Matt Hasselbeck, QB, TEN – Active

Matt Moore, QB, MIA – Active

Sam Bradford, QB, STL – Inactive

Chris Johnson, RB, TEN – Active

BenJarvus Green-Ellis, RB, NE – Active

James Starks, RB, GB – Active

Nate Washington, WR, TEN – Active

Devin Hester, WR, CHI – Active

Willis McGahee, RB, DEN – Active

Roy Helu, RB,  WAS – Inactive

Andre Johnson, WR, HOU – Inactive

Vincent Jackson, WR, SD – Active

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Matt Hasselbeck, QB, TEN – Active

Matt Moore, QB, MIA – Active

James Starks, RB, GB – Inactive

Nate Washington, WR, TEN – Active

Devin Hester, WR, CHI – Active

Dallas Clark, TE, IND – Inactive

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Studs

Ahmad Bradshaw, RB, NYG – I don’t think anyone was happier to hear about Kyle Williams being  inactive this week than Bradshaw, who had his first 100 yard rushing performance of the year. Oh and three TDs to boot.  Bradshaw was the top scoring fantasy player for week 6 and remains a top 10 RB for me down the stretch. But when Jacobs comes back, I see little chance of THIS big of a performance again this season.

Marques Colston, WR, NO – People forget just how good Colston is because of how Drew Brees spreads the ball around.  I am still a little worried about Colston because of the extra work that Jimmy Graham has been seeing, but Colston is just about the best flex option you could possibly have and it would be difficult to sit him down in my opinion.  Marques had 7 grabs for 118 yards and a TD on 11 targets. Brees did not forget about him.

Michael Turner, RB, ATL – Turner really lived up to my expectations this week. With Carolina having a very banged-up line backing corp, I really expected Atlanta to attack on the ground. They did not disappoint as Turner racked up 139 yards on 27 carries and he scored twice. Of all the teams to not quite look like what they were last year, Atlanta worries me the least. They are going to be a playoff contender and the only player REALLY under performing as of late is Roddy White.

Josh Freeman, QB, TB – Freeman finally had a good game! But one is not enough for me. I need to see Freeman get over 300 yards with mutliple TD’s again next week before I think too highly of him.  I would also like to see him able to get Mike Williams involved in the vertical passing game again soon. Williams did have 59 yards on a team-high 6 catches this week, but I want to see him back involved in the big-play again too or this offense will struggle again down the stretch.

Fred Jackson, RB, BUF – I have a feeling that if you drafted this guy, you are doing pretty darn well so far this season in your league.  Win or lose, Freddie Jackson seems to have a great statistical output.  This week against the Giants was no exception. After this game Jackson sits at #2 in the NFL in total yards rushing, #3 in total yards from scrimmage AND #1 in fantasy points among RBs. There are not many RB’s making more of a splash in the passing game and you simply cannot be caught dead with Jackson on your bench at this point.  Well… except this week since he is on bye.

Devin Hester, WR, CHI – Unless your league counts return yards, you really shouldn’t be too worried about going and picking up Hester. He has been a starting receiver for a couple of years now and has not been able to produce with any regularity. With that said, he single-handedly beat the Vikings on Sunday night with his TD catch and return TD. He is definitely ownable in 14 team (or more leagues) as well as leagues that do in fact count return yards… but my guess is he isn’t available in these leagues anyways. Keep him on your bench folks.

Frank Gore, RB, SF – What more can you say about the 49ers?! 5-1 is a VERY impressive start for a team, despite how terrible the rest of the NFC West might be.  Gore started the season really slow in the first two weeks, but now has three consecutive 100+ yard games and is living up to the preseason rank I gave him of #5 overall.

Duds

Roddy White, WR, ATL – White has been very underwhelming this season and he will remain a top 10 option on talent alone but he will continue to fall in my ranks with each mediocre performance.

Vernon Davis, TE, SF – I am surprised that the 9ers are being so efficient on offense without involving Davis more often. He remains one of the most talented TEs in football and as long as the team is winning, I am going to recommend that you start him.

Ryan Torain, RB, WAS – The Redskins did terrible this week and while it was mostly Rex Grossman’s fault, none of the three RB’s did anything to help out.  Torain was my favorite to see the most work and he only put up two points.

Jermichael Finley, TE, GB – The Packers are clicking on all cylinders and Aaron Rodgers has no shortage of targets to throw to. Finley will be fine and is one of the top TE’s for fantasy owners.

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Waiver Wire Pickups

Mike Thomas, WR, JAC – The Broncos have a decent pass defense, but they should not have been good enough to shut out Mike Sims-Walker.  There were a few quiet murmurs about Thomas just before the season, but they went largely unnoticed and probably shouldn’t have.  Go get Thomas as I think before long he will prove to be the most viable and consistent fantasy option among all Jaguar receivers.

Eddie Royal, WR, DEN – I saw a lot of Jabar Gaffney questions on game day this week and while he did find the end zone, touchdowns are random.  I will take the guy with the most targets and receptions any day.  I do not think Brandon Lloyd has what it takes to be a reliable target so go get Royal now while people are focused on the other two.

Michael Vick, QB, PHI – Seems like a no-brainer for Kevin Kolb owners to go out and get Vick to play the role of handcuff while Kolb recovers from a concussion.  Often times the first concussion can be recovered from pretty quickly but I would anticipate at least one week off for Kolb. With the Lions coming up this week Vick should be capable of filling in quite well after getting over 100 yards rushing this week to compliment his 175 passing yards and a TD through the air.

Brandon Jackson, RB, GB - Grant has said that he does not plan to miss any time, but can you afford to not have him around?  The Packers are going to face a bad Bills run defense (though they played pretty well considering how abysmal their offense was) next week and they should be able to let Grant get back to 100% and still get a win.  This seems like an easy decision and so does grabbing Jackson for the easy match up just in case the Packers do the right thing.

Peyton Hillis, RB, CLE – Once Montario Hardesty got hurt, it became increasingly apparent to me that Jerome Harrison was going to be the lead back and get the vast majority of the workload.  Clearly, the Cleveland Browns are unable to commit to one single running back and this creates some value for Peyton Hillis.  Hillis had 11 fewer yards on as many carries as Jerome Harrison but found the end zone and very surprisingly was the top fantasy RB on the Browns.  I wouldn’t be in a rush to start either Harrison or Hillis quite yet till there is some idea who will be the top guy might be.

David Garrard, QB, JAC - Garrard was surprisingly efficient in the season opener and he was able to do so with a less than 100% Maurice Jones-Drew in the backfield.  This is not the type of performance you should expect from Garrard, however he is the same type of backup as Vince Young, Chad Henne and Jason Campbell… he will remain a consistent fantasy producer even when the team struggles.

Mike Williams, WR, SEA – I still do not think that the Seahawks can be a playoff team.  I also still think that the 49ers will be and will win this division despite a slow start.  The woes of the Seahawks will center around the play of Matt Hasselbeck so as long as he is able lead the team on the field as well as off of it, the receivers will be relevant to us.

Dump List

Jabar Gaffney, WR, DEN – Touchdowns are pretty difficult to predict and apart from getting one this week Gaffney did very little against a pretty soft Jaguars secondary.

Rashard Jennings, RB, JAC – Jennings was drafted by some people as a handcuff when people paniced about Jones-Drew.  MJD did not have a great game in week 1 but he did enough to demonstrate his injury will not be a lasting concern.

Laurence Maroney, RB, NE - Maroney’s contract is about to expire and the Patriots have never seemed to been a big fan of his.  I do not see them trying to pick up his contract at the end of the year nor using him as much as they have in the past.  Fred Taylor is the best Patriots RB to own so don’t bother holding Maroney if Taylor is available.

Devin Hester, WR, CHI – I have seen some questions this week about Hester and he should not be on anyone’s roster unless you are in a very deep format.

Anthony Gonazlez, WR, IND – I don’t think of Collie as own-able in a 10 team league yet, but he should certainly have earned the slot receiver job after a great performance this week.  This leaves Gonzalez to 4th on the depth chart and useless to fantasy owners even if the injury was very minor.

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Weekly Adds

Jerome Harrison (CLE) - He just had the third best running performance in NFL history on Sunday and he plays the 28th ranked run defense in the league next week.  Even if your not gonna use him you grab him so no one else can.  Also, don’t use him… this is the third week in a row where one of the two Browns RB’s have been one of the waiver wire’s hottest pickups.  Think about that, everyone was bidding for Harrison two weeks ago, then they dropped him for Jennings, and now your gonna drop him to pick back up Harrison?! Yea, your going to but your not likely going to use him!  DeAngelo Williams owners are the ones who should be thinking of using him, not really anyone else.  In my league I am making a claim but have AP, Benson, Forsett, and use my flex to play DJax, Moss, and Miles Austin each week.  I only want Harrison because my opponent has DeAngelo.

Jonathan Stewart (CAR) - I’ve been saying to grab up any available handcuffs for a couple of weeks, and if you found the best backup RB in the NFL (yardage-wise) sitting on waivers then you’ve got to be pretty pleased right now.  DeAngelo Williams is hurt, and without knowing how active he will be in Week 16 in which you are probably playing in your Super Bowl, Stewart will likely be seeing the vast majority of the work.  Oh, and he went over a hundred yards against Minnesota to help Matt Moore and the Panthers get a victory.

Maurice Morris (DET) - I wasn’t too wild about Morris going into this week, but then again I didn’t expect the Lions to be competitive with the Cardinals.  So you can’t be wild about the prospect of him playing the 49ers this week, but if Stafford comes back they will be able to get balance and Morris will have a chance to be decently productive.  If you lost Williams and have to go to waivers to replace him you could do worse, but try for Harrison.

Hakeem Nicks (NYG) – We’ll have to see how he does tonight to let us know how bad we want him, but he faces one of the top passing defenses in football.  If he can do it tonight he can do it any time and is deserving of a spot on your roster.

Jason Snelling (ATL) – Turner hurt his leg after just one rush for 7 yards Sunday.  I would not expect to see Turner test this too much as the Falcons playoff hopes remain dim despite the win.  Snelling will still be splitting with Norwood and is not a great option but worth a spot on your roster.

Jermichael Finley (GB) – Finley has been doing great as of late.  He is looking to be near or in the top 10 this week in my rankings as the Packers continue to use him to create phenomenal match-ups over the middle.  A few weeks ago I saw him lineup and tailback then motion to the wide-out position and catch a TD pass from inside the ten yard line.

Dump List

I’m going to include a fair few people I have had on here before so any new readers can double check and make sure they don’t have any people they really should drop.

Marshawn Lynch, Devin Hester, LeSean McCoy, Mario Manningham, Ryan Moats, Julius Jones, Brian Westbrook, Dwayne Bowe, Willis McGahee, Tim Hightower, Malcom Floyd.

Feel Free to participate in my live Q&A on Yahoo! Sports Message Board.  Good Luck in your Super Bowl or Playoff match-up!

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Actives and Inactives for early games in Week 15!

Larry Fitzgerald – ARI: Active
Steven Jackson – STL: Active
Calvin Johnson – DET: Active
Terrell Owens – BUF: Active
Matt Ryan – ATL: Active
Matthew Stafford – DET: Inactive
Michael Turner – ATL: Active
Vince Young – TEN: Active

LATE GAME UPDATES!

Brent Celek – PHI: Active
Devin Hester – CHI: Inactive
Zach Miller – OAK: Inactive
Kellen Winslow – TB: Active

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Michael Turner – ATL: Inactive

Roddy White – ATL: Active

Tom Brady – NE: Active

Fred Taylor – NE: Inactive

Percy Harvin – MIN: Inactive

Devin Hester – CHI: Inactive

Matt Ryan – ATL: Inactive

Mike Sims-Walker – JAC: Active

Matthew Stafford – DET: Inactive

Mike Bell – NO: Inactive

Cadillac Williams – TB: Active

DeAngelo Williams – CAR: Active

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Love

Santonio Holmes and Mike Wallace (PIT) – With a bad Browns team having a short week to prepare, and with receiver Hines Ward unlikely to play, Thursday night should be a big game for the two would-be starting receivers.

Drew Brees, Marques Colston and Robert Meachem (NO) – The Falcons have a pretty bad passing defense ranked 29th in the league and go against the best Offense in football lead by Drew Brees.  Brees’ favorite targets include receivers Colston and Meachem who will be creating mismatches in the secondary all day long.  Colston is a WR1 this week and Meachem is a great WR3 or flex play!

Andre Johnson (HOU) – Seahawks rank 25th against the pass and should be in over their heads on Sunday vs Johnson and the Texans.  Also a heavier emphasis will be placed on the passing game with Steve Slaton placed on IR.

Jamaal Charles (KC) – The Bills are dead last against the run and Charles has a 4.8 yards per carry average!  He is a must start at RB this week!

Terrell Owens (BUF) – Owens has been a part of the Bills offense since Perry Fewell took over as interim head coach.  The Chiefs are 28th in the league against the pass and wont be likely to contain TO and Evans.

Jets (D/ST) – The Buccaneers are pretty bad this year as you know.  Last week Freeman threw 5 interceptions against the Panthers.  The Jets will dominate this game on defense and play ball control on offense.

Vince Young, Chris Johnson and Kenny Britt (TEN) – The Rams are a great match-up for anyone, and the Titans are still red hot even though they lost last week (it was the Colts, you didn’t expect it anyways).  Rebound week for Vince Young!

Phillip Rivers (SD) – Rivers has been very productive and mistake-free the past few weeks even with the statistical absence of Vincent Jackson.  You cannot expect this lack of production to continue for Jackson and that only stands to improve Rivers’ production even more.

Larry Fitzgerald (ARI) – Best receiver in the league versus the 27th ranked passing defense.

Hate

Bruce Gradkowski (OAK) -You may have picked him up for a deep format but the Skins can only defend the pass, so this is not the week to try to use him.

Antonio Bryant (TB) -If Bryant was on a winning team with a real QB he would be a household name and he would really be something special to watch.  He’s not, he gets his passes thrown to him by a rookie and he plays the top passing defense in the league.  Sit him!

Jerome Harrison (CLE) -Like Gradkowski, you picked him up for other weeks, not this match-up sit him down this week.

Kevin Smith (DET) -Hard to imagine the Lions getting much done on offense against the Ravens.  I wouldn’t trust Smith enough for a playoff start this week.

Devin Hester and Matt Forte (CHI) – You got a decent week from Forte so don’t think it’s the start of something.  You need to have multiple productive weeks to get trust in fantasy football, not one versus a squishy match-up.  The Packers have been playing pretty well as of late and should roll right over the Bears.  Oh, and Hester was on my dump-list a couple weeks ago…. please do yourself a favor and ditch him!

Matt Cassel and Chris Chambers (KC) – The Bills passing defense has been about the only bright spot throughout the season.  If the Chiefs are going to win it will be on the back of Jamaal Charles and not the arm of Matt Cassel.

Frank Gore (SF) – The 9ers offense has gone the way of the pass as Alex Smith matures in that offense.  The Cardinals looked like Super Bowl contenders last week and the 49ers are struggling.  I don’t like any 49ers this week.

Brandon Jacobs (NYG) – Jacobs has been terrible, the only game he was any good for you was when he had a 74 yard screen pass.  It’s time to find his replacment (it was time a month ago actually).

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Pick-ups

Well if your league is like mine then you are entering the last week before the playoffs start this week!  Time to earn your week 14 bye or solidify your playoff spot.  At this point in the season Weekly additions are hard to come by and typically injury related.  So lets use this chance to cover all eventualities that could hurt you down the stretch!  Some of these pick-ups will be all wrong for your team and are not a concern, but if you have a roster spot up in the air due to concussions… (who doesn’t… honestly!) then having one of these players may pull you out of a tough jam!  This week I will be going by position and talking about the most likely available people at each spot.

QB

Alex Smith (SF) – This QB was expected by most to be inside the top 10 Sunday with a very good match-up against Jacksonville.  If you are among the people nervous about the Warner or Roethlisberger injuries then Smith can provide relief.  Apart from a 2 point flop against Chicago, Smith has provided double digit fantasy points in each game he appeared (including his second half against Houston).

Ryan Fitzpatrick (BUF) – This is a big stretch, but there are leagues out there that start two QBs and have 12 or 14 teams, given the injuries and uncertainties in some of the NFL franchises you can do worse than Fitz.  Given that Brady and Brees haven’t played yet this week Ryan Fitzpatrick sits at number 3 among all fantasy QBs (as always based on ESPN standard scoring) and he played a very solid Dolphins defense.  This team is on a bit of a turn around at the moment, and in a fantasy perspective this guy out performed almost everyone… including both Manning’s, Schaub, Rivers, Romo, and McNabb!

Vince Young (TEN) – His style has never been effective in translating to fantasy productivity, and I do not see anything changing.  From a real perspective Young looks polished, disciplined, and like a leader as the Titans needed!  You shouldn’t ever need Young to break 20 points but you can rely on double digits from how it looks.

RB

Three of the top four RBs in fantasy football this week were at the beginning of the season were virtually nobodies!

Justin Forsett (SEA) – This guy has been on add lists all over the place including my own, and for good reason.  Number one fantasy back honors for week 12 against a phenomenal match-up Sunday vs the Rams.  If your league managers have been in a closet for three weeks it’s not too late, grab him now!

Fred Jackson (BUF,)  -  Being in Buffalo I have heard a lot about the Jackson Lynch time-share today and it is going flip what we have been expecting and seeing since the duo got together.  Jackson is expected to become the starting back and Lynch will be a compliment to him.  Fewell has this team believing in itself and on a short week Jackson is a solid RB2 down the stretch assuming the Bills stay on this path!

Jamaal Charles (KC) – Again, If your fellow managers have been living under a rock don’t think it’s too late this guy is on the rise!

Lex Hilliard (MIA) – Williams had another very good game this week in a tough loss to the Bills, but he is 32 and cannot handle the workload Ronnie Brown had, Hilliard has been productive when he gets carries which will be increasing all the rest of the season.

Jason Snelling and Jerious Noorwood (ATL) – Turner owners are at a loss for words after he re-injured his ankle after the surprising and stupid decision to test the ankle so soon.

WR

Jason Avant (PHI) – DeSean Jackson has a concussion and owners should expect a week or two off, Avant is a great addition to any team that needs help these weeks, but especially to those of you who lost Jackson!

Kenny Britt (TEN) – This team is scary good since Young started taking snaps and everyone is benefiting greatly, Britt becomes a decent flex or WR3 choice from here on out.

Antonio Bryant (TB) – 91 yards and a TD Sunday and because of his injury he is available in over 50% of Yahoo! leagues.

Chris Chambers (KC) – If you were skeptical before you really can’t be any more…

TE

I heartily recommend that owners ignore stats other than fantasy points allowed to tight ends.  They require the defender to have a unique skill set to cover in the passing game, only certain teams have players capable of keeping a TE consistently covered.  And also many times a team’s offensive success HURTS the tight end as if the receivers are getting open deep the check down is not used.

Fred Davis (WAS) – Davis broke double digit points this week with a TD catch and is available in 87% of leagues.  Been some injuries at the position this season and there is no reason to keep adding and dropping based on match-ups.

Bo Scaife (TEN) – Again, this team is on the swing, and Scaife’s targets will be up.

Dump List!

Hester, Moats, Lynch, Julius Jones, Westbrook, Bowe, McGahee (still owned in over 50% of Yahoo! leagues… I can’t believe that!)

Good Luck making the last minute playoff push! Remember, you can submit questions to me on twitter by following me (see the link above!) and get answers right away as well as featured in my weekly mailbag post!

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Rock Cartwright – After Betts was carted off the field midway through the first quarter on Sunday Rock Cartwright was thrust into the lead role. From the time he became the lead guy he racked up 13 carries for 67 yards, as well as showed ability in the passing game as well being targeted 8 times for 7 catches and 73 yards. Portis is already ruled out for week twelve so Cartwright is set to have a good game versus an okay match up in Philly next week making him my pickup of the week.

Terrell Owens – Its just weird typing his name in the Pickup of the week article to be honest, but with his best game of the season coming the week after a new head coach and starting QB and installed, you’ve got to figure that TO is set to benefit from these moves. T.O. Would have been on my dump list for the last month if the site had been up that long, so if he was let go GRAB HIM UP! Owens will be a flex play at best until the Bills can prove they are consistently able to get him the ball. Next week you should be safe to start him versus a Miami defense that has played mediocre at best this season.

Fred Jackson – Fast Freddie is an explosive back that wears down a defense over the course of the game. In the first three games of the season Jackson was a very serious fantasy threat. Given the offensive woes he was unable to find the end zone very much if at all, but yardage wise he was a big surprise. Lynch was carted off the field Sunday with a shoulder injury, and will likely be a game time decision. If Lynch cannot go Sunday, I would expect to see a pretty good fantasy game from Jackson.

Kahlil Bell – The Bears RB got the first carry of his NFL career and scampered for 72 yards. I know I almost fell outta my chair… but that was largely because I thought that Forte finally was gonna break 100 yards rushing! If you are in a very deep league or have a playoff birth in the bag and a dead-spot in your roster grab Bell and wait to see what happens. The Bears have re-dedicated themselves to the run as to give Cutler a chance to utilize the play action and keep opposing defenses guessing. If Bell can show that he has the ability to handle a larger work load he’ll get the chance and Forte would be pushed to more of a third down back. This is a long shot, so you had better have the ability to probably never play him.

Chris Chambers – had another really good game this week with Bowe on suspension. Three more weeks of Chambers being the top guy so if you have an injury issue or are light at WR go ahead and grab Chambers… he should put up solid performances at least while Bowe is out!

Kevin Boss – 4 TD’s in his last 3 games. The Giants and the Falcons looked much improved this week, and the Giants has a record that will keep them in the playoff hunt. Boss is a nice outlet for Manning who seems to like him in the red zone.

Jason Snelling and Justin Forsett – I am gonna lump these two together as they were number one and two on my add list last Monday. Snelling barely eeked out the top spot on the list last week, and did not disappoint. In Turner’s wake he was the second highest scoring back in the league on Sunday. Forsett had a terrible match-up versus a stout Vikings pass D Sunday and still managed to show his worth to fantasy owners that were desperate with the slew of injuries this week. While not a single point gained was on rushing yards (only 9), Forsett still managed 80 yards receiving and punched in a goal line carry for a rushing TD. Forsett is very unlikely to lose the top spot on the depth chart when Julius Jones returns, so he should be an option down the stretch, however Snelling is only likely to see one more game as the lead back and that should be with Jerious Norwood back sharing some time as well.

Alex Smith – If you have injury or bad match up concerns at QB or are in a 2 QB league Smith has a relatively easy schedule for the rest of the season and while his play has been inconsistent he sure could do some good getting you through a rough patch.

Dump list!

Dwayne Bowe has three more weeks of suspension left to go, and wasn’t producing all that well before. I wouldn’t trust him after a month off and very few games left in the season.

Felix Jones couldn’t even produce when Jerry Jones was screaming that he needed the ball more.

Roy Williams looks like he will indeed be too inconsistent to be a good fantasy football option

Devin Hester has seen his targets AND production on a sharp decline in the past few weeks, and I expect this trend to continue. It is a stretch to just drop him, but if TO or Chambers is there, I say make the move.

Kyle Orton totally collapsed last season after he hurt his foot, I’m scared for Orton AND the Broncos.

Ryan Moats – Can someone please make sense of whaat Coach Kubiak is doing here… cuz I can’t…  Slaton looked explosive off the ball, and you could SEE that he was protecting the ball.  The Texans lost last night because they couldn’t control the ball and extend drives.  Schaub played well but Kubiak is likely joining the unemployment line after this season if he doesn’t get them in the playoffs!

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