*Game is being played in Toronto

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*Game is being played in Toronto

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Love

Tom Brady, QB, NE - The Patriots have quietly been the best team in the NFL so far this season.  As the only team to only lose one game thus far this season, it is hard not to view them as a Super Bowl favorite.  For fantasy owners, this week is a dream come true with the match up against the Browns.  Look for Brady to have a nice game as well as the Law Firm. As far as who will be CATCHING the balls Brady is throwing… who knows.

Michael Turner, RB, ATL - Turner has been a stud for fantasy owners.  There are not many backs left in the NFL that get the number of carries that Turner does and since they are going against the league’s 30th ranked run defense a hundred yards is seemingly guaranteed.

Hakeem Nicks, WR, NYG – With the status of Matt Hasselbeck still unknown and how thoroughly the Raiders decimated the Seahawks, it is hard to fall in love with this season’s breakout receiver.  Nicks has vaulted past Steve Smith to be the goto target for Eli and the Giants passing attack.

Eli Manning, QB, NYG - The Seahawks have an easy schedule this year being part of the NFL’s least competitive division, the NFC West.  The fact that they are ranked 29th against the pass with this easy schedule is a bit misleading… Manning should be in for a 300 yard performance with a couple of TD passes.

Adrian Peterson, RB, MIN - The Vikings offense with Randy Moss was able to stretch the field and pass the ball effectively with Percy Harvin not drawing so many double teams.  Now that they are without Moss again and Favre’s injuries are stacking up, the obvious strategy for Childress and the Vikings offense is a heavy dose of Peterson.  Given that the Cardinals are allowing an average of 143 yards per game it should be a good week for AP’s fantasy owners.

Matt Forte, RB, CHI - This will be interesting to see how this game plays out.  Against the Bills, the smart choice is to run the ball as often as possible, but that really does not fit into the Mike Martz scheme.  Forte has made some BIG plays to help the Bears struggling offense and with the Bills being so bad against the run it is likely that we see a couple big runs this week too.

Greg Jennings, WR, GB - After David Garrard threw four TD passes against the Cowboys secondary last week, it is hard not to love Aaron Rodgers in this match up.  With Driver being hampered by a bad hamstring and shut out for two weeks straight, Jennings is the only trusted target that Rodgers has left.

Hate

Chad Ochocinco, WR, CIN – Conventional wisdom says that 85 is a better fantasy option than TO, but past performance this season says otherwise. I am done sticking to my guns on Ochocinco and while this will likely change before long… start TO and bench Ochocinco for this week.

Jahvid Best, RB, DET – It may have taken fellow Lions RB Kevin Smith a LONG time to fully recover from last season’s knee injury… now that he is back and Best has been under-performing since week 2 the carries are being split.  Until Best shows some flashes of the play making ability he demonstrated at the start of the season, feel free to bench him (though given the bye weeks that will be tough).

Matt Schaub, QB, HOU – Being one of the weeks with six teams on a bye, you aren’t likely to have a better option than Schaub… but he sure has been disappointing to the fantasy owners that drafted him.  Going against the league’s best defense (statistically) means we’ll have to lower our already-low expectations.

Carson Palmer, QB, CIN - I am on record as hating Palmer for a while now.  His play has declined over the years and the only reason his is own-able still is due to the fact that the Bengals refuse to run as often as they did last year.  But, given their tough Monday night match up against the Steelers in week 9, I doubt you need much convincing to sit him.

Dwayne Bowe, WR, KC - The two big games that Bowe had, came with great match-ups and while I spent most of last week trying to convince people that the Bills are not a good match up for your QBs and WRs… it isn’t a bad match-up either.  Last week Bowe only caught three passes for 16 yards and while one was a TD you were probably expecting better.  Don’t do that anymore, he should go back to being just as disappointing as he was earlier in the season.

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*Game is being played in London

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*Game is being played in London

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1. Chris Johnson @ JAC
2. Adrian Peterson vs. DAL
3. Frank Gore vs. OAK
4. Ray Rice vs. DET
5. Michael Turner @ PHI
6. Rashard Mendenhall vs. CLE
7. Steven Jackson vs. SD
8. Maurice Jones-Drew vs. TEN
9. Arian Foster vs. KC
10. Ahmad Bradshaw vs. DET
11. LeSean McCoy vs. ATL
12. Matt Forte vs. SEA
13. Jamaal Charles @ HOU
14. Ryan Mathews @ STL
15. LaDainian Tomlinson @ DEN
16. Jahvid Best @ NYG
17. Michael Bush @ SF
18. Ryan Torain vs. IND
19. Ronnie Brown @ GB
20. Felix Jones @ MIN
21. Peyton Hillis @PIT
22. Marshawn Lynch @CHI
23. Shonn Greene @ DEN
24. Ricky Williams @ GB
25. BenJarvus Green-Ellis vs. BAL
26. Joseph Addai @WAS
27. Knowshon Moreno vs. NYJ
28. Brandon Jackson vs. MIA
29. Thomas Jones @ HOU
30. Darren McFadden @ SF
31. Mike Tolbert @ STL
32. Chris Ivory @ TB
33. Marion Barber @ MIN
34. John Kuhn vs. MIA
35. Ladell Betts @ TB
36. Cadillac Williams vs. NO
37. Brandon Jacobs vs. DET
38. Willis McGahee @ NE
39. Jason Snelling @ PHI
40. Chester Taylor vs. SEA
41. Jerome Harrison vs. ATL
42. Correll Buckhalter vs. NYJ
43. Donald Brown @WAS
44. Javon Ringer @ JAC
45. Mike Bell @ PIT
46. Derrick Ward vs. KC
47. LeGarrette Blount vs. NO
48. Danny Woodhead vs. BAL
49. Derrick Ward vs. KC
50. Deji Karim vs. TEN

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Cowboys @ Vikings

This is going to be one hell of a football game.  Both the Vikes and the Cowboys were popular Super Bowl picks and are now 1-3 struggling to stay alive for playoff consideration.  Neither team has really been able to establish a balanced offensive attack before last week.  The Cowboys have been among the worst rushing teams in the NFL but were finally able to get Felix Jones up over 100 yards last week vs the Titans on just 15 carries.  The Vikings made a high-profile trade to acquire Randy Moss to help them stretch the field and open up the passing game. On his 5th day back with his old team he was able to find the end zone in a losing effort to the Jets.  With some more time to learn the offense and scheme for their new weapon the Vikings should be able to get a big home victory to put them selves right back into the race for the NFC North.  They will be effective with an aerial assault against a secondary that looked foolish last week against the Titans.  Look for the usual studs to live up to their expectations. (Moss, Peterson, Harvin, Austin and Romo)  Stay away from Jones and Barber vs the front seven of the Vikes.

Ravens @ Patriots

I love playoff re-matches that occur in the first half of the season!  The Ravens ended the Patriots season last year and they will want their revenge.  The problem they will have won’t be the lack of Moss, but the inability of their defense to cover anyone down the field. Ray Rice had his best game of the season last week and if they are able to maintain that balance in their offense then I would expect a big game from Rice, Flacco  and Boldin.  The Patriots offense replaced Randy Moss with Deion Branch and will need to re-invent themselves.  Brady and Welker are the only fantasy players I trust against this great Ravens defense.  Many people have speculated that Welker is likely to see a lot of double coverage and his production should decrease as a result, but I don’t see that happening.  Welker is a possession receiver that runs his routes flawlessly every time.  You cannot double someone that is running a slant route because typically the double team would come from a safety and not someone lined up on the line of scrimmage.  If you put two people on Welker at the line, then you have one person on someone else and Brady will abuse this and get the deep play without Randy.  I like the Ravens in a very tough road game.

Saints @ Buccaneers

I am a sucker for divisional match-ups but with the Buccs beating the Saints last year and currently being higher in the standings, this game will show us the future of this division.  If the Saints fall this week then everyone will become a Buccaneers fan and for good reason.  Josh Freeman has been playing with poise and maturity that players his age don’t typically have.  Mike Williams rose ahead of a fellow (higher drafted) rookie, Arrelious Benn, on the depth chart and has scored in three of his first four games.  Smart money is on the Saints in this game and you can feel confident about starting any Saints you may have on your fantasy team (Thomas, Colston and Brees).  As for Buccaneers, Williams is too consistent to ignore at this point and is on his way to being a top 20 WR and if you are in a 2QB format you should be fine using Freeman as well.

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1. Chris Johnson                    @ JAC
2. Frank Gore                         vs. OAK
3. Adrian Peterson               vs. DAL
4. Ray Rice                               vs. DET
5. Michael Turner                 @ PHI
6. Arian Foster                       vs. KC
7. Rashard Mendenhall      @ CLE
8. Steven Jackson                 vs. SD
9. Maurice Jones-Drew      vs. TEN
10. Ahmad Bradshaw            vs. DET
11. LeSean McCoy                  vs. ATL
12. Jamaal Charles                  @ HOU
13. Matt Forte                          vs. SEA
14. Ryan Mathews                  @ STL
15. Pierre Thomas                   @ TB
16. LaDainian Tomlinson       @ DEN
17. Darren McFadden           @ SF
18. Jahvid Best                         @ NYG
19. Ryan Torain                        vs. IND
20. Peyton Hillis                       @PIT
21. Joseph Addai                     @WAS
22. Ronnie Brown                   @ GB
23. Felix Jones                          @ MIN
24. Shonn Greene                  @ DEN
25. Marshawn Lynch              @CHI
26. Ricky Williams                    @ GB
27. Michael Bush                     @ SF
28. BenJarvus Green-Ellis    vs. BAL
29. Thomas Jones                   @ HOU
30. Brandon Jackson              vs. MIA
31. Knowshon Moreno         vs. NYJ
32. Mike Tolbert                      @ STL
33. Marion Barber                   @ MIN
34. John Kuhn                           vs. MIA
35. Cadillac Williams               vs. NO
36. Brandon Jacobs                                vs. DET
37. Willis McGahee                 @ NE
38. Jason Snelling                    @ PHI
39. Chester Taylor                   vs. SEA
40. Jerome Harrison               @PIT
41. Correll Buckhalter            vs. NYJ
42. Donald Brown                   @WAS
43. Chris Ivory                           @ TB
44. Javon Ringer                      @ JAC
45. Mike Bell                             vs. ATL
46. Derrick Ward                      vs. KC
47. LeGarrette Blount           vs. NO
48. Danny Woodhead           vs. BAL
49. Ladell Betts                         @ TB
50. Deji Karim                           vs. TEN

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