Thursday, September 30, 2010

Fantasy football week four: An amazing start for the Terracotta Warriors

Amazingly, incredibly, I am off to a 3-0 start. This is the best start I've ever had in fantasy football, and now I feel the stakes have been raised. It's not enough for me to halfheartedly meander through the season hoping to finish with a record above .500. Now, I need to make a concerted effort to do really well this year. If not win the league title, at least finish in the top three.

I had low expectations for week three based on how minor injuries and silly behavior seemed to be hampering my team. I knew Brandon Jacobs wasn't going to play much for the Giants (and he didn't) and I did not expect Braylon Edwards to get on the field for the Jets (he did, surprisingly, and caught two passes, one of which was for a touchdown). Knowshon Moreno was hurt and didn't play. Consequently, I received no production from my backfield, but other players on my team picked up the slack. Philip Rivers racked up big passing yardage for the Chargers, and his teammate, tight end Antonio Gates, was his favorite target. Austin Collie had another excellent game, the Dallas defense rose to occasion in a must-win against Houston, and when it was all said and done I won yet another matchup.

This week, I'm up against the new guy in the league, who is also off to a 3-0 start. It's the battle of the undefeateds, and I don't want to lose to the upstart. In preparation, I dumped Brandon Jacobs (who will probably not see much playing time unless the Giants have injuries) and picked up Cleveland's out-of-nowhere "star " running back Peyton Hillis. I spent a whopping 50 waiver points on him, so here's hoping he's not a flash in the pan.

The bye weeks have begun, so I was forced to waive the Dallas defense and claim the Tennessee defense. The Titans have recovered nine fumbles so far and have not given up many points, so I hope they can keep it up this week. Maybe, a few weeks down the line, I can reclaim the Dallas defense if nobody else has done so in the meantime.

I just realized that my kicker, Ryan Longwell, ALSO has a bye coming up this weekend. Did I mention what a pain in the a$$ bye weeks are for us fantasy football owners? Anyway, I scoured the official rules of our league and I think I can get away with placing Knowshon Moreno on injured reserve and replacing him on the active roster with Mike Nugent, the kicker for Cincinnati. If Tom, our league commissioner, does not nix this move I'll be okay and have a full team ready to take the (virtual) field on Sunday.

I don't know if I'll win this week, but I'm happy that I've taken steps to improve my team. Success in fantasy football is really dependent on luck, so we'll see if my luck holds up for another weekend.

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