DO Consider Nick Foles If You're In Need Of A Passer
Foles' first few games as an NFL starting QB have been inconsistent, but he finally put together a nice performance last week against Dallas, with 251 yards, a score, and, most importantly, no interceptions. Foles has the dreadful Tampa Bay passing defense to contend with this week, so it could finally be the time for him to air it out a bit and see if he can't make his own dent, particularly with LeSean McCoy still out of the starting lineup.
DON'T Bother With Philip Rivers
I mean, God help you if you're still starting Philip Rivers in fantasy football at this point. But it's conceivable; he is a name, after all; he was a Pro Bowler as recently as last year. But whether it's Rivers' fault or that of his crummy, badly coached, chronically underachieving team, he's been a disaster this year. Philip Rivers is 20th in the league in fantasy points. The jury's still out on whether Rivers has reached the end of his career as an effective passer or if he's just a victim of Norv Turner's hope-squishing vampire fangs, but either way, don't touch the dude until he re-proves himself.
DO Work DeMarco Murray back into your lineup.
After a stellar rookie campaign last season, DeMarco Murray went awfully high in a lot of fantasy drafts this year, then went down in Week 6 with an injury. That injury kept him out of six straight games, and banished him from the minds of all football fans who don't either have him on their bench or cheer for the Cowboys, in which case he would visit them in the darkest moments before they drifted off into the warm refuge of sleep. But Murray's back, finally, and in his first contest since the injury, he went for 83 yards and a touchdown. If you've kept the man on your team, get him back into the starting lineup, because he's going to be trying to make up for lost time.
DON'T Try To Guess Which Steelers Running Back Will Get Points This Week
Will it be Isaac Redman? Will it be Jonathan Dwyer? Will it be the ghost of Rashard Mendenhall? Will Jerome Bettis come out of retirement? Will Kordell Stewart be elected President of the United States? I don't know, and neither do you. I mean, if you're really really desperate, I guess you could convince me that starting Dwyer isn't totally psychotic, but I'd only be like, half convinced.
DO Have Second Thoughts About Vernon Davis
Oh, Vernon. So much potential, and yet, what do you have to show for it? Only one performance since Week 5 with more than three fantasy points. THREE. That's not even like, ok-we-can-be-patient points. That's you-need-to-be-benched-right-now. It's depressing. I don't know what the reason is for Davis' abrupt disintegration — especially because in Week 11 he suddenly came back to life, with six receptions for 83 yards and one TD — but either way, it's hard to keep playing him at this point.
DON'T Stray From Owen Daniels
A consistent tight end is hard to come by, and for most of the 2012 season, Owen Daniels has been that. He's fifth overall in tight end production and started off the season incredibly hot, topping 10 points in four of his first eight games. Things have slowed a bit since then — in the last four weeks, he's gone for 0, 5, 8, and 4 — but this week, Houston has the Patriots and their suspect passing defense, which includes a particular weakness toward tight ends: only three teams in the league have given up more fantasy points to that position.
DON'T Complain About Getting Beat By A Kicker
Last week, Jason Hanson of the Lions scored 18 points. In the six weeks before that, he hadn't topped 10. If you got beat by Hanson, then you have my condolences, but please don't go around pleading your grievances to the sky. This is just one of those etiquette things. If you complain about how a kicker affects your fantasy matchup, you're a doofus. Don't be a doofus.