By Vidur Malik

notjustagame23@gmail.com

It’s safe to assume that the Chicago Bears receiving corps isn’t well represented in fantasy leagues. The wideouts haven’t exactly helped quarterback Jay Cutler that much throughout his tenure, but there is one receiver you should pick up if he’s available.

In the Bears’ 30-24 win over the Eagles on Monday night, Earl Bennett showed the country why he is Cutler’s No. 1 target. Bennett led the team in receiving with five catches for 95 yards and a touchdown and was the only receiver who consistently caught the balls thrown to him.

He has chemistry with Cutler, his college teammate at Vanderbilt, and it showed. He’s probably got the best hands on the team and should be a reliable fantasy option now that he is back from the chest injury that caused him to miss five games prior to the Monday nighter.

Bennett is currently way down the list of Bears receiving leaders, but now that he’s back on the field, he should move up quickly. Running back Matt Forte is No. 1 by far; his 41 receptions are almost double that of the Devin Hester, who is No. 2 with 22 catches. But even if Bennett isn’t Cutler’s No. 1 option in the entire offense, he should be when it comes to wide receivers.

No other Bears receiver has proved to be a go-to guy. Hester’s speed is sometimes neutralized by his questionable hands, and Roy Williams has a reputation for dropping passes. Dane Sanzenbacher and Johnny Knox have been reliable, but Sanzenbacher’s only averaging 9.1 yards a catch, and though Knox is a solid deep threat, he hasn’t become a do-it-all receiver yet.

Bennett ran several kinds of routes on Monday night, and looked like the most complete player of the receiving corps. Now that he’s back, don’t be surprised if he leaps up the production chart for the Bears and quickly rivals Forte for receptions.

He might have already been claimed in your league, but if he’s not, pick him up. The Bears aren’t the first team you think of when you’re looking for good wide outs, so he might have gone unnoticed on your league’s waiver wire. Adding him would be a good move, as the Bears have been on a roll and Cutler is making smart decisions with his cannon arm. Putting Bennett at your flex spot to complement your surefire starters should increase your point total, and since he’s got the reliability factor that quarterbacks love, you never know when he’ll have a big day.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

Not only did Cam Newton throw for over 400 yards for the second straight week, he is also the Panthers leading rusher thus far. Cam’s 71 yards rushing are just three shy of the combined rushing yards from Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. Has Cam already entered top ten fantasy quarterback status? I won’t consent to that admission until he at least plays eight games.

Cam isn’t included on this weeks week two wonders, but there are enough to fill a new reality show for the Dallas Cowboys to complete an overtime game clinching throw to.

Quarterbacks

Andy Dalton- Clearly Dalton does not look like he is going to be a bust. He seems to be taking control of the reigns seamlessly. The Bengals wanted to reshuffle all around and did so at quarterback and wide receiver. Give the team credit, as they did not bow down to Ocho Cinco and Carson Palmer. Dalton though is going to struggle at an even higher rate than Cam Newton due to the offensive deficiencies the Bengals have.

Ryan Fitzpatrick- His game was a tale of two halves. Did the Raiders easing up a bit with a huge lead have a factor in the Bills comeback? Probably. By the time the Raiders tried to regain a hold of the game, momentum had swung the Bills way. Fitzpatrick still has to be considered a backup fantasy quarterback. Even though he has been off to a hot start with touchdowns, he hasn’t crossed the 300 yard mark. Settle down before making a huge error on being Fitzpatrick dependant.

Running Backs

Ben Tate- Now is the time to trade Ben Tate high, especially if you picked him up off the waiver wire before the season. If you have Arian Foster already then retain him. As soon as Foster is 100% , Foster will retake 80-85% of the Texans carries. Houston is doing the right thing now by keeping Foster’s carries down, but it won’t be long before Tate’s fantasy value reroutes to deep on your fantasy bench.

Willis McGahee- Denver upped McGahee’s carries knowing that they won’t need him to do that type of workload all the time. McGahee’s fantasy value over the last few years have come only in short yardage goal line situations. That’s where his value remains. If there was any chance at him changing that, his 3.6 yard average Sunday squashed that. He’ll be back to his proper role as soon as the team declares Knowshown Moreno ready.

Jonathan Stewart- Stewart is another back that made you want to belt out a Tim Allen “Errrrr” Sunday. Out of the ordinary performance for Stewart with ten catches for a hundred yards. That’s more in one game than all of last season when he had eight. Both Stewart and DeAngelo Williams are struggling to help out Newton. In fact, Newton is only a few yards shy of the same amount of rushing yards by himself vs. Williams/Stewart combined.

Mike Tolbert- As the season stretches out, I expect Ryan Mathews to plant his position firmly as the Chargers main on field back. He showed solid flashes vs. the Patriots, and did not cough up the football twice as did Tolbert. The fact that Tolbert received the bulk of his fantasy points this week with seventy three receiving yards on eight catches, isn’t a pattern I expect to be accounted for weekly. This is a guy that has caught about as many balls in two weeks as he has averaged the past two.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Dwayne Bowe- Bowe is like picking the improper stock. You buy him high as most fantasy owners drafted him and he turns into a mediocre fantasy receiver. Buy him low as owners did by scooping him off waivers or drafting him in late rounds last season, and he turns a season around by scoring fifteen touchdowns after a shaky start in 2010. The state of his year this year is largely in jeopardy due to the teams surroundings. Key season ending injuries to Tony Moaki and Jamaal Charles, will hamper Bowe’s value even more. Matt Cassel is not going to ramp up his play anytime soon.

Jeff King- The Cardinals are working on getting more sets of two tight end formations due to the success they’ve had the first few weeks. Until they do increase their looks, King’s value remains very thin. He has caught two touchdowns but bottom line is far behind Todd Heap and is the Cardinals number two tight end. If Heap’s injury history creeps up, then King could be a solid waiver wire tight end pickup.

DeNarius Moore- The Raiders love speed but have found out how brittle speed receivers can be. Chaz Schilens has not been able to shake off injuries in two years, and now Jacoby Ford, Darrius Heywood-Bey, and Louis Murphy are all hurt with no timetable on a return. Moore made big plays Sunday, but needs to show that he can do more then be a Pierre Garcon type.

Antonio Brown- Preseason’s favorite wow recipient and super sleeper, tipped the fantasy charts with ten PPR fantasy points Sunday. I still believe his value is minimal, and only should be valued in leagues with return yardage. Emmanuel Sanders is working his way back into the Steelers game plans, and Hines Ward is still a steady veteran.

Jerome Simpson- With Jordan Shipley now out for the season, Simpson’s performance week two likely caught the eyes of many fantasy owners needing improvement at wide receiver. Dalton torched the Broncos poor defense, but in all likelihood, Dalton will throw on average of 220 yards a game. His anticipated yardage numbers and minimal touchdown throws makes Simpson’s week a one week wonder.

Tony Scheffler- Those concerned that Scheffler is taking away from Brandon Pettigrew’s value need not to fret. Scheffler does have two touchdowns, but how many catches does he have total? Two. That type of red zone efficiency won’t last much longer. That’ll make Scheffler’s minimal catches invaluable.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

Press the brakes and visualize your computer trying to breakdown and crash right as you login to your fantasy football leagues. Don’t make the unnecessary early season waiver wire adds if you drafted appropriately. There are always those owners that can’t live with what they have and have to make changes right away. Maybe you need to, but don’t go after a one week wonder unless your bench depth is atrocious.

Quarterbacks

Chad Henne
Give Henne credit. All preseason he was the quarterback getting bashed the most. His outings during preseason were horrendous but he has shown in the past he can put some decent games together. With Miami’s backfield dinged up week one, the pressure was on Henne to deliver. He put up monster numbers and who knows that may be the game that gets his confidence going. Yet expecting a 400 yard passing game, and nearly sixty yards rushing with a touchdown classifies as a one week wonder.

Cam Newton
Rookie in all, Newton shrugged that off for a first start for the ages. It set the tone for his career, but no rookie goes through his first season without the typical rookie woes. They’re coming and they’ll come in bunches.

Rex Grossman
It’s not that Grossman hasn’t been a suitable quarterback for the Redskins in the preseason and start of this year. In fact, Grossman is a solid number two fantasy quarterback for your roster. In no possible ways though should Grossman be even thought of as a possible look, not even in deep leagues. His past track record speaks for itself.

Running Backs

Ben Tate-
There’s nothing like hype and more hype coming to fruition. Foster couldn’t make the start, and instantly the handcuffing of Foster for Ben Tate gave owners their gem a chance. Tate delivered with a hundred yard game and a touchdown. Foster isn’t going to miss the season. There are just too many Texans backs that will get carries. Even Derrick Ward will be somewhat of a factor.

LT-
Days of LT being a fantasy factor are increasingly coming to a halt. Last year he revived with a fresh new start as a Jet, but tailed off as the season wore down. It looks like the Jets are going to decrease his early season workload this year, and hope he has gas left for a playoff stretch run. His combined yards were solid week one, but he doesn’t have the speed left anymore to be a consistent pass catching threat weekly.

Wide Receivers

Kenny Britt
One thing about Matt Hasselbeck is that he may get things done on the field, but they never look pretty. Britt went almost the entire first half with barely any stats, only to explode in the second half. He is a big play receiver that will surely make more this year. With Hasselbeck though his numbers will decline by a good percentage.

Ted Ginn Jr
The return specialist is just that. It’s crazy to think that Miami drafted him ultimately as a receiver threat, and now he is just primarily a return specialist. It’s reverse for all the other super star specialists. They start out there and then get moved to more and more plays at wide receiver.

Doug Baldwin
If you have a Seattle player on your fantasy team, you’ve probably been the recipient of a joke or two in your fantasy league. It has to happen to somebody. Baldwin got enough catches and a touchdown to get desperate fantasy owners the quick trigger to want to ponder a move. Don’t get caught up in that.

David Nelson-
Tight ends did not have too great of a week one, and that may cause impatient fantasy owners to flock to the waiver wire in search of a replacement. Buffalo has their guy in Ryan Fitzpatrick, but they’re not going to light up the scoreboard like they did week one. Fitzpatrick is a game manager that makes the right throws when needed. Nelson is not worth a fantasy roster spot.

By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

For once the Cardinals front office did something they tend to never do. Sign a marquee player that was an original draftee. Time and time again the Cardinals would let a player walk instead of electing to fork up the millions. There were likely other variables to the Cardinals not resigning anyone. Including the top fact that they were a bottom cellar team for years that players wanted to bolt from.

There were only a handful of players that could be linked back to the Cardinals from the 1990’s. David Boston because of a steroid scandal and monstrous statistical year. Jake Plummer because he actually led the Cardinals to a playoff victory, but was a roller coaster pocket passer. Aeneas Williams and Larry Centers are two guys that actually stayed with the team for quite some time and had individual success. Pat Tillman goes without any elaboration.

This team has seen its ups and downs. When the team ultimately decided not to renew Anquan Boldin, many fans figured this was the same old Cardinals front office. In this short off-season, they also let Steve Breaston walk from his expired rookie contract. So now two of the three Cardinals receivers that Kurt Warner counted on were gone.

In comes new quarterback Kevin Kolb who luckily had been training most of the summer with Larry Fitzgerald. Something finally clicked in the Cardinals front office when they leashed out millions on Kolb. He is a young quarterback with many years in front of him. Why not give him a premier receiver to throw to for an x amount of years. Eight years, and $120 million later the Cardinals took care of business before it got ugly.

Fitzgerald had the right to walk without being labeled with the franchise tag. A poor sixteen games with a new quarterback, and maybe Fitzgerald’s mind wanes and looks elsewhere. Now if that happens, the hard worker in Fitzgerald will have Kolb on speed dial to get things better in the off-season. Scenarios that probably won’t be as drastic as mentioned, but if you’re a GM those are things you need to think about.

Two pieces are put together, and they are two very big ones. Behind Fitz though there will be some no name young athletes. Which ones will step up and be relied upon for fantasy football teams?

Looking at the Cardinals roster, you can see where the shift of salary at wide receiver lies. Right at the top. Not much is coming out of the wallets of the Bidwells behind Fitzgerald. Factor in Todd Heap as a significant upgrade at tight end to what fans have been accustomed to the last fifteen years.

Chansi Stuckey has been written off and right now is drifting from team to team as a special teams player. Spread formations will likely be ran by the Cardinals, and the two that will be in should be Early Doucet and Andre Roberts. Doucet is the more experience and has been working behind Fitz and Boldin for years. He has the frame of Boldin, but has been too inconsistent.

If he drops the ball, look for Andre Roberts to slip past Doucet. Roberts had a decent rookie season, and has electrifying speed. For the quarterbacks Roberts had last year, you could say he had an above expectations type of year. Unless you’re in deep leagues, both Roberts and Doucet could end up undrafted. We like Roberts as a better option as the season extends, and for a bigger fantasy impact.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

Fantasy owners that pointed at their bench to their buddies and said, “see, see, if I would of started Dwayne Bowe I would of won this week,”. You’ve got to love the owners that hype their teams up through their bench than the win/loss column. Dwayne Bowe has had plenty of opportunities this season to emerge as he did a few years ago. Being a disappointment thus far in 2010 is a huge understatement.

Bowe’s had issues abound this year. Matt Cassel’s looked his way and Bowe has not been able to deliver as a number one receiver. Nothing was worse than his play against the Colts. Indianapolis ranks right up there with poor pass defenses, and Bowe could not thrive. He was able to get open and then the football was reminded of Bowe’s hands. Laying the pigskin on the turf happened on wide open routes, including an actual nice throw by Cassel in the end zone. His play in that game basically cost the Chiefs as they eventually got into a fourth quarter hole against the Colts.

Seeing Bowe become a fantasy impact player week six was not surprising. Houston’s pass defense is what might prevent them from making the playoffs. They’ve giving up an incredible amount of yards and points as a unit. It’s the type of game though that could break Bowe out of his funk.

He will never be considered a fantasy every week starter with Matt Cassel at quarterback. He can though be an injury/bye week/first off the bench at receiver position athlete. Kansas City has their style of play down pat for the rest of the year. With Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles they have two backs that can split the load at a high number of carries each. The team knows that counting on Cassel to be their number one option offensively is not a key to winning. He just hasn’t grasped the teams playbook and has struggled overall.

If you are forced to start Bowe, it’s always going to be a high risk. Look around the league and you’ll see that the majority of quarterbacks are throwing 25, 30, or even higher pass attempts a game. Don’t be fooled that Cassel has actually thrown the ball for an average of 6.2 yards per completion. An insanely poor statistic. Cassel’s play of checking down is exactly what the Cardinals passed on with Matt Leinart in preseason.

Chances of Cassel getting benched likely won’t happen at this point. The only way you’d start Bowe is for reasons mentioned in the last paragraph, or if you’re extremely strong with your fantasy running backs. Even if Bowe goes out and has a string of solid games to parlay last weeks, we don’t see him getting far beyond last years numbers. Trading him to a desperate owner is your best bet of getting any long term value out of him.

Joe Lopat, Zack Cimini, and Jabbar Harris return once again to talk football hot topics, as well as their usual fantasy football segments. They’ll tell you who to start/sit and provide spread picks for week seven.

By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

There’s nothing like seeing someone explode on Sunday and the dash to rush to your computer to anticipate picking that athlete up. After grabbing him that week of excitement turns out to be that players season high for all around performance. It’s not just waiver wire athletes we look at. Will look at regular fantasy contributors as well that exceeded week two expectations. Owners that are in the hole can be duped by opposing owners selling an athlete higher than they should, and bolstering their squads for dominate runs.

Quarterbacks

Donovan McNabb-McNabb deserves a ton of praise for his performance to start the season. More people want to see him fail than succeed but he keeps proving doubters wrong. At that though he is on a team with a poor running game with two old backs as options. Picking a part the Texans will be McNabb’s best performance by far. Unless the Redskins get involved in exchanging Albert Haynesworth for Vincent Jackson or another receiver. If that happens, McNabb could continue to be a fantasy factor. Now with Joey Galloway as second receiver it’s just not a possibility.

Mark Sanchez-  For those believing Sanchez has even a sliver of fantasy value better jump off the band wagon. He delivered some key throws for the Jets but the same has been the case in the past for Jake Delhomme. It was one good half by Sanchez, that’s it. He’ll have more downs than ups this year and will continue to be shackled by the Jets play calling to limit his mistakes.

Shaun Hill- Detroit’s wishing he could have delivered as well as he did Sunday a week before against the Bears. There’s no side tracking Detroit’s offensive talent. Jahvid Best looks like he is the front runner for rookie of the year. Hill though has been a Jay Fiedler like performer in the past. He did most of his damage when the Eagles let up defensively with a comfortable 35-17 lead.

Running Backs

LeSean McCoy-  Yardage wise McCoy could be a top ten back this year. Factor in his rushes with yardage pass catching. Touchdowns though is a different story. Expect a large lapse of production from his first two weeks. In the first two weeks he has totaled what he did as a rookie with four touchdowns. McCoy’s touchdowns have come from fairly long distances. Another area backs can’t keep up. If we see him score more inside the five yard line, than we will become a believer.

Tim Hightower- Hightower has that big play potential and provided the lone Cardinals big play Sunday. Busting on the right edge and bursting down the sideline for a long touchdown. Hightower’s going to be a steady fantasy backup running back, but will lose a considerable amount of value once Beanie Wells is healthy.

Mike Tolbert- Tolbert’s the Ron McLain type which can be an occasional starter when injuries present themselves. McLain did that a few times for the Ravens but like Tolbert he is a situational short yardage and goal line back.

Wide Receivers

Mike Sims-Walker- He was a waiver wire gem last year. This year he can be a third wide receiver in deep leagues but besides that more of a suitable bye week filler. It’s not Walker’s talents hindering him, it’s the offense. David Garrard might be the most struggling quarterback in the league still holding his job.

Joey Galloway- At 38 Galloway is giving it his all out there but just like last year he’ll fade out.  Were sure he has a zero percent ownership but there’s someone out there that noticed his deep ball patterns with McNabb. One was caught and one Galloway lost a half step on a perfect throw. The yardage numbers (88) Galloway had he might not equal in the next six games.

Kevin Walter- Time and time again he has monster games. Schaub had a career day that few will ever come close to, including himself. Walter is an aging receiver that is being pushed by Jacoby Jones. As the season goes on we expect Jones to be a higher impact receiver than Walter.