One thing that I do that really helps my enjoyment level with this game is spend the first 5-6 games tweaking with the difficulty until you can find a nice mix of games from week to week. For example in my fantasy draft franchise, in my third week of the season, LT went down with a torn hamstring and will be out for 8 weeks.
I ended up losing a close game 20-17 because i hadn't created an effective offensive scheme without LT. However, in the next week, i focused on establishing my passing attack against the niners and engram, warrick, bulger, and crumpler all had great games. I guess my point is establish a difficulty where you feel in control and that your actions determine who wins or loses not the rating of your team.
Oh, and if you do do weekly prep (which I, too, have grown to hate) make sure early in the week you get everyboby involved in film and the line and skill positions involved in player specific drills. towards the end of the week get the second team in a scrimmage and then focus most of your attention on the first team. I have had pretty good results in the past with this strategy and if you find a good one you can keep it for the whole year! Hope this helps!