How ‘bout that for a Houston Texans Monday Night Football debut? In their first Monday game ever as a franchise, the Texans steam rolled the Jaguars 30-17 and climbed into sole possession of third place in the AFC South.

RB Steve Slaton and WR Andre Johnson were once again the stars of the evening for Houston, along with its solid defensive play and disciplined coaching. While the chances of Houston making the postseason are slim to none even with the win, the team has much to build on and can improve with four games down the stretch. Read more »

Week 11 has concluded and the headlines are as follows:

First tie in the NFL since 2002 … first 11-10 final score in league history … Tampa Bay beats Minnesota 19-13 … Miami edges Oakland 17-15 … Dallas beats Washington 14-10 in Romo’s return.

With games like these, how is someone supposed to get excited about heading into playoff football? Weeks like this make me plead with the NFL to abolish the field goal. Seriously, what a boring week of NFL “action”. Read more »

Seven Weeks down; ten to go. And the NFL class of 2008 is making its presence felt on Sundays (and Mondays for that matter). Big Week 7 performances from Chris Johnson and Matt Forte showed the fantasy world that these first year guys mean business.

John Carlson caught one for a score for the second straight game and Darren McFadden is still vying to touch the ball in Oakland. The Rams offense woke up in Week 7’s upset over Dallasm which could translate into good numbers for Donnie Avery, while the Jets demise to the Raiders in OT may mean it’s time to give up on Dustin Keller for the rest of ‘08. Read more »

It’s official, nothing makes sense in the NFL anymore. The previously undefeated Giants fell to the hapless Browns, the winless Rams topped the surging Redskins, and the only thing you can expect is the unexpected. The same can be held true for individual matchups, but here we try to make some sense of what should happen.

Here is a look at some of the most intriguing Week 7 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 sixth edition of The Good, Bad and Ugly. Read more »

As their inaugural campaign progresses, many of the NFL’s top young talents are beginning to feel the wear and tear of a 16-game professional season. Eddie Royal of the Broncos missed Week 6 action with an ankle injury and Dallas’ Felix Jones left the Cowboys loss at Arizona with a hamstring problem.

Many of those who were healty enough to play, however, contributed greatly to their teams’ success. Matt Ryan didn’t turn the ball over and threw a beautiful 26-yard out pattern to set his team up for the game-winning field goal. He also hit fellow top-rookie Harry Douglas for 96 yards on the day. Even St. Louis had a good weekend as rookie Donny Avery led the team in receiving during their first win of 2008. Read more »

Last week we told you to start regular bench players Felix Jones (96 yards, TD) and Steve Breaston (seven catches, 77 yards) and they both performed like starters in the flex spot. However, the biggest piece of advice we gave you was telling you to start DeAngelo Williams, who broke out against KC for 148 total yards and three TDs. As a rule, players that have good matchups, are hot, getting a chance because of injury, or at least assured touches are always useful for the flex spot and as bye-week or injury replacements.

Every week owners are put to the test with the critical decisions in the flex spot that can determine the outcome of your game. If you have guys like RB Willis McGahee facing the awful Colts run defense or WRs Bobby Engram and Reggie Brown who are starting to hit their strides after coming back from injury, feel comfortable putting them, among the eight others below, into the flex slot in Week 6.
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The NFL’s class of 2008 has made its presence felt through the first quarter of the season. Week 5 proved to be no different as many rookies found their way into the endzones and impacted fantasy games everywhere during a time when depth was huge due to bye weeks and injuries.

For the third straight week, Houston’s Steve Slaton looked great. It certainly doesn’t seem like he’s only started three games as a pro. And in Dallas, Felix Jones taught the Cowboys a valuable lesson by following up his zero-touch effort in Week 4 with an impressive showing of 96 yards on nine carries including a 33-yard touchdown scamper. Read more »

Consider player rankings in the same light as your typical college basketball or football rankings. Once the early adjustments are made to take care of teams and players we underestimated and overestimated, only big events should spur big changes. While a multitude of upsets took place last week in college football, there were far fewer landscape-altering events in fantasy football.

Brett Favre’s six-touchdown effort against Arizona was the closest thing to Oregon State’s shocking upset of USC last Thursday. With that outburst, Favre surged to the top of fantasy quarterback rankings and took the NFL lead with 12 touchdown passes. The big boys in our top 10 held down the fort, even Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook, who has caused owners headaches with a nagging right ankle injury, and Dallas’ Marion Barber, who carried just eight times in a loss to the Redskins. Read more »

At the quarter-point of the season, we have started to learn some things about many of the young players making their professional debuts. And with major injuries and plenty of scores to be had, the rookies were busy in Week 4.

Sunday proved to be full of surprises, as Felix Jones got zero touches in the Cowboys loss to Washington, and Darren McFadden took a back seat to Michael Bush as he attempted to play through a case of turf toe. Facing one of the league’s great run defenses, Chris Johnson managed to score his first and second career rushing touchdowns. Read more »

We’re just about a quarter of the way through the season already and many leagues are beginning to take shape. If you are comfortable at the top of your league, or embarrassed while at the bottom, just remember there is still a long way to go. All it takes is some good management and your team could go from pretender to contender, or the other way around, in a matter of weeks. Just make sure you have the right players in every week.

Here is a look at some of the most intriguing Week 5 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 fourth edition of The Good, Bad and Ugly.
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