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Ask the Experts

What advice would you offer before the fantasy playoffs?

ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through the Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What advice would you give to someone on the eve of a fantasy playoff game?

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

Don't get hung up on name brands or acquisition costs, just play the guys you like the most this week. Football is such a fluid game. Don't play for the Friendliest Loss, play to win. I also don't like to start any player I'm not sure will play a full game. A.J. Green? I'm not taking that leap.

Pianowski has been playing fantasy football for 20 years and writing about it for 17. He joined Yahoo! Sports in 2008 and has been blogging 24/7 on RotoArcade.com ever since.

DAVID DOREY

Dance with who brought you. I know how agonizing starting decisions can be when it is “one and done” but the best players are the ones that come out at the end of the season. Go with talent over situation. Nothing is worse than getting too smart and sitting a stud and playing a dud because the matchup seemed better.

Dorey is the co-founder and lead NFL analyst for The Huddle and author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. He has projected and predicted every NFL game and player performance since 1997 and has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television.

IAN ALLAN

Every position counts. Don’t focus on just the star players. Defenses and kickers get the same level of attention. Doesn’t matter if they’ve been starting for the last nine weeks. If there’s a free agent on the waiver wire who projects to be better, you make that move, giving your team a better chance to win.

Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He's been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at www.fantasyindex.com.

SAM HENDRICKS

Enjoy the moment! Success is difficult and this spotlight is only on for a small moment. Bask in your achievement and don't forget to dance with the one you brought to the dance. Don't over think things.

Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 25 year fantasy football veteran who participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He is drafting live in the FFPC in Vegas this year. He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.

MICHAEL NAZAREK

ALWAYS START YOUR STUDS.

Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its web site. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is a four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a former columnist for SI.com. For more info go to www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

ALAN SATTERLEE

My advice would be to research your league's waiver-wire and put the work in to make some impact on the margins. If you have a gap at tight end, Charles Clay could be an option these next two weeks at home against the Browns and then against his former team the Dolphins in Week 16. If you have a kicker in poor weather potentially, check to see if Nick Novak is on the waiver wire and make a move -- Novak and the Texans have home games in the dome during the playoffs, this week against Jacksonville and next week against Cincinnati (and for this week, no team has allowed more fantasy points to opposing kickers than the Jaguars). Lastly, don't be afraid to take a swing with Bilal Powell this week in a nice matchup against Miami who allow the third-most rushing yards per game.

Satterlee is a co-owner and senior writer for Dynasty Football Warehouse. DFW is comprehensive site covering dynasty, redraft, IDP and Daily formats. DFW has a large writing crew with many people from the DFW community contributing to the insights and discussion. He is also the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast.

ANDY RICHARDSON

There might be a negative stigma to "trust your gut." But I think your gut feelings are driven by experience -- what you've seen happen over the course of the season, what's worked or hasn't worked for you in the past, what you've learned. As Kramer said, You've got to listen to the little man. Hand in hand with that, don't overthink things. Trust the process that's worked for you all season that got you to this point. It's the playoffs, but it's also just another game.

Richardson has been a contributing writer and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.

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