The ebb and flow of the waiver wire always leaves viable options for managers in need of bye week help, but this is a week where no players will act as saviors for your floundering playoff hopes. Three distinct concepts can summarize the quarterback, running back and wide receiver positions, as owners must ponder the good and bad in potential bye-week fill-ins.

For the quarterbacks, “young vs. old” can sum up your available options. Brady Quinn, JaMarcus Russell and Joe Flacco all present some sort of upside, but their merits must be weighed against veterans lower-ceiling, more reliable veterans Brian Griese, Kerry Collins and Gus Frerotte. Chicago’s Kyle Orton falls right in the middle of the age spectrum and may just be the best, most trustworthy signal caller available after throwing three touchdown passes in Week 4. Read more »

Another week in the books, this one being the lightest of the early season with six teams on byes. That fact didn’t make Sunday’s action any less stunning, though, with a major upset pulled by the Kansas City Chiefs and a huge day from Jets quarterback Brett Favre.

Favre garnered our Week 4 MVP honors, arguably the most prestigious in all of professional sports, and led a Dream Lineup that also included Larry Johnson, LaDainian Tomlinson, Laveranues Coles and Jason Witten. Writer Bertha dives into the whole lot of awards in this week’s edition of Big Bertha’s Hardware. Read more »

For the fourth straight week, I thought I had a handle on the NFL.

Broncos ae great, Chiefs are terrible. Cowboys are unbeatable at home. Rams are not competitive. Brett Favre will never learn the Jets offense in time to make big fantasy contributions. Matt Schaub will be benched by Week 5. Lane Kiffin will be out of a job any day now.

None of those things happened this week, though Kiffin could be canned by Raiders owner Al Davis at any moment. The point is, no assumptions are fool proof in the National Football League, which makes predicting fantasy football results a nearly impossible feat, too. Read more »