Fantasy Sports Blogger

Reminder that the over/under for this is 15 points for QB & RB, 10 for WR & DST and 5 for K & TE. Judge me on Tuesday.

Sub Starts
QB: T. Edwards
RB: M. Lynch, L. White (tie)
WR: Toomer
TE: D. Lee
K: Kaeding
DST:  TB

Bummer Benches
QB: V. Young
RB: Jones-Drew
WR: S. Smith
TE: C. Cooley
K: Gostkowski
DST: Minnesota

As I vented earlier in the week, I was horrible this past week.  Like any good DB or K, you have to have a little memory loss after a bad week but don’t lose sight of the mistakes that caused you to lose. 

This week is particularly perplexing for Team 1.  I have Steve Smith in a horrible matchup with the best pass defense in the form of Indy.   I’ve told myself all week don’t bench him because of Week 2 in a season long ago.  I benched Jimmy Smith against a great Ravens D only to see him to record a 295 yard, 2 TD receiving day.  That has always haunted me and driven me to play my starters no matter what.  Well, I’m going to bench S. Smith this week as I just have better options all the way around and Vinny ain’t no Brunell in his prime.  I think Freney will eat his lunch.

Team 1 Roster of 10 team veteran league (4-3)
QB: Griese, Garcia, Young - vs. DET, enough said.
RB: Gore, White, Jordan, K. Watson, Rhodes - Lendale is my reach
WR: R. Williams, Holmes, Welker, S. Smith – Holmes better not screw me
TE: D. Lee, D. Clark – Did you see what Miller did to DEN?
K: Brown– Only K
DST: NYG - Only DST but good matchup.
(Picked up D. Lee and dropped D. Martin)

Team 2 Roster of 12 team PPR league (5-2)
QB: Griese, V. Young - Griese against Lions!
RB: Bush, Parker, Jordan - Time for studs!
WR: Wayne, R. Williams, Welker (flex), Coles, Burleson, Evans – All look like good plays
TE: Witten – It’s between Brady, LJ Smith or Scaife
K: Gostkowski – Rethinking due to Wind & Week 10 bye
DST: Tampa Bay, Chicago – Bucs have better matchup
(Picked up TB, TE and dropped Schaub, Player TBL)

Team 3 Roster of 10 team, 3rd year league (2-5)
QB: Brees, Culpepper – Brees or bust!
RB: Gore, Parker, D. Williams – Studs must be studs!
WR: Welker, R. Williams, Branch, A. Johnson – Best matchups
TE: D. Lee – Only TE
K: Kaeding, Rackers – If Bironas can make 8 against HOU?
DST: SD, Baltimore – BAL on bye
(Picked up Kaeding, SD and dropped D. Martin, S. Young)

Team 4 Roster of 10 team, 2nd year league (3-4)
QB: McNabb – McNabb or bust
RB: Gore, Parker, D. Williams - Need my studs!
WR: Wayne, R. Williams, S. Holmes (flex), S. Moss, Branch, Evans -  Come on Holmes!
TE: Daniels – Only TE.
K: Gostkowski – Rethinking due to wind
DST: SD, Baltimore – BAL on bye
(Dropped J. Lewis and Picked up SD)

I got a game back to get within striking distance of .500 but I really want to be closer to .600 by year end so I need to pick it up from current record of …..
48-49-6……

WAS (+16.5) @ NE – Redskin D matches up better with Pats WRs
SF (+3) vs. NO – Smith/Davis should play and make difference
BUF (+3) @ NYJ – Lynch + Jets D = Bills win
MIA (+9.5) vs. NYG –  Giants win but won’t blow out Dolphins
PHL (+1) @ MIN – Which team will show up for both?
TB (-4) vs. JAX – Given offensive woes for both, Bucs 9-3
HOU (+9.5) @ SD – Can any Charger really be into this game?
OAK (+7.5) @ TEN – Titans never win by more than 7
CIN (+3.5) vs. PIT – Bengals usually do well at home
STL (+3) vs. CLE – Bulger/Jackson back so should help cover
DET (+5) @ CHI – Lions may lose but will cover
IND (-7) @ CAR – Panthers not playing well at home
DEN (-3) vs. GB – Def coord for Broncos knows Pack well

I’m going with New England this week.  Although I’m a little scared about Washington’s defense, they proved they could be beat by Kurt Warner if Neil Rackers could have made that FG last week.  Plus I purposely didn’t pick NE last week so I could take them this week.

Warning of the Week: New York Giants.  Although they dominated the 49ers last week, a closer look shows that was a ballgame for quite some time until the turnovers kicked in.   Playing 5 time zones ahead, they may be off a bit and MIA has to win sometime right?

Sleeper Pick of the Week: TEN over OAK.

My teams were ugly this week.  I don’t normally comment on my results until Friday but I had to vent about how stupid I was with my roster decisions for the week.  I ended up going 1-3 on the week.  I lost 2 low-scoring games and 1 high-scoring game because I failed to recognize the better matchups.   I picked up Wes Welker in 3 of my leagues early this year and benefited greatly from his stellar week last week.  So I rewarded him with a benching in 2 of 3 leagues.  I also decided that Laverneus Coles versus a horrible Cincny defense was a bad idea.  Some days you need to listen to the advice you give and actually act on it.

By the way, that cheer was a line from the 1986 movie “Wildcats” with Goldie Hawn and a young Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes.  That leads me to the question of the day…

What was your favorite 80s football movie?   Although All the Right Moves was accurate, I always die laughing at Robin Williams in The Best of Times.

Reminder that the over/under for this is 15 points for QB & RB, 10 for WR & DST and 5 for K & TE. Judge me on Tuesday.

Surprise Starts
QB: Garcia
RB: Watson
WR: Hilliard
TE: D. Martin
K: O. Mare
DST: Redskins

Bizzare Benches
QB: J. Cutler
RB: R. Brown
WR: H. Ward
TE: H. Miller
K: M. Stover
DST: Chicago

Well last week I either proved I’m lucky or good.  I went 3-1 with over half my starters on a bye.  On team 1, I realized I started 7 guys that I didn’t draft.  My only loss was suffered by my undefeated team 2.  This week is shaping up to be one of good matchups for my teams, which is always scary for me.   I feel like it’s hard to choose between good matchups.

Team 1 Roster of 10 team veteran league (3-3)
QB: Garcia, Young, Griese - Still desperate times
RB: Gore, Jordan, K. Watson, Rhodes, White - Crossed fingers
WR: R. Williams, Welker, S. Smith, Holmes – Crossed toes
TE: D. Clark, D. Martin – Need Clark to step up
K: Brown– Only K
DST: NYG - Only DST
(Took Jordan off IR, Dropped LJ Smith, Harrington, J. Wright and picked up Garcia and D. Martin.) Note: I made a mistake picking up Martin who has same bye week as Clark.

Team 2 Roster of 12 team PPR league (5-1)
QB: Schaub, Griese - May switch to Griese
RB: Bush, Parker, Jordan (flex), Washington - Back to top guys
WR: Wayne, R. Williams, Coles, Welker, Burleson, Evans – Back to starters
TE: Witten – Only TE
K: Gostkowski – Only K
DST: Chicago – Only DST
(Picked up Griese, Washington and dropped Selvin Young and Warner)

Team 3 Roster of 10 team, 3rd year league (2-4)
QB: Brees, Culpepper – Brees or bust
RB: Jordan, Parker, D. Williams, Gore, Young – Keeping Gore on bench
WR: Crayton, R. Williams, Welker, Branch, A. Johnson – May switch Crayton for Welker depending on MIA weather
TE: D. Martin, D. Lee – Martin is Q on IR report now!
K: Rackers – Only K
DST: Baltimore – Only DST
(Picked up Martin and dropped J. Wright)

Team 4 Roster of 10 team, 2nd year league (3-3)
QB: McNabb – McNabb or bust
RB: Gore, Parker, D. Williams, J. Lewis - Back to starters!
WR: Wayne, R. Williams, Stallworth (flex), S. Moss, Branch - Back to starters!
TE: Daniels – Only TE.
K: Gostkowski – Only K
DST: Baltimore – Only DST
(Dropped Norwood and Wright and Picked up Holmes and S. Moss)

Well I thought I was on the road to recovery and staying above the .500 mark for the season… but Week 6 kicked me back down to 41-43-5.  Often you need some history to build from.  Let’s hope 6 weeks is enough.  Time to apply pressure and stop the bleeding with these picks.

WAS (-7.5) vs. ARI – Rattay will get swallowed by Redskin defense
NO (-8.5) vs. ATL – Leftwich will help Petrino get step closer to Brohm
BUF (+3) vs. BAL – Home dog alert.  Plus McCallister is not playing
MIA (+17) vs. NE – Storms, Road, Coming off hyped win, Pats win by 16
SF (+9.5) @ NYG – Giants have history of taking these games too lightly
TB (+2.5) @ DET – Home favorite under 3 pts alert.  Plus TB is for real
HOU (+2) vs. TEN – This could change if Young plays
KC (+3) @ OAK – LJ should run forever this week
CIN (-6) vs. NYJ – Bengals have to beat up Jets at home right?
DAL (-9.5) vs. MIN – Cowboys should roll against last place pass defense
PHL (-5) vs. CHI – Eagles face depleted Bears defense
STL (+8.5) @ SEA – Bulger back and Rams always hangs with Hawks
DEN (+3.5) vs. PIT – Head says PIT blowout, gut says DEN win
IND (-3) @ JAC – Colts squeeze out one score win   

Dallas. I know what you are all screaming. But you need to check my warning of the week. The Boys are coming off a depressing 21 point loss at home to the Pats but the good doctor is bringing in the last place rated Vikings pass defense for Romo to get healthy on. Even though it is expected to be windy in the Big D, there hasn’t been a breath of wind felt in Texas Stadium since they closed the gap between the roof and the seating structure.

Warning of the Week: New England. I know they look like the second coming of the 1991 SF 49ers Super Tecmo Bowl team and they face the worst defense in all the land and they are 17 point favorites on the road. However, tap the brakes a bit. Take a look at the weather forecast. I’m issuing a quagmire alert plus they can’t seem to run the ball. Surely they can overcome that right… I don’t know.

Two semi-major trades took place this week. Michael Bennett was traded from the Chiefs to the Bucs and Chris Chambers was traded from the Dolphins to the Chargers.

 How does this affect the each of the four teams in question? Let’s start with the Bennett trade first.

Bennett was the backup to Larry Johnson before he left. This is more than likely a signal that the return of Priest Holmes is imminent or increased faith in Kolby Smith.  Smith’s reps have ramped up lately. Coach Herm Edwards is not clear if Holmes will be active this weekend, so don’t read too much into the trade from the KC side yet. If you’re an LJ holder and you believe in cuffing your “studs” (and I use that term only out of past respect from LJ), Smith is probably your man (for the next couple of weeks, anyways).

Bennett’s new team - Tampa Bay - needed some serious help at running back with the loss of Cadillac Williams. Rumor has it that Bennett may play a handful of downs this weekend, more than likely to spell Earnest Graham. I think that Graham, 3rd on the Bucs depth chart a few weeks ago, will definately lose some carries to Bennett in the long run. But the question is how much? I’m thinking that in 2-3 weeks, Bennett will get the 75% of the team’s carries. He’s got to work on some of that pass catching out of the backfield though.

The Chambers trade is a little more interesting. Chambers was the number one receiving option in Miami. However, with the loss of Trent Green, Chambers value was plummeting (if he hasn’t hit rock bottom yet). Who’s the big target now? Due to experience, I think Marty Booker gets the most looks at WR. Derek Hagan and Ted Ginn will get a slight increase in looks as well, but look for more out-of-the-backfield pass catching from Ronnie Brown.

Chambers’ new team - San Diego - needed some help to divert attention from LT. Don’t get me wrong - LT is still the man that defenses will game plan for, but look for Chambers to be a big possession/move-the-chains type receiver that will give Philip Rivers more than Gates as an outlet. Look for Chambers to get more catches than he did in Miami, but for less yards. Vincent Jackson will probably get more opportunities to go deep as well, but he will be the third (maybe even the fourth) receiving option now.