Hard decisions halfway through the NFL season

It seems like every week a superstar running back suffers a season ending injury. Jamaal Charles, Arian Foster and now Le'Veon Bell have all been wiped out of the fantasy equation.

The "highly hyped" group of Todd Gurley, Charcandrick West, Dion Lewis and Devonta Freeman has arrived and hopefully you nabbed at least one of them before your superstar broke down. If not, then go for DeAngelo Williams, who filled in admirably during Bell's early season suspension.

Despite finishing with 60 yards on 15 carries, Jeremy Hill looked revitalized against Pittsburgh. The Stealers' run defense is solid. The same cannot be said for the Browns, who have allowed four 100+ yard games in a row and five on the season -- not including Dexter "Lackluster" McCluster's 98 yards in week 2. Hill is a recommended play and trade target for week 9. 

I've frequently talked up Chris Ivory, but he fell off a cliff this week. The Jets as a whole look nothing like the team from earlier this season. Luckily, there is nothing like a matchup with the hapless Jaguars to temporarily mask offensive woes.

Ronnie Hillman finally rewarded owners, but C.J. Anderson again muddied the situation by having his best game yet. Whether Anderson is healthier or fixed his play during the bye doesn't matter as he will continue to eat into Hillman's carries, making the latter a risky RB3/FLEX play.

Eli Manning and Drew Brees absolutely torched each others' defenses. Manning bounced back from two bad outings to post 350 yards and six touchdowns in a loss. Classic Eli. Brees was even more impressive, throwing for 511 yards and seven touchdowns. The two teams combined for 101 points -- the third highest number in NFL history -- and while Brees is the real deal, Manning's rest-of-schedule season following a week 9 tilt with the Buccaneers is atrocious: he'll play the soul-crushing Patriots, the average Redskins, rebounding Miami, shutdown Carolina, Violent Vikings/Purple People Eaters, and finally have a grudge match with Philly. That provides plenty of opportunity for "Bad Eli" to show up. Disclaimer: There is no rhyme or reason as to how well Eli plays. Without a crystal ball, I really can't rule out his throwing 300 yards and four touchdowns a game for the rest of the season.

We've been here before, but Geno Smith is worth a look in two QB leagues. DeAndre Hopkins is carrying Houston's offense and Brian Hoyer with it. Jameis Winston displays improvement weekly and hasn't thrown an interception in three games.

Tight ends. If you haven't heard about Benjamin Watson or Gary Barnidge by now then you might as well be throwing paper airplanes. Jacob Tamme is worth a look as a borderline TE1. Eric Ebron and Vernon Davis would be TE1s if their respective offenses were anything more than utterly ineffectual. Richard Rodgers is touchdown dependent, but Aaron Rodgers is undoubtedly chomping at the bit to take down the Panthers after the Broncos embarrassed his Packers. Heath Miller is Ben Roethlisberger's preferred checkdown option now that Bell is done and could see 6-8 targets per game going forward.