Week 6: Fantasy Football In-Review - a podcast by Jonny and Donny

As the 14th century English author Geoffrey Chaucer once said, "All good things must come to an end" (Yes I had to look that up using "The Phrase Finder": http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1379.html). And that phrase, unfortunately, properly applies to the end result of my match-up this past weekend in our Yahoo! fantasy league. Although my players performances were not awful, they did not however stand a chance against my opponent, thus suffering my first loss of the season. More about that later on.

How did everyone else fare this weekend? From my personal point of view it seemed as if there were a lot of first half touchdowns scored on the weekend while the second half was much more quiet. Thus a promising fantasy performance for some may not have turned out too well in the end. The two men however that stood out above the rest and were affected by the "second-half slump", Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers (17 COMP, 310 YDS, 3 TD's) and New York "Football" Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw (2 REC, 130 TOTAL YDS, 3 TD's). These two had MONSTER games and single-handily beat the snot out of my Yahoo! team. Where it is expected out of Rodgers, Bradshaw actually came as a bit of a surprise to me. Bradshaw came into the game only scoring 2 rushing touchdowns on the year and had yet to crack the 90-yard mark on the ground this year. His rise in production could have been attributed to the absence of Brandon Jacobs (knee). Although Jacobs is expected to return after the Giants bye week, I believe Bradshaw's breakout game could lead to some big numbers down the road for the Giants and fantasy owners. This also makes him a fabulous sell-high candidate if you are afraid of Jacbos return and potentially stealing carries from Bradshaw.

Aside from the Packers dominating and the Dolphins and Colts pooping the bed, there were several teams changing the pace in regards to their performance and winning ways. Let us quickly review some of these teams and what they did in week 6...

The Detroit Lions chances of going undefeated on the season came to an end when they were dropped by the San Francisco 49ers. It was an extremely emotional game between the two now 5-1 teams. At the end of the game Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh went to exchange handshakes at midfield and before you know it things exploded between the two coaches. After a UFC match almost broke out between I could not help but wonder, what kind of playoff match-up between the two teams this sets up. **<Cue Joe Buck intro HERE>** The Giants won a nail-biter over the "Cinderella" Buffalo Bills and while moving into first place in the always competitive NFC East in the process. Staying on the East coast, the Philadelphia Eagles picked up a much needed win over the Washington Redskins while intercepting Rex Grossman 4 times along the way amd ultimately knocking Sexy Rexy out of the starting quarterback role in Washington. Lastly but certainly not least, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens were all able to pick up a victory this past Sunday solidifying the AFC North as arguably the toughest division in football. The Steelers seem to be rounding out as the elite team we once thought they were at the beginning of the season. The Ravens are putting their early season domination on the backs of Ray Rice and their stingy defense lead by All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis. And to much surprise the now Carson Palmer-less Cincinnati Bengals led by their rookie ginger quarterback Andy Dalton and impressive pass defense are 4-2 on the season and are showing no signs of missing 85 and 81. Oh how I love the NFL.

Let us shift gears over to the fantasy aspect of the NF where Jon and I were successful for the second week in a row winning a close one 97-94 in our ESPN league. Rashard Mendenhall (146 YDS, 1 TD) FINALLY got off the schneid and paired some solid production along with the ever so consistent back of ours, Ray Rice (5 REC, 161 TOTAL YDS). We also received a very respectable amount of points from the Raiders DST with the Chargers DST on the bye this week. We were able to acquire DeMarco Murray off the waivers and plan on starting him this weekend against the lowly Rams. Look for a heavy workload for Murray as the feature back in Dallas for the next couple of weeks. If he really wants to be considered that "go-to" fantasy back he will have to start catching the ball a bit more, especially for those in PPR leagues. Got to capture that elusive third win in a row.

I personally was also able to pickup Murray in our Yahoo! league. I had been sitting with the number one waiver spot and decided that now was the time to use it. I will also need to see some solid production out of DeMarco if I want to get back into the 'W' column. As previously mentioned I suffered my first loss of the season this weekend at the hands of Tyler (@OvieMyHomie). What made the loss so much more worse was the fact that it was a divisional loss. Week 7 marks the end of the first wave of our league-wide divisional match-ups and I need the victory over Thomas (@Imtherealdougie) more than ever. This week I am without Wes Welker due to the Patriots bye and am looking for Plaxico Burress to step up in his place. Well, how about a touchdown to start Plax? It also looks as if Andre Johnson will be kept out of the Texans game against the Titans for Thomas and makes my match-up a slight bit easier. Your going down Tommy.

Jon suffered an even tougher loss, is now 0-2 in his divisional match-ups and currently sitting at the bottom of his division standings and 11th overall in the league. Did I mention the loss was to his brother who is running away with that division? Jon is in need of a serious boost and is making the hopeful moves to gain one. In last 7 days Jon has acquired Reggie Wayne for Ryan Fitzpatrick and Anquan Boldin and Peyton Hillis (hamstring) for Deion Branch, LaDainian Tomlinson and Mike Thomas. It is going to be tough for him to crawl out of his divisions basement but if anyone is capable of it I know he is.

It is now time for everyone's favorite section, Booms, Bums and Waiver Wire Pickups.

BOOMS:
AHMAD BRADSHAW (NYG-RB): I would LOVE to forget about this man and how touchdown'd me to death this weekend, but how do you look past a 3 touchdown game? Like I have already said, he was a BEAST against the Bills. Just my luck to draw this match-up. Solid performance nonetheless.

AARON RODGERS (GB-QB): Hey look! Another player that beat me this weekend! There did not seem to be too many BIG fantasy outputs on the weekend hence why I am choosing a quarterback for this section. Nothing against Rodgers, it is just that no one else matched up to him. Rodgers was able to gain 310 passing yards and 3 passing TD's with only 17 completions against the Rams. Just another day at the office for Mr. Rodgers, no pun intended.

Honorable Mentions: Josh Freeman (TB-QB) (Bounce back game for Freeman), Michael Turner (Atl-RB), Marques Colston (NO-WR)

BUMS:
ADRIAN PETERSON (MIN-RB): On Sunday night, although he was able to reach the endzone, Adrian Peterson (39 YDS, 1 TD) was only able to gain 39 rush yards against a Chicago defense that has been quite average as of late. I feel sorry for Peterson owners because it seems as if the Vikings are not using him as much as they, well, should be. I do not think that this trend will continue for Peterson but it will interesting to see how the Vikings utilize AD from now on with Christian Ponder now leading the offense.

VERNON DAVIS (SF-TE): I'm sorry, but with San Francisco playing like the NFC contenders they seem to be, Vernon Davis should be front and center in that offense and Alex Smith should be using him in the passing game nonstop. Vernon Davis is one of the most talented and athletic tight ends in the game and this weekend he had 2 catches for 8 yards. That is uncalled for. Just like Peterson, I do not think this will be a consistent line for Davis going forward but Alex Smith needs to start getting his receivers and Davis more involved when the offense is on the field if they want to continue to have success because once defenses find a way to put a complete stop to Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter, hello bad Alex Smith and bad San Francisco 49ers.

Honorable Mentions: Roddy White (Atl-WR), Jermichael Finley (GB-TE), Rex Grossman (Was-QB) (Wow Grossman is BAD #4INT)

WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS:
DEMARCO MURRAY (DAL-RB): I have talked enough of Murray in this blog. The longer Felix is out the more Murray's value increases. Go get this guy if you are short on running backs.

MONTARIO HARDESTY (CLE-RB): So far this season Hardesty has not done much for the Browns even with Peyton Hillis being in and out of the lineup. But it seems at bare minimum Hillis will miss week 7 when the Browns take on the Seahwaks. If so, Hardesty will be in line for a full workload and have a chance to shine. Obviously the Browns are willing to give Hardesty the chance to play and get consistent touches not only with Hillis battling injuries and the Madden Curse, but also because there were rumors prior to the just recently passed trade deadline of Hillis being shopped around. Hardesty is another guy you should go grab, even if it is only for the one week. Also a great handcuff for Peyton Hillis owners.

Honorable Mentions: Jackie Battle (KC-RB), Carson Palmer (Oak-RB) (Complete speculative pickup in my opinion), Demaryius Thomas (Den-WR)

With week 6 in the books and week 7 right around the corner, the NFL only gets better and better with every passing week. Make sure you are keeping aware of the the upcoming Thursday night games and remembering to set your lineups and make any add/drop moves prior to those Thursday night games. This weekend I really like Cam Newton to go H~A~M against the Redskins and Chris Johnson to get back to his "Chris Johnson" ways against the depleted Texans defense. Also if you have the option, sit Matt Ryan against an angry Detroit team and defense, Ryan may be in trouble this weekend. My sleeper of the week is Seahwaks WR Sidney Rice (at this point Rice CAN be considered a sleeper). Good luck in week 7 everybody!

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