I can still get it done!

I know we give Peterson a lot of credit for producing in fantasy points, its why he is always a top 3 draft pick. But, I don’t think we talk about this guy enough in the fantasy football community. Peterson once again has been having a great year professionally and for his fantasy owners. Yeah he has had 3 games this year under 10 fantasy points, but he also has 4 games above 20 points and 1 game with 30 points. Today he once again award his fantasy owners with 27 fantasy points. Peterson had 86 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 5 catches for 76 yards, and 1 receiving TD (which you can see here).

Another guy we don’t talk enough about either is your fantasy score leader (at the moment): Steven Jackson. Jackson had 25 rushes for 159 yards, 2 rushing TDs, and 4 catches for 32 yards for 30 fantasy points. This game was also a game were the Rams had A.J Feeley at QB, and going into this game the Rams were 0-6. Don’t let the 31 to 21 score fool you, this game was dominated by the Rams. Lance Moore just had a garbage time TD. Staying with this game, Lloyd is going to be very good fantasy WR1 once Bradford comes back from injury. Lloyd once again saw 10+ targets today(13) and he got 6 of those targets for 53 yards and 1 TD.

I hate losing to a defense, don’t you? Lions had 28 fantasy points and Rams/Bengals had 20 fantasy points. You love it when they are on your team and hate them when they are not.

Like everyone knew would happen Ray Rice had a big day coming off that ugly performance last week. Ray had 63 yards 3 rushing TDs and 36 receiving yards, for 27 fantasy points. A couple of those were setup by Boldin would also had a good fantasy day with 145 yards for 14 fantasy points.

Seriously Denver fans Tebow is not the answer for your franchise. Tebow went 18/39 for 172 yards and 4.4 avg, 1 TD, 1 INT, and 3 fumbles. So, Denver fans get used to seeing this. Lets talk about another mess in Denver which is their WRs. Last week the waiver wire WR to have was D. Thomas. This week Thomas had 3 targets catching 1 of those for 10 yards. While Decker had 12 targets catching 6 of those for 72 yards and 1 TD, and Royal had 13 targets catching 6 for 41 yards. Who should you start week to week no body can know with Tebow at QB.

As I write this Vick is going off on the Cowboys.

Fred Jackson and Frank Gore continue to produce. Did anyone before the season see the kind of season Fred is having right now. Fred’s fantasy points by game 11, 25, 21, 15, 25, 22, and 19 today. Fred has brought great value to his fantasy owners that draft him 7-9 rounds. Gore after a slow start he has started to produce like a top RB1 again. In week 4 Gore started to get going, his fantasy points since then 19,17, 20 and 19 today.

Another player that gets ignored in the fantasy community is Eli Manning. His fantasy points so far this season: 14, 14, 26, 18, 20, 11, and 21 today. Eli is a good QB to have if you missed out on the top fantasy QBs. Eli is a top 10 fantasy QB.

For the rest of your fantasy scoring leaders: ESPN: Scoring Leaders

Sunday Recap:
Yahoo: Sunday Scene – “Steven Jackson was a unstoppable terror, needing less than three quarters of action to top 100 yards against the Saints. The New Orleans defense entered the week allowing 5.4 yards per carry, so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by Jackson’s huge day” – Andy Behrens

Rotowworld: Week 8 Live Blog – “This Andy Dalton/A.J. Green combo is for real. Green just broke Earl Thomas’ ankles on a double move and Dalton put it right on him for the bomb. Impressive.” – Adam Levitan

Rotoworld: Injury Questions
FF Today: Injury Report
FF Toolbox: Injury Report
Razzball: Rub Some Dirt On It
ESPN: Injury Blog

Players that are OUT:
Andre Johnson
Daniel Thomas
Felix Jones
Sam Bradford
Mark Ingram
Santana Moss
Cedric Benson
Willis McGahee
Jahvid Best

Check the status before game time:
Percy Harvin
Braylon Edwards
Hines Ward
Mike Tolbert
Marshawn Lynch
Beanie Wells
Peyton Hillis
Matthew Stafford

Don’t for get to follow Fantasy Football Gamers on Twitter @FFootballGamer. I will keep you up to date on any injury updates before the games on Sunday and Monday on Twitter.

NFL Week 8 Start/Sit’Em:
FF Today: Shot Caller’s Report
Bruno Boys: Sit’Em
Bruno Boys: Start’Em
Yahoo: Lames
Athlon Sports: Start and Sit
The Hazean: Start and Sit
Roto Professor: Start’Em or Sit’Em
CBS Sports: Start’Em and Sit’Em
Pigskin Addiction: Start/Bench

NFL Week 8 Player Rankings/Projections:
Yahoo: Player Rankings
Athlon Sports: Player Rankings
Roto Professor: Player Rankings
God Hates Losers: Player Rankings
Football Docs: Player Rankings

NFL Week 8 Matchups:
CBS Sports: Matchups
Fantasy Sundays: Matchups

NFL Week 8 Start/Sit’Em:
Fox Sports: Start/Sit’Em
The Cover Two: Start’Em, Sit’Em
TO Fantasy Sports: Play ‘Em and Lay ‘Em
Fake Teams: Start’ Em Sit ‘Em
Lesters Legends: Start/Sit
Ask The Commish: Sit or Start
Fantasy Football Nerd: Where to Put’em

NFL Week 8 Player Rankings/Projections:
TO Fantasy Sports: Player Rankings
Fantasy Shrink: Player Rankings
Razzball: Player Rankings
FF Today: Player Projections
Pyromaniac: Player Rankings
FF Geek Blog: User Requested Player Rankings

NFL Week 8 Matchups:
Razzball: Matchups
FF Today: Game Previews

Rodgers leads in everything

I figure we are in week 8 I could maybe wait until after week 8, but I’m not and here are my mid-season fantasy football awards.

Top Fantasy Player: This could go two different ways: I could say it is Aaron Rodgers who leads all players in fantasy points scored with 182 fantasy points. Rodgers has been a beast all season and he has become the best QB in the NFL, sorry Brady lovers and hater Favre but it’s time to realize that Rodgers is the #1 QB in the league. Rodgers point total in week 1-7 break down like this: 24,21,21,45,23,23, and 25. Another way I could go with this is go by draft value. Looking at players like Cam Newton who is second in total fantasy scoring with 160 fantasy points. Cam was more than likely not even drafted in your league and if he was he was drafted late, and the person that did so was being laughed at by other league members. Crazy to think Cam would do anything like he has so far this season during draft time. Or what about a Fred Jackson who’s average draft position was 82.47 and the 30th selected running back according to FF Toolbox. Fred sure is bring value to your fantasy team right now being the 2nd best running back behind Forte with 119 fantasy points. That’s 17 more points than Michael Turner, 25 more than Ray Rice, 40 more than MJD, and 76 more than Chris Johnson. But, this is top fantasy player and the award has to go to Rodgers, he has the most fantasy points by 22 points, and he shows no signs of slowing down.

Biggest Surprise: Besides some of the awful years some players are having and killing fantasy owners season (which I will get into below), there have been some real player surprises this year, like every year. Cam Newton tier 1 status, Fred Jackson great value, Wes Welker killing fantasy opponents hopes and dreams of a win, Stafford still playing (cross your fingers for week 8), and the list goes on and on. So, the biggest surprise this season goes to…….Cam Newton. I wasn’t a Cam believer, I didn’t think he was smart enough or accurate enough to be a good NFL QB, but I hate to say I was dead wrong. Not only does Cam have 7 TD’s with a 82.8 rushing yard average this season, but he is dropping air bombs TDs to is #1 target Steve Smith and has 2 games over 400 passing yards and 3 games over 300 yards. Cam right now is the #2 fantasy QB in 2011. Ahead of Brees (by 1 point), Tom Brady, Romo, Rivers, Stafford, Ben, Vick, and many more. Right now Cam is bring great value to people that either drafted him late or for people who got him off the waiver wire. Not only is he the #2 QB but this guys is great trade bait. What if you have a Brady, Brees, or Vick, you can trade either those guys to greatly improve your roster or you can trade Cam and do the same.

The biggest bust: There is no sense in even debating this award, it clearly is Chris Johnson. I said it Sunday, Chris Johnson looks like he has aged 5 years. He looks slow and unable to make his cuts. Lets just break it down. According to FF Toolbox Chris Johnson average draft position was 5.25 and the 4th overall player drafted in most leagues. Chris Johnson on the year has 263 rushing yards and 1 TD. Cam Newton the QB and surprise of the year has 266 yards and 7 TDs. Lets do one more, DeMarco Murray who has one start for the year has 324 yards and 1 TD. You see what I’m doing here? Chris Johnson the overall 4th draft pick has less rushing yards and TDs than a rookie QB and less yards to a rookie running back with one start. Still don’t think CJ has been the biggest bust, I got more. Chris Johnson fantasy totals by game are: 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, and 3. Running backs that are ahead of CJ in fantasy points: Michael Bush, Mark Ingram, James Starks, Ben Tate, Mike Tolbert, and Jonathan Stewart. All of those players don’t even start on their teams and are ahead of CJ in fantasy points. If CJ can’t get it going against the Colts this week, bench the guy for James Starks.

Best QB: Rodgers
Best RB: Fred Jackson (Like his draft value, and only 1 point behind the RB leader in fantasy points)
Best WR: Calvin Johnson (10 TDs already!!)
Best TE: Jimmy Graham (Really it’s not even close, only 1 game below 10 fantasy points and 3 games above 15 fantasy points. Also, the next TE has 27 fewer fantasy points)
Best Kicker: Jason Hanson
Best Def: Ravens

Lets see if any of these change at the end of year.

NFL Week 8 Player Rankings/Projections:
NFL: Player Rankings
ESPN: Player Rankings
Fantasy Football Sharks: Player Rankings
GOAheadScore: Player Rankings
Fake Teams: Player Rankings
Lesters Legends: Player Rankings
Bruno Boys: Player Rankings

NFL Week 8 Start/Sit’Em:
FF Toolbox: Sit’Em
Yahoo: Flames
Fantasy Football Sharks: Start/Bench
KFFL: Start’Em
Walter Football: Start Em, Sit Em
Football Docs: Start/Sit’Em

NFL Week 8 Matchups:
Yahoo: Skinny

UPDATE
NFL Week 8 Waiver Wire:
Yahoo: Pickups of the Week
Fantasy Football Sharks: IDP Waiver Wire
CBS Sports: Waiver Wire
Rotoworld: Waiver Wired
Pro Football Weekly: Waiver Wire
Pro Football Focus: Waiver Wire
GOAheadScore: Waiver Wire
FF Today: Through the Wire
FF Toolbox: Pickups of the Week
Bleacher Report: Waiver Wire
Pigskin Addiction: Waiver Wire
Athlon Sports: Waiver Wire
Razzball: Waivering Wire
Pyromaniac: Pickups & Drops
Fox Sports: Working the Wire
NFL: Waiver Wire
TO Fantasy Sports: Wired UP!
Fantasy Daddy: Pick Up Artist
FF Geek Blog: The Wire
ESPN: Waiver Wire

NFL Week 8 Player Rankings/Projections:
FF Toolbox: Player Rankings
Bleacher Report: Player Rankings
Razzball: Player Rankings
CBS Sports: Player Rankings
Rest of season player rankings: TO Fantasy Sports, FF Today, Razzball, Fake Teams

NFL Week 8 Start/Sit’Em:
FF Toolbox: Start’Em
Bleacher Report: Start’Em, Sit’Em

NFL Week 8 Matchups:
Pigskin Addiction: Game by Game

Articles:
FF Today: Moving Up, Moving Down – This is a good weekly article for judging fantasy talent and for help when making trades.
Yahoo: Monday Dinner: Tim Tebow takeaways; where is the Pack headed? – More Sunday and Monday recap, lots of good information.

The tweet of the week so far goes to Ray Rice:
“@RayRice27: Tough one this is when we will see who is really with us and to the fantasy owners I promise you a better performance next week

Week 8 Waiver Wire:
Fantasy Football Freaks: Waiver Wire
Bruno Boys: Pick Them Up
KFFL: Waiver Wire
Walter Football: Add/Drop
Roto Professor: Waiver Worthy
Football Docs: Waiver Wire
Lesters Legends: Get ‘em or Don’t Sweat ‘em

More Sunday Recap:
Razzball: DeMarco Murray in Legs of Fury – “Matt Forte: And rounding out the top 4 fantasy backs this week is Matt Forte who leads the world in all purpose yards with 1091 after putting 183 on the board in London. He composes over 46% of the total offensive output this season. He is the Bears.” – Doc. Why again haven’t the Bears paid this man, with out Forte they got…..Roy Williams. Yeah pay the man.

Fake Teams: Fantasy Football Week 7 in Review – “Last week I talked about Burress as being “unownable” and so of course he scores three times on Sunday against the Chargers. Let’s not forget that he was targeted eight times and he caught four passes for 25 yards. I would still not pick up Plaxico even if he was available on the waiver wire.” – Kenneth Arthur. I agree with Kenneth here it was nice to see Burress get going, but I still wouldn’t drop someone to get him, I just don’t see him doing this again. But, if you have a roster spot open and don’t have to drop anyone he could be worth it to see what happens in the coming weeks.

Fantasy Football Sharks: In the Spotlight: Week 7 in Reviews – “Shonn Greene – After teasing fantasy owners for two years, Greene is finally looking like a solid workhorse runner. During the last three weeks, he has been toting the rock an average of 20 times a game. Greene also has compiled 269 rushing yards (4.3 yards per carry) and scored once. – Matt Wilson. This is what owners that drafted Greene this year were hoping for, Greene is finally starting to play like a solid RB2.

Injury Updates via Twitter:

FFootballGamer FFGamer
Report: Buc RB Earnest Graham has torn Achilles: bit.ly/n6E0cH via @AddThis

FFootballGamer FFGamer
Santana Moss already ruled out for Week 8: bit.ly/qsv8eJ via @AddThis

FFootballGamer FFGamer
X-rays taken on Mark Ingram’s heel returned negative following the Saints’ Week 7 win over the Colts. rotoworld.com/player/nfl/647… via @rotoworld_fb

FFootballGamer FFGamer
Steve Corkran says Darren McFadden (foot) “likely will be available” when the Raiders come out of their bye in Week 9. via

NotoriousOHM Ohm Youngmisuk
Justin Tuck didn’t have much to say about how he’s feeling. Tuck said “I’ll tell you on Thursday” when asked about how today’s practice went

Michael_Fabiano Michael Fabiano
@JasonLaCanfora is reporting the Cards expect to lose Beanie Wells for one week, maybe two, with a bone bruise. Alfonso Smith will start.

FFootballGamer FFGamer
“@freeplions: On Stafford, Schwartz said I “don’t think by the time we get to Wednesday the knee will be listed” on the injury report.”

FFootballGamer FFGamer
“@TOFantasySports: Moreno gets another shot @ProFootballTalk: Willis McGahee will undergo surgery, miss 1-2 weeks”

FFootballGamer FFGamer
“@Redskins: Tim Hightower’s ACL is torn, he is done for the season”

daverichard Dave Richard
This is just … great … RT @JDJohnDickinson McFadden entered the practice facility on crutches today Sustained sprained foot vs. KC

FFootballGamer FFGamer
“@NickScurfield: Kubiak: “The plan is for Andre to practice this week… Andre had a really good day of work today.””

Get to know this guy

Lets just start out with the best waiver wire pickup of the year so far: DeMarco Murray. Murray ran for 253 yards and 1 TD breaking a Cowboys record for single game rushing yard total, which is very impressive when you look at the running backs the Cowboys have had in the past. Right now Murray has the second best fantasy points for today with 31. In the league that I started him in that rewards bonus points he has 49 fantasy points. Yeah I won that one even with Cassel 2.24 fantasy points he got me. Another good point to make to DeMarco’s owners, he gets to play the Eagles horrible run defense next week, start him again.

Looks like Arian Foster is back to his 2010 ways. Foster looked good today: 25 rushes, 115 yards, 5 rec, 119 yards, and 3 TDs for 40 fantasy points.

Ben Roethlisberger is starting to put the kind of fantasy season a lot of people thought he would with another huge fantasy day. Ben had 361 yards and 3 TDs for 26 fantasy points. Mike Wallace and Ben are starting to become a good couple to have on your fantasy team. Wallace had 118 yards and 1 TD for 17 fantasy points. Can’t go wrong with 26 and 17 fantasy points from a QB and WR. I know he had a huge fantasy day last week, but Mendenhall is close to getting the bust label with another poor outing with 3 fantasy points today. Mendenhall now only has 2 games above 10 fantasy points. Most owners drafted him late in the 1st round or early in the second, 2 games over 10 fantasy points is not producing enough for his owners.

Another hot waiver wire add, Tebow had a horrible real football day. A late game come back is nice, but Tebow looked horrible all day. But, this isn’t a real football blog this is fantasy and Tebow did what we thought he would do putting up numbers like this: 161 yards, 2 passing TDs, and 65 rushing yards for 22 fantasy points. This is what you should expect when starting Tebow.

Two players I just can’t understand and are ruining fantasy owners seasons are Chris Johnson and Philip Rivers. Chris Johnson looks like he has age 5 years since last season. He is slow and it seems like the guy can’t make a cut anymore, he looks terrible. For Rivers he had bad day with only 7 fantasy points, he had a bad matchup but this is Rivers he should have done more. Rivers hasn’t had a bad year fantasy wise, but if you drafted him in the second or third round he has not been worth the high pick. Vick gets a lot of hate for coming out of games and not producing like last year, but at least he is still producing for your fantasy team. Rivers has been a bust for his owners hoping for a top fantasy scoring QB.

For the rest of the scoring leader for week 7: ESPN: Scoring Leaders

There have be a lot of injuries in Week 7:
Matthew Stafford is having X-Rays Monday on his ankle and knee, and he left with a boot on his foot.
Beanie Wells could be out a while with a injury to his right knee.
Santana Moss broke his hand could be out 3-4 weeks.
Tim Hightower which got the start and was playing well until he went down without contact. Could be a torn ACL. Torain time starts again.
Darren McFadden went out of the game and never return with a ankle injury.
Matt Ryan left the game with a nasty knee injury, went into the locker room, but came back into the game later.
Ryan Mathews had his every week visit to the locker room with a thumb injury, but came back out later in the game.
Earnest Graham left the game and never return with a knee injury.
Marshawn Lynch hurt his back before the game started and hurt his owners before the games even begun.
Chris Johnson hurt something….oh wait never mind he just sucks, my bad.

For some more Sunday Recap:
Yahoo: Sunday Scene – “Tim Tebow(notes) didn’t quite complete 50 percent of his passes on Sunday, but fantasy owners don’t care much about his accuracy of efficiency” – Andy Behrens

Rotoworld: Week 7 Live Blog – “Steve Smith and Cam Newton have something special going on. As in, they are both elite, dominant players at their respective positions. Smith just got tackled at the one-inch line, leading to two unsuccessful goal-line runs for Jonathan Stewart. Yes, Stewart outplayed and outproduced DeAngelo Williams once again today.” – Adam Levitan

Even if he isn't hurt, something is going on here.

Rotoworld: Injury Questions
FF Today: Injury Report
FF Toolbox: Injury Reports
Razzball: Rub Some Dirt On It, Week 7 Injury Report
ESPN: Injury Blog

Player that are out for Week 7:
Jahvid Best
Felix Jones
Sam Bradford
Andre Johnson
Chris Cooley
Sebastian Janikowski
Julio Jones
LeGarrette Blount
Tarvaris Jackson

Check the status before game time:
Peyton Hillis
Tim Hightower

Here is our injury report via Twitter:
FantasyShrink John Paulsen
The upside with Bradford being out is that Feeley is the guy that’s been working with Lloyd all week.

JayGlazer Jay Glazer
Ok gang, scoopage for this morning, Rams QB Sam Bradford is OUT for tomorrow with a high ankle sprain. AJ Feeley gets the start.

daverichard Dave Richard
Ruled out. Go fetch yourself Maurice Morris RT @JLBoogie do you know the status of best?

Michael_Fabiano Michael Fabiano
Looks like Joseph Addai put in a full practice today. He could be active this week.

ScottPetrak Scott Petrak
#Browns CB Joe Haden said he felt pretty good at practice, still not sure about Sunday. Will test knee again tomorrow and before game.

FantasyAlarm FantasyAlarm.com
News Alarm: Chris Cooley (TE – Was) Chris Cooley (finger, knee) said Friday that he’ll definitely miss three weeks,… fantasyalarm.com

fantasytrader FFT Mike
Houston #Texans reporting Andre Johnson did not practice today and will NOT play this week.

FFootballGamer FFGamer
Peyton Hillis (hamstring) was missing from the start of practice again on Friday. rotoworld.com/player/nfl/496… via @rotoworld_fb

FFootballGamer FFGamer
Whitehurst will start at Cleveland on Sunday: bit.ly/o7g97d via @AddThis

FFootballGamer FFGamer
LeGarrette Blount of Tampa Bay Buccaneers to miss London game vs. Chicago Bears – ESPN es.pn/qoYpZj