Welcome to the fifth annual week of StartEm/BenchEm with Mr. X for week 8 in the NFL. Welcome to a rather glorious week in the NFL. We have a game in london this week and we're going international. It's getting down to crunch time in fantasy leagues as we approach playoff weeks. My teams are 7-0, 5-1, 6-1, and 5-2. My two loss team is the only one currently in jeaopardy of not going to playoffs. I need two wins to clinch most likely. My predictions currently stand at 31-24 lifetime. Im gonna go rapid fire as I'm doing this kinda late on Sunday. Without further ado, let's get to it. ---------------------------------------- StartEm All your Patriots QB/RB/WR/D/ST NE - Still lookinging pretty godly. All your Colts QB/RB/WR/D/ST IND - After they're win over JAC, CAR is going to be a cakewalk. LenDale White RB/TEN - Basically gets TD after TD and Raiders stinks against the run. Adrian Peterson RB/MIN - Don't really have to explina this pick. Laveranues Coles WR/NYJ - Im guessing he has a big game in numbers. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor RB/JAC - Backup (and horrible) QB is in. So they're gonna run it...a lot. Arnaz Battle WR/SF - He's on a hot streak and I'm guessing it'll happen again. ----------------------------------------- BenchEm Any Lions you have QB/RB/WR/D/ST - They might seem like they'll have a good showing, but they really aren't that good. They only won last week because TB made mistakes at the crucial points in the game. Steve Smith WR/CAR - Colts Tampa 2 defense is incredibe against the long pass, so he's not gonna have a big day here. Cleo Lemon QB/MIA - I mean really if you have him...the league better be full and only backup quaterbacks available. If not get rid of him, he'll never be on the good side of this blog. LaMont Jordan RB/OAK - TEN run def is unbeiev-able. Drew Brees QB/NO - Finally has a TD pass, but it just doesn't look like he'll ever be that great this year. Vince Young QB/TEN - TEN will win the game, but he just isn't oing to have that big of a game I think. -------------------------------------------------- Predictions --- 1 PM GAMES CLE @ STL = CLE - Pretty easy and the Braylon Edwards is incredible. PHI @ MIN = PHI - Close game here for sure. MIN looks good on paper, but I think Westbrook and Donovann have a big game and tear this one up. NYG @ MIA = NYG - LONDON GAME - Sad that Miami had to be our "supersar" team. NYG Def is amazing and they're probably gonna demolish MIA. IND @ CAR = IND - IND has a short week, thats about the only thing working against them. Yea, theres other guys out there, but they only vaguely represent a team. DET @ CHI = CHI - Bears D is back, and as stated before, Lions DEF is soft and the team si general is awful. PIT @ CIN = PIT - PIT Def is amazing and CIN has had to rely on an explosive turnaround play to win a lot recently. OAK @ TEN = TEN - TEN has been aamzing this season. ---- 4 PM GAMES JAC @ TB = TB - TB has a decent run defense, and JAC QB is not going to make any big plays here. BUF @ NYJ = BUF - Close one here. I'm calling for BUF to pull it out over the struggling Jets. HOU @ SD = SD - SD didn't have a place to practice in Cali, so they're going to ARI stadium. NO @ SF = NO - With Reggie back to himself, they're just gonna chew up yards. WAS @ NE = NE - Dominance. --- No Sunday Night Game this week. ---- MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GB @ DEN = GB - My semi-upset game for the week. Brett Favre on a monday night is gonna go insane. Good Luck, Game on. Mr. X