Players I like this week (week 8)

Here are some players that might be flying under the radar in week 8...and I think might exceed their average numbers per game. (Hopefully I do better than last week).

Steven Jackson RB, STL
S-Jax is back! The guy wrote an article for ESPN Fantasy this week. His QB is hurt. The Rams are playing Cleveland. The guy is hun-gry! (He needs some Chunky Soup). What about this game says don't start Steven Jackson to you? (I hope you did not drop him. There's no way that you can be in a league THAT deep).

Tony Scheffler TE, DEN
Big Tony got targeted 6 times last week - and ended up with 5 catches and a TD. He's playing a little injured, but was able to practice fully this week so far. It's his 2nd year and even though he's sharing time with Daniel Graham, I like his chances going forward (and starting this week).

Drew Brees QB, NOS
Brees is back. He's playing pretty well, his offensive line has only given up 4 sacks on the year (but I'm not counting the number of times he was hurried). Did you see the SF game against the Giants last week?

Lee Evans WR, BUF
Lee put up 40 points in one game for my fantasy team last year. I thought Lee would start out slow this year. He's definitely exceeded those expectations. It takes some time to develop a chemistry with a new QB, and I think we saw that beginning to happen last week with Trent Edwards. Get him in this week against the Jets.

AND the one player I'm NOT starting this week LenDale White RB, TEN.
The Titans have two other RBs other than White. Chris Brown and Chris Henry (no, the other one). Everything I've read is that Henry is a physical / workout warrior. This guy has the physical gifts. If you look at his college stats, he did not a whole lot from a small football school (Arizona). The Titans are going to give him a shot (since he was drafted in the 2nd round).
Chris Brown - who knows when he'll come back from the ankle problem - but at one point a couple of weeks ago, they had LenDale at full back (since he catches the ball so well and is a good blocker) and Brown at tailback. This is not a player that is impressing me right now - even with his big fantasy stats. Not all teams are Houston.

More Pierre Thomas...

Coach Payton said this about Pierre Thomas recently...

He's a guy I trust a lot with the football. He's smart. I thought it was a really good play he had on his touchdown. We'll continue to get him some more touches.

This report from the Press Register has Thomas giving a lot of credit to the Offensive Line.

Another report from the Times-Picayune indicates that Thomas is just the spark that the Saints need.

You can see highlights of the Saints / Falcons game here.

What do we know?

At this point in the season, you'd think we'd have some good ideas about how our players will perform (at least in a general sense).

1) Laurence Maroney - a top ten pick in many formats this year...finally comes back from his injury...against a horrible run defense...and the Pats are so good that they'll pound the ball for a while. Maroney will get a lot of carries. Um...no. He barely passed 30 rushing yards and didn't play in the 2nd half.

2) Ronnie Brown - leading the fantasy RB world in total points. Who would have thunk it? Now he's out for the year with a torn ACL (and might not be his old self again until late next year).

3) Steven Jackson - still out. Hopefully he's back soon.

4) Larry Johnson - got a TD, got a 100 yards...but looked underwhelming. I expect Priest to be involved later in the year - maybe not much more than a third down back...but get ready.

5) Ernest Graham - supposedly supplanted by Michael Bennett...puts up a monster fantasy day.

6) Kenny Watson - Kenny frakkin' Watson! He had three TDs!

7) Chad Pennington throws 3 TDs and is going to be benched.

8) Rob Bironas had EIGHT field goals! (Somebody in your league will pick him up this week).

9) My favorite deep sleeper - Pierre Thomas takes one of his two carries for a 24 yard run which resulted in a TD. Reggie Bush only gets one TD on the day.

If you can predict this stuff...well....I must bow down to you....you are a fantasy god.

Just another Sunday...proving that most of us just roll with the punches. And we can't predict crap.