FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEK 8
BENCH/START WRAP-UP
October 31, 2006
Week 8 was a high scoring one in the NFL. Many players had there best games of the season this weekend. Michael Vick, Larry Johnson, and LaDainian Tomlinson, Marques Colston, and Tom Brady are just a few of the players who had big weeks. We didn’t tell you to start any of these guys because they are must starts in most leagues each week. We did try to give you some borderline players to help you win this week and we even tried to pick a few guys who were destined for down weeks. We hope you enjoy our weekly bench / start review.
Nostradamus (a.k.a. psychic)
Start:
Reuben Droughns, RB, CLE – Droughns had been terrible all season long, but we told you to stick him in there this week. As if he was directed by our cue card, Droughns delivered with a great game. Droughns had 132 total yards and a TD. This game was a tremendous start call for us because of all of the lack of production that proceeded it. Droughns was a great start week 8. We also told you to try a move Droughns after his great start. Now would be a good time to start shopping him while he actually has some stock value.
Eddie Kennison, WR, KC – Kennison has been pretty sad all season, but we felt like this was one of those rare opportunities to start this inconsistent player. Kennison hauled in a great game with six receptions for 132 yards. This is an impressive start call considering that Kennison hadn’t even broken 100 yards on the season prior to this game. Hopefully Kennison helped get you the win.
Wali Lundy, RB, HOU – It was a risky call, but we told you to give Lundy the call. The good thing for our start call was that Lundy gave us all a great performance. Lundy had 116 yards rushing and 33 yards receiving. This makes two back-to-back good weeks from Lundy. Could this start to become a trend? We hope so because the league could use some more productive RBs this season.
Philip Rivers, QB, SDG – Rivers just made the cut off for good calls this week. He had no turnovers and 206 yards passing and a 25 yard TD pass to go along with a few rushing yards. Rivers could have had an even bigger game had the Chargers not enacted the LT2 plan! OUCH! When your RBs score 5 TDs, that doesn’t leave much for your QB to do. This could be the case whenever the Chargers have there opponents out matched, so be weary if you own Rivers.
Bench:
Alex Smith, QB, SF – Smith had a TD pass, but he also turned the ball over 3 times and he didn’t break 150 yards passing. It was a pretty ugly week for Smith. That many turnovers will kill your fantasy score every time. Smith will still have some good games down the road, but he just didn’t stand a chance against the Bears.
Dominic Rhodes, RB, IND – With 0 yards rushing and only 43 in the air, Rhodes made a great bench call. He is starting to look more and more like the second fiddle to Jseph Addai. Rhodes probably won’t be completely phased out, but once your fantasy playoffs hit, Rhodes’ fantasy value may be next to nothing.
Corey Dillon, RB, NE – We pegged Dillon to follow up his strong week 7 performance with a poor one in week 8. Dillon had a poor fantasy game, but the Patriots didn’t need to use him this week thanks to the strong arm of the golden boy. Dillon finished Monday night with 32 total yards on 4 touches.
Farmer's Almanac (a.k.a. not so bad/not so good)
Start:
Matt Leinart, QB, ARI – It is mind-boggling that Leinart couldn’t muster more fantasy points than he did in week 8 against the Packers. This just goes to show you that you cannot trust a rookie QB very much on a week in and week out basis. We told an emailer in “Ask the Docs” to start Michael Vick over Leinart, but we didn’t expect the difference between the two to be a large as it was. Vick was a great start and Leinart was mediocre with 157 yards, 1 INT, and 1 TD.
Bernard Berrian, WR, CHI – Five receptions for 41 is OK in a point per reception league, but we expected more out of this young player. It is very surprising to see only a so-so performance out of Berrian once you se the score of the game. However, other players in the Bears’ offense contributed more to this big win and Berrian was only a lukewarm start.
Bench:
Antonio Bryant, WR, SF – Bryan almost rocked our world bug time, but his fumble negated some of the good will built up with his TD pass. Bryant is a risky guy each week, but he still maintains the potential to explode on any given week. However, when you consider the team around Bryant, you should expect more down games than up ones.
Weather Forecast (a.k.a. oops better luck next time)
Start:
Travis Henry, RB, TEN – Henry still got the touches, but he didn’t get the yards. Basically he just completely shocked us. Basically, he pulled one of the classic “if it looks too good to be true, it must be false” maneuvers. Henry had been running well and he had a favorable matchup. However, he managed to have a relatively disappointing day. Henry was a busted start call for us in week 8.
Leon Washington, RB, NYJ – Washington still got the carries, but his 51 yards were diminished with a fumble. Washington just didn’t give us what we wanted week 8. Don’t give up on this rookie, but you shouldn’t be too surprised if you get performances like this from time to time.
Bryant Johnson, WR, ARI – We had visions of a 100 yard game for Johnson, but the Cardinals pretty much let us down across the board. Johnson was about as bad as it gets. He was “awful, awful!”
Bench:
Joe Horn, WR, NO, Isaac Bruce, WR, STL, Seneca Wallace, QB, SEA, and Frank Gore, RB, SF. – OK, we managed to only miss about half of our bench calls this week (which is terrible for us). The problem is that we didn’t just miss on these guys, we missed them so badly, that this week ranks as our worst bench recommendation of all time. These players all had great weeks that anyone would have loved to have had in their lineups. Some of these guys did it against stout defenses and against all odds. However, it doesn’t really matter how you slice it. These guys all destroyed our bench calls.
