Week Eight Automatics/Don’t Do Its Follow@cimini It’s Thursday which means if you plan on having a Panther or Buccaneer in your week eight lineups you must have it submitted before kickoff. With several teams on byes this week it is imperative to dig deep on your rosters for points. Here are some automatic starters and others to sit for this week.

Automatics

Tony Romo Romo gets all the negative publicity for the way the Cowboys falter in big games and rightfully so. As a fantasy football week to week performer Romo has been stellar. Dallas has had an unbalanced offensive ratio of run to pass plays most of the season. Thus far it hasn’t caused Romo any extra unnecessary hits or injuries like years past. Keep Romo in your fantasy football lineups this week against the Detroit Lions. Victor Cruz For facing a Vikings secondary that has been ripped apart all season there it was an undeniable Monday night poor performance from Cruz. Fantasy owners should have been able to expect ten to sixteen fantasy points from Cruz to catapult them to a come from behind fantasy performance. I do not expect Cruz to have back to back poor performances against a struggling defense. RG3 RG3 finally displayed what fans have been waiting for---to utilize his legs a bit more. Washington’s offense was able to outscore the Bears because of RG3’s offsetting abilities. When RG3 can be a threat with his legs it allowed the Redskins running game to finally flourish. Numbers likely won’t be sky high like they were against the Bears, but RG3 should end up being a top eight to ten fantasy performer. Kendall Hunter Jacksonville’s defense has been thrashed every week against the run. Meanwhile San Francisco has picked up a lot of steam since their blowout road win over the St. Louis Rams. They’ve done it by shifting the focus from Colin Kapernick and utilizing the run game. With how poor Jacksonville has been against the run you can expect the 49ers to exploit it early with Frank Gore. When San Francisco has a comfortable lead they continue to pound the football. Expect Hunter to get double digit carries and hit pay dirt at least once. Jarrett Boykin Aaron Rodgers is a prime time glutton. He loves to devour opponents on the big stage. It’s not a secret that Minnesota is a very vulnerable team at this stage. Look for Aaron Rodgers to come out early to put a team dispirited in a hole quickly. Boykin should have a second consecutive solid fantasy week. Marques Colston A lot of fantasy owners are likely extremely upset with how Colston has underperformed to start the season. Returning off a bye week the Saints should find a way to get Colston re-emerged in the offense. You never want to phase out a guy like Colston who has proven his longevity in the NFL for years, especially with a quarterback like Drew Brees on the field. Others: Michael Floyd, Vincent Jackson, Khiry Robinson, and Stevan Ridley

Don’t Do Its

Terrelle Pryor I’m very concerned for how Pryor is going to finish out the second half of the NFL season. He had a poor second half against San Diego and an even worse performance in the second half against Kansas City. Teams have tracked down the Raiders game plan with Pryor. It’s now putting Pryor in situations that he has to think more instead of create. Pittsburgh should only challenge Pryor more this week. Cam Newton The Panthers have won consecutive games but fantasy owners still can’t figure out what to do with Newton’s see-saw stats. The offense still doesn’t have a strong ebb and flow to it. They’re getting performance from the run game but having a mediocre impact with the pass game. Carolina has even turned to Mike Tolbert for the short yardage touchdowns that Cam Newton use to get. Jacquizz Rodgers With Steven Jackson expected to return Rodgers value automatically drops. Some will likely still insert Rodgers in their fantasy lineups thinking that Jackson won’t be a big factor off his return. It’s likely Jackson won’t garner a high load upon his return. But I think defenses will start impacting the Falcons offense more without their big weapons on the field. Last year Matt Ryan had an awful first half with several interceptions at home against the Arizona Cardinals. Julius Thomas After his monster start to the season it’s hard to decide to sit a player such as Thomas. Getting exposed on prime time repeatedly for poor blocking is something that all the NFL saw and will attack. Denver’s coaching staff is going to have to limit his plays on the field to prevent Peyton Manning from an unwarranted pass rush. Remember this is Thomas’s first success as a football player. Springing back and regaining his confidence is going to be something he has to do for the first time mentally as a pro football player. Jerome Simpson Christian Ponder has been hearing from the media and Vikings fans for quite awhile that he needs to be replaced as a starter. It happened and now the Vikings are going right back to him. With his confidence shaken I do not expect Ponder to life up the Vikings offensively against the Packers, though Ponder did play well in two games against Green Bay a year ago. Trust the stats that show Ponder has not shown a strong ability to get the ball down the field. That negates the impact Simpson, Rudolph, and Greg Jennings can have. Others: Percy Harvin, Zac Stacy, CJ Spiller, and Ryan Tannehill

New NFL Team Rankings

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1. Denver- Even with a loss the Broncos still retain the number one spot. They’ve won in standout fashion in all their games thus far this season.
2. Seattle Seahawks- The Seahawks played better than I expected in their Thursday win over the Cardinals. Prior games they were not as sharp on both sides of the football.
3. New Orleans- The Who Dat nation is coming off a bye week. We will see how healthy Jimmy Graham is on Sunday
4. San Francisco- For the first time in quite awhile Colin Kaepernick let go of his apprehensions to tuck and run the football against the Titans. It provided a nice spark to an offense that has had its struggles.
5. Kansas City- As a regular season team Kansas City is rolling. But when playoff time comes and the Chiefs have to face a 6th seed such as Baltimore or even the Jets who will you be picking?
6. Green Bay- The injuries that Rodgers has dealt with at wide receiver and running back no other quarterback can compare to. Defensively they’ve stayed sharp even with Clay Matthews out.
7. New England- With Gronk back the offense won’t be lagging much longer.
8. Indianapolis- Stacking the Colts wins over the Seahawks, Broncos, and 49ers just goes to show that they can beat anyone in the NFL. Their losses against Miami and San Diego also show that they are a vulnerable team. The running game has to show some life soon or a string of losses could be upcoming for Indy, especially with Reggie Wayne out for the season.
9. Cincinnati- If it was not for a collapse in week one against the Bears the Bengals could be sitting at 6-1. Quietly they’re winning tight games and have a two games lead over the Ravens.
10. Dallas- In a poor NFC East the Cowboys should end up securing the division. At 4-3 they have to finally step up and get some separation from the rest of the division.
11. Chicago
12. Baltimore
13. San Diego
14. Carolina Panthers
15. Detroit Lions
16. NY Jets
17. Washington Redskins
18. Pittsburgh Steelers
19. Philadelphia Eagles
20. Arizona Cardinals
21. Miami Dolphins
22. Tennessee Titans
23. Atlanta Falcons
24. Houston Texans
25. St. Louis Rams
26. Cleveland Browns
27. Buffalo Bills
28. Oakland Raiders
29. NY Giants
30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
31. Minnesota Vikings
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Potential Fourth Quarter Killers Week Eight

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Week eight has six teams on bye week with the Bears, Titans, Colts, Chargers, Ravens, and Texans. That makes it even ever more important that you choose a viable fantasy football starter for Thursday and Monday’s games. Some of you are right on the fringe of getting into your league’s fantasy football playoff picture.

Here are some fourth quarter killer opportunity starters to use in week eight.

Mike Tolbert

Tolbert’s performance this past week against the Rams would of likely got some other running backs benched in the NFL. With the Panthers pinned on their own one yard line, Tolbert stutter stepped to find a hole, instead of lunging forward. It cost the Panthers a safety which could have been a tailspin negative effect. Luckily for Tolbert it wasn’t. Clearly the Panthers love to utilize Tolbert in short yardage situations. It has led to Tolbert getting the one yard plunging touchdowns that use to go to Cam Newton. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Tolbert get an increased work load in the fourth quarter, on top of his normal goal line and short yardage duties.

Jordan Cameron

Cameron has been awfully quiet the past few weeks as Brandon Weeden has put on multiple poor performances. A game against Kansas City isn’t going to be much easier on Weeden’s psyche. An area the Browns need to re-attack to give Weeden some confidence is throwing the football back to Cameron. It seemed when Josh Gordon returned from suspension and had a few breakout games, that the Browns shifted their passing game focus to Gordon. If a blowout occurs in this contest, I would expect Cameron to get easy targets with a relaxed Chiefs prevent defense.

Brian Hartline

Tom Brady hardly ever loses back to back games. In fact he usually comes out firing to avenge the prior week’s loss. A majority of Patriots losses during Tom Brady’s career could be traced to the Patriots defensive let downs. Against the Jets it was Brady that struggled against the Jets pressure and had a costly pick-six with an eleven point lead. Miami has back tracked considerably since a 3-0 start. Ryan Tannehill has been a turnover machine and the Dolphins can’t establish a ground game. One go to guy for Tannehill has been Hartline. Expect Hartline to get ample targets late and be a fourth quarter fantasy contributor.

Le’Veon Bell

After a month on the job it appears that enough has been learned on Terrelle Pryor’s skillset. In the second half against the Chargers the offense went to shutdown mode, even though they held on to victory. Against Kansas City, Pryor had a successful first quarter before the Chiefs adjusted to shutdown Pryor’s running capabilities. Without his legs Pryor is not savvy enough yet to be a passing quarterback. It led to an unsettled offense and an atrocious interception thrown by Pryor in the second half against Kansas City. I suspect that Pryor’s woes will linger over against a Steelers team now on a two game winning streak. Le’Veon Bell has been a mini catalyst for the Steelers offense and should get a heavy workload in the second half against the Raiders.

Michael Floyd

If you could label a young Vincent Jackson molded receiver in the NFL—Michael Floyd would fit that bill. He is a tall athletic target that can possess the football over smaller defensive backs. Atlanta has struggled in many areas on defense this year. Matt Ryan struggled a year ago against the Cardinals with several first half interceptions. This should be a good matchup but I expect Carson’s week to week woes to position the Falcons nicely. Floyd will probably have an all around quality game that turns into a great one based on his fourth quarter stats.
Others: Jared Cook, Greg Jennings, Jordan Reed, Pierre Garcon, Terrence Williams, and Khiry Robinson

Stretching the Field Post Week Seven

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Eric Decker
The Colts employed a different tactic to keep Manning from ripping apart their secondary. They decided to blitz and apply pressure frequently to minimize Manning’s pocket. It was a great move as Manning looked uncomfortable. On several plays he had to roll out or step up in the pocket just to get a pass off. All of Manning’s receivers still had great games and Decker was the top dog with eight catches for over 150 yards.

Vincent Jackson
Many wanted to exclude Jackson from their fantasy rosters two to three weeks ago. He had been nearly non-existent since week one. Things were looking even bleaker with Mark Glennon at quarterback. Yet he has sprung back to life with two great back to back weeks. Sunday was his best game of the year, hauling in ten catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

Harry Douglas
Douglas was already on a lot of fantasy teams due to the injury woes the Falcons have suffered. Tampa Bay though winless has been a decent team defensively. Douglas though excelled Sunday and was the biggest shining fantasy stud that people wouldn’t have thought to do as well. Douglas finished with an average of over twenty one yards a catch with seven in total.

AJ Green
You can say that AJ Green and Calvin Johnson both wanted to prove that they were the best individual wideout in football. Sunday they both finished with identical yardage with 155 yards receiving. Green catapulted his team to a road victory and bestowed confidence in his quarterback, Andy Dalton. Not even Johnson could match Green’s 25 yards a catch average.

Alshon Jeffrey
It looks like Jeffrey’s is here to stay as a top 20 fantasy wide receiver. After a couple of solid games he was still ranked right outside the top twenty. Now there is no reason that he can be left out of your starting lineups. The Bears are one of the higher scoring teams in football. With the way their defense is playing, it looks like they’ll have to run a high pass volume offense all season.

Best Ratios on Catches to Targets From Week Seven

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Wes Welker
Welker has stepped in on three different NFL teams and done an outstanding job. Try to think of another receiver over the last 20 years that has done that. Attached to Welker’s name is his tendency to drop balls. Sunday he snared that few would be able to catch. He finished the night with seven catches on twelve targets.

Jacquizz Rodgers
You do not necessarily have to have a running back that gets fifteen plus carries a game to be fantasy worthy. Those were the old days of fantasy football. Rodgers has been a proficient PPR back with minimal playing time as a Falcon. Now that he is getting the bulk of duties with Steven Jackson injured he is shining even more. His eight catches on nine targets padded his great numbers and drove fantasy opponents crazy.

Jeremy Kerley
Geno Smith reverted back to his old tricks in this game. He threw a pick-six that he had no business letting the ball leave his hand, and had problems fumbling the ball seemingly all day. Yet, he had a few series where he shined and did enough to keep the game competitive against the Patriots. Jeremy Kerley was a calming factor for Smith. When Smith went his direction he completed eight of his ten passes.

Jordan Reed
The Bears could not stop the Redskins ground attack, passing attack, nor RG3 from having revitalized legs. Jordan Reed was one of the shining stars to have a significant day. He all nine passes thrown to him for over 130 yards receiving. You can’t beat a perfect day.

Steve Smith
Never get into a trash talking debate with Steve Smith. He has always been a fuel to the fire type of player. He has had a down year thus far but got back into the fantasy spectrum with a touchdown on nearly seventy yards receiving. He almost had two touchdowns if he didn’t go to on the one-inch yard line. Still he had a solid day and caught all six passes Cam Newton threw to him.

Kendall Wright
The Titans got into a quick early hole against the 49ers. Instead of being able to rely on short passes and a run game, the Titans had to avert to trying to move the football. Jake Locker did decent in his return but could not muster up an all- around performance against a tough 49ers defense. Wright though did have a solid day with nine catches on twelve targets.

Others: Reggie Wayne 5 catches/8 targets, Eric Decker 8 catches/13 targets, Calvin Johnson 9 catches/15 targets, AJ Green 6 catches/8 targets, Riley Cooper 6 catches/7 targets, Dez Bryant 8 catches/16 targets, Cecil Shorts III 8 catches/13 targets, Eddie Royal 4 catches/4 targets, Anquan Boldin 5 catches/6 targets, Jarrett Boykin 8 catches/10 targets, Antonio Brown 6 catches/7 targets

Post Week Seven Waiver Wire Pickups

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Your fantasy football season is officially beyond the halfway mark. Fantasy playoffs will be under way in the less than two months. Are you in position to make a run or are you cemented at the bottom of the league? There’s always a chance to get on a winning streak with a few key additions.

Quarterbacks

Josh McCown
The Bears offense didn’t skip a beat when McCown stepped in with Cutler’s groin injury. McCown is a capable starter that has plenty of them under his belt. As a Cardinal he staged comeback wins and has been a quarterback teams have wanted to retain in case an injury pops up. Count on McCown to make less mistakes and run the offense the way Trestman wants.

Andy Dalton
You could see Dalton’s confidence reemerge after a deep ball completion for a touchdown early against the Lions. Over the last four weeks Dalton had been erratic. It looked like the offense may cave under his guidance. He picked himself up and put on a show against a Detroit defense that has performed better as of late. A key reason for Dalton’s slide was the fact that defenses had shielded AJ Green nicely. Great players like Green won’t be held down permanently.

Running Backs

Chris Ivory
A lot of crucial plays went the New York Jets way against New England. An area they had consistency though came with the legs of Chris Ivory. He brought stability to the run game even though his yards per carry average doesn’t showcase that. Bilal Powell did an admirable job in a few games and may still have an impact but Ivory brings the punch teams look for from an every down back. Rex Ryan wants to stay in games and will do so using the running game and defense.

Roy Helu
Washington can score offensively. If they weren’t a potent offense I would have just considered Helu a one week wonder. They’ve always been a team that carries the football a lot. With Alfred Morris not having the campaign he did a year ago, it has opened up the opportunity for Helu to steal some carries. Touchdowns won’t come as easy as they did Sunday, but you want to get Helu just for the volume of runs Washington does.

Jacquizz Rodgers
With Steven Jackson still shelved with an injury the Falcons have resorted to what the Chargers and Saints do. That is utilize the short passing game with their receivers and running back Jacquizz Rodgers. For Rodgers he was able to ignite the Falcons Sunday with two touchdowns and nearly 50 yards receiving. Rodgers has dotted the fantasy radar before but never could be relied upon with the Falcons weapons. Well now Rodgers is one of their main weapons with Julio Jones down and Roddy White missing time as well.

Tight Ends

Marcedes Lewis
Lewis made it back onto the field for the first time in 2013 Sunday. The results were only one catch for 31 yards. This is a chance to grab a tight end if you’ve had issues throughout the season in that department. He is a big athletic target that looked solid in the preseason. He will have more involvement in the Jaguars passing game that has been better since Justin Blackmon returned from suspension.

Jordan Reed
You could see the breakout game coming weeks ago from Reed. The Redskins involved Reed just enough to get you to think he was on the cusp. He is the new age tight end breed that presents matchup problems for defenses every down. With RG3 now regaining his form the offense is looking much better. It did help that Reed was facing a Bears defense that could not slow any series down Sunday.

Wide Receivers

Jarrett Boykin
After a few drops last week against Baltimore it didn’t appear Boykin would be capable of a big game. Facing the Browns secondary which has been solid even made it more daunting for Boykin to have success. He caught eight of ten targets Sunday and had the dagger touchdown in the fourth quarter. Rodgers can make a name out of anyone, and Boykin is just the latest to move up the ranks with injuries present.

Darrius Heyward-Bey
The more and more that Trent Richardson continues to disappoint the less carries he has been getting. That lives an easy summation that the Colts are going to remain a passing team. They’ve been a dependable fantasy team that can have three wide receivers be fantasy worthy. Bey hasn’t been a statistical standout but he is showing progress as the season goes on. He could propel into a nice flex option or bench option when a solid start presents itself.

Riley Cooper
Two weeks in a row now Cooper has emerged as a go to target in the Eagles offense. Mike Vick if he is fully healthy he may be renamed starter after the team’s woeful offensive performance. DeSean Jackson’s numbers are coming down a bit as teams are defending him better. Cooper will have continued opportunities to be a fantasy threat.

Harry Douglas
Fantasy owners that inserted Douglas got more than they bargained for in fantasy points Sunday. Obviously the Falcons injury woes have stricken the team at running back and wide receiver. Matt Ryan is still upright and that means the Falcons are going to throw no matter if they have practice squad receivers on the field. Douglas has played his role throughout the years as a Falcon and now gets to prove he can be a force.