Oof. To say last week was abysmal would be an understatement. To call a 212.98 – 104.5 loss a beat down of epic proportions would be an understatement. He had more guys on his roster score more than 20 than I had guys score more than 9. I had 2 guys finish in the negative range. And those 2 big zeros at the bottom of the roster didn’t help, either. Absolutely fucking horrible.
Enough of such things! I face the equally 2-3 YikesdaVikes this week. I have many players coming off a Bye. I made some big moves. Time to kick ass.
The only bye week guy I have this week is VJax, so I’ll need to slot someone else in to that WR position. I used my brain and looked ahead to Week 7, and have a number of guys on byes INCLUDING a kicker and a defense. That means 2 of my 3 transactions next week will have to be spent at K and Def.
I had initially made a waiver bid on Denver’s Willis McGahee to beef up the running back position. No waiver bid had been higher this season than $50, so I figured my $62 would win. Not so much when someone else puts up $71. So I ‘settled’ for Miami’s Daniel Thomas, dumping Ryan Grant in the process. Thomas has a bit of a hamstring issue, but he’s a legit #1 running back. He’s also playing this week, something McGahee isn’t doing. Second, I dropped Kyle Orton at QB, as he has been benched in favour of a glorified running back who panics in the pocket, but the retard fans wanted him in there. In comes the Colts’ Curtis Painter. Indy is awful. Painter has actually been respectable, though. And he has good players to throw to. Finally, I was becoming concerned that my offense was so Patriot-centric with Gronkowski, Hernandez AND Branch. Sure, having all 3 should give me at least 1 great performer each week, but it also means 2 others guys are playing who don’t do so well. So I dumped Hernandez, who didn’t look right at all last week after coming back early from a knee injury, for Cincinnati’s Jermaine Gresham. The Bengals offense has been surprisingly solid, and Gresham is putting up nice numbers at the TE position.
With all that being said, let’s see the line up :
QB : Welcome to the team, Curtis Painter. Cincy has played good D this year, but Painter has a nice rapport going with his receivers. I think his expected solid day will beat what Jay Cutler is likely to put up while the Minnesota defensive line smashes him in to pulp. And of course, Matty Ice remains in against Carolina. I haven’t been overly impressed by the Panther defense. And since Carolina likes to throw the ball, and Atlanta’s pass D hasn’t been great either, I suspect Matty gets to pass A LOT to keep his team in the game.
RB – Welcome to the team, Daniel Thomas. He’s probable to play against a Jets defense that has not exactly been its usual run stuffing self. Miami is 0-4, but I don’t see the Jets lighting them up and forcing Miami to pass. Now, IF it is announced tomorrow morning that Washington’s starting running back will be Ryan Torain, it is very possible that he will replace Thomas on the active roster for me. In the other spot, Freddy Jackson. The Giants haven’t looked good on D, so Fred should be his usual awesome self.
WR – Roddy is still in there, and he should benefit from both the extra passing I expect to see from his offense, AND the extra targets he should get with fellow starter Julio Jones out of the line up this week. Branch finally had a decent game last week, and he remains in as the Pats face a Dallas team that can’t stop the pass. Finally, we’ve got Dez Bryant of that Cowboys team stepping in for VJax. The Cowboys are going to have to throw to keep up with the Patriots.
W/T – Mr. Gronkowski remains here. Knowing my luck, Aaron Hernandez will catch all of the passes at the TE position for New England this week.
W/R – Hello, Marques Colston. He’s finally 100% healthy, and a 100% healthy Marques Colston can be a very dangerous thing…particularly when his team is facing a Tampa Bay defense that allowed 48 points to the 49’ers last week.
Q/R/W/T – The Visor remains planted here, as the Rams don’t offer much in the way of anything for pass coverage against him.
K – Welcome back, Dan Bailey! He should get opportunities against New England, while Rian Lindell should be quite active against the Giants.
DEF – Welcome back, Washington! Just in time to have the Skins beat up on a Philly offensive line now down to a 3rd string left tackle and a scrub fill in on the right side. Cincy should get some sacks and the like against the Colts.
I have tried to spy an area to slide Gresham in to, but it isn’t presenting itself this week. Shonn Greene was actually pretty decent last week, but the Miami D still stops the run well.
I’m currently a 2 point underdog, which essentially means Yahoo sees it as neck and neck right now. But the Vikes receiving corps all have tough matchups this week, Romo and Grossman are boom or bust passers, and they have to rely on Peyton Hillis doing something off of the bench.
With a D, a Kicker, Fred Jackson, Gresham, Gronkowski and Branch on Bye next week, this is a critical game.
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