Fantasy Football's blog

Today feels strangely like Super Bowl Sunday, with one big difference being that this game actually has fantasy implications.

The Patriots and Colts are both loaded with fantasy stars, and few owners will be brave/stupid enough to sit their studs in this game. However, this game has the potential to be a huge disappointment from a fantasy perspective.

With six teams on bye and a host of skill players injured, setting starting lineups and finding roster replacements becomes increasingly difficult this week.

Teams on bye this week are Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City and Seattle. The N.Y. Giants face Miami in London on Sunday, and it remains to be seen what effect--if any--the travel, climate and international crowd will have on the teams and players for both teams.

With six teams on bye and a host of skill players injured, setting starting lineups and finding roster replacements becomes increasingly difficult this week.

Teams on bye this week are Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City and Seattle. The N.Y. Giants face Miami in London on Sunday, and it remains to be seen what effect--if any--the travel, climate and international crowd will have on the teams and players for both teams.

For owners beleaguered by bye-week and injury blues and in need of a one-week replacement, you could do worse than any of these sleepers for week 7:

Quarterback

Tampa Bay’s Jeff Garcia at Detroit—Garcia has not been at all spectacular this season but he has been error-free, with no interceptions. This week he faces Detroit, the 30th ranked pass defense in the league. The Lions give up 263.6 passing yards per game and have allowed 10 touchdowns through the air.

Several unheralded—and likely undrafted—players emerged Sunday as viable fantasy options. If you’re looking for help on the waiver wire this week, consider these guys:

Derrick Ward—He played very well after Brandon Jacobs fell to injury, and Ward appears likely to take over the starting job while Jacobs sits out three to five weeks to recuperate.

My fourth draft of the year was the most important. This is where it all started for me, the money league. It’s our sixth year, and I’ll be trying to reach the playoffs for the fifth straight season. It’s also the most fun draft, live and with plenty of trash talking.

My third draft was online, and unfortunately I had some problems accessing the draft room and then staying in the draft room. Thankfully, I had ranked many of the players before the draft, but there were several auto-picks made for me. A kicker in the ninth round? I would never, ever draft a kicker until at least the next-to-last round.

Finally, the NFL season opener--like most of you, I can hardly wait for tonight’s kickoff. New Orleans at Indianapolis is the perfect game to start the season, and all signs point to it being a high-scoring affair. Tonight’s game should be a fantasy bonanza.

League B is a 12-person redraft league with team defense/special teams and pretty standard scoring. I picked fourth in a live snake draft. We start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 1 WR, 2 Flex (one is RB/WR and the other is WR/TE), 1 TE, 1 D/ST and 1 K. It’s not PPR.

Q: While looking over my league’s draft, I noticed that one owner’s top two running backs have the same bye week and his reserves are all backups, leaving him in a tough spot in week eight. He took Edgerrin James in the second round and I got Thomas Jones in the third, just five picks after the other owner. I was considering offering him Jones for James straight up, but do I need to sweeten the pot by also offering him an upgrade at another position?—Kevin