Three Key's To A Winning Season

Your fantasy football league draft will most likely be the single most important event that occurs for the year. Who you draft lays the foundation for all your activity for the season. Certain running backs, wide receivers, quarterbacks, tight-ends and kickers will be relied upon by you to produce throughout the year.
     Relying on seasons past performances is helpful, but should not be the only tool the fantasy owner should rely on. Players produce different results, some score points but put up little yardage. Others put up the yardage and don't score much.
     While a cheat sheet will not predict how an owner's players will perform, it will evaluate how players would have produced using the prior year's statistics for their respective league. Cheat sheets that are created specifically based upon an owner's own league scoring rules will better enhance his/her draft in determining which players will most likely perform the best. Any owner who utilizes a cheat sheet based upon his league's scoring rules has a decided advantage over those who don't.

Fantasy football owners who are active in their free-agent market will more likely have a better chance of succeding than the owner who constantly relies on the same line-up game after game. This is not to say every owner should not rely on several solid core starters week after week.  After all, who wouldn't start Brett Favre or Barry Sanders every week.
     But every owner does have several players who do not perform at the level that was expected. Keeping constant watch of the free agent list in one's league may lead to that owner picking up a player that exceeds all expectations.
     But be careful, the release and acquisition of players can be too soon or too late. Constant vigilance is key, keeping watch of the teams those NFL players are on. Key indicators are scheduling, weather, injuries, changes in depth charts (Not just the fantasy positions, but those players on the offensive and defensive lines. Injury attrition on the lines can adversely affect the fantasy positions.) A free-agent player whose team has just completed a stretch of soft or tough teams can affect his stats tremendously. A player putting up good stats with his team facing a difficult schedule should seriously be considered a pick up. Likewise a player whose team is facing a fairly soft schedule may be one to hold off from picking up.
     The point is, in establishing a decision to pick up a player or not, look at the strengths and weaknesses of that players team and the teams he has played against. Look at the teams the player will be going up against. Use these same indicators in deciding if you should release a player. There's almost nothing more frustrating to a fantasy football owner than having released a player for non-production in week 5 and for the rest of the season the player puts up expected, or better than expected numbers. Especially if, in looking back, the indicators showed a tough schedule, weather, or an injury led to his poor season-opening performance.

It's no secret Troy Aikman is not considered a big fantasy football quarterback. But at times he comes through with some good games.   Don't pick him up high in the draft, there are too many other players who score better for fantasy football. This is one trend.
     Another trend? Aikman against the Giants is always a better bet than Aikman against the Eagles. While Aikman historically is in the 200-250 yard range per game against the Giants, it is a rare and uncommon day when he breaks the 200-yard barrior against the Eagles. It is trends like these that can put a fantasy football owner over the top on a weekly basis against his opponent.
     Historical player statistics like those in the StatRack provided by 'Who Do I Start?' provides another edge a fantasy football owner will have against his weekly opponent.