Sweet, Sweet Fantasy Baby

Well that was an interesting weekend, which involved a lot of screaming and berating of players... mostly New England - when Brady came back into the game to throw a pass to Wes Welker. And also when Marion Barber got a rushing TD, or when Peyton Manning does the qb sneak.

It was those plays that made me think that I had lost my match-up with the Editor-in-Chief (Ha! Not likely - I'm on an unstoppable roll). I saw his receivers: Welker vs the Dolphins, Patrick Crayton vs Minny, Bobby Engram vs. Seattle. I would put all three as potential 100 yrd, 1 TD performance. Luckily that did not happen (big surprise). Why Crayton never caught a ball vs. Minny? (Oh trust me he did - he caught one for 14 yards and then promptly fumbled it, which left him with a -1 Fantasy score for the day) Why Hasselbeck stinks so much... maybe he has been hanging around with Shaun Alexander too much. As a side note... wow, 47 yrds rushing yards against the Rams...wow. I wanted to put him on my sit list but because it was the Rams I couldn’t do it.

Anyway, as I drove home listening to the Dallas game on my favorite radio station (ESPN 710 out of Bismark [We're big fans of free advertising here at Sports As Life]), I thought it was done. When I got home I turned on the Seattle game, and right then Hall just recorded his 4th sack of the game.... I had hope. Someone had recently dropped the Seattle defense (yo) and I took that opportunity to start them rather than Minny, even though Minny would get 10-15 points. Well as it turns out Seattle was the top DST, outscoring every other DST by more that 11 points (NYG 25 – Seat 36) (I might add that that was 34 points better than they did last week when I started them and the scored a whopping 2). The score in our game 105-94... too close for comfort but now I can go back to rooting for the Editors' team to win. (The bandwagon for 'Now With 15% Less Dogfighting' continues to grow!)

This weekend I also got caught with my pants down... and no i’m not talking about what happened at my party Saturday night. I’m talking about Sunday night/Monday morning. I think it was about Week 3 when I talked about RB injuries and that a Fantasy owner should be looking at the back-ups of the studs... the guys who get the ball almost every down. Well I didn’t follow that advice and do what is known as ‘hand-cuff’ of my top RB. Ronnie Brown went down for the count... he’s gone, and because my team has been winning I’m way down the list on the waiver wire. So Jesse Chatman was gone and my chances of winning possibly with them. (But me being the soul-sucking opportunist that I am, picked up Chatman and offered him back to Trebor - at a drastic mark-up of course)

Part of the problem is our shallow bench. Realistically it’s impossible to handcuff all of your backs - maybe 1. So in my case Gore, Brown, Parker... there’s no way to get Davenport, Chatman, and Robinson... but maybe one. Should have gotten one because all three are ‘the man’. No third down running backs, they are going to get 20-25 touches a game.

So who did I pick up this week... Ricky ‘Smokin’ Williams. I have no clue if he will be allowed to play or touch a ball this year. However, as noted above I’m not at the top of the waiver wire - so next week when Miami says he’ll be joining the team again there will be a rush to get him and I won't end up with him.

The other backs I’d have no problem reaching for right now, knowing they may not see any action or limited....Michael Tuner (a Keeper League must), Priest Holmes, Adrian Peterson (Benson's back-up), Robinson (Gore's back-up), Morris (Alexander's back-up), Marshawn Lynch’s back-up (whoever it is [The A-Train, Anthony Thomas I believe]). These guys are probably all available unless you're in a deep league. All are one play away from being put into a very favorable place. Each team listed, strength is in running not throwing. Again if you're first to pick at waivers it doens't really matter, but if you're near the end these guys won't be available.

Alright, so 6 teams on bye again... booo. Luckily the talent pool with these teams is shallower than Week 6. Dallas, KC, Seattle, Arizona, Baltimore, Atlanta. So really just a handful of players, maybe Defense pick-ups will be key. However, there are also 2 other teams playing across the Pond (stupid saying), and who knows how reliable the Miami or NYG players will be.

QB’s
Start’em
Rivers vs. Houston... Did anyone see what Kerry Collins did, yeah you read it - Kerry Collins, also he’s got a new receiver to play with.
Big Ben vs Cincy... He put up some big numbers against a strong secondary, now he gets a weak one, though the rivalry will make this game closer.
Greise vs Lions... They played when Grossman just got benched and Greise didn’t play that well but it was his first game, now he’s got into a good rhythm.

Bench’em
Cleo Lemon vs Giants... You may be asking - Cleo Lemon??? Why would I even consider starting him. So to you I say go check out his numbers the last 2 weeks chances are he outscored your QB (unless it Brady). He likes to run the ball himself rather than handoff so that helps. This week however with Brown and playing in London... sit’em.
Pennington vs Bills... He’s got the home crowd to work against, he’s under a lot of pressure and he can't go deep... will the Bills repeat their week 5 performance... maybe.
Campbell vs New England... Teams have put up numbers against NE mostly because they are playing from behind, however their offense has hit a massive speed-brickwall-bump.
Favre vs Denver... Hopefully you traded Favre high sometime around Week 5, if not... there’s still hope. He has a difficult schedule ahead of him, he almost went on Start’em list but the gut says the bench.

RB’s
Start’em
Jackson vs Browns... He’s been sitting for like 5 weeks, should be well rested, he’s playing the browns and they only way for Rams to be successful is through him.
Lynch vs JETS... Basically I’m thinking if Kenny Watson can put up big numbers so can Lynch
Lewis/Wright vs Rams... Right now I’m unsure who will start but whoever does will put up numbers.

Bench’em
Westbrook vs Minny... Last week I said put all Eagles on the bench and I think that turned out pretty good for those that listened. This week is the same though McNabb may have some success, not much.
Watson vs Pitts ... Kenny has been hot - he got like 40 points last week. This week however he’s against one of the best running defenses, so put him on bench... better yet try and trade him should be able to get a decent #2 WR for him. Do this before Rudi comes back.
Maroney vs Wash... So you drafted Maroney in the 2nd round, then he gets hurt, so you keep him on your bench. Then last week he’s back against the Dolphins - big things right... wrong. I think 7 carries for the game total. This year is about Brady throwing.
MJD/Fragile Fred vs TB... Tampa has a good defense, plus I’m assuming Garrard is out so David Grey is playing and yeah - Tampa will put another guy in the box. (I think his name is actually Quentin Grey or something, I'm not looking it up)

D/ST (rather than receivers who I keep saying I give up on) As proven this week, Defenses can win or lose the week for you. The list is defenses likely all on the waivers, and shouldn’t be started every week.

Browns vs the Rams... Not too often will you be able to start them but against Bulger... may be worth a shot.
Lions vs Bears... I’ve looked at the Lions from time to time they seem to get INT’s and when they score lots it forces it to be an air game... could be one of those days.
Tampa Bay vs Jags... I came so close to taking them against the Lions for the sacks, this week it’s because they will be facing David Grey ??? and should rack up some points.
Eagles vs Minny... It’s an easy recipe against the Vikings... shut down Peterson. Though Tarvaris might be hurt, in which case I would stay away because Holcomb or whoever comes in will probably be able to throw the ball better.

I really wanted to talk about quarterbacks this year, as the starters keep getting worse. Then as I was writing this I thought of another topic, maybe for next week. The home stretch which players have favorable match-ups coming up.

Oh yeah almost forgot, there was one player in our league whose entire team was outscored by Tom Brady (50-47)....The guy who hasn’t made a roster move since the draft scored more... (and almost beat TH) I wont name names though cause it’s embarrassing.