Something you learn when playing fantasy football is that it really is a weekly game. You might draft a team for the whole year, but your main focus is to win every week.

There will be some mistakes made, such as not starting someone who really goes off and has a huge day, or dropping a player too early in the season and said player finishes near the top in his position. Seemingly small mistakes early on can lead to misfortune later on and derail your hopes of a fantasy championship.

This season, I’ve made a few blunders that are noteworthy, but I’ve also made some good calls that have led to victories for my teams.

The most recent of my bad calls was not picking up running back Jay Ajayi off waivers before his superb Week 7 performance where he totaled 214 yards rushing with a touchdown. After Week 6, which also saw Ajayi run for 204 yards and two scores, I promptly decided to conditionally drop running back Spencer Ware and add Ajayi. I soon canceled the waiver request after some thought and decided to keep Ware for his match-up with the Saints, which looked too good to pass up. In the end, Ajayi had another monster day and finished with 27 fantasy points, and Ware had a solid day with 18.

This is more of a tale of why one should trust their instincts, but it’s still a bad call on my part. Way back in August when I did my draft special on the running back position, I really wanted to include Adrian Peterson in my list of players to avoid. I held back though because Peterson has been nothing but a top-tier fantasy stud and even came back from a serious ACL injury to lead the league in rushing with over 2,000 yards. I just had a hunch that this was the season where he starts to decline and fall out of the top tier of running backs. Peterson went down with a torn right meniscus after playing in only two games and totaling just 50 yards on 31 attempts. I also drafted Peterson in one of my leagues with the top overall draft pick. Ouch.

There have still been some bright spots, though. Waiver wire additions like Mike Wallace, Matt Ryan, Spencer Ware and Hunter Henry have all had some solid weeks for my teams. Late round picks like Sterling Shepard, Michael Thomas, Melvin Gordon and Marvin Jones have all proved valuable as well.

Running back Melvin Gordon and quarterback Matt Ryan hold the titles for best late round pick and best waiver wire addition. After my suspected breakout quarterback Kirk Cousins failed me in Week 1, I dropped him and added Ryan in one league. Two weeks later, he threw for an incredible 503 yards and four touchdowns. Melvin Gordon was a 10th round pick for another team and has been my best backfield option so far with eight touchdowns through the first seven weeks.

That’s it for now. Good luck in Week 8, and I’ll see you next week with some picks for Week 9.