Week 8 was a devastating week for teams and fantasy owners with the surprising excess of injuries. However, there were many surprising players who had outstanding weeks. First of all, several key fantasy players got injured. Le’veon Bell tore his MCL, a season-ending injury. Steve Smith Sr., a long time wide receiver, had a career ending injury when he tore his achilles. Also, Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte did not have season ending injuries but did have significant injuries. Ryan Fitzpatrick injured his thumb and Geno Smith – his backup – injured his shoulder.  Keenan Allen is suffering from a kidney injury and should be considered out indefinitely.  This will allow the backups to have monster games. For example, DeAngelo Williams and Jeremy Langford are great waiver pickups.

Next, there were many fantasy leaders especially in the Giants v. Saints game. First, Alshon Jeffery had a great game with 116 yards and a touchdown. Todd Gurley repeated his greatness with 133 yards and a touchdown. AJ Green had 11 receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown. Tom Brady had 356 yards and four touchdowns, one of those touchdowns and 113 of the yards went to Rob Gronkowski. Julio Jones had 163 yards and a touchdown. Now let’s get to the game of the week: the Saints winning over the Giants 52-49. Eli Manning had 350 yards and six touchdowns. 190 yards and three touchdowns went to Odell Beckham Jr. On the other hand, Drew Brees had 505 yards and seven touchdowns – a record game. Brandin Cooks had 88 yards and two touchdowns and Marques Colston had 114 yards and one touchdown.

I have many predictions for next week, but I will only give you the one leader for each main position. For quarterback, I believe Peyton Manning will destroy the Indianapolis defense. He will throw for 350 yards and have five passing touchdowns. I believe that DeAngelo Williams will tear it up and show that he is a great replacement for Le’veon Bell. AJ Green will be the leading wide receiver and will likely repeat his game back in week 3.