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Week 8 was another great week for fantasy football.   We hope your team(s) fared well and that you are well on your way to the fantasy playoffs.   Some of our best calls of the week were Tony Gonzalez’s first monster game of the year, and Chris Brown’s big time performance.   Trent Green and Jimmy Smith also helped us out with great games, but it wasn’t all sunshine and roses.   As always, we hold ourselves accountable for the good and the bad calls.

Nostradamus (a.k.a. psychic)
Start:
Tony Gonzalez – Gonzalez was having a horrible year … until week 8 that is.   We told you that he would break out of his funk against the Colts and that is exactly what he did.   Gonzalez had a huge game with 125 yards receiving and 2 TDs.   If you are in a point per reception league, he had 8 receptions to make a great game even better in those leagues.

New York Jets Defense – The Jets completely dominated Miami.   The Phins got a last second TD that made the points against jump from 7 to 14, but that TD was complete garbage and it was a risk to starters the Dolphins did not have to take.   The game was far out of reach and the team had no business having some of there starters in there to risk injury.   Granted Fiedler is nothing to write home about, but he is all the Dolphins have so they had better take care of him.   Besides that blemish, the Jets D got 2 interceptions, 1 fumble, and 4 sacks.   A fantastic fantasy day for any D.

Jimmy Smith – Smith went off despite his QB’s struggles.   9 receptions for 117 yards is a solid effort.   Smith is starting to become a very consistent fantasy performer in any scoring format.

Chris Brown – 170 yards of total offense and a touchdown make for a great fantasy day from this starter.   If you started Brown, you we very pleased with the results.   Brown was banged up and there was some concern over whether he would play this weekend, but he came through for us and for his fantasy owners with a great game.

Trent Green – Green was having a less than spectacular year entering this game, but he came through as we expected.   389 yards passing and 3 TDs with 0 INTs is a huge fantasy game.   Good call to those of you who started Green this week.   Green’s huge game was one of the best performances of week 8.

Josh Brown & Kris Brown – We went double Brown for Kickers and they didn’t disappoint.   Each kicker had 2 PATs.   K. Brown had two field goals and J. Brown had three.   A solid effort in any fantasy league.   If your league gives bonuses for long field goals, J. Brown made one from 45 yards out.   We know these two are kickers, but we bet there are a few teams out there that could have used solid performances from there kickers to help win their fantasy games.

Bench:
Todd Pinkston – Pinkston was benefiting from the presence of T.O., but he was thrown to only once for one reception for 16 yards.   That is one ugly fantasy game, and you were happy if you headed our advice to bench him this week.

Travis Henry – 1 carry for 2 yards.   Horrible week for Henry.   Right now McGahee owners are licking their chops after waiting all season for McGahee to arrive.

Jerry Rice – thrown to once for 1 reception for 6 yards.   A horrible game from the greatest WR of all-time.   Don’t expect a rebirth from the great one this season.

Emmitt Smith – A poor game from Emmitt Smith.   He was held scoreless, and managed only moderate yardage.


Farmer's Almanac (a.k.a. not so bad/not so good)
Start:
None this week.

Bench:
Jerome Bettis – The Bus pulled into the station again and grabbed another TD.   Again, Bettis is a good player for spot starts, but we hope you don’t need him every week.   If you needed him this week, he came through for you.


Weather Forecast (a.k.a. oops better luck next time)
Start:
Thomas Jones – Jones would have had a great game if he hadn’t hurt his foot.   In his absence, Anthony Thomas rushed for some impressive numbers.   However, 1 carry won’t help you out if you started Jones.

Byron Leftwich – We kept waiting for Leftwich to show off his last second heroics, but they never came.   He threw a costly pick that gave him two INTs on the day instead of giving himself a chance for a last second TD.   As a result, most fantasy teams could have done without starting Leftwich.

Brandon Stokley – We thought that Manning would have a huge day against the Chiefs and we thought more than a few of those passes would go Stokley’s way.   Manning did have a great game, but he only found Stokley twice for 35 yards.   This was a huge disappointment considering all of the TDs that Manning was giving out on Sunday.

Bench:
Peerless Price –We thought Bailey and company would shut down Price after allowing Chad Johnson to run wild over the Broncos the previous week.   However, Michael Vick and Peerless Price had other ideas.   Price had his best game of the year so far.   He only had 2 catches, but they were each long ones and they were each for TDs.   2 receptions can sometimes kill in fantasy.   This week those two catches would have made Price a good start.

T.J. Duckett – We tried to pick on the Falcons and they picked on us.   The team showed some resilience and rebounded after getting embarrassed by the Chiefs only one week earlier.   Duckett only had 45 yards rushing and he had a fumble, but he managed to score.   That leaves him in the so-so calls of the week.

Eddie George – George didn’t score, but his yardage was solid enough to merit a start.   Slightly over 100 yards and he busted up our prediction of his performance.

Ben Roethlisberger – Big Ben shocked the world by knocking off the Patriots.   He shocked us with a good game against the Patriots D.   We won’t be picking on this rookie again anytime soon. (and neither will many NFL defenses)

Reggie Wayne – We thought Wayne’s performance would suffer after his scuffle with Manning.   Apparently Manning acted like a professional and threw the ball to one of his playmakers.   Wayne blew up for a great fantasy game and toasted us for playing with the fire that is the Colts offense.