With week 7 under our belts, fantasy football owners are past the midpoint of their regular season. The playoffs are still in sight for most, and decisions are being made to prepare for the playoffs.

If you are rocking along strong at 7-0, 6-1, or 5-2 then keep doing what you are doing, and start keeping an eye on week 14, 15, and 16 matchups. You want to be careful and not mess up a winning strategy, but if you have a starter with a horrible matchup in the playoffs, then start looking for a trade that gets you someone with a great matchup. Fantasy championships are won by paying attention to weeks 14-16.

If you are mid pack at 4-3 or 3-4, then continue to battle and tweak your team as needed, but the mantra here is “just win”. You have to keep battling because with these records you will be on the playoff bubble either just in or just out. Don’t take your eye off the future weeks, but you can’t afford a loss right now. Remember-Just win now.

If you are 2-5, 1-6, or 0-7 (I hope not 0-7 for sure) then you are in trouble. In all honesty, unless you have had horrible luck, then your team is probably pretty bad or you have a lot of injuries. If you are 1-6 or 0-7, then you are probably done. Even running the table doesn’t do a lot, but can put you back in play for a final playoff spot by week 13. If you are 2-5, it isn’t quite over, but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is an oncoming train. If you are 2-5, then with the right breaks you can still have playoff hopes. Closing out 5-1 or maybe 4-2 gives you a shot at a final seed playoff spot. Even if it looks bad though, don’t give up and don’t stop submitting a lineup. There is an etiquette to fantasy football and starting the best team possible is one unbreakable rule.

Whatever your current fortunes, keep on fighting, and keep on reading. Good luck this week.

With six teams on a bye in week 8 and injuries starting to stack up even higher finding some good value on the waiver wire is becoming more and more important each week. We have two solid WR’s and two good QB pickups for those of you who either lost Romo to injury, or just lost one of the solid QB’s on bye this week (Ryan, Flacco, Eli Manning, Vick/Kolb).

Teams with a Week 8 Bye: Falcons, Ravens, Bears, Browns, Giants, Eagles

Steve Johnson, WR, Bills – A hot WR pickup on the wire, Johnson has caught TD passes in each of his last 4 games. With improved QB play for the Bills in recent weeks, Johnson has become a serviceable starter for fantasy owners. He is starting for The Legend this week as a bye week fill in who has the capability to take over a spot in the lineup.

Kenny Brit, WR, Titans – Wow. After that performance last week who can argue with this one. Anytime a WR puts up an over 200 yard performance, then he should be owned in all leagues. Put him on your team for a spot starter.

Matt Cassel, QB, Chiefs – Lose Romo? Need a solid backup or starter? Then get Cassel. He isn’t a superstar, but is solid and the Chiefs appear to be for real. He has a solid running game to support him and he is starting to connect with Bowe.

Jon Kitna, QB, Cowboys – Another lose Romo candidate. Kitna is going to take the helm of an offense with a lot of talent that is fighting for its life. He could be a mid season fantasy gem of a pickup and if not, then is at least a good bye week pickup.

Now get out there and work the wire! Get your team ready to win in week 8.

Questions about who to pickup? Who to trade? Comment on this post or send me a message on Twitter.

Week 7 Starts and Sits

Start:
Matt Ryan – Look for a good game from Ryan at home this week. Jenkins is back and in combination with Roddy White will provide a lot of targets. Add in the fact that the Bengals defense is dealing with the absence of key players and you have a great matchup for Ryan to produce.

Joe Flacco – Another great start for a quarterback by committee player. Flacco versus Buffalo is a nice spot for Flacco to do some damage.

Both Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles – Look for the Chiefs two for one punch to run all over the Jaguars. It is always a little concerning to start a member of a pur committee like this, but expect good numbers from both here with Charles having a little more upside because of his explosiveness.

Sit:

Michael Crabtree – He has been stepping up the last couple games, but wait one more to see if it will stick. The niners will continue to ride the Frank Gore train this week.

Ryan Mathews – It looks like the ankle is still bothering him, the team is struggling, and the solid Patriots rush defense is coming to town this week. If you have been riding him and struggling in the process, then try another option this week.

That is all for now. As always, send in via comments or Twitter with your fantasy football start or sit questions.

A huge trade went down this week that impacts both real life NFL and fantasy football. Randy Moss was traded from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings. For our purposes, we are concerned with its fantasy football impact.
First, let’s address the impact to Moss himself. Moss’ value should remain relatively unchanged although it may increase some as the Vikings struggling offense will likely try to get Moss involved early to get some juice into the passing game. If you have Moss and were starting him, then continue to do so.
For Brady, I believe this will be a significant impact to his value. Moss was a big physical receiver who could win jump balls and stretch the field. Drawing regular double coverage Moss [...]

The pickings on the waiver wire seems slimmer this week than in past weeks. I am finding it hard to recommend many pickups this week especially for immediate help. As the bye weeks keep coming and the injuries keep piling up then digging deep on the wire is important, so let’s see if we can find a few waiver wire gems for our fantasy football team.
Teams with a Week 5 Bye: Dolphins, Patriots, Steelers, Seahawks
Sam Bradford – If bye weeks or injuries have left you with a hole at QB, then Bradford could help your team. While a rookie QB isn’t what you hope to be left with, Bradford has played well in his last few starts and faces a 49ers defense that is [...]

Last week we discussed being 0-2. This week we will try to give hope, inspiration, and fantasy football advice to those who have been unlucky enough to start the season at 0-3.
Let’s get it out there upfront. If you are 0-3, then you are in a big hole. In most leagues, this means that you need to go 7-3 and at worst, 6-4 for the balance of the season to make the playoffs. That is a tough task in any case, and especially with a team that has started off 0-3.
For an 0-2 team, the counsel is patience and thorough evaluation. The same holds true for an 0-3 team of course, but the situation is more urgent and some action needs to be taken whether [...]

Two guys feature on my week 3 pickups list. No laundry lists here or even top tens. Just two solid adds and one to keep considering if he is still around.
Demaryius Thomas, Denver WR – With a solid week 2 performance Thomas has made his impact in Denver’s offense known. With under rated QB Kyle Orton throwing him the ball and getting him a lot of targets, Thomas is a solid pickup for any team needing assistance at WR. With one of my teams needing help at WR he is on my target list this week if no one else takes him that has a waiver wire priority. Thomas could end up being a waiver wire steal and at worst should be a solid [...]

Ok, let’s talk about it. If it has happened to you then you may be embarrassed and ashamed and do something rash and irresponsible. Don’t do it. Stop and think. Read this post.
What is it? Why starting 0-2 in your fantasy football league. For the serious fantasy player this is a horrible way to spend the first two games of a season you have looked forward to for months. After hours of research and preparing for and having the perfect fantasy draft it has all come crashing down on you. Or that is what you think. It seems like the season is over and all those hopes of the Fantasy Super Bowl have been replaced with just hoping you don’t get the [...]