With Week 14 in the books, the fantasy season is officially winding down. Top performances down the stretch prove crucial when playoff spots and championships come into play. For the second straight week Westbrook owners rejoiced as he turned in an MVP-worthy showing against the Giants in a rivalry game.

The Colts looked like the Colts of seasons past as they routed Cincinnati, and Brett Favre and the Jets fired a blank in a Week 14 loss to Mike Singletary’s revitalized 49ers. Read more »

This year fantasy owners should be thankful for the multiple servings of monster fantasy performances that proved a great compliment to the turkey and mashed potatoes on Thursday. Chris Johnson, LenDale White, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Donovan McNabb, and Brian Westbrook all handed in ridiculous stat lines on their holiday at the office.

A Baltimore blowout, a Green Bay-Carolina game that went down to the wire, and three one-sided weekday affairs made Week 13 an interesting chapter in the NFL’s saga of 2008. Read more »

The free fall continues. I ended Week 8 with a 4-8-2 record. At 51-61-4 on the year, my goal of a .700 win percentage may seem like a pipe dream, but I wouldn’t go away just yet. Read more »

Week 8 is officially a closed chapter in the NFL saga of 2008. That means it’s time to dish out some Week 8 hardware.

Things are going right in Philly as running back Brian Westbrook returned from injury to take home MVP honors, while last week’s top star Steven Jackson sat this one out with an injury of his own. The circus that is the Dallas Cowboys continues to cause fantasy woes and Seahawks posted 35 points without John Carlson or Julius Jones finding the endzone. Read more »

Panic is setting isn’t quite setting into the New York Jets locker room, but it’s not far off. It was about 15 yards away - as in the winning TD toss to Laveranues Coles with a minute to play - on Sunday when New York went down to the wire against a hapless Chiefs team.

The Jets were able to overcome three Brett Favre interceptions and escape with a 28-24 home win.

With the win, New York improved to 4-3, but the moderate success has been more a product of the team’s schedule than its performance. The cushy schedule, which has included three wins over last-place teams Miami, Cincinnati and Kansas City, gives way to road contests against Buffalo, New England and Tennessee in the next four weeks. Read more »

Clinton Portis backed up his recent promotion to Imaginary Gridiron’s No. 1 player in fantasy in a big way this week, rushing for 175 yards and a score in a win over Cleveland. He symbolized a shakeup last week, as we attempted to get a better grasp on the current state of fantasy football affairs. Less has changed in this week’s edition of The Fantasy NFL 101, but the Top 10 did get a small facelift in light of Week 7 happenings.

No player had a bigger week than St. Louis’ Steven Jackson, who finally “arrived” with 160 yards and three scores in a stunning win over the Dallas Cowboys. Even with a bruised thigh, Jackson moves up to No. 6 in the rankings because he has such a bright outlook in the season’s second half. Reggie Bush quickly plummeted after suffering a meniscus injury in his left knee, one that required surgery and at least three weeks of recovery time. Read more »

Might as well get used to it. The annoying “Gametime Decision” tag isn’t being removed from Eagles running back Brian Westbrook anytime soon. One of the game’s most dynamic, dual-threat running backs just happens to be one of the most slightly built and most heavily used. Sore ribs are the most recent nuissance, an ailment that doesn’t promise to get better in the coming weeks.

So, the big red “Q” next to Westbrook’s name is going to be a fixture. More than that, fantasy owners have already been burnt by one early exit and one DNP, making it hard to trust Westbrook on a weekly basis. That’s a hard cycle to break, the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario, where you risk big points on your bench or another early exit in your lineup that can lose a weekly matchup.

At this point, a fantasy owner isn’t left with many options. Be extra diligent leading up to kickoff on Sunday and hope for the best. Trading Westbrook away at rock bottom value is not wise. Recklessly playing him without considering how he fared in practice is even worse. Benching him for lack of trust is also a bad move because there’s an excellent chance he burns you. Read more »

As the season progresses and players begin to feel the wear and tear of a 16-game schedule, fantasy owners face a problem they didn’t face in the first few weeks. The NFL injury report lengthens each week, which forces owners to make hair-pulling decisions in their lineups. Problems cannot be solved on the waiver wire, so roster depth and viable bench options become the key to victory.

As Week 5 approaches, many guys may see little to no action due to lingering injuries that limited their practice time. Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook is nursing a sprained ankle from two weeks ago. Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer has a sore throwing elbow. Baltimore’s Willis McGahee has rib problems, and Big Ben has a whole slew of battle wounds in Pittsburgh. Read more »

This Oakland Raiders situation has turned into a real mud slinging party. By the time Lane Kiffin’s firing disappears from the headlines, we will have heard from every former Raiders player, coach, towel boy, janitor and secretary about how [fill in the blank] Al Davis is as an owner. This is what happens when your coach-firing news conference turns into a public pimp slapping. People are going to have opinions.

Monte Poole of the Oakland Tribune points out that Davis seems to be learning from his mistakes and plans to hand over more football control. This franchise, the way I see it, isn’t light years away from contending. It just needs a little jolt, one that would come from Davis taking a step back from the football operations. Read more »

Ocho Cinco promises to kiss the star in Dallas.

Miami tries to slay another AFC giant.

Defending champs suspend their biggest playmaker.

Bills and Titans are unbeaten.

A big-time NFC East clash. Yeah, just another week in the NFL.

After a solid 8-5 record in Week 4, Raisin’ Brant currently sits at 32-27-1 against the spread this season. I am feeling a big week ahead … let’s take a look at the picks! Read more »