Here’s a few standard preface notes:
^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.
^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.
^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.
^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, S Smith (Carolina), Wayne, R White
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten
^ Here are the players added to that list since the start of the year:
RB: Benson
WR: Burleson, Driver, S Smith (NY Giants)
TE: H Miller, V Davis
^ And here are the players who were on our list, but have been removed from it:
RB: Lynch
WR: Owens, R Williams
^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analysis and even video previews.
^ All times listed are EDT.
^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.
Week 12
Sunday, Nov. 29
Tampa Bay at Atlanta, 1 p.m. WR Bryant, TE Winslow, QB RYAN
Miami at Buffalo, 1 p.m. RB WILLIAMS, RB Jackson
Cleveland at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Browns, QB PALMER, WR Caldwell (RB Scott if RB Benson gets deemed unlikely to play Sunday morning)
Indianapolis at Houston, 1 p.m. RB Addai, QB Schaub, WR Walter
Chicago at Minnesota, 1 p.m. QB Cutler, WR Hester, TE Olsen, all-in on marginal Vikings
Carolina at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Panthers, RB JONES, WR Cotchery, TE Keller
Washington at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. All-out on marginal Redskins, RB McCoy, WR Jackson, TE Celek
Seattle at St. Louis, 1 p.m. TE Carlson, all-out on marginal Rams
Kansas City at San Diego, 4:05 p.m. RB Charles, WR CHAMBERS, all-out on marginal Chargers
Jacksonville at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m. QB Garrard, WR Sims-Walker, all-out on marginal 49’ers
Arizona at Tennessee, 4:15 p.m. RB WELLS, WR Breaston, QB Young
Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 8:20 p.m. WR Holmes, WR Ward, QB Flacco, RB Rice, WR Mason
Monday, Nov. 30
New England at New Orleans, 8:30 p.m. RB Maroney, WR WELKER, all-in on marginal Saints (with RB Bush bearing scrutiny because of his status)
NFL Week 12 Best Waiver Wire Pickups
NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.
1 Kevin Faulk
2 Gartrell Johnson
3 Brady Quinn
4 Chris Jennings
5 Marcedes Lewis
Fantasy Drafthelp: Week 12 NFL Fantasy Advice
