Halloween Creeping Up in the NFL

Ah, Halloween. What a great time of year. It is the perfect reason, as an adult, to find justification in dressing up in costume and running around in public; normally in search of alcoholic beverages and laughs. Of course, there is a small contingent that does this year-round, though a bit more discreetly, namely, Plushies. The creativity entertains me, but the actual act has to be a bit difficult. Moving on….

Attention turns to more supernatural involvement and tales of folks returning from the afterlife. This is when you can watch the transformation of normal sports fans into zombies. All major professional sports are in action; thanks to Bud Selig and Mother Nature. For good measure, you even have college football games on every night and college hoops is about to start. Who has time to sleep?! Yep, this time of year spikes the number of sports widows through the roof. I can admit to digging many relationship graves with a 4th-down marker. Sad as it may be, I seem to get over the grief with a viewing of the annual Treehouse of Horror, though it always conflicts with the Sunday NFL game, which starts Thanksgiving early for me as I profess my gratitude for digital video records; Thank You TiVO!

As far as the NFL is concerned, there was quite the scare for many of you still alive in Survivor pools as The Legend, Brett Favre, threw one of his patented “oh no!” picks against KC that was returned for a late TD and a KC lead. Having one life in the game left, he gave Life back to your quest for the crown and put the ball into his own end zone and claimed victory. Survivor leagues are getting a bit tougher each week. Fortunately, Cincinnati, Detroit and KC have had Bye weeks on separate weeks this year. However, you need to be very careful this weekend as odd events tend to occur around this date. Speaking of spooky, how about the waiver wire this week? Yikes, now that is scary! Fortunately, we only have 2 weeks of Byes left, so things should get better for your starting lineup.

QB Mark Bulger (STL) – A few years back, Bulger was a weekly must-start. Unfortunately, a bad line lead to him getting pummeled into the turf and sent to the infirmary on a regular basis. Maybe it is timing of a new coach or finally shaking off the rust and staying healthy, but Bulger has kicked it into gear and gets to face a bad Arizona secondary at home this weekend. He even gets the Jets and Niners coming up.

QB Chad Pennington (MIA) – Ok, so I am one of many people mocking Pennington year after year that has been recently silenced and forced to change his tune. The limp-armed one has averaged almost 300 ypg over the past 3 games with 4 TDs against 2 INTs. He has a tasty matchup in Denver this week and against Seattle next week, so you could do worse with a starting QB.

RB Kolby Smith (KC) – I mentioned keeping an eye on the Chiefs-Jets game last weekend to see who fared better between Smith and Jamaal Charles. It ended up being Smith, thanks to a high-ankle sprain for Charles. With Larry Johnson sitting again, Smith will get the bulk of the carries for the next week or two, at least. Now, the Chiefs face Tampa this weekend, so keep your expectations low, but the Chiefs are at home.

RB Kevin Faulk (NE) – Faulk has always been a specialist in the Patriot offense, but with no true power back healthy, he saw many more carries than usual last weekend. With Cassel at the helm instead of Brady, we could continue to see 15 carries and 5 catches a game from Faulk. Benjarvus Green-Ellis may steal some goal-line carries, but Faulk will be the primary back used by New England.

WR Donnie Avery (STL): Many people listened last week as Avery’s ownership increased dramatically before Sunday breakout performance (6/163/1), but not in all leagues. If he is available in yours, you must grab him for this week’s matchup against Arizona.

WR Ted Ginn Jr. (MIA): Why his breakout game took so long to happen is beyond me. He is the main deep threat on the Dolphin team. With all the running they do, you would think that Ginn would have factored into Parcell’s gameplan long ago. Now, he has had only one startable game so far in his career, so look for Avery first, but if you need WR help, Ginn will be a nice play against the Denver defense that will be missing shutdown corner, Champ Bailey.

Bill Parsons is the owner of MaximumFantasySports.com and
a rabid fantasy sports participant. He began creating his own football and baseball fantasy leagues at the ripe old age of seven; tracking stats and standings on paper. After the birth of fantasy sports on the internet, he participated in and evaluated numerous fantasy football sites, only to be disappointed at the generic nature of these sites. None could mirror the creativity that came from running leagues manually. Bill decided to create a real-time fantasy football league website that includes all of the best features that he has used over the years, some of which have never been attempted at any other website. Join Maximum Fantasy Sports today by visiting www.maximumfantasysports.com and registering as an MFS member. Membership is free!