The Thursday night game between the Patriots and Jets was a quarterback-friendly, overtime shootout. The kind of game fantasy owners dream of, unless of course they were part of the faction that watched New England quarterback Matt Cassel’s 400 yards and three touchdowns waste away on their bench. Brett Favre, meanwhile, had the far better game in reality, efficiently completing 26-of-33 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-31 overtime win.

For football fans and Bill Belichick bashers, there was more joy in reality than in fantasy Thursday night. For fantasy owners with enough reason to put Cassel in their starting lineups, there was plenty of joy in a breakout performance that went into the NFL record books. In addition to monster passing numbers, Cassel rushed for 62 yards and became the first quarterback in league history to accumulate 400 passing yards and 60 rushing yards in a game. Read more »

The NFL was again generous in locating a Monday Night Football game in our nation’s capital on the eve of a monumental presidential election.

The Steelers however, were determined not to lose the head position in their AFC North office, and soundly defeated the host Redskins 23-6. Even without the majority of the people’s votes, Pittsburgh’s campaign relied on an always ready defense to shut down Washington’s offense.

With the commissioner on hand and a nation of potential voters looking on, there was no question as to who was the unanimous victor from FedEx Field. If the old adage “defense wins championships” is true, then the Pittsburgh Steelers may be serious title contenders with their top-ranked unit. Read more »

With the half of the 2008 NFL season already passed, most teams will look to streak down the home stretch towards their goal of making the postseason. Getting the chance to play in January isn’t easy, and it looks to be a long, bitter journey for many bubble teams, which at this point, is just about everybody minus Tennessee and the Giants.

Look for some key matchups this week, including several that will have major implications on division races. Among the best of this week are big-time rivalries, like Baltimore-Cleveland and Buffalo-NY Jets. The Sunday night game should be incredible to watch with two AFC powers dueling inside Lucas Oil Stadium, along with an old-fashioned NFC East dogfight at the Meadowlands. 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 »

Time to shake it up.

No more standing by and watching top dogs Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson get out-produced by the likes of Clinton Portis, Frank Gore and Marion Barber. That trio is no doubt a placeholder until A.P. and L.T. break out of their funks, but the body of work still deserves the recognition.

Philosophically, we’ll be treating this poll just like an AP Top 25 in college football. Just because a team keeps winning, it doesn’t mean it has chance after chance to retain the No. 1 ranking. Peterson was the equivalent of, say, Georgia eking past Alabama-Birmingham, Jacksonville State and Troy: while he technically didn’t lose a ton of ground, he didn’t gain any of it, either. Read more »

Some new faces crack our top 101 rankings, but the list has the same distinct look to it with a virtually unaltered top 10. That could change next week, though, because Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is officially on probation as our top-ranked player. The only question standing in the way of a Week 6 demotion is, who else deserves the top spot?

LaDainian Tomlinson has issues of his own and comes off a lackluster Week 5 effort. Frank Gore is having a fine, fine season, but his game just doesn’t scream “best player in fantasy football.” Clinton Portis is ever-so-slowly inching his way there, but doesn’t have half the big-game explosion of Peterson. We knew going in that Peterson would be inconsistent, so he gets at least one more week to prove just how good he can be. Read more »

Last week we told you to expect big things from RBs Steve Slaton, Michael Turner and Matt Forte. They all delivered. We also told you not to start RBs Julius Jones, Rudi Johnson, WR Anthony Gonzalez and QB Matt Hasselbeck. You guessed it, they all floundered in Week 5. How did we know this? Playing the matchups.

Here is a look at some of the most intriguing Week 6 matchups. It’s all about starting quality players when they have a favorable matchup, and the most savvy owners know when it’s time to take a chance on lesser players facing softer defenses. Take the first step here – in the fifth edition of The Good, Bad and Ugly.
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