The NFL season is more than one-third complete and its been an exciting six weeks. Now that we have a relatively decent grasp on what’s occurred and what to expect for the rest of the ‘08 campaign I thought it would be a good time to sit back, analyze some results and talk about the immediate future of the NFL. 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 »

Note to readers: DO NOT miss another Monday Night Football game this season!

It seems like every week on Monday night, viewers get a treat from the NFL. That gift has come in the form of three incredible primetime games in the past four weeks.

Last night’s Vikings-Saints contest went down to the final minutes and was settled by Ryan Longwell’s 30-yard field goal to give Minnesota a 30-27 win. Despite the offensive futility in the first half, it took only a few plays for this game to go from sloppy to downright thrilling. 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 »

Youth movement has been a good theme for 2008, with an influx of rookie running backs, dominant performances by young quarterbacks Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers, and lost confidence in some of the game’s best veterans LaDainian Tomlinson, Randy Moss and Peyton Manning. There are no signs of halting the movement, so youth have continued their invasion of our pre-Week 4 edition of the Fantasy NFL 101.

Second-year back Adrian Peterson narrowly fended off a healthy-looking Tomlinson for No. 1 honors, while Frank Gore and Marion Barber jumped Brian Westbrook, who is questionable this week with an ankle strain. Two more young backs are waiting in the wings in Marshawn Lynch (No. 6) and Joseph Addai (No. 8). Read more »

Just because there’s one more game left on the Week 3 schedule, it doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to hand our Week 3 fantasy hardware. After some of the performances - the unbelievable and unbelievably lousy alilke - we couldn’t wait to get to our awards column.

Any football fan took note of Miami’s unfathomable 38-13 win over New England, and it was impossible not to attribute the victory to running back Ronnie Brown, who found the end zone five times (four rush, one pass). The huge performance prevented Falcons’ running back Michael Turner from twice being named our Most Valuable Player, as the first-year starter accumulated a measly three scores. Read more »

Big names have big matchups this week, so huge performances by running backs could mark Week 3 of NFL action. On the flip side, some other top performers - Adrian Peterson, LaDainian Tomlinson, Ryan Grant and Darren McFadden - enter the weekend as question marks while they nurse injuries, making for a stark contrast between certainty and uncertainty.

Frank Gore, Michael Turner and Brandon Jacobs fall under the category of “sure things” because of their stature and soft matchups. Tomlinson tops the list of “unsure things” with a sprained toe, making him a scary must-start at home against the Jets. Steven Jackson is shortly down the same list, not because of injury, but because of how poorly he and the Rams have played so far. Read more »

Alright, fantasy owners, it’s time for some useful yet arbitrary rankings heading into Week 2 action. We’ve touched up our preseason top 200, narrowed it down to 101, and added notes for each player. The same drill will follow each and every week of the season.

The list of suspects who improved on their preseason draft stock is well known by now. Willie Parker, Donovan McNabb, Michael Turner, Reggie Bush, Matt Forte and Chris Johnson are some of the hottest commodities in fantasy football. But, take a look at Bills running back Marshawn Lynch and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo; while their stat lines didn’t blow anyone away, there are signs for better-than-expected gains. Read more »