FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEK 9
BENCH/START WRAP-UP
November 6, 2007
Welcome to our weekly look back at our Bench / Start calls. Each week
we hold ourselves accountable for our good and bad recommendations. It
is easy to make predictions, but it is tough to stand behind them. Let's
not beat around the bush. After a fantastic week 8, we had a pretty solid week 9, but we did manage to make one or two big blunders. We hope
some of these calls helped you win a game or two this weekend. Without
further ado, let’s get to the weekly fantasy football Bench / Start Wrap-up.
Nostradamus (a.k.a. psychic)
Start:
Lee Evans, WR, BUF – Thank goodness for Losman! Well, that is if you are an Evans owner. The Bills may never get anywhere with Losman, but at least Evans’ owners are loving the stats. Evans started the season out just about as bad as you can start a season, but he has started to heat up with the return of Losman. Evans had 9 receptions for 165 yards and a TD reception. This was a fantastic game.
Clinton Portis, RB, WAS – Portis had a huge day despite the fact that his team got down early. The Redskins stuck to the plan and that plan was a lot of Portis. Portis rushed the ball 36 times! He managed to roll up nearly 200 yards on those rushes and he ended up with a TD to boot. This was a great game and Portis did break 100 yards rushing for the first time this season as we predicted.
Matt Hasselbeck, QB, SEA – Hasselbeck may have not been able to win his game, but he might have helped you win yours. Hasselbeck threw for 318 yards and 2 TD passes. His 17 yards rushing almost made up for his INT in most leagues. This was a good performance in most scoring formats.
Marshawn Lynch, RB, BUF – Lynch has been pretty solid all season, but he had yet to record a 100 yard rushing effort and we said that things looked great for him to do that in week 9. Lynch had 153 yards rushing, a rushing TD, and a passing TD. That is a fantastic start in all leagues.
Jeff Garcia, QB, TB – Garcia recovered from his 3 INT game from week 8 with zero turnovers in week 9. He had some good rushing and OK passing stats, but no turnovers and a TD pass made him a decent start in week 9.
Bench:
Starting Baltimore QB – This game was just about as ugly as a game can be for an offensive unit. That unit was the Ravens and they looked REAL bad. Even if your league let you start both Kyle Boller AND Steve McNair, you still probably didn’t get much more than a point TOTAL between the two. On a side note: Steve McNair is really, really bad.
Roy Williams, WR, DET – We predicted “YET another disappointing week” for Roy Williams owners and he sure did deliver on that promise. Roy Williams continues to be inexplicably bad. 44 yards receiving and then he ran backwards for 8 yards. This was an ugly start.
Farmer's Almanac (a.k.a. not so bad/not so good)
Start:
Kevin Curtis, WR, PHI – Curtis wasn’t nearly as impressive as we hoped he would be, but his 5 receptions help him squeeze in the so-so start calls of the week.
Chris Chambers, WR, SD – Chambers wasn’t helped out much by his defense as they allowed the Vikings to run all day long and half the night. Chambers did manage 5 receptions that looked pretty decent in a point per reception leagues.
Kevin Jones, RB, DET – Jones barely missed the good start list. While he still managed decent total yardage numbers, we expected more from him.
Bench:
Deshaun Foster, RB, CAR – Foster didn’t break 75 yards of total offense and that leaves him in the so-so calls this week. No TD either for this Carolina back.
Starting Houston QB – 181 yards passing won’t wow anyone and a turnover is always undesirable, but Sage Rosenfels did manage a long TD pass of 42 yards and 19 yards rushing. Thus, Rosenfels ended up being a so-so start.
Weather Forecast (a.k.a. oops better luck next time)
Start:
No one this week. However, we have a doosie coming on the busted bench calls.
Bench:
Jamal Lewis, RB, CLE – Lewis had decent yardage that was probably enough to justify him as a busted bench call. However, he managed to vulture 4 TDs. Those TDs were all from 2 yards or less.
Julius Jones, RB, DAL – Jones had so-so yardage and Marion Barber III was the star in Dallas once again, but Jones managed to sneak in a 2 yard TD run that makes him a bad bench call.
WORST BENCH CALL... EVER
Adrian Peterson, RB, MIN – This was the worst bench call ever. We felt like this historically bad call deserved a special place of honor all by itself. While remembering that this is the worst bench call ever, we would like to note that this was also a very long bench call. We mentioned that he should still get some yards and that he could break a long one, but we still stuck our heads in the sand and made the worst bench call ever. Thus, we wrote so much that we were trying to talk ourselves into a benching of Peterson. Still, this was the worst bench call ever and now it really doesn’t matter how well the Chargers were playing and it doesn’t matter that the Vikings are one dimensional. This was still the worst bench call ever. Peterson broke the NFL single game rushing record. He is a KING STUD!!! Never bench him unless he is severely injured. At this point, we might still start him even if they cut off one of his feet. He should still be good for 70 and a TD with only one foot. Here ends the wrap-up of the worst bench call ever!
