The 4th & Inches Show with Jana and The Sherpa

Congratulations!  Week 14 of the NFL season is the first week of the playoffs for most fantasy football leagues.  Maybe you nailed your draft, hit on every waiver wire pickup, and had the good luck of your entire roster remaining healthy for the entire season.  Hats off to you - well done.  For the rest (majority) of us, that's not what happened during our run to the playoffs.  And to make things...

Welcome to NFL Week 13!  The good news for fantasy football owners is that the dreaded bye weeks are finally behind us!  The bad news is that there's only one week left in the regular season for most fantasy football leagues, so if you're on the outside looking in, or you're hanging onto a playoff berth by a thread, the next few days are crunch time! Who should you pluck off the waiver wire to rep...

NFL Week 12 brings us to a beloved tradition - the Thanksgiving Day football-fest!  Realizing that fantasy football owners want to consume football even more than they want to consume turkey, the NFL changed from the age-old Turkey Day doubleheader to a tripleheader a number of years ago.  Some years the games are all interesting; most years there's at least one dud mixed in.  The last two teams h...

NFL Week 10 provided a wealth of wacky results (Buffalo winning by 38 points behind Matt Barkley?!?), and Week 11 is already off to a wild start with Le'Veon Bell's decision not to report to the Steelers and the Rams-Chiefs Monday Night Football game being moved from Mexico back to the States.  With 6 teams on bye this weekend, fantasy owners will once again be scurrying to the waiver wire in orde...

We're now at the point where all NFL teams have played at least half their regular season games.  The fantasy football regular season is ~70% complete for most leagues, with the majority of fantasy team owners having four weeks left to either chase a top seed or grab one of the last playoff spots.  We get somewhat of a break this week, with a 4-team bye week sandwiched between two 6-team bye weeks...

Trick or treat!  On this Halloween evening there are many players whom fantasy football team owners would place in both categories.  Those on the mid-season treat list include Patrick Mahomes, James Conner, Marlon Mack, Adam Thielen, and Zack Ertz; while those on the mid-season trick list include Drew Brees, David Johnson, Leonard Fournette, Keenan Allen, and Rob Gronkowski.   This scary week also...

It's hard to believe, but after this weekend many NFL teams will be halfway through their 2018 regular season schedules.  Of course, for fantasy football team owners these are both the best and worst of times - the best because you probably have a pretty good read on your team's strengths and weaknesses by this point, but also the worst because of having to face the challenges brought about by bye...

So we're now through six weeks of the NFL season, and you probably have a pretty good idea of whether your fantasy football team is going to be a contender this season, or if you're going to spend the last few weeks of your fantasy league's regular season hoping to play the spoiler role.  Whichever role you find yourself in, or even for the minority of owners who still aren't sure, the next few we...

NFL Week 5 featured Drew Brees setting the NFL all-time passing yardage record and yet another overtime game for the Cleveland Browns (how is it possible to play 3 overtime games in 5 weeks, much less go 1-1-1 in them?!?)  Isaiah Crowell rushed for 200+ yards (how is THAT possible?!), and the Giants figured out how to snatch yet another defeat from the jaws of victory.  Jay Ajayi's season-ending k...

All but two NFL teams are now a quarter of the way through their seasons, and fantasy football owners are starting to get a sense of which NFL teams and players "have the goods", and which ones are already looking forward to next Spring's college draft (sorry, Arizona).  Injuries to key players keep piling up, but there have also been a number of rookies and/or previously unsung players making the...

No matter how good a start your fantasy football season may be off to, both your management skills and your team's depth are about to be put to the test.  That's because we're now through 3 weeks of the season, which means that injuries to key players (especially running backs) are starting to pile up, AND our beloved (#sarcasm) bye weeks return starting with Week 4.   Which players are hurt or ha...

We're now 2 weeks through the 2018 NFL season, and fantasy football team owners are finally getting some data and game results to analyze.  Is Tampa Bay's 2-0 start for real?  Is Pittsburgh's 0-1-1 start for real?  Are the Browns really on the verge of winning a game (or three)?  And will the change of scenery from one of the worst teams in the league to the Brady Bunch be Josh Gordon's turning po...

So, we finally have some results from meaningful regular season games to obsess over!  Of course, the usual early-season caveat about small sample sizes applies whether you led your fantasy football league in points scored for Week 1, or whether you suffered a resounding defeat in your season-opener.  There's no time for resting on your laurels if you're in the former category, and no time for lic...

After 7 long months the NFL season finally kicks off again this Thursday!  For fantasy football team owners the first few weeks of the season can be some of the most challenging of the season, as there's little to no meaningful data to base your roster decisions on.  Which players/teams will break out in 2018?  Which ones will disappoint?  What are the likely outcomes of the Week 1 matchups, and h...

NFL rosters are beginning to take shape, roster decisions are being finalized, and fantasy football drafting season is in full swing!  Which players are hurt to start the season and should be moved down your draft list (or of it all together)?  Which players have new opportunities due to injuries?  Which players have murkier outlooks than they did just last week?  And which teams are poised to hav...

The NFL is back, and so is the 4th and Inches Show with Jana & The Sherpa!  We're just two weeks away from the Opening Night game between the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles and the Falcons (whose stadium will host Super Bowl LIII at the end of this season!), but most fantasy football team owners still have their drafts to look forward to. Tonight we'll help you with your final preparatio...

While the majority of fantasy football leagues have already crowned their league's champions, that's not the case for everyone.  Week 17 is notoriously difficult to get a handle on for a procrastination standpoint - in that regard, it's second only to the opening week of the season.  In addition to the usual assortment of injuries and matchup headaches, fantasy football team owners also have the a...

Christmastime is here - and so is the championship game (aka - the fantasy Super Bowl) for most fantasy football leagues!  Random injuries will always be a part (and affect the outcome of) fantasy football matchups - just ask any owners whose teams lost a close semifinal matchup due to the seemingly unstoppable Antonio Brown's game-ending injury early in the Patriots-Steelers game.  But star playe...

So you survived the first round of your fantasy football league's playoffs (or even better, enjoyed your bye week for earning a top seed during the regular season).  This time of year matchups matter more than ever, as a poor performance from one of your top players can put an end to your playoff march and season.  Conversely, a hidden gem on the waiver wire (or your bench) with a favorable matchu...

NFL Week 14 marks the start of three weeks of playoff games in most fantasy football leagues.  Win, and you advance to the next round; lose, and you can start looking forward to the NFL playoffs (unless you're a true fantasy football maniac and try to watch all the college football bowl games under the guise of "scouting").  Which players available on your league's waiver wire could make up for th...

NFL Week 13 is the final week of the fantasy football regular season for most leagues.  Do you already have a top seed (and potentially a first-round playoff bye) locked up?  Do you need to win this week to still have a chance of getting into your league's playoffs?  Or are you just "playing for pride" - hoping to close out your season on a winning note and potentially throw a wrench into a league...

Happy Thanksgiving week, everybody!  On the plus side we have a full slate of 16 games this week - finally, all 32 teams are through with those annoying bye weeks!  On the not-so-plus side fantasy football team owners have even less time than usual this week to stay on top of NFL news, make waiver wire claims, and set lineups.  Only two weeks remain in the regular season for most fantasy leagues,...

It's getting down to crunch time.  Only 3 weeks remain in the regular season for most fantasy football leagues, and the deadline for making trades has likely passed.  If your team still has a chance to get to 8-5 (perhaps even 7-6) or better, then congratulations - you're still in the hunt for the playoffs.  This week is cause for an early Thanksgiving, as we're done with bye weeks after the last...

NFL Week 9 included a trio of in-game donnybrooks that led to several ejections and at least one suspension.  Losing Carlos Hyde may not have crippled many fantasy football teams, but fights that led to A.J. Green's ejection last week and Mike Evans' suspension this week are another matter.  Couple that with six teams on their bye weeks last weekend and another four teams with byes this weekend, a...

NFL Week 8 featured six teams with bye weeks and a number of injuries that likely wreaked havoc with fantasy football lineups (e.g. - Leonard Fournette, Pierre Garcon, Jameis Winston, Jordan Reed).  This week fantasy team owners are dealing not only with another six-team bye week, which is sidelining several first-round picks, but also trying to figure out what roster adjustments might be necessar...