Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

Well, this week we have to sit tons of fantasy players from the Seahawks, Brocos, Cardinals and Bengals. You GET to sit your Rams and Browns...just think of it that way. Anyways, here's 10 things to look for while you become one with your couch on Sunday.

- The Bears and Packers are back at it. The oldest and most played (188 games!) rivalry in the NFL. History will take a back seat this weekend though, because all we care about is fantasy football. Look for Aaron Rodgers to bounce back from a poor game last week and find Randall Cobb for at least one TD. Jay Cutler will also continue to struggle against the Pack, he's 1-9 career against them and his favorite target is banged up.

- Make sure you keep an eye on the inactive list. For the second week in a row, Arian Foster will be a game-time decision. If he doesn't go, it'll be Alfred Blue again, but I think if Foster starts, he's going to be a very sketchy play. He seems to do this every year, and doesn't hit his stride until later...or he's done for the season.

- Steve Smith is playing his old team, the Carolina Panthers, whom he spent 13 years with. Their parting wasn't totally a happy one, and while I'm sure that they will reconcile in order to make a metric shitton of money after he retires, for now he wants nothing more than to crush them. Smith is having a bit of a resurgence this year, already with 18 rec for 290 yds and 1 td, he is a must start against his old team.

- Andrew Luck is leading the league in fantasy points this season, and it appears as if he's taken the step into the elite tier of QB's (most of whom are not playing their best to start the year). With 80.88 pts, he's even ahead of Eli Manning, who had 33.1 points on Thursday night. This week, expect the Colts to roll this week and Andrew Luck to continue to impress.

- The Dolphins and Raiders are playing in London this week, the first of three games to be held in London this year. Coach Philbin seems to be losing the locker room, and with a big road trip on their plate, this could be trouble for the Dolphins. Lucky for them, they play the hapless Raiders. This game is going to go to whoever is the least jet-lagged.

- The Steelers run game last week was damn impressive, and while the now-famous kick in the face wasn't by a RB, it totally represents what their run game has looked like lately. The combination of Bell and Blount will smoke the Bucs and I predict that they combine for over 200 yards as the Steelers roll easily. This is a classic start all your Steelers, sit all your Bucs kind of game.

- Cecil Shorts is back! Everybody drink five. The Jaguars, however, are not back. They have looked better this year, and rookie Blake Bortles does look promising, but they are going to get moon-pounded in San Diego. Hope for some garbage TD's for Shorts and drink five again.

- The Falcons are coming off of a moon-pounding of their own, at the expense of the Bucs last week. This also means that Atlanta has had an extra few days of rest and planning for the Vikings, who have a rookie QB of their own going, not to mention a few other distractions. I don't expect much fantasy production outside of Asiata from the Vikings, but plenty of points will be had by the Falcons.

- The 49ers will get a chance to redeem themselves from failing to win on opening night at their new stadium...but they will fail. The Eagles are an impressive 3-0 so far this year, and the 49ers have looked vulnerable. This will be the game that LeSean McCoy breaks out, even though the 49ers are one of the best against RB's.

- Sunday night's game is going to feature a 2-1 team that is playing at home that is a Vegas underdog to a team that is 1-2. I don't think this is the wrong call either. The Saints have struggled on the road at times, but Drew Brees is 3-0 as a Saint in Dallas, with 9 TD's. This is the game where Brees returns to form. I saw Brian Billick predict that Brees will break the single game yardage record of 540 yards. I don't know if that's even remotely possible, but it sure would be cool to see. Just as long as I don't have to play against him.

Week 7 featured all kinds of fun, a couple of broken records (the good kind), trick plays, last minute victories and Cecil Shorts and Barkevious Mingo on the field at the same time (a drinkfive wet dream).

- I would be remiss in my duties if I did not start this article without Peyton Manning's record breaking night. Brett Favre, the former record holder, threw 508 TD's in his career, spanning 302 games (1.68 per game). As of Sunday night, Peyton Manning now has 510 TD's in only 246 games (2.07 per game). If Manning continues at this clip and plays as many games as Favre, he will finish his career with 626 TD's. Absolutely crazy.

- The Jaguars can win, after all. With their victory over the up-and-down Browns came a glimmer of hope with their run game. Denard Robinson came to life when given a full workload. 22 attempts netted him 127 yards and 1 touchdown, but more importantly, it may have netted him the starting spot in Jacksonville. The Jags are desperate for stability anywhere, and look for them to go with the hot hand approach. Robinson will be a very popular waiver wire addition this week.

- Jerick McKinnon had another good showing, even if his team did not. McKinnon had 19 carries for 103 yards against Buffalo, a team with a tough run defense. McKinnon's match-ups coming up are against Tampa, Washington and Chicago. Buy low on him and take advantage of the weaker part of Minnesota's schedule.

- Ever since Aaron Rodgers told the good folks of Wisconsin to just "relax", they've done nothing but win games. Putting up 38 or more points in three of the last four games, Rodgers has thrown for 13 TD's during that span. Jordy Nelson has also catapulted to the top of the league in receiving yards (though Antonio Brown can pass him with a good game Monday night).

- The Bears continue to struggle at home and are now 0-3 there on the season. It's really the same story we always hear. Cutler struggled and Matt Forte put up numbers anyways. Forte does have two down games this year, but every other game he scored 17 or more points, going for over 20 in his last three games. This kind of consistency is very rewarding with all of the turmoil at the top of the RB draft board this year.

- The Bengals became the third team this season to be shut-out. After having none the first four weeks of the season, we've now seen one three weeks in a row. The Bengals are by far the best offense to be shut down during that stretch, but I think credit needs to be given to the Colts defense. The Colts limited the Bengals to 8 first downs, 135 total yards on offense and the Bengals didn't have a snap in Colts territory until well into the 4th quarter, on a drive that resulted in no points. They only sniffed it once more at the end of the game for just a moment.

- Jeff Fisher has a lot of special teams tricks, and he decided that the best time to showcase them was when the Super Bowl champs came to town. The Rams handed Seattle their second loss in a row, something that Russell Wilson has only experienced once before in his career. The fake punt deep in your own end at the end of the game probably took more balls than brains, but the play I'm in love with is the punt return. The punt return in the second quarter faked out nearly the entire Seahawks special teams unit, which is bizarre considering they ought to know what side of the field their punter is kicking it to.

- One thing from the other side of that game became apparent as well. Russell Wilson is shaping up to be an elite fantasy QB. Two games over 34 points this year and only one game with a low of 11 have him up to 142 points on the season, good for fifth overall. Keep in mind, he has already had his bye week and three of the guys ahead of him have not taken a break yet. Wilson is definitely on pace to finish this season as a top 5 guy.

- The Cowboys keep rolling and Demarco Murray is leading the way. With his record breaking seventh 100 yard game to start the season, he has an astounding 913 yards through 7 games. He has not scored below 17.1 points this season, making him one of the best weekly guarantee since Arian Foster in 2010, heck, maybe since LaDainian Tomlinson's golden years. Expect Murray to stay match-up proof and hope they keep riding him as much as they have, because hey, fantasy football only lasts a year at a time.

- Back to the Broncos, who had a stellar night which might have been overshadowed by Peyton's big record. Demaryius Thomas is living up to his draft position, maybe more than most first/early second rounders. He started slow, but after the bye has scored 34, 18 and 29 points over the last three weeks. In fact, he's the only thing keeping Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb from being the top two fantasy receivers by points.