Players and coaches descended on the Marriott Ihilani Tuesday afternoon, all more than happy to have arrived safe and sound in paradise.

It’s a simple yet complex question: Would you take Tom Brady or Drew Brees at quarterback to win one game?

Even with the lure of double points, most owners shied away from starting players on bye weeks in the first run of the NFL Playoff Challenge. But there were some interesting names that found their way into lineups.

Saints coach Sean Payton says he has no intentions of taking his foot off the gas this week against the Panthers, providing a huge help to fantasy owners.

With the 2011 fantasy football season in the rear view mirror, Jason Smith looks at who could be the top fantasy pick in 2012. The answer isn’t as simple as you’d think.

Here’s a look at what’s going on in fantasy football right now.

Heading into their second matchup with the Saints this season, the Falcons will look to duplicate their last performance – minus one fourth-down failure.

Few things are as crucial as picking the right starting QB for your fantasy semifinal matchup. Jason Smith runs down the ten signal-callers best suited to help get your team to championship week.

Everyone knows the Lions will be without Ndamukong Suh against the Saints this weekend. That’s a huge blow to their defense. But the real story heading into Sunday’s contest will be the absence of wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who has been taken away by opposing defenses in the last three weeks.

If you’re familiar with my work at all, you know two things about me: I love to make “Top Gun” references, and the second is that I live and die with my fantasy studs. And I bring this up because there is a rumor floating out there that one of our producers for “NFL Fantasy Live” (and a former producer on the “Dave Dameshek Football Program“) sat Drew Brees this week.

We’re halfway through the season and the usual suspects are still on pace to shatter Dan Marino‘s single-season passing record. Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers all are in position to break the mark of 5,084 yards.

Time flies when you’re having fun, and the 2011 NFL regular season is already half over. With that in mind, we asked eight NFL.com and NFL Network analysts for their award winners at the halfway point and revised predictions for the postseason, and the results are in.

Last week, we mentioned that Tom Brady would have to have an absolutely abysmal game in Pittsburgh to drop off the pace to break Dan Marino‘s record for most passing yards in a season. Well, he’s still on pace to shatter that mark of 5,084, but Brady’s bad day actually pushed him down to third on the list of candidates to set the new mark.

There’s no change in our weekly update of the quarterbacks on pace to break Dan Marino‘s single-season passing yardage record. But here’s a little extra food for thought: If Patriots QB Tom Brady is held to 62 yards passing this week at Pittsburgh, he will still be on pace to break Marino’s mark of 5,084 yards.

The torrid pace that Saints QB Drew Brees set in the first three weeks of the season has slowed down just a bit — he had thrown three TD passes in each of his first three games. Still, what was even more impressive for the number of pass attempts is that he had tossed only two interceptions in that span. The last three games have seen a dramatic reversal. It’s understandable that Brees hasn’t kept up the pace with TD passes, but he’s actually thrown more picks than scoring passes.