It was a wild and wacky set of early games, highlighted by the Bills comeback against the Bengals. Ryan Fitzpatrick (316 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs) finished with nice numbers in a bad matchup against a Cincy DT that has been stingy against QBs this season. He has developed into a bona fide Top 10 fantasy QB this season and usually puts up big numbers because the Bills always seem to be playing from behind. Steve Johnson (8-137-3) had another huge day, and now has nine TD catches on the season. Donald Jones (5-70-1) looks like he has taken over Roscoe Parrish‘s role in the slot, so he could be an interesting pickup going forward. Fred Jackson (129 total yards, 2 TDs) was terrific and should be a fine RB2, even when C.J. Spiller returns.

Down in Dallas, the Cowboys’ offense continued to roll, and Jon Kitna (147 yards, 3 TDs, 1 rush TD) has looked good the last two weeks. He has a couple of tough matchups in the next two weeks, but his schedule during the fantasy playoffs is favorable. He didn’t throw for much yardage, which means there weren’t any standout performances by his wide receivers, even though Dez Bryant (3-8-1) and Miles Austin (2-7-2) both scored. Felix Jones gained 86 yards but failed to score, which was disappointing.

News broke on Sunday morning that Clinton Portis (46 total yards) was going to get the start, but he re-injured his hamstring and Keiland Williams (29 touches, 95 yards) wasn’t terribly productive in his place. On the other side of the ball, Randy Moss (0-0) laid another egg while Nate Washington (5-117) took advantage of a suspect Redskins secondary. I think it’s time to sit Moss down until he shows us something. This was a terrific matchup and he did absolutely nothing. He was targeted just three times and almost scored on a long TD but was called for offensive pass interference. Vince Young (165 yards) tore a ligament in his hand and may need surgery. Even if he doesn’t, the Titans have already announced that he lost his starting job due to his behavior during and after the game.

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Anthony Stalter (under @TheScoresReport) and I (under @fantasytips) will be tweeting throughout Week 11. Feel free to ask us questions, call us names, whatever…

I’m in a pretty good mood this evening after finding out that I was able to hold onto the top spot in FantasyPros accuracy contest.

Make it 6 weeks in a row for John Paulsen (The Scores Report) as the #1 overall expert. We’re running out of superlatives to describe his performance so we’ll just say that it’s been quite an impressive run. While Paulsen continues to be locked in a tight race for the top spot with Andy Behrens (Yahoo! Sports), this marks the 2nd consecutive week that he has extended his lead. The current lead also represents Paulsen’s largest advantage since week 5 so he has more than held his ground while facing some tough competition.

Below are my early rankings for Week 11. Be sure to check back throughout the week because they will change as the news begins to trickle in. For the first time, I’m also taking a stab at kicker rankings. I generally don’t like to rank kickers because they are so erratic, but I have a numbers-driven analytical process that I’m testing, and I’m interested to see how it fares. As always with kickers, keep an eye on the weather — you don’t want your game to be decided as your kicker has to try to hit a 42-yarder in a driving rainstorm. Generally-speaking, it’s better to start the guy that is kicking in a dome or in warm weather.

Updated Saturday, November 18.

The strategy behind DTBWW is that each week you pick up a defense that is playing against a bad offense (preferably at home). And each week you get pretty good numbers out of your DT position.

Last season, my top pick averaged 9.8 fantasy points per game. My second pick averaged 9.1 and my third pick averaged 7.3. On the whole, DTBWW averaged 9.3 fantasy points per game, which equate to DT5 numbers — all for the price of a few waiver wire pickups. In 2008, my top two picks averaged DT6-type numbers. (Note: To calculate fantasy points, I use this scoring system.)

Unlike Defensive Team By Committee (DTBC), which is for those owners who prefer low maintenance teams, DTBWW strategy allows fantasy owners to virtually ignore DTs on draft day and focus on picking up an extra RB/WR flier instead.

To be eligible, defenses have to be available on the waiver wire in at least 40% of ESPN fantasy leagues.

Let’s see how my Week 10 picks fared:

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This has been in the works for a couple of weeks now, but I’m pleased to present strength of schedule for all the main fantasy football positions, including PPR SOS for RBs, WRs and TEs. For years, I’ve been using the SOS over at Footballguys.com, but they don’t provide PPR SOS, so I thought I’d develop my own process.

What am I looking at?

Below you’ll see a table for each position with a list of team names on the left. If a square is pink, it means that the matchup is tough. If it’s green, it means it’s a favorable matchup. On the far right, the column “R16″ shows the average SOS for the remaining weeks.

It’s important to note that this is NOT straight fantasy points allowed. I removed the bias of schedule by looking at the opponents of each defense and how they fared in their other games. For example, if a particular defense faced a series of great QBs, then that is taken into account in these tables.

How do I use these tables?

Generally speaking, I use strength of schedule as a tiebraker between two similarly ranked players. Let’s say I’m trying to decide between starting Fred Jackson and Ronnie Brown. All else being equal, these two players are very close in my mind. But if Jackson has a great matchup and Brown has a bad matchup, the choice is clear. In fact, if Jackson just has a mediocre matchup while Brown has a bad matchup, I’d probably go with Jackson.

Be careful not to read too much into these tables. You aren’t going to bench Chris Johnson in a bad matchup unless you somehow have Arian Foster waiting in the wings.

Note: I apologize for the size of the text, but there really is no other way for me to present this data, at least not at this point.

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Wondering who to add/drop or whether or not a trade is fair?

I’m here to help.

After checking out our Waiver Wire Watch, you can post your questions here, and unless you say differently, I’m assuming your league has a standard (non-PPR) scoring system.

If you are wondering who to start in a standard scoring league, please wait until later this week (usually Wednesday or Thursday) when I’ll release my official Week 11 rankings.

And if you’re a regular visitor, please take a moment to rate my advice at Fantasy Pros (under Member Rating). I’d appreciate it.

Every week, I highlight a few players that you should target in waivers. I use the ESPN league data when filtering players, so the only guys eligible for discussion here are those that are available on the waiver wire in at least 40% of ESPN’s leagues. I’ll list each player’s percentage-owned after their name so you have an idea of how available they are in leagues around the country. I’ll always try to mention a few players that are available in 90% of leagues for those of you in 12-team leagues or leagues with big rosters. I’ll rank them in the order I’d pick them up in a league with a high-performance scoring system.

Please note that these rankings are for total value through the end of the year. Players with particularly good matchups this week are in bold.

Josh Freeman (57.1)
In a not-so-great matchup against the Panthers, Freeman still produced. Other than a poor Week 3 outing against the Steelers, he’s been remarkably consistent throwing for at least 212 yards or 2 TDs in every game this season. Other than a shaky Week 12 matchup in Baltimore, the rest of his schedule is quite favorable.

David Garrard (56.5)
Garrard was the beneficiary of a fluke Hail Mary TD to win Sunday’s game against the Texans, but he still would have posted nice numbers without it. He has a nice matchup with the Browns this week before two tough matchups with the Giants and Titans.

Jon Kitna (8.8)
I’m shocked at Kitna’s line from Sunday in a matchup with a very good Giants pass defense: 327 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT. The Lions are a pretty good matchup in Week 11.

Shaun Hill (5.4)
I’m pretty surprised that Hill struggled in the first half against the Bills, but maybe he was just shaking the rust off. He finished with solid numbers (323 yards, TD, INT) though another TD would have been nice. He has the Cowboys and Patriots coming up, so he’s a fine starter in the short term.

Ryan Fitzpatrick (39.5)
It was a surprisingly quiet day for Fitzy against a suspect Lions pass defense, but he still finished with 146 yards and a TD. He almost connected with Lee Evans on a long TD pass earlier in the game as well. The Bengals held Peyton Manning in check in Week 10, so the Buffalo pass offense might have problems in Week 11.

Matt Cassel (39.3)
The Chiefs were in catch-up mode for the entire Denver game, so don’t let Cassel’s numbers fool you — the Chiefs are a running team. Still, Cassel now has 12 TDs in his last five games, and that’s not bad at all. His upcoming schedule (ARI, @ SEA, DEN) is favorable.

Sam Bradford (28.6)
The rookie keeps chugging along, throwing for 251 yards and a TD on the 49ers. His short term schedule (ATL, @ DEN, @ ARI) is nice.

Troy Smith (3.1)
Smith now has three touchdowns (2 pass, 1 rush) in two games and will continue to start for the 49ers. His next two matchups (TB, @ ARI) are favorable.

Jason Campbell (7.4)
It looks like Tom Cable is going to stick with Campbell and why not — he has thrown for 743 yards and five TDs in three straight wins. If the Raiders can get Zach Miller and Louis Williams healthy, they could be in business. Too bad Oakland faces the Steelers in Pittsburgh in Week 11.

Vince Young (59.6)
He’s really nicked up, but he has Randy Moss and Nate Washington to throw to and the threat of Chris Johnson to keep the safeties honest.

Tyler Thigpen (0.2)
Please see: What can we expect from new Miami QB Tyler Thigpen?

Colt McCoy (3.5)
Outside of a quiet game in Week 7, McCoy has thrown or ran for one TD in his other three starts. He’s not a bad start this week against a very sketchy Jags defense.

Matt Hasselbeck (14.5)
He threw for 333 yards and a TD against the Cardinals, but did break a bone in his non-throwing wrist. Given a matchup with a pretty stout Saints defense in Week 11, he’s not starter-worthy anyway.

Derek Anderson (3.8)
He’s something of a turnover machine, but Anderson has thrown three TDs in the last three games and his upcoming schedule isn’t terrible.

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With Chad Pennington’s season likely done and Chad Henne on crutches, the Dolphins turn to five-year vet Tyler Thigpen as their starter for Week 11 against the Bears. Thigpen made some noise in his second season when he appeared in 14 games for the Chiefs after both Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle went down with injuries. Over his final 10 starts, Thigpen averaged 222 passing yards, 1.6 TDs and 0.8 INTs. He completed 192-of-330 passes (58.2%) and averaged 32.5 rushing yards during that stretch. That all combines to yield an 84.7 QB rating, which would put him at #21 this season (between Kevin Kolb and Carson Palmer).

I asked our NFL guru, Anthony Stalter, to give me his impression of Thigpen and here’s what he had to say:

His decision-making his questionable but he’s mobile and if the Dolphins get him moving outside of the pocket he can be effective. He has a hard time making reads under pressure though, so Miami would be better served limiting the plays he runs.

On Sunday, he came in as the Dolphins’ third QB and completed 4-of-6 passes for 64 yards and a TD. Miami ran a number of plays out of the Wildcat formation to limit Thigpen’s snaps.

Fantasy-wise, I’d rather sit on a pile of broken glass than start Thigpen against a stout Chicago pass defense, but going forward, he may not be a bad QB2 or member of a QB committee. He averaged 19.9 fantasy points during that 10-game stretch with the Chiefs, but the Dolphins probably won’t be playing from behind as much as the Chiefs were that season. After next week’s game against the Bears, the schedule lightens up considerably, including a nice pair of matchups (BUF & DET, at home) during Weeks 15 & 16. If Thigpen is still the Miami starter at that point, he could be a sneaky good start.

- Ben Roethlisberger (398 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT) had a big day before leaving in overtime with a head injury.

- Joe Flacco (256 yards, INT) threw for good yardage against the Colts, but failed to throw a TD.

- Tony Romo (158 yards, TD, INT) and the Dallas offense weren’t sharp for much of the day, but a late TD pass to Patrick Crayton gave the Cowboys the win.

- Matthew Stafford (422 yards, 5 TD, 2 INT) had a huge game against the Browns. Brady Quinn (304 yards, 4 TD) posted a nice fantasy line as well. Of the two, Stafford is the better fantasy QB to own, though keep an eye on his left shoulder injury.

- Alex Smith (227 yards, 3 TD, INT) was really quiet in the first half, but bounced back with a big second half.

- Brett Favre (213 yards, 4 TD) took advantage of a nice matchup and was able to take the fourth quarter off.

- Kurt Warner (203 yards, 2 TD) left the game at the end of the second quarter with a “minor” concussion. Keep an eye on this.

- The Chargers’ running game was rolling, so Philip Rivers (145 yards, TD) didn’t have to do a whole lot.

- Joseph Addai (19 carries, 74 yards, TD) continues to dominate the touches out of the Indy backfield. He looks like an every week start at this point.

- Ladell Betts (4 carries, 5 yards) left the game early with a knee injury and was replaced by Rock Cartwright (20 touches, 140 yards), who suddenly looks like a good pickup.

- Kevin Smith (12 carries, 45 yards) didn’t get a whole lot of work in the running game, but he went for 4-104-1 in the passing game.

- Ryan Grant (21 carries, 129 yards, TD) has been very solid over the last three weeks.

- Marshawn Lynch’s disappointing season continues. He left the game with a shoulder injury after rushing for 18 yards on eight carries. Look for Fred Jackson’s (13 touches, 55 yards) stock to rise with Lynch out.

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