QB2 status for the rest of the season. Even in a game like this, on the road in a tough place to play and struggling with his accuracy, Fitzy put up nearly 19 points in standard-scoring leagues, aided by the fact that he scrambled for 43 yards. He's averaging 32 yards rushing in his 5 starts, which means that he basically gets you an extra TD pass (in standard scoring leagues) per game based on his scrambling ability. Chan Gailey loves to pass. And thanks to Buffalo's terrible defense, Fitzy is going to be throwing the pigskin around the yard for almost every play of 4th quarters for the Bills. It may not be pretty, but who cares! Fitzy has scored at least 18 fantasy points in all 5 of his starts, and he's actually been between 18 and 23 points in 4 of his 5 starts, which means he's consistent. And consistently good, at that, as a fantasy QB.
  

• The Carolina offense might be terrible, but Matt Moore has a legitimate rapport with Steve Smith. No, you should not be starting Moore, but you should have Steverino in your lineups on a weekly basis, unless you are stacked at WR. Carolina's going to be playing from behind most weeks and Smith is going to get a lot of targets; he should be one of those WR's that piles up the garbage time targets and, thus, yards. And you know Smith has the talent to get deep and has the upside for big weeks.
  

• It's a complete guess as to who is going to lead the Rams in receiving each week, and I wouldn't feel confident playing any Ram WR until we see some clarity, which we may not ever see. If you are in a deep league and want to stash one, I think Brandon Gibson has the most talent, but until he has a couple of good games in a row I don't see how you can logically feel comfortable playing him. Danny Amendola is still a decent bet in PPR leagues, but other than that you shouldn't even be rostering him.
  

• Seattle is just a pathetic road team, and you should probably stay away from all Seattle offensive players in road games, even when Marshawn Lynch is up against one of the worst rush defenses in football like he was against the Raiders last week.

• Robert Meachem is starting to come on. He's looking to me like he did in the second half of last season, where he was emerging as a co-number one WR along with Colston in that offense. Recall that Meachem then hurt his foot late in the season and wasn't the same for the playoff run or the start of this season. Meachem's athleticism is there, and he's very sure-handed. Now that he's getting more snaps consistently, he has legitimate upside in what is still a great offense, even if it has struggled this season. Meachem warrants WR3 consideration in deep leagues as soon as this week at Carolina, and he's somebody that should not be on fantasy waiver wires at all.

• Tennessee has a bye in Week 9, but Nate Washington is somebody that should be on fantasy rosters as a high-upside type. Why? Well, Kenny Britt is hurt, and hurt pretty bad. Whenever a head coach says "I don't think he's out for the season", that's ominous. If his hamstring injury--which Britt says he heard a "pop" in--were a day-to-day thing or even a week-to-week thing, don't you think the head coach would say something different? It appears that Britt is going to be out for multiple weeks, and the Titans, after their bye week, get Miami, Washington, Houston, and Jacksonville. It doesn't get much better than that for pass offenses. Teams are loading up the box to stop Chris Johnson, leaving one-on-one matchups for the Titan wideouts, and the Titans are taking a lot of deep shots downfield every week. With Britt out of the picture for possibly all 4 of those games, Washington stands a good chance to pull down some of those bombs.

• If you still have Kevin Walter on your fantasy team, please get rid of him at the first possible moment. Walter actually received 6 targets last night and did absolutely nothing with them. Yep, he put up a goose-egg. He is averaging less than a single fantasy point in his last 3 games and just 3 points a game in his last 5. There is no reason to own him whatsoever.
  

• He's not getting a lot of playing time and he's currently the #4 WR on the Denver depth chart, but Demaryius Thomas has a ton of talent and athleticism. Brandon Lloyd has turned into a legit #1 WR, and that role won't change. But on a Denver team that's 2-6, it's possible that they will want to see Thomas more than Jabar Gaffney opposite Lloyd as the season goes on. Eddie Royal is a great fit as the slot man, of course, and Gaffney would be a good option there too. If you have the roster space, perhaps in a deep league, for a bench flier, I like Thomas. I could see his role increasing exponentially in the final few games.

Results From Week 8 Bold Predictions

Well the results are in from my Week 8 Bold Predictions, and they aren't pretty. I counted 15 "clear losses" and only 9 "clear wins" among my predictions, with 2 as pushes.

Among the lowlights:

• Jonathan Stewart looked downright pathetic in a great matchup at St. Louis, though it should be noted that it seemed like Stewart had 2 men in the backfield on at least half of his carries. Perhaps it wasn't that DeAngelo Williams was playing badly; it could be that the offensive line simply isn't getting it done this year for the Panthers, and they don't have a pass offense that can get into scoring position a lot. Keep that in mind going forward, no matter who's starting at RB.

• Marshawn Lynch totaled 7 yards--seven freaking yards--against the Raiders! I realized going into the game that Seattle is a terrible road team, but there is no way to explain such a feeble game against a team that had been allowing more than 5 YPC.

• Randy Moss, in a revenge game, recorded one reception for 8 yards. I knew Belichick would try to take Moss out of the game but I can't believe this stat line. It might have helped if Moss had not quit on that long pass play after he drew the pass interference call. You all saw that, right? Unreal.

• I said that James Jones would lead the Packers in receiving. OOPS! He didn't catch a single pass.

• I thought Stump The Schaub would throw for 300 yards, and he went for just 201 and 1 TD.
  

• Donovan McNabb didn't throw for 2 TD's--again--and he even got himself benched with 6 minutes to go in a game where the Redskins had the ball and were down by just 6 points. McNabb is nowhere near QB1 consideration even in the best of matchups, as I have sadly learned.

Among the highlights:

• Brandon Lloyd put up another monster game.

• Kitna may not have thrown for 2 TD's like I predicted, but 379 yards passing and a TD more than qualified as a great game for him, especially in leagues that don't penalize for turnovers (and 2 of his interceptions were on drops by his WR's).

• Jamaal Charles put up more than 20 fantasy points without even scoring a TD. Yeah, he's pretty good.

• Stafford didn't throw for 300 yards like I predicted, but owners were still thrilled with his 200+ yards and 4 TD's.
  

• Josh Freeman put up more than 20 fantasy points, and Mike Williams had over 100 yards and a long score.
  

• Seattle Mike Williams barely got his name on the stat sheet, and before Asomugha's ankle injury he was getting shut out.

• Andre Johnson did go for over 100 yards and a TD.

• In possibly my most correct forecast, Jacob Moons Over My Tamme recorded 6 catches for 64 yards and a TD; I had actually projected 6 catches for 70 yards and a TD. It's good to be on the field with Peyton Manning, folks.
  

The two predictions that were pushes were Davone Bess and Ryan Torain. I said Bess would be a PPR stud with at least 6 catches for 75 yards; he actually had 7 catches, but for 53 yards. And Torain only rushed for 10 yards before going down with a first half injury at Detroit, but he scored a TD and had almost 9 fantasy points when he went down.

I'll try and do better next week!