By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

We are now officially past the half way point this year. Kiss your fantasy football playoff hopes good bye if you’re not at least a game out from .500. Owners looking to keep stock piling depth for injury purposes or needing a spark; we have your waiver wire pickups for the week.

Quarterbacks

David Garrard- Quietly over the last month, Garrard has emerged as a solid fantasy option. After struggling mightily his first month, Garrard has a total of eleven touchdowns his last four games. The offense seems to be running a bit smoother but will have to see how he performs not playing a bottom rated defense. Give him credit for bouncing back as many thought he was on his way to the bench for good.

Chad Henne- More and more Henne is looking comfortable running the Dolphins offense. The problem isn’t the Dolphins moving the football, it’s scoring within the red zone. Dan Carpenter has made fantasy owners very happy by booting eighteen field goals already this season. We think over the second half of the season Henne will figure out how to get the ball to Brandon Marshall inside the red zone.

Derek Anderson- The Max Hall era seems to have come to a quick halt. Hall never looked like a viable starting quarterback, but Whisenhunt tried to sell him the best he could. Two quick pick six’s to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found Hall sitting on the bench. Anderson has had accuracy issues but should remain the Cardinals starter the rest of this season. Fitzgerald’s healthy now, and Steve Breaston returned this past week in a big way.

Troy Smith- It appears that San Francisco will let their next few games ride on Troy Smith’s shoulders. After having a hard time moving the ball during the first half, Smith got things going and saved Mike Singletary. The throws he made for big plays could have easily been intercepted. What makes Smith entertaining is what he can do with his feet. He’ll extend the plays and should benefit greatly by having one of the better backs in the league.

Mike Vick- He should be announced starter again as he is apparently back to full health. The Eagles have a solid chance at making a run for a wild card birth. We think the Vick that everyone will see won’t be as potent as the one we saw earlier this year. He’ll provide enough statistically to warrant being a rated quarterback in the ten to fourteen range.

Running Backs

LaRod Stephens-Howling- Patience is growing thin with running backs Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells. Both have struggled with fumbling woes. Hightower drew just one carry Sunday, while Howling was a tremendous spark for the Cardinals. He broke a thirty yard touchdown and has been dynamite on special teams. He is the type of guy that needs more time on the field with his game breaking abilities.

Mike Tolbert- San Diego actually implemented a balanced attack against the Titans. There questionable play calling all season shifted to a rush attack against the Titans. Tolbert carried the ball eleven times, Sproles four, and Matthews fifteen. Look for the Chargers to keep to this offensive game plan for the rest of the season.

LeGarrette Blount- We’ve profiled him for the past month, hopefully you listened. He’s still available in a wide array of leagues. That won’t last much longer after his breakout game against the Cardinals. The game plan Sunday featured Blount as the main back, with Cadillac Williams/Earnest Graham as third down backs. Scramble to the waiver wire.

Wide Receivers

Steve Breaston- Not often a player returns and provides a tremendous spark like Breaston did Sunday. He stepped in as if he had been playing all season. For the first time this year, Fitzgerald was able to get open because of an opposite legitimate threat.

Nate Washington- With Kenny Britt out for an extended time, the ideal replacement to emerge will be Washington. He actually has four touchdowns this season and should see obvious more targets now.

Robert Meachem- When Drew Brees officially gets out of his two month rut, the Saints will once again have officially three fantasy wide receivers that you can start. Most owners have Lance Moore and Marques Colston. Meachem can be picked up and provide a spark as your third receiver or flex option. Brees doesn’t seem to have a favorite target but Meachem has been getting solid looks the past few weeks.

Brandon LaFell- Carolina’s running game with Jonathan Stewart/DeAngelo Williams figured to be one of the top rushing attacks in the league. They haven’t had it going. With Matt Moore in the lineup the past few weeks, the passing attack has been somewhat formidable.

By Zack Cimini
notjustagame23@gmail.com

If you had a fantasy football team that didn’t have at least minus six or more points due to turnovers we applaud you. The amount of interceptions and fumbles lost on Sunday were staggering. That led to a lot of high scoring affairs which bodes well for fantasy teams.

If you had the over in Vegas on this week’s action than you cashed out without sweating. Fantasy football owners though are panicking. Again big play draftees are not performing up to par. It’s the second tier and third tier players carrying teams. Heck, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Carson Palmer, and Matt Moore were in the category of top fantasy quarterbacks. At running back it was Darren McFadden who outplayed backs two through seven combined in relevance of fantasy performance. At wide receiver, Kenny Britt, Steve Johnson, Lee Evans, Dwayne Bowe, and a cast of others shadowed over the elites.

Quarterbacks

Ryan Fitzpatrick- It’s crazy that I went to the same high school as Fitzpatrick. He went from being not recruited by any division one schools besides Harvard, to making the most of being a 7th round draft pick. Fitz has had his struggles as a backup forced to start in St. Louis and Cincinnati. Finding a home seems to be what Fitzpatrick has done in Buffalo. He’ll come back to Earth as teams stop taking Buffalo lightly, and prepare in normal fashion. At the end of the season though, Fitzpatrick can be a dynamite performer to get you top notch fantasy points.

Tavaris Jackson- Will Favre play or sit? If he does sit and Jackson steps in, we don’t know if Favre will come back. He said it would be his last year and if Jackson gets the Vikings rolling, maybe Favre will bow out. Jackson’s carried this team to a 10-6 record and has watched Favre for a year and a half. He has to of gained a few things to help him become a better quarterback.

Matt Moore- DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart continue to be shut down. Moore’s ability to shake off a fourth quarter pick six, and get his team a victory shows a lot. He had a decent game and should stave off Jimmy Clausen from reappearing as a starter the rest of the season.

Mike Vick- If he’s still available in leagues that owners got impatient snag him back. He’ll be back out as starter after the Eagles bye week. Kolb threw a lot of ducks against the Titans, who bottled him up inside the pocket. Those are two things that Vick has a substantial game changing ability to do. You won’t ever hear of Vick being bottled up in the pocket or not able to throw the ball deep.

Running Backs

LeGarrette Blount- We profiled Blount the past few weeks as we saw this coming. Hopefully everyone listened as he’ll know be the hot commodity on this weeks waiver wires.

Dexter McCluster- The Chiefs are mixing in plays weekly for McCluster. When he is on the field he is more of a legitimate threat than a decoy. Whether out of the backfield or as a receiver, McCluster is part of a backfield that’s going to be very scary if they make it to the playoffs.

Wide Receivers

Riley Cooper- Cooper is a buried special teams player, but if DeSean Jackson’s not able to return after the bye week than Cooper could be a deep fantasy waiver wire pickup. He made the bulk of his yardage on a deep duck by Kolb, but also scored a nice touchdown.

David Gettis/Brandon LaFell- These guys both could be one week wonders, but one is going to step in and fulfill the second receiver role. It was supposed to be LaFell’s but Moore’s favorite target Sunday was Gettis. Gettis made some solid moves and created separation to give Moore great spots to throw the football.

Bills Receivers- Chances are Lee Evans, Steve Johnson, and Roscoe Parrish are widely available in leagues. Johnson’s been a fantasy gem but owners were likely hesitant to pick him up due to Buffalo’s inability to move the ball. That’s changed as of late, and you have to take notice when they light up a defense like the Ravens.

Jordan Shipley- The Bengals seem to be abandoning the run more and more by the week. Palmer’s either killing them with interceptions or keeping them in the game with huge passing days. He is throwing a high amount of pass attempts, and all three Bengals receivers are becoming beneficiaries of this.

Davone Bess- Bess is becoming one of the better hot route receivers in the league. Miami nixed the wildcat and Bess has been there new quick dink/dunk recipient. In the red zone when teams are doubling up on Brandon Marshall, Bess is getting open looks to sneak in the end zone.

Patrick Crayton- Rivers may be throwing to receivers that are practice squad caliber, but Crayton is not. He has fit in well with the Chargers having dinged up receivers all across the board. It’ll be interesting to see where Crayton falls on the depth chart when Naanee and Floyd are both healthy.

Fred Davis- Chris Cooley did play against the Bears but probably had no business in doing so. He looked a few steps slow but was a factor in the game. Davis stepped in last year when Cooley went down. Cooley’s health is worth keeping an eye on, especially with all the other tight end injuries throughout the league.