Week 7

It's go time. With four teams at 4-3 and two more at 3-4, the cream will start rising to the top as the crap flushes itself down the toilet. Halfway through the season, it might be the time to let some of your treasured stars go and make a few moves. Yes Shaun Alexander, Larry Johnson, Steven Jackson, Frank Gore, I'm talking to you!

Renegadez (2196) vs Team Rich (1468)
It’s hard to say which team is better. The 4-3 Renegadez or the 3-4 Team Riches. Team Rich should be better on paper, with Tom Brady and Carson Palmer, but they are suffering from a horrible receiving corps. Santana Moss, Roy Williams, and Devin Hester have had their moments but none of them are performing recently. The running game isn’t in good shape either as Shaun Alexander looks like he’s losing it and Rudi Johnson straight hasn’t played much – while Travis Henry could be headed to jail. Can Brady (646 points this week!) and Palmer lead the charge?

Rene’s team has been kind of lost in the shuffle all season. However, receivers Laveranues Coles (426 pts), Dwayne Bowe, and Roddy White (320 pts) have been very efficient. New Chargers WR Chris Chambers might soon become fantasy relevant so this should be the strength of the team. If Edgerrin James and Maurice Jones-Drew continue their pounding work, and more importantly, Drew Brees picks it up, this team is pretty solid.

Ask About Me (2066) vs StickIt2Em (1180)
While Ben continues to shine on the work floor, his fantasy team is in collapse. Matt Leinart, Deion Branch, Sammy Morris, Anthony Gonzalez, and Nate Kaeding all put up zero points (for various reasons). That’s no way to create a sustainable offense when half your team is missing. “Is you snorin' in my class? Wake up Mr. West!”

Will continues to pick up steam as this win pulls him out of the cellar, for the first time all year. How ‘bout that Earnest Graham? 447 points behind a huge yardage day and Will’s looking like a genius. Graham will have to keep this up because Will’s best player, RB Ronnie Brown, just got injured for the season. Ouch.

Dog Killers (2000) vs Call Me Mr. G (1779)
It might have been a different story for the third place Dog Killers if Jermaine had put in a serviceable quarterback while Philip Rivers was on bye. Instead, Jon pulls out another MNF victory behind Reggie Wayne’s 307 points. RB Adrian Peterson continues to shine (235 pts) for Jermaine but he’s going to need some support from Marvin Harrison and Steven Jackson (he's back this week, according to his blog), two big picks that have yet to establish their superiority this season. Are both lost causes at this point?

The Birds will have a tough time finding a captain to pilot their ship as Matt Hasselbeck is on bye and Trent Edwards, Joey Harrington and Marc Bulger are hardly scary for any defenses.

Redskins (2288) vs El Nino’s (2113)
With bye weeks wrecking havoc with lineups, this game was the best of the week. Would a tight end have helped out Hong? Undoubtedly. Losing by 175 points is something Antonio Gates certainly could have racked up. Sadly, he was on bye. What’s the excuse for not forseeing Gus Frerotte’s big day on the bench?

Chris has piloted his team from the bottom of the standings to near the top behind Peyton Manning (311), Brian Griese (344), and Willis McGahee (300). For him to continue winning, he’s going to need to find a running mate behind McGahee. There’s some big question marks about DeShawn Wynn, Julius Jones, and Derrick Ward. Hopefully, Thomas Jones can step up his game in the coming weeks. Both of these teams are at 4-3 and headed in the right direction.

Vultures (2040) vs Bad News Bruins (1651)
I don’t even want to write about Thomas anymore. Even with no LDT, he romps in another easy win. I’ll just refer to Bill Simmons’ article about “When should you start seriously thinking about your football team going undefeated?” If you’re playing Thomas, get fired up and win okay! Or I'll just handle it myself in Week 9...

Next Week: Will versus Rich, brother versus brother, evil versus evil.

Week 6

A glut of teams at 3-3 means that mediocrity reigns supreme. Thomas may be on his way to an undefeated season after taking out closest competitor but at least Will got into the win column. Since it’s such a special day for big Will, we’ll take a closer look at his victory.

Ask About Me (1970) vs Redskins (1522)
Will’s opponent, Chris’ Redskins team was coming off of two big wins and certainly had the firepower to prevent Will from notching a victory. During OSPN’s pre-game interview with Will, he was asked what his team would try to do differently this week. His answer? “We’re going to try to win!” Asked further about what this meant, Will revealed his magnanimous side to the world.

“What we’ve been doing for five weeks is to let everyone have some fun in the league. As the commissioner, it was my responsibility to provide a safe fantasy environment for all. I gave away wins. Do you really think a team assembled by myself, Will the fantasy guru, could possibly lose five games in a row to start the season? No way. You know how when you race a little kid, you give them a big head start? That’s what I was doing. Giving everyone a big head start. Hell, I even gave Chris an advantage this week as I’m not replacing my TE or K even though they’re on bye. That’s the confidence of a (eventual) champion!”

Chris might have been bribed into playing a few duds himself this week as WR Darrell Jackson sat in the lineup during a bye and the injured Anquan Boldin remained active also. Looking at the score, you can tell neither team was playing their best. The Redskins had QB Vince Young exit early, injured and hobbling. The passing attack suffered greatly without young Vince in the game and while veteran Brian Griese passed for 390 points, there wasn’t much he could do with only one healthy WR (Antwaan Randle El, 74 pts). Chris’ team picked up some steam behind Willis McGahee and Thomas Jones (507 pts, combined) but enough about losers.

“How bout those Ask About Me!’s !!!!” Not quite the same ring as “How bout them Cowboys!!!” eh? The trades GM Will engaged in two weeks ago led directly to this first win. WRs Braylon Edwards (339 pts) and Kevin Curtis (327 pts) were outstanding. QB Donovan McNabb was slightly above average (278 pts) but lent a steady hand. The passing game spread the field and opened up space for RB Ronnie Brown to rumble and roll his way to 385 points.

The result? A huge win for Will!

Call Me Mr. G (2423) vs Renegadez (1535)
I’m starting to think that Jermaine’s not home. No second QB for the week, an injured Steven Jackson still in the lineup, and kicker Adam Vinatieri on a bye – which is excusable actually. Then again, Call Me Mr. G scored the most points this week so really, why complain? Rookie sensation Adrian Peterson had 779 points. Seven hundred and seventy seven. Good lord! Add in the Ravens D going nuts for 500 and that’s all she said for Rene. The Renegadez consolation is that newly acquired RB Maurice Jones-Drew looks like a beast (584 pts) and Drew Brees is picking things up with 324 points. Anyone else think Will would be Jones-Drew if he was a running back in the NFL? Totally right?

Vultures (2298) vs El Nino’s (1897)
Who needs a second quarterback when you’re the best team in the lead? Refusing the buckle to traditional pressure and finding a replacement for Ben Roethlisberger, Thomas rode the last season’s MVP, LaDainian Tomlinson, and his 683 breakout points. LDT single-handedly outscored whole teams this week (well, okay, just Ben’s team). Then again, Hong’s second QB, Gus Frerotte had negative 17 points so maybe it would have been better to sit him. Despite the QB setback, Hong put up a fight and was looking pretty good with the majestic Wes Welker (515 pts) but Brian Westbrook didn’t get into the end zone enough, despite picking up 342 points.

Team Rich (2282) vs Stick It 2 Em (447)
ET phone home? Is Ben playing? 447 points? Seriously? There were a handful of players who scored that much by themselves! Embarassing. Then again, it’s not like Ben’s bench had much to offer. Donte Stallworth could have added 367 points but that still wouldn’t have pulled Ben close to 1000. Just injuries and a bad week I guess? Speaking of guys who single-handedly could have beat Ben, Rich’s Devin Hester scored 475 points by himself and he’s a kick returner! Rich didn’t even need Tom Brady’s five touchdowns and 573 points this week.

Dog Killers (2092) vs Bad News Bruins (1919)
Entering a week where byes forced many of his best players to take a seat, they somehow managed to pull out another Monday night win. This time, powered by the surprising DeAngelo Williams (323 pts) and the always spectacular TJ Houshmandzadeh (450 pts). The Bad News Bruins put up a fight behind Steve Smith’s 413 points but with horrific QB play (Brett Favre had 108, Kurt Warner had -24), they stumbled to a loss. The good news is that Larry Johnson finally did something, finally.

Next week: Could Will get another win? He is playing the hapless StickIT2Em’s so anything’s possible!

One versus Two

In a matchup between the 5-0 Vultures and the 4-1 El Nino’s, it’s only fair to take a closer look at our top two teams and highlight the marquee game of the year.

QB: Last week, Hong had the incredible foresight to snag Gus Frerotte right before he threw for 3 TDs and a mighty 331 points. This week, it’ll be Gus again, along with his buddy Eli Manning, who has been pretty good this year, throwing 9 TDs in five games and averaging over 250+ points a game. A huge part of Thomas’ early success has been the play of Tony Romo, who was drafted late but is producing huge, averaging 400+ points a game. If there was a league MVP right now, it might be Mr Romo, who has sidestepped and shuffled in the pocket on his way to a great Cowboys season. The other QB slot for the Vultures has been manned by the usually steady Ben Roethlisberger but this week he’s on bye. Who can Thomas find to replace him? Do we hear Jeff Garcia getting a call?
Edge: Vultures

RB: There should be no contest here. It’s LaDainian Tomlinson and Jerious Norwood versus Brian Westbrook and Chris Brown. Usually, the easy nod goes to the Vultures’ duo of LT and whoever. However, it’s hard to say that the 2007 version of LDT is better than a healthy Brian Westbrook. In fact, Westbrook has equaled LDT’s fantasy output despite playing one less game. Neither Norwood or Chris Brown are worth much of anything and they are generally just filling in for bye week players. Hong has the outstanding Willie Parker on a bye while Thomas has a stable of “all look same” running backs – Norwood, Leon Washington, Kevin Jones, Vernand Morency. None of these names really stand out.
Edge: Even

WR: While Thomas’ ground game hasn’t been overly stellar, there’s no arguing that he’s got an excellent passing attack. Wonder man Randy Moss leads the way and Chad Johnson remains as explosive as ever. While the injured Hines Ward has been a disappointment, recent pickup Patrick Crayton could be ready to step up in the crucial role of third receiver. While there isn’t much WR depth (Amani Toomer is hardly dependable), the starters are as good as it gets. For Hong’s team, the disappointing Marques Colston has certainly put a hole in the offense. Jerricho Cotchery and Wes Welker are nice secondary receivers but Colston was drafted to star alongside the dependable Larry Fitzgerald (who only has 1 TD though). El Nino’s bench receivers Michael Jenkins, Muhsin Muhammad, and Michael Clayton have been near useless.

In the tight end department, Hong has the best in the biz with Antonio Gates, who also stars as the best player Hong has. Mr Gates is averaging almost 100 yards a game and he’s on pace for 120 catches. For Thomas, TE Alge Crumpler has been a big disappointment as he’s no longer the main man in Atlanta.
Edge: Thomas for WR, Hong for TE

K & Def: The El Nino’s defense (Seattle) has been solid this season with 1120 total points, ranking them fifth, but Mr. Consistency, K Jason Elam, has been just average. He’s also on bye this week so somebody will have to replace his 80 points per week. The Patriots haven’t just been tearing it up on offense, their defense is the second best fantasy D in the league. Last year, Robbie Gould was fantasy gold, this year, he’s fallen to average stats as the Bears offense struggles. It’s hard to which combination is better.
Edge: Even

The El Nino’s have scored 2163-2198-2425-1848-1946 each week, and that means they’re slowly declining. The Vultures have dipped here and there too, but never below 2000 (with highs of 2809, 2517, 2514). What we’re looking at here then is an overmatched El Nino team that really needs Brian Westbrook back. If he can explode for his usual numbers, then the Vultures will have a fight on their hands, otherwise, it could be 6-0 Vultures and 4-2 El Nino’s. Game on!

Week 5

Bad News Bruins (1987) vs Call Me Mr. G (1278)
The Bruins are back! With one win, they catapult themselves to fourth place in the standings. Tight end Benjamin Watson had a double TD game and 386 points while the San Diego defense ripped it up for 365 points of their own.

Jermaine needs to sit his injured players (Marvin Harrison, Steven Jackson, Adrian Peterson on a bye) to have a chance of pulling himself out of second-to-last.

Redskins (1903) vs Team Rich (1273)
Not one close game this week and this was no exception as Chris gets three wins in a row and vaults to third place. Peyton Manning, Willis McGahee, and Jason Witten all scored over 300 points and the Skins win in a walk. The only good news from Team Rich’s side is that Tom Brady continues to thrill, scoring 383 points. He had three WRs combine for 126 points, ouch.

El Nino’s (1946) vs Dog Killers (1580)
Hong’s won three in a row and after picking on a hapless Dog Killer team (led by Larry Fitzgerald’s 377 pts), they look to continue their roll. Jon’s QBs combined for 85 points. They were outscored by Hong’s K and D. ‘Nuff said.

Vultures (2033) vs Ask About Me (1610)
Ronnie Brown tried to power his way to a win for Will but his 391 points were wasted on yet another loss. Thomas continues to get contributions from everyone (Ben Roethlisberger and Leon Washington put in good efforts) and rolls on to another easy victory.

Renegadez (1812) vs StickIt2Em (1571)
That’s three losses in a row for Big Ben as he continues to freefall in the standings. It’s not going to get better either as Matt Leinart takes a broken collarbone home. And it doesn’t help that Joseph Addai was a late pull from the week too. Rene waltzed into his second win by riding the newly acquired Maurice Jones-Drew (6328 points) and the tough Bears defense (295 pts). The passing game needs some help though! Drew Brees, Chris Chambers, Laveranues Coles, Dwayne Bowe, and Todd Heap aren’t doing it!

Power Rankings

More than a quarter of the regular season is already over, can you believe that? We have one undefeated team, one winless team, and a knot of 2-2 teams in the middle. Since we’re solidly in the swing of things, it’s time to look at which teams are trending up up and away and which teams need a major pick me up.

Vultures (4-0)
Since coming out of the gate fiery hot, Thomas’ team has hardly slowed down and after defeating the number two team last week (Team Rich) in a high scoring battle, 2517-2372, the Vultures have established themselves as the cream of the crop and far and away the best team in the league. They are averaging a cool 2500 points a week behind the spectacular Tony Romo (455 avg) and the rejuvenated Randy Moss (396 avg). Both are vying for MVP honors if they can keep this up. The shocker? LaDainian Tomlison was drafted to lead this crew but he’s only averaging a pedestrian 277 points. Who can slow the Vultures down? Nobody it seems like.

El Nino’s (3-1)
Despite drafting last, Hong’s team has won two straight games and fought their way to the top of the charts. While there are definite holes on this team – Rex Grossman is a starting QB, still – the combination of RB Brian Westbrook (434 avg in three games) and TE Antonio Gates (259 avg) has been enough to give the El Nino’s two blowout wins over Tae and Jermaine the last few weeks. There’s a lot of good skill position players on this roster – Larry Fitzgerald, Jerricho Cotchery, Willie Parker, Wes Welker – but the QB situation will definitely need to be rectified as Eli and Rex aren’t exactly solid.

Team Rich (2-2)
If Rich had been able to pull an upset against Thomas this week, we’d be talking about them as the hottest team in the league. Instead, they lost after putting up a tremendous fight. The past three weeks, Team Rich has averaged an astonishing 2561 points per week so it’s safe to say that they’re quite possibly as good as their owner claims. Most of the damage has been done by MVP candidate Tom Brady (406 avg), plus the solid contributions of WR Roy Williams and RB Travis Henry. With numerous trades over the past week, this team has dramatically changed its chemistry but more importantly, added another stud QB, Carson Palmer (347 avg) to pair with Brady. This could mean some big things ahead for Team Rich.

The Dog Killers (2-2)
The Dog Killers have certainly been involved in a lot of close games this season. Excepting a Week 1 blow out win, they’ve lost by 46, lost on a Monday night, and won on a Monday night. While the team certainly can put points on the board (2186 avg, 2463 high), they’re also a bit hamstrung by poor performances from RBs Frank Gore and Reggie Bush. The good news is that the receiving corps is unparalleled with Reggie Wayne, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Plaxico Burress, and the newly acquired Andre Johnson. If the best RB on the roster continues to be rookie Marshawn Lynch, this team’s aerial attack might be the only thing going for them.

Redskins!!! (2-2)
With two wins under their belt, Chris’ team is feeling pretty good about themselves. After stumbling out of the gate with a poor Week 1, Chris has steadfastly worked his team up to the point where they’re now blowing the opposition out of the water. Perhaps the first few losses were due to strong opponents (2488.5 points against average WK1 & 2) so maybe all that says is that Chris’ team isn’t quite ready to hang with the big boys. On the other hand, the Redskins have hardly started clicking and poster boy Peyton Manning is just scratching the surface of his potential with 350 points per week. Once he can get on the same page with Anquan Boldin, Darrell Jackson, Santonio Holmes, and Antwaan Randle El, the team could be ready to take flight.

Renegadez (2-2)
Talk about tough schedules. The Renegadez have been faced with three opponents this seaon who have all handily scored over 2000+ points against them. For a team that’s averaging 1960 per game, that should translate to a losing record. However, the Renegadez are still floating along at 0.500 and despite moving their best player away in this week’s trade, they could be poised for better things. RB Edgerrin James is back to his old self, well almost, and newly acquired RBs Jamal Lewis and Maurice Jones-Drew should help the run game. The biggest question now will be if Drew Brees can replace Carson Palmer’s production, or if Derek Anderson and Matt Schaub can continue to progress in their first full time jobs. The next few weeks will be huge for Rene’s team. Hey, at least he found his car (keys)!

StickIT2Em (2-2)
The mighty have fallen. After two impressive wins to start the season, Ben’s team has recorded two sub-par weeks and is now at an even 2-2. What happened? Perhaps the answer lies in men who field general the team. Matt Leinart is time-sharing with Kurt Warner and Chad Pennington is tossing touchdowns but not much else. Both are proving to be a bit of a disappointment – it may be time to use Jake Delhomme. While they have quality targets in Torry Holt and Deion Branch, neither veteran has really exploded so far this season. One veteran who is clearly over the hill is Joe Horn, who shouldn’t even be on a roster right now, since he’s averaging barely 50+ a game. The bright spot here is Joseph Addai, who is averaging a nice 322.25 points. If Clinton Portis can pick it up a bit, the StickIT2Em’s can turn their ship right around and rise to glory once again.

(Gutless) Little Bruins (2-2)
Okay, this prognosticator thought Tae had a wonderful team. Turns out, they’re sitting near the bottom of the rankings and getting worse by the week. After exploding for 2363 and 2649 points in Weeks 1 and 2, they’ve averaged a pitiful 1384 the last two. Did somebody die? Actually, sort of. Read on. While the QB spot was supposed to be this team’s Achilles’ Heel, it looks like between Brett Favre, Jay Cutler, Jeff Garcia, David Garrard, and Kurt Warner, the Bruins will find two starters. Instead, the problem is that number one pick Larry Johnson has been horrific (197 pts avg) -- or dead. The other “stud” running back Laurence Maroney has been a disappointment too (168 avg over three weeks). The only bright spots on this team is the play of Marion Barber (269 avg) and the rejuvenated Brett Favre (333.75 avg), who’s had nice targets in Donald Driver and Calvin Johnson. C’mon Bruins, where’s your guts?

Call Me Mr. G (1-3)
With the lowest scoring offense in the league (1887 avg), Jermaine’s team has been mercurial to say the least. With one huge win in Week 3 to get out of winless status (against Will, 2587-2378), the Mr. G’s have the firepower to do some damage but they’re inconsistent as hell. Their best player is rookie sensation Adrian Peterson (334.5 avg). There’s a good passing attack in place with Philip Rivers throwing to Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison, and Bernard Berrian but the team killer has been the ultra non-production from number two overall pick Steven Jackson. With a 176 point per game average, Jackson has been a millstone around Jermaine’s neck. And it’s not looking like the Rams offense will recover anytime soon. Can young WRs Vincent Jackson and Greg Jennings make up for the lack of a run game? They’ll have to because there’s no real backup RB on this team, aside from Jackson’s backup real life, Brian Leonard. Could be time to trade for another running back!

Ask About Meee!!! (0-4)
While Will has yet to win a game, there’s a silver lining here because they’re actually the 6th leading offense in the league. Eventually, scoring all those points will translate to victories right? GM Will has certainly done his best to re-make his team, engaging in two trades that have netted Donovan McNabb, DeShaun Foster, Braylon Edwards, and Kevin Curtis. This quartet will have to pick up the slack because Will needs his first win! The good news here is that QB Jon Kitna has been performing well (343 avg), and he’s got a pair of strong running backs, Ronnie Brown (375 avg) and LaMont Jordan (321 avg), to take pressure off of him.

In short, if your first round pick is doing crappy, so are you – unless your name is Thomas. So while the season is fully underway, there’s still a lot of time for people to make improvements and hope for better days. Here’s to Week 5 and another fantastic round of games!