Mid Season Fantasy Awards

Most Valuable Player: Drew Brees
This is an easy one as Brees has been consistent each week with 300 yard games and multiple touchdowns. Move over Peyton Manning as Brees has passed him and Tom Brady due to injury as the top QB.

Most Valuable Non-QB: Clinton Portis
No Tomlinson, No Adrian Peterson, No Randy Moss, No Terrell Ownes, No Braylon Edwards, they all have "stunk" through the first half of the season. Portis has had 100 yard games and TDs and has been a solid performer week to week. It may even be time to think about trading him at his high as he is getting up there in age and his value is at an all time high.

Rookie of the Year: Chris Johnson
Another easy choice, many would have picked Darren McFadden or Jonathan Stewart, but Chris Johnson will be a first round draft pick in all leagues next season and looks like the real deal fantasy stud. Honorable Mention goes to Matt Ryan and Matt Forte.

Biggest Surprise Fantasy Player: Roddy White
Its rare that a team with a rookie QB puts up the stats on a consistent basis as Roddy White has, but again scored a TD this week and has been a solid performer all season. He is this years version of Braylon Edwards who scores every week.

Week In Review

Well this week was another roller coaster ride for fantasy owners. Drew Breese and Kurt Warner continue to lead the way among quarterbacks, but finally after 8 games Peyton Manning finally decided to show up and contribute with two passing and one rushing TD this week.

Chris Johnson continues to excel as the top rookie and solid running back, while the first rb selected in the NFL Draft Darren McFadden continues to sit with turf toe and is just about useless.

I am a Derek Anderson owner and I can't wait until the Browns bench this guy and get the Brady Quinn era going. It is time to start to pick up some of these players who may still be on your leagues free agent lists.

4 for 4 on Suicide Picks this week

Based on "The Rules" of Suicide Pool picking, our picks were 100% correct this week.
*Patriots defeated the Rams
*Philly defeated the Falcons and Roddy White
*Jets defeated the Chiefs
*Houston up 28 points on the Bengals

Look for our suicide picks next week.

Rangers Tie Game with 8 Seconds to Play and Win in Shootout

The New York Rangers tied the game last night with 8 seconds to play before going on to win in a shootout.

What am I talking about you ask??? NHL HOCKEY!!!!!!!!!

Kolby Smith or Darren McFadden This Week?

Its sad that this is what fantasy football has become, spending the frist few hours of your morning trying to figure out if I should start Darren Mcfadden the first running back selected in the NFL draft or Kolby Smith. The sad think is I am going to go with Kolby Smith...

Week 8 Suicide Picks

There are some pretty good choices in week 8 for your suicide pools. Remember the basic rules:
1) Don't Pick a Road Team
2) Avoid Divisional Games
3) Avoid the Sunday and Monday Night Games

Based are those simple rule here are our options this week:
a) Patriots over the Rams (Especially with no Stephen Jackson)
b) Philly over the Falcons
c) Jets over KC (although playing aganist a former coach is rule # 4, but we still like this one)
d) Houston over Cinncy

Corruption in College Basketball

Taking a break from fantasy football as I am already beat up with the NFL, we are starting to get ready for the start of college basketball. Being from New York and attending St. John's University it has been sad to see a decline in a great program and cant seem to understand what happened to such a great school that played its home games in the worlds greatest arena Madison Square Garden.
What may have went wrong? Was it the coaching, the campus? Location? The answer to this is maybe all of these issues contributed, but what may have been an even bigger issue is since St Johns built their dorms, the school is no longer allowed to pay, that's right PAY their players a stipend of $1100 per month for living expenses. During my day at the school many of the student athletes bought new cars and fancy clothes all with legal money the school provided under the scholarship. Since the dorms were built the players can live in these dorms and not be entitled to this stipend. This was a recruiting advantage for the school as some of the athletes chose St John's knowing this income would be there.

There is a lot of corruption in college sports, we all read about the Reggie Bush stories and the recent issues with Kansas State paying the highest salary to an assistant coach who coached Michael Beasley's AAU Team. Its time for the NCAA to stop all of this and either pay the players or stop fooling themselves. Where do they think all these players get the money for the clothes they wear, the tattoos they get, etc.....

Are you Ready for SHC Basketball??

After 7 weeks of Fantasy Football, I am tired of seeing my players get hurt (Romo) suspended (LJ- Winslow), tired of Peyton Manning throwing for less yards and TDs that Gus, JT O'Sulivan, Jeff Garcia, Dan Orvolosky and other qb names that I cannot spell non the less pronounce.

What do we do about this you ask, well we can quit fantasy football which we talk about every year, but I am a realist and I know that will not happen, but rather we will do the next best thing which is get ready for BASKETBALL SEASON!!

We have our league draft on Saturday morning, which will cause me to miss my daughters soccer game. Think of all the family affairs we have all missed as a result of spending 12 hours in front of the T.V on Sundays hoping and praying that players like Jacob Hester might score a TD. That's the beauty of fantasy Basketball.......THERE IS A TOMORROW!!!

How the Mighty have Fallen!!!

I am sure I am not the only fantasy football owner wanting to kill themselves over players like Terrell Owens, Larry Johnson, Ladanian Tomlinson, Braylon Edwards, Derek Anderson, Peyton Manning, Antonio Gates, etc All of the "stars" and top players in their position are being outplayed by the likes of Owen Daniels, Matt Ryan, Lendale White, Chris Johnson, Matt Forte, Roddy White.

We are seeing a changing of the STARS in Fantasy Football this year. Next year you will no longer see LT and LJ at the top of the draft boards, instead you will see players like Matt Forte, Chris Johnson, Matt Ryan, Roddy White. This has been an interesting season thus far through the first seven weeks filled with heart ache and key injuries to Tom Brady, Tony Romo, etc. It may not be to late to attempt to take advantage of some of your fellow owners and try to "steal" some of the up and coming stars for the old big name players like Terrell Owrns and Ladanian Tomlinson who will still command talent in trades.

Week 7 Suicide Pool Pick of the Week

Remember my rules of picking games for a suicide pool, avoid division games, avoid road team, avoid Monday and Sunday night games.

Those rules don't leave us many options this week, but our Suicide Pool Pick for Week 7 would be the Dallas Cowboys vs the Rams, but since we used the Cowboys our pick this week is the N.Y Giants back at home vs the 49ers.

Who do you start this week?

Here we are at week 7, not even the half way point and this football stuff has me run down. As I sit here battling a cold I am also trying to figure out who to start at quarterback this week. Here is where I love the brain trusts at ESPN who tell us to start Peyton Manning, Eli MAnning, and Drew Breese.......

Well how about picking a starting quarterback out of this group: Who would you start this week in a 2 QB league along side Peyton Manning:
a) Tony Romo
b) JP Losman
c) Rex Grossman
d) Jim Sorgi

Fellow fantasy owners these are problems, I wish i could "start" Drew Brees like they say on ESPN, but like many other owners this week i am trying to figure out which "bum" to start who may get lucky and get some playing time. I decided to go with JP Losman, the man the Bills traded a #1 draft pick to the Dallas Cowboys for who cant pass Trent Edwards on the depth chart. Maybe Edwards will take another big hit today and have to go to JP. WISH ME LUCK!

Are you Ready for some HOOPS???

Football season is a tough grind, spending your entire Sunday during a nice fall day can be exhausting. When your team is loaded with Randy Moss, Terrell Ownens, Derek Anderson, etc watching football feels like you played in the game come 7:00pm. after watching players like Patrick Cobbs score two TDs, Matt Forte act like LT, etc. After the first seven weeks of the season I am ready for some basketball.

Our keeper lists were due tonight in the famous SOWEE HOGEN League. While I am not excited about this league since the rules basically force you to "Give Up" on the future in order to win in the present as you need to trade some draft picks and solid young keepers, but my team is solid with Yao Ming and Carmelo Anthony and I picked up a 2nd round pick for Al Jefferson. The NBA season is a long season and the fantasy season requires a lot of team management via the free agent list, watching the number of games your players play. You have to sit a lot of guys who play onlytwo games during the week and sometimes even the stars.

Look for more blogs on the up coming NBA season and of course lots of news from the Sowee Hogan league.

Shawn Alexander......WHY???

The Washington Redskins signed Shawn Alexander to a contract this week that will pay him about $900,000 for the rest of the season. Ladell Betts went out with an injury this week (surprise) so the Skins needed some depth at running back. My friend and fellow fantasy owner tried to pawn off Alexander on me this week since I have Clinton "The MVP" Portis and of course I had ZERO interest in trading for him.

Shawn Alexander averaged 3.5 yards per carry in his last year with the Seahawks and basically fell down after every hand off. He was just about useless as a fantasy player and real life running back. He doesn't catch passes out of the backfield, he cant run the ball so why did the Skins sign him. My friend the Chef who is obviously qualified to attempt to convince me that the Skins will try to limit Portis's carries to keep him fresh and he may be right for the fact they want to limit his carries, but it wont be with giving Alexander more carries. So the Chef decided to offer me a friendly wager of a meal at our next draft that Shawn Alexander will score more than 5 Touchdowns this season. Keep in mind he had 4 in his last season with the Seahawks, so I took this wager. Mr Chef I look forward to my dinner at next years draft, hopefully you will have some draft picks....

Foobtall Injuries Starting to Pile on-----PREPARE!!

The NFL is a dangerous game, you could probably argue the fact that the sport should be outlawed as player are to big, to fast and to strong. Fantasy football teams need to realize that it is starting to get late in the season and its time to back up your stars. How many of the Tony Romo owners had brad Johnson on their roster??? Probably not many, but dont let this happen to you. Make sure you dont get stuck without a qb going into the second half of the season and the playoffs. Pick up Jim Sorgi if you have Peyton Manning, pick up David Carr if you have Eli, etc.

YOu should also do the same for the star running backs. Joe Addai is out 2 to 4 weeks and with Mike Hart also now out for the season with a torn ACL who will be running the ball for the COLTS.....NO ONE, Peyton will throw is 100 times this week. Good news for Peyton Manning owners.

Good luck this week and make sure you monitor the free agent wire and be a week ahead of the next star to go down this week.

NFL Trade Deadline brings us Two Roy William's and No Pac-Man

The Dallas Cowboys probably wish Nick Folk missed that 52 yard field goal on Sunday that not only sent the game into overtime, but also knocked Tony Romo out for 4 weeks with a broker pinkie in addition to pro bowl punter Matt McBriar out for the season.



Today was a busy day at Valley Ranch with the Cowboys paying a hefty price to acquire Roy Williams for a 1st, 3rd and 6th round pick. I am surprised we gave up so much for him, but I am all for the deal. This will add TWO ROY WILLIAMS on the Cowboys Roster. Even without Tony Romo for a few weeks, this should really help Terrell Owens who is double covered on every single play as secondaries have no respect for Patrick Crayton and the rest of the crew.

In addition the Cowboys learned that Adam "Pac-Man" Jones will be suspended for a minimum of four games. The NFL should throw away the key on Pac-Man for this latest incident. Its a joke!

Week 6 ALL STINK TEAM

Week 6 was a tough week with injuries to Tony Romo, Felix Jones and of course the Kellen Winslow situation with swollen you know what.....
Take a look at the names on the Week 6 All Stink Team, on paper you would think this team couldnt lose on Sunday, but this team STUNK, get rid of all of these players with the exception of Jonathan Stewart becuase due to injuries to Qb's these players will not get you to the promised land.

Qb- All but maybe 5 Qbs: what has happend to the Qb play in the NFL, its amazing how many bad quarterbacks there are out there. Matt Cassel STINKS, Matt Hasselback STINKS, Jon Kitna STINKS, Derek Anderson STINKS, Ryan Fitzpatrick STINKS, Marc Bulger STINKS, I can keep going........

WR- Terrell Owens: defenses are keying on him, but he has to stop the complaining and play. we all thought the Cards-Cowboy game would be nothing but offense and Mr Owens once again dissapointed fantasy owners with a grand total of 4 catches for 36 yards. STINKS!!!

WR- Randy Moss: this may not be all Moss's fault, but he is performing like he did with the Raiders. No Tom Brady, no more lazy route running and Moss's posted a whole 3 catches for 26 yards. STINKS! And you wanted me to trade Clinton Portis for Moss GINO???

WR- Tory Holt: I was expecting the Rams to come out and throw the ball a lot vs the Skins on Sunday and all Tory Holt did was catch 4 passes for 36 yards. STINKS!!!!!!!!

RB- Willis McGahee: This guys career may be over, a total of 8 carries for 18 yards. The Ray Rice era should begin this coming week. Get rid of Willis fast, he STINKS!!!

RB- Jonathan Stewart- just when we all started to get excited about Stewart thinking he is the next stud running back he carries the ball 6 times for 12 yards....STINKS!!!!!!! Its time to move Stewart back to the bench until he can show more consistency.

Matt Ryan a Star in the Making?

In my fantasy league of ten teams, we protect 16 players and draft only rookies and players who were not drafted the previous season who cannot me protected. Going into the draft many teams needed help at quarterback and Derek Anderson coming off a monster year was available. In a draft loaded with rookie runners Matt Ryan was selected with the second overall pick in the draft behind Darren Mcfadden. I was shocked and thought to myself what a terrible pick that was. Boy was I wrong, after this week and Matt Ryan throwing for 301 Yards 1TD and most importantly no ints, Matt Ryan is looking like the real deal and forming a nice hook up with Roddy White each week. Nice pick!!

ESPN COME ON ALREADY WITH THIS!!!

If any of you were watching ESPN, which I am sure most of you were, they posted at the bottom of their running news that Jon Kitna was going to be inactive today. Ok, this appears to be accurate, but the problem is they stated that Dan Orlovosky will start and that DREW HENSON will be the backup. Drew Henson is not even in the NFL, its DREW STANTON, our buddies GINO's guy. These guys are professionals and do this for a living and continue to screw things up.

Where's Devin Hester the $40 Million Dollar Man

Devin Hester received a 4 year $40 million dollar contract and thus far through 5 games Hester has 10 catches for 106 yards, 2 TD's and more importantly ZERO punt or kickoff returns for a TD. I dont think the Bears are paying him $10 million a season to average 2 catches a week.

In 2006 Hester had 5 punt or kick returns for a TD and in 2007 he had 6. Thus far this year he has zero. Part of this is because teams are finally starting to use their heads and not kick to him, but thus far the $40 Million Dollar Man is a "STINKER'.

Start Em & Sit Em Week Five Review

We all love to play Monday morning quarterback when it comes to who to start and who to sit in our fantasy leagues. We all have the stories of "if I started Issac Bruce over Chad Johnson" I would have won this week. The fact of the matter is, this is the beauty of fantasy football and it is also what drives us all crazy.

Week 5 Start Em Review:
Issac Bruce A+: We predicted a good week and recommended starting Issac Bruce last week and he came through with 2 TDS.

Matt Cassell B: We predicted last week the Pats would open things up a bit, which came true with an 80 yard TD pass to Randy Moss. I look for Cassell to get better each week.

Patrick Crayton C+: Crayton had one catch for a TD last week and is an interesting player each week With the Cowboys high powered offense he is going to be feast or famine each week.

Rookie Slow Starts or Busts for McFadden and Smith?

We posted the top five NFL Rookie fantasy players through week five last night. Now we will discuss the rookie disappointments thus far which include Darren McFadden and Kevin Smith.

Many of us thought Darren McFadden would be the next Adrian Peterson, but a combination of injuries, a crowed backfield and playing for the most dysfunctional franchise in all of sports has hurt McFadden. With Justin Fargas getting healthily and expected to play this week, it is time to put McFadden on the bench this week until he proves he can produce on a consistent basis. I am going to start Michael Pittman this week in my league over McFadden, especially with Selvin Young out for Denver this week.Kevin Smith of the Detroit Lions also came into the season with high expectations from fantasy owners as he was going to get 20+ carries and be the focal point of the offense. The Lions added Rudi Johnson and they are starting to split carries and the fact that the Lions are the second dysfunctional franchise in all of sports. YES I MEAN ALL OF SPORTS! What have we learned from this??? Avoid at all costs drafting running backs none the less rookie running backs on bad teams. If you drafted McFadden or Kevin Smith you drafted a running back on not only a bad team, probably the two worst teams in the NFL and neither of them will help your fantasy teams each week.

Thank You To My Global Readers

Based on the reports offered via google analytics my blog has had visits from people in the following Countries, United States, Canada and Sweden.
We have had visits from 10 states within the U.S including the following:
1) New York
2) New Jersey
3) Illinois
4) Pennsylvania
5) Florida
6) Georgia
7) Washington
8)Texas
9) Oregon
10) Minnesota

Thank you for reading the blog and look forward to your continued visits.

Week 6 Power Ratings

1) New York Giants: The G-Men really proved this week that their Superbowl run was no fluke steam rolling past the Seahawks this week. Eli Manning may be the best fantasy QB in the league

2) Tennessee Titans: NO Vince Young, NO PROBLEM, Chris Johnson is for real, the defense is as strong as it gets....

3) Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys bounced back this week beating the pitiful Bengals, but they have the best talent in the league and should be in the top three all season.

4) Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers looked good this week vs Jacksonville even with all the injuries. As long as Big Ben is healthy the Steelers are going to be a tough team.

5) Washington Redskins: A big come from behind win vs the Eagles. Jason Campbell is developing into a solid QB and Clinton Portis is carrying the offense setting up he play action. Once Jason Taylor gets healthy the defense will get a big boost and the schedule is easy the next 4 weeks.

Turbulent Economic Times and Fantasy Sports

In these times of stock market turbulence and a global economic crisis many of us find some peace and relaxation in fantasy sports, OR DO WE???? All of us have experienced the tough fantasy loses because some "bum" we never of heard of plucks in two tds in the final 5 minutes of a Monday night football game. A few years ago, my fantasy team went into a Monday night game up one point. My opponent had no one playing and I had Charles Johnson of the Pittsburgh Steelers going. I cant lose right??? WRONG....Charles Johnson had ZERO CATCHES for NO YARDS which got me 0 points, so most of you would thing that I won, but guess what else Charles Johnson a WR did for me, he carried the ball once time for MINUS 14 Yards that cost me -1.4 points and I lost.
CAN ANYONE BEAT THIS ONE??

NBA Pre-Season Injuries Starting to Pile UP

Antawan Jamison was helped off the court today with an apparent knee injury, Brandon Haywood advised to have wrist surgery and will be out 4 to 6 months, Stephon Marbury says he is ok coming off the bench for the knicks.

Many leagues are having pre-draft trades for protected players and man does it hurt to trade a first or second round draft pick for a player who an hour later is hurt.

Trade with caution in the pre-season.

TOP TEN OVERRATED FANTASY PLAYERS

The top ten list of overrated fantasy players represent the top five big name players who have not produced a lick during the first five weeks of the season.
1- Larry Johnson (2 yards last week)
2- Ladanian Tomlinson
3- Roy Williams
4- Braylon Edwards
5- Derek Anderson (not that anyone thinks he is any good)
6-Thomas Jones
7-Ocho Cinco
8-Marvin Harrisson
9- Marc Bulger
10-Laurence Maroney

Good luck if you own any of these players. They have not performed well at all and are all on the decline in their career.

Hello to My Friends in Bangalore, India

I wanted to formally welcome some readers of this blog, my friends from Bangalore, India. You know who you are and thank you for checking out my blog. I know you are not to interested in American Football, but I will promise to blog about something you are more interested in.

Apology to New York Giant Fans!

As a Dallas Cowboy fan this is a painful blog to write, but I must admit I was extremely impressed with the Giants performance on Sunday. They dominated the Seahawks in all phases of the game without their best offensive player aside from Eli Manning. The Giants have proved they were no fluke winning the Superbowl last season and will be ranked #1 in most NFL Power Ratings this week. They have the tough part of their schedule coming up, but they appear to be a real contender again this season

Who Gets Married on a Sunday During Football Season?

I apologize to my loyal blog readers for the lack of posting last night, but I attended a wedding on Sunday evening that I feel I need to blog about. As a father of a daughter I can assure you that she will NOT be getting married on a Sunday during football season. I PROMISE THAT!!!! Wife's, girlfriends, partners, family members must all realize that Sunday during football season in like a religious holiday. YOU DONT MESS WITH IT. I attend my parents house every Sunday for dinner with the exception of during Football Season. I must say it was a lovely wedding of an old friend of ours, but boy did it hurt missing the games. The Brides own brother even missed the wedding due to "illness", but he is also a big Redskin fan who may have "Faked" the injury to catch the games..... Just kidding here and I hope all if well with our friend Hank. Please post some comments on this issue here, but I struggle with how we allow this event to ruin our Sundays.

Week 5 ALL STINK TEAM

Below is the ALL STINK Team for Week 5 and boy are there some real stinkers.

QB- Jon Kitna: kitna is another case of the team STINKS, the coach STINKS, the owners STINK and its time for the Lions to go in a new direction. Kitna was 8 for 16 for a whole 74 yards before giving way to Dan Orlovsky. Sorry GINO, but it looks like the start of the Orlovsk era and not the Drew Stanton Error. Nice job dumping this bum last week!

RB- Larry Johnson: 2 yards, are you kidding me 2 YARDS, the guy STINKS, the team STINKS and the coach STINKS......Get rid of LJ and all other KC players while you can still get something for them.

RB- Ladanian Tomlinson: I really hope LT is hurt more than they are letting on, because this guys has STUNK up the place this year. He was once again no help to fantasy teams on Sunday with a total of 35 yards rushing.

WR- Santana Moss: Moss had ZERO catches this week in a win vs the Eagles. Santana never has been a consistent wideout. Moss will drive fantasy owners to drink.....

Guest Blog from Owner of Famous QFL Football League

I thought I'd share this, and maybe our resident Basketball-Palooka can put it in his blog... The famed "Guru" projects Pierre Thomas with -2 points this week ! Thats idiotic.Another thought... the year before I entered the QFL, I was in a meeting on the top floor of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, with the three founders of Daedalus and Commissioner.com, the same three guys who sold their fantasysystem software to CBS Sportsline, which we now use. These guys were trying to get the deal done to sell to CBS Sportsline when it's stock was like 120 a share. These threeguys, Pete Pazaris I think especially, got their inflated sales price via Sportsline stock at that price, but in beingpenny smart and dollar stupid, by the time the deal transpired, the stock market crashed and so did the stock. Put that in your blog, Jimmy.This message/poll was posted to your league's message board.Go to the Options, E-Mail Alerts page to change your e-mail preferences.

Great Chris Berman "Boomer" ESPN TV RANT on YOU TUBE

Chris Berman You Tube Rant:
Do yourself a favor, go to the YOU TUBE Search on the blog located on the right and search for Chris Berman. You will see a Chris Berman Rant on ESPN.

Week 5 Fantasy Football Key Injuries

Matt Schab will NOT Start this week:
Due to an illness, Matt Schab will not start this week for the Texans, Sage Rosenfels will get the start.

Aaron Rogers will Start this week:
Aaron Rogers will start this week, but his arm strenght will be questionable. Use with caution this week.

Week 5 Best Bets vs the Spread

I generally like to apply my suicide pool rule to picking games vs the spread, but their are exceptions to this rule which apply this week.

Best Bets:
San Diego Chargers -6 1/2 on the road vs the Miami Dolphins. The Chargers are the best offense in footbal and the Dolphins are well....The Dolphins.

Seatle Seahawks +7 1/2 on the road vs the Plaxico Buressless Giants. The Seahawks are getting healthy with Bobby Engram and Deion Brach expected to play. I think the Giants pull this out on a late field goal, but we like the Hawks against the spread.

Basketball Season getting Closer----"SOWEE HOGAN" LEAGUE PREVIEW

The NHL season kicked off this week and to be honest......"NO BODY CARES" This is the last you will hear about Hockey on this site.

The NBA season is right around the corner and fantasy leagues are getting ready for their draft and keeper leagues are starting to trade draft picks and players. The "SHL" Leage better knows as "Sowee Hogan", named after an old dog, has been running for just about 10 years now. Our great commissioner John Kass out of Staten Island keeps the league interesting during the year with his overall love of fantasy sports. We will be blogging about the SHL all year as well as on some of the more overrated fantasty players who "STINK" like all the players Mr John Kass is trying to trade to the new memebers of the league who dont know anybetter. I guess he has been hanging out with Mr Salami a little to much.

Week 5 Start Em & Sit Em

If you are like me, you are all sick of reading ESPN and all the other websites about who to start and who to sit. What kind of leagues to these media outlets think we are in?? Do you think we need to be told to start Marion Barber, start Donovan Mcnabb, i am sitting here wondering if I should start Selvin Young or Ricky Williams. These are problems, i wish i had the luxury of deciding to start Marion Barber or LT each week.....

Lets start with the "SIT EM's"
1- Chris Johnson: if you have some depth at running back and as good as CJ has been this may be the week to sit him. The Titans are facing the Ravens this week who not only havent allowed a running over 100 yards in 22 straight games, they knocked Rashard Mendenhall OUT for the season last week.

2- Patrick Crayton: Crayton is going to drive fantasy owners nuts all year. He had a solid week last week vs the Skins, but the team lost and TO went wild again. Look for TO and Felix Jones to get those touches that went to Crayton last week. I wish I could take my own advice and bench Crayton in my league, but I dont have anyone else to play. Lets hope I am wrong on this one, but I doubt it.

3- Bengal WRS: I would sit both Ocho Cino and TJ Housh with the questionable QB play, especially if Carson Palmer cannot play.

Week 5 "START Ems"
1- Matt Cassell: coming off a bye week look for Cassell to start to throw the ball down field more to Randy Moss and open up the offense. I anticipate 275 yards and 2 TDS from Cassell.

2- Steve Breaston: You saw the post about Breastons stock up with Boldin out, look for Breaston to have another big day this week.

3- Issac Bruce: He has scored TDs the last two weeks and should be playing from behind vs the Patriots coming off a bye week.

4- Armani Toomer: with Plaxico Burress out this week, who else are they going to throw to.....

Week 5 NFL Suicide Pool Pick

Many of us participate in a NFL suicide pool. Here are some of my helpful tips to utilize when making a pick.

1- NEVER PICK A ROAD TEAM, it doesnt matter if its the 85 Bears playing the 2007 Dolphins, stay away from picking teams playing on the road.

2- STAY AWAY FROM DIVISIONAL GAMES, teams within the division know each other so well that its not worth picking a division game.

3- AVOID THE MONDAY NIGHT & SUNDAY NIGHT GAMES

WEEK 5 Suicide Picks are DALLAS COWBOYS home for the clueless Bengals and the CAROLINA PATHERS home vs the Chiefs.

Fantasty Football STOCK UP-STOCK DOWN

Week Five saw more injuries, which will allow rookies and younger players to see more action on the field.

STOCK UP:
1-Chris Johnson: He came into all drafts at a Hot Prospect and has lived up to the hype and earned the nickname of Chris "I score every week" Johnson. He will continue to take carries away from FatDale White and get more of the goal line carries.

2- Steve Breaston: He had 122 yards and was a key target for the high powered Cards offense, with Bolidn likley out in week 5, look for Breaston to see more action and is earning the trust of kurt Warner. Breaston should be picked up in all leagues.

3- Steve Slaton: Slaton was the focal point of the Texans running game and passing game showing ablility to catch passes out of the backfield. Look for Slaton to get 20 carries this week and several receptions out of the backfield. GO AFTER SLATON NOW....

STOCK DOWN:
1- Randy Moss: To no fault of his own, Randy Moss has be no better than a #3 Wr in fantasy leagues and with Matt Cassell inability to throw the ball down the field, it is time to try to get something for Randy Moss NOW before his stock drops evening more.

2- Hines Ward: The Steelers are getting torn apart with injuries and with NO running backs left, defenses will force the Steelers to run the ball and look to take away Hines Ward.

Fertitta's Top 5 NFL Team STINKERS

1- RAMS: "Cant Run the Ball, Cant Complete a Pass".......PLAYOFFS!!!

2- RAIDERS: Finally a step in the right direction of getting rid of a head coach who attempted a 76 yard field goal, but they have a long way to go.

3- Bengals: Carson Palmer hurt, no running game, no defense, even Ocho Cinco cant save them!

4- Lions: Sorry Gino, but this team is a mess. At least they got rid of Matt Millen and will look to deal Roy Williams for the right deal to the Cowboys at some point this year. Maybe its time to see if Drew Stanton is a QB and start the rebuilding process.

5- Chiefs: "We play to Win the Game", maybe Herm should take his own advice.....

Fertitta's NFL Top Five Power Rankings

Top Five NFL Power Rankings:
1-Dallas Cowboys: Even a loss at home to the Skins doesnt move the Cowboys down this week. They have three easy games coming up and they are still trying to figure out how to get Felix Jones more touches without upsetting the other player......

2- Tampa Bay Bucs: The Bucs looked good both on offense and defense last week at the Bay of Pigs. Brian Griese has this team clicking and Earnest Grahm and Warrick Dunn provide a nice run combination to add to an under rated defense.

3- Tennessee Titans: As long as Kerry Collins is healthy and the two headed monsters or Lendale White and Chris "I score every week" Johnson keep running the ball the Titans are going to be a tough team to beat.

4-New York Giants: The G-Mens scheule has been cup cake city thus far and the Plaxico Burress mess will hurt the Giants. Time will tell......

5- San Diego Chargers: Philip Rivers is showing signs of developing into a top QB and with all that offensive fire power the Chargers should remain in the Top 5 all season.