Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 13 leaders

Weather seems to become more and more of a hot topic as we countdown the final weeks of the season. On Sunday, there was a lot of buzz about a storm in Tampa and sloppy conditions on the East Coast and in the Midwest. But, if you look at the games played in some of the worst hit venues on Sunday, you probably wouldn't have guessed that weather was an issue if you hadn't already known. In Tampa, the Bucs beat the Saints 23-20, a fairly typical result for Raymond James Stadium. In other locales with inclement conditions like Green Bay, Wisconsin and East Rutherford, New Jersey, three of the four teams playing in those two games scored more than 30 points, with most of the name-brand players involved producing in typically-strong fashion. I made the mistake of freaking out about the weather minutes before going live on our Fantasy Football Live show and benched Antonio Bryant, who wound up delivering 76 yards from scrimmage and a

Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 12 leaders

We've finally reached the week that separates the men from the boys. Week 13 marks the end of the regular season for the majority of Yahoo! fantasy leagues, meaning that it's last-chance time for those living on the bubble.

After 12 weeks, I'm pretty much done trying to come up with new "higher concepts" to impart in this space. If you are in a must-win scenario, you know what to do by now. Your roster due diligence this week should take precedent over your day job. Maximize your lineup potential in any and every way possible. From quarterback to kicker, every starting position needs to be scrutinized. I know that during the middle of the season I can sometimes get complacent with a tight end, kicker or defense, opting to ride the status quo because potential available upgrades were only marginal. But those slight margins could be the difference between a win and loss this week, and you simply have to make your Week 13 lineup as

Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 11 leaders

Since Arizona rookie running back Tim Hightower was anointed the team's starter by head coach Ken Whisenhunt a few weeks back, I, like many of the fantasy pundits out there, have been singing a whole lot of sunshine about Hightower's fantasy prospects for the remainder of the season. But after two games of observing Hightower's new role, it's time for me to mix in a heavy dose of the blues to his second-half song.

On Sunday at Seattle, Hightower carried 11 times for just 35 yards and failed to record a catch for the first time in his brief 10-game career. The sub-par performance came on the heels of the uninspiring 50 yards from scrimmage he netted on 19 touches (13 carries, 6 receptions) in Week 10 versus San Francisco. He also failed to find pay-dirt in each of the past two weeks, his first two-game scoreless streak of the season.

The crux of Hightower's problem, which was very evident on Sunday, is that quarterback Kurt Warner

Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 10 leaders

Fantasy playoffs are just a couple weeks away. The trading deadline for many leagues is just days away. Owners have little time left to get their rosters as finely-tuned as possible for the postseason. On that front, owners will hold their collective breaths that injuries won't send them skidding off the track. Thankfully, Week 10 left little in the way of carnage. And Week 11 is looking like it'll offer a nice infusion of returning talent, especially in Dallas. Let's take a look at who is expected to be back in the fold this coming weekend:

1. Tony Romo: Romo will return this Sunday with a splint on the broken pinky on his throwing hand. According to head coach Wade Phillips, Romo's getting close to throwing with the kind of zip he had before the injury. But the prospects of facing a stingy Washington pass defense with a splint on his throwing hand doesn't help foster a lot of optimism. Romo does have a strong history against

Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 9 leaders

There's a decent chance that your fantasy championship could be significantly impacted by a player that you might currently consider insignificant. At least, that's the lesson to be learned from 2007. Around this time a year ago, fantasy owners had no idea that undrafted types like Earnest Graham, Ryan Grant, Aaron Stecker and Kolby Smith were going to help shape the playoff race. Let's review:

Earnest Graham, TB – Carnell Williams was lost for the season after Week 4 and Graham, after splitting time with Michael Pittman for a few weeks, settled into the featured role down the stretch, finishing with eight TDs and an average of 102 yards from scrimmage over the final eight weeks of the season.

Ryan Grant, GB – Rookie Brandon Jackson, Vernand Morency and DeShawn Wynn had the first opportunities in the Green Bay backfield, but injuries and ineffectiveness paved the way for Grant to get his shot. He seized the day and delivered eight

Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 8 leaders

There's two more bye weeks remaining and, for a majority of Yahoo! leagues, just a couple weeks before the trading deadline hits. For owners riding just a pray of making the playoffs, it's trim-the-fat time. We're getting to a point where depth matters less and top-end fire power matters much more. In my "buddies" league, I'm going to drop to 3-5 this week despite scoring 20 points more than every team in the league other than my opponent. I have a lot of depth in this league (Kurt Warner, Matt Schaub at QB; LaDainian Tomlinson, Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew, LenDale White at RB; Steve Smith, Braylon Edwards, Kevin Walter, Marvin Harrison at WR). We only start one QB, two RBs and two WRs, and my depth has resulted in a comedy of bad starting lineup judgment calls that have helped deliver me to my current 3-5 predicament. My team is a classic example of a team that needs to trim the fat and make a go-for-broke push for the

Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 7 leaders

Kansas City's run defense is beyond bad. This fact couldn't have been better illustrated than when LenDale White – he of the 240-plus pounds and a 40-yard time split in the 4.7 second range – broke through the Chiefs' defense mid-way through the fourth quarter and romped 80 yards untouched. You could tell by the way he kept swiveling his head side-to-side, looking over his shoulders, that White was just as surprised as everyone else. Even head coach Jeff Fisher couldn't help but mock the play, quipping, "He must have had a salad for dinner last night."

The Chiefs are just one of the laughable run defenses of the AFC West, where three of the four teams (K.C., Denver and Oakland) rank among the six most generous in fantasy to opposing running backs. Kind of makes you feel a little better about a LaDainian Tomlinson turnaround, doesn't it? Tomlinson gets to face the Chiefs twice in the second half of the season, as well as the

Also See: Sunday Scene | Monday Brunch | Week 6 leaders

• Peyton Manning in Week 6 vs. Baltimore: 19-for-28, 271 passing yards, 3 TD passes, 0 INTs, 22 fantasy points (Yahoo! default).

• Jason Campbell in Week 6 vs. St. Louis: 18-for-26, 208 passing yards, 0 TD passes, 0 INTs, 9 fantasy points (Yahoo! default).

On Sunday's Fantasy Football Live show, Brad Evans and I got into a verbal jousting match with RotoWire's Chris Liss, who had used a "Lance Moore or Isaac Bruce?" question from a viewer as a point of emphasis in his claim that Brad and I were relying too much on "paper" analysis – most notably, opponent defensive metrics – in determining start/sit decisions.

To summarize, Liss said that Bruce has been the 49ers' go-to guy and has a proven track record, and those facts outweighed a softer matchup for Lance Moore (Oakland). He went on to call me out for telling a previous caller to start Jason Campbell over Peyton Manning – I had them listed No. 9 and No. 10 on the Week 6 QB ranks