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The mantra of week 8 was, “expect the unexpected in the NFL.” Several players went down with injury while others just flopped for little or no reason. However, other players rose to the occasion and had massive games against good defenses like Tiki Barber. The Docs had a solid week picking the fantasy bench / start players.   We hope that you were able to take advantage of these calls and pull off a fantasy win or two.   As always, we own up to our calls in the weekly bench / start wrap up.   Sit back in your chair and enjoy this look back at week 8.

Nostradamus (a.k.a. psychic)
Start:
Jake Delhomme – We thought that Delhomme would be a great start because of the Vikings inability to cover Steve Smith. It looks like we were right. Delhomme threw three TD passes and for 341 yards and no interceptions. He threw over 200 of those yards and one of those TDs to the most dangerous man in the NFL … Steve Smith.

Joey Galloway – The Buccaneers didn’t come out smelling too rosy in this one, but Galloway still made for great start week 8. Galloway was one yard shy of 150 yards receiving and he had a TD reception. That touchdown reception was a long one that got many teams bonus points in big play leagues.

Corey Dillon (Patrick Pass if Dillon is unable to start) – Dillon did play and he played well. Dillon had 72 yards rushing and 2 TDs on the ground. It was a solid fantasy effort against a very stout Buffalo defense. We hope that you were able to benefit from this fantasy effort.

Drew Brees – Brees went for over 300 yards passing and he threw for three TDs as well. Brees’ TE, Antonio Gates, had three TD receptions week 8. We have a feeling that the Chargers would have one more W to their name if they would have let Gates play week 1.

Ronnie Brown – Brown had a couple of receptions for a dozen yards and he went over the century mark on the ground. It was a solid fantasy game from this rookie. We would have like to have seen him score, but you can’t get TDs every week.

Anquan Boldin – We hope that you got to enjoy this fantasy game from Boldin and we hope that you got to enjoy all of his games up to this point because Bolding looks like he will be done for the year. This season has seen several WRs go down with injury, so we hope you drafted a deep roster to combat this injury bug. Bolding has a long TD pass and some nice yardage.

Stephen Davis – Davis continues to sport a poor yards per carry, but he also continues to score TDs. As long as your league doesn’t penalize for poor yards per carry, Davis will continue to be a fantasy factor each weekend.

Bench:
Jamal Lewis – Lewis had 61 yards rushing and a fumble. This was yet another disappointing performance from a highly drafted fantasy player for no appaerent reason. Who knew you should have drafted Kevan Barlow instead of Jamal Lewis? (and that isn’t saying much) We hope that you left Lewis on the bench as we recommended.

Amani Toomer – Toomer was a nice bench selection this week. He only had 2 catches for 43 yards. This isn’t the type of performace you want to start. Week 7 Toomer had a TD reception, but we told you that week 8 wouldn’t be the scene of a repeat and we were correct.

Brandon Lloyd – The 49ers pulled off the upset, but Lloyd didn’t do much to help the team’s cause. Lloyd had only 2 recptions for 18 yards. It just doesn’t get much worse than that, so hopefully you left Lloyd on your bench.

Marcel Shipp – Shipp had 44 yards rushing and 25 yards receiving. That is not the tye of performance you need from your RB. Hopefully you let this Shipp sail without you. Shipp was a good bench call week 8.

Antwaan Randle El – Even though the Steelers threw the ball a good deal on Monday Night Football, Randle El didn’t have a very impressive game. He only had 36 total yards and three receptions. If you left Randle El on the bench, you were probably better off.


Farmer's Almanac (a.k.a. not so bad/not so good)
Start:
Drew Bledsoe – Bledsoe was just a hair shy of having a good start this past week. His fumble is what pushed him into the so-so calls of the week. Bledsoe had 220 yards passing and 1 TD. Bledsoe will continue to remain a decent start as long as he is healthy. However, this week (9) you will need to find someone else for your weekly lineup as Bledsoe is on bye.

Terry Glenn – Glenn had a decent day, but he didn’t get Bledsoe’s TD pass. Glenn didn’t manage that TD bomb we were hoping for, but he didn’t kill your team either. As such, Glenn was a so-so start week 8.

Cleveland Browns D – The Browns D kept Houston below 20 points this past week and had a turnover. However, we just can’t believe that the Browns only came up with two sacks. The Browns were a so-so fantasy start, but we were more disappointed in them than that.

Reuben Droughns – Droughns was one yard shy of 100, but he had a fumble that sent him to the so-so calls we made for week 8. Just like in the “real” NFL, turnovers will kill you in fantasy as well.

Bench:
Anthony Wright – Wright had a TD pass, but it was cancelled out in most leagues by his two interceptions. That left him with 252 yards passing. Wright did better than we expected, but he still wasn’t a great start. However, he could have filled a roster spot and not killed your team … Ahem Mark Brunell … Ahem Daunte Culpepper.


Weather Forecast (a.k.a. oops better luck next time)
Start:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers D – We cannot express how shocked we were by the poor play of the Buccaneers as a team and specifically their defense. There isn’t much to say here about the Bucs play against the 49ers except WOW.

Mark Brunell – Everything was in alignment for Brunell to have another good day, but he failed to do so. In fact, Brunell failed miserably.

Jimmy Smith – The Jaguars did have a great day passing, but Jimmy didn’t get the game we had hope he would. It wasn’t a very good day for Smith who only caught 2 passes for 27 yards. Smith was thrown to 6 times, but he just couldn’t make more of his day.

Brett Favre – We expected Favre to answer the call of his sinking team, but he disappointed. If he wouldn’t have thrown any interceptions, he would have been a great start. However, 5 interceptions will kill a fantasy team. Favre is a wild card every week and he could outperform your other QBs, but if you have a good and reliable option, you might want to stay away from Favre.

Bench:
Derrick Mason – Benching Mason wasn’t a great call week 8. He could be in either the busted calls or so-so calls, but we are going to put him in the busted calls due to his solid number of receptions. He didn’t break 100 yards and he didn’t score, but he would have been a decent start in point per reception leagues.

Jamie Martin – Martin had 3 interceptions and only 200 yards passing, but he makes the busted calls because one of his two TD passes was for 83 yards. In big play leagues, Martin would have kept your ship afloat.

Deion Branch – In the wild world of the Patriots, you never know when a New England WR will catch a TD pass. This week we thought that Branch would be held scoreless, but he hauled in a 33 yard TD pass to bust up our bench call.

Kevan Barlow – Surprisingly, Barlow crushed our bench start call against a very stout Bucs run D with over 100 yards rushing. Barlow will likely squash us just when we start to believe in him again, but right now he looks pretty good.