Welcome to our Week 9 Beast, Busts and Sleepers. In this feature we try to dig deep and look beyond the obvious. We look for players that may produce over their heads as our Beasts. We look for players who may underachieve as our Busts. We look for players who could surprise as our Sleepers.

THE CRITERIA

QB: 20 FP or more = Beast
RB/WR: 15 FP or more = Beast
TE/PK/DST: 10 FP or more = Beast

RECORD BY CATEGORY

Beasts: 38-36
Busts: 44-30
Sleepers: 17-44

Let’s take a look at Week 9!

THE BEASTS
Beyond the obvious

QB: Joe Flacco BAL at CIN - Bengals rank 30th in pass defense and 5th in run defense.

QB: Matt Hasselbeck SEA vs DET - Lions have allowed 18 passing TD. Seahawks will air it out.

RB: Ryan Grant GB at TB - Grant had 8.1 FP in Week 8. Expect 20 plus FP in Week 9.

RB: Brandon Jacobs NYG vs SD - Jacobs will post a season high as the Giants get back to basics.

WR: Dwayne Bowe KC at JAC - Expect a 70/30 pass to run ratio against Jags weak pass defense.

WR: Torry Holt JAC vs KC - The Chiefs give up huge FP to the WR position, Holt finally scores.

TE: John Carlson SEA vs DET - TE have scored a league high seven TD against the Lions.

PK: Stephen Gostkowski NE vs MIA - Dolphins bend don’t break D gives Gostkowski lots of chances.

DST: Packers at Buccaneers - Packers take out Week 8 frustrations on the hapless Bucs.

THE BUSTS
Studs to Duds

QB: Kyle Orton DEN vs PIT - Steelers come in fresh off their bye week and healthy.

QB: Carson Palmer CIN vs BAL - Palmer has a very mediocre history against the Ravens D.

RB: Brian Westbrook PHI vs DAL - Boys have allowed one rush TD since Week 1. Sit McCoy as well.

RB: Cadillac Williams TB vs GB - Packers have allowed two rushing TD, both went to Adrian Peterson.

WR: Hakeem Nicks NYG vs SD - Chargers still weak vs the run. Giants will pound it on the ground.

WR: Antonio Bryant TB vs GB - His Week 8 effort is NOT a sign that he is starting to come around.

TE: Joel Dreesson HOU at IND - Dreesson will not see the looks or targets that Owen Daniels did.

PK: Rob Bironas TEN at SF - It’s back to reality for Bironas and the Titans in San Francisco.

DST: Dolphins vs. Patriots - The Dolphins 20 FP in Week 8 will shrink to 5 FP in Week 9.

SLEEPERS:
Underachievers with a chance to shine

QB: Matt Cassel KC at JAC - Chiefs should be able to run to open up the pass against the Jaguars.

RB: Julius Jones SEA vs DET - If he’s ever going crank it up, against the Lions is a nice spot to do it.

RB: Jamaal Charles KC vs JAC - With Johnson on suspension, opportunity knocks. Charles may answer.

WR: Micheal Crabtree SF vs TEN - First home game, first 100-yard game, first NFL TD.

WR: Kevin Walter HOU at IND - With Daniels out, expect Walter to see more targets and produce.

TE: Kevin Boss NYG vs. SD - Manning is getting familiar with his old security blanket again.

PK: Matt Stover IND vs HOU - Stover has found a new lease on life with the contending Colts.

DST: 49ers vs Titans - The 49ers D will attack to throw Vince Young off his game.

FANTASY FACTS:

In Week 8 RB Joseph Addai and PK Josh Brown both threw a TD pass. QB Peyton Manning, Matt Schaub, Jay Cutler and Kyle Orton combined to throw zero TD passes.

In one game, QB Aaron Rodgers (31.55) and Brett Favre (28.20) combined for 59.75 FP. Eight other starters combined for 58.35 FP. It was a down week for QB scoring. 407.40 QB FP were scored in Week 8. The previous seven-week average was 525.19 FP.

Steve Slaton was a top ten RB selection in most drafts in 2009. After fumbling on his third touch of the game, he was benched with 3.10 FP. Ryan Moats came in for Slaton and scored 35.10 FP.

Sticking with your studs is important in Fantasy Football. Titans RB Chris Johnson had 55.40 FP in Week 2 and 37.9 FB in Week 8. In his other five games he has a combined 52.8 FP. Johnson is ranked 4th in RB scoring at the halfway point of the season.

A nagging groin injury kept WR Reggie Wayne out of practice for most of the week. On Sunday he led all WR with 32.7 FP. Vincent Jackson was second with 24.3 FP, followed by Greg Jennings with 22.8 FP. Wayne is now leading all WR with 155.9 FP.

The top 15 FP producers at the WR position have combined for 1798.6 FP (119.9 AVG). The next 30 have a combined 2102.5 FP (70.83 AVG).

Fantasy Football lost a stud TE two weeks in a row now. Last Week Chris Cooley went down and this week it was Owen Daniels. TE Fred Davis will fill in nicely for Cooley. The same can’t be said for TE Joel Dreesson who will fill in for Daniels.

David Ackers, Lawrence Tynes and Nate Keading are the only PK to average double digit scoring through Week 8. Yet another reason to leave your PK selection to the last round of your Fantasy Draft.

The Saints DST scored 95 FP in 2008. After scoring their sixth TD of the season on MNF, they now have 97 FP in just seven games. That is tops in the league as the Eagles sit second with 88 FP.

FANTASY FACTOR:

The Fantasy Factor was 10-3 in Week 8 bringing our overall record to 80-36. We missed on just one game in each of the three categories. The Lions, Jaguars and Cardinals were our only loses. We can understand the Lions losing, the Jaguars are impossible to figure out and turnovers killed the Cardinals.

A mismatch of Fantasy Beasts versus Fantasy Busts goes a long way to deciding the outcome of NFL games. If you wager on the outcome of games, especially on the Money Line, you need to consider the Fantasy Factor.

B: Bad Bet (13-16): These are not good games to select a winner from based on the Fantasy Factor. You should stay away from these games.

M: Middle Bet (28-12): These are decent games to select a winner from based on the Fantasy Factor. You should still consider all the facts before picking from these games.

E: Excellent Bet (39-8): These are excellent games to select a winner from based on the Fantasy Factor. Load up and enjoy!!!

	B	M	E		B	M	E		B	M	E
Ravens @	X			Chiefs @				Redskins @
Bengals				Jaguars		X		Falcons			X
	B	M	E		B	M	E		B	M	E
Titans @	X			Dolphins @				Packers @			X
49ers				Patriots		X		Buccaneers
	B	M	E		B	M	E		B	M	E
Cowboys @				Cardinals @				Texans @
Eagles	X			Bears		X		Colts			X
	B	M	E		B	M	E		B	M	E
Chargers @				Steelers @		X		Panthers @
Giants	X			Broncos				Saints			X
									B	M	E
								Lions @
								Seahawks			X

VFFP Crew

Photo Credit: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/fantasy/09/19/two.owners/index.html