Around the web o' crap

Below par edition of East Coast Offense this week, punctuated by a recommendation to go out and grab Kellen Clemens along with this:

Lee Evans will make a major impact as the season goes on, no matter who's playing quarterback.

Yes, he'll make a major impact to your roster if you continue to start him. Last I checked, owners don't get points for the # of times he was a decoy.

He also goes out a limb (no, really, that wasn't sarcasm) with this prediction:

At least one of Reggie Brown, D.J. Hackett or Mark Clayton will have a big second half of the season.

Of course, I could just be bitter because he offers no help with my suicide pool, recommending the Ravens, whom I already used in Week 2 against the Jets.

Then there's this 'article' on MSN FoxSports. The author pretty much set himself up to fail, though, with this openning:

Being a fantasy geek isn't easy.

... and writing about it is even harder for you, it seems. Even the usual gang of FoxSports commenters have passed on this article as 'too easy', it seems (only one comment yet the article's a day old).

Then there's the usual stuff from CBS Sportsline. For example:

One-week sleeper: Reggie Brown (at NYJ). This is the week Brown gets going. He only has eight catches for 81 yards this season and no touchdowns. But coming off the bye, look for the Eagles to start getting Brown more involved in the offense.

We talked about the 'shouldas', 'couldas' and 'wouldas', right?

Also, McNabb is their 'Start of the Week' (another 'Frick on a Stick with a Brick' moment for me, since I have him in my most important league) and they recommend starting Brian Griese, figuring that since CHI can't run on MIN, they'll throw and throw and throw. The logic is sound, I admit, but remember the QB in question IS Brian Griese. I would look for other options first. (Full disclosure: I'm starting one of the CHI TEs on Sunday, just not sure which one, yet). Sticking with the Second City, Cedric Benson is their 'Sit of the Week', which I DO agree with.

Buyer beware

All the cliches I warned about around Week 1 can be found in this latest Pickup of the Week column at Yahoo.

Recommending a WR b/c he's 'small and fast' and/or is 'the man'? Check (Dennis Northcutt - a two-fer!).

Citing obscure stats? Check (so what if WAS is giving up a lot of catches to RBs; should you still plug-n-play Vernand Morency?).

Still, it's a much easier read than MSN FoxSports' Roger Rotter's latest shotgun blast o' analysis.

Just be careful out there, okay?

You'd think I'd have learned by now

Decided to start Marion Barber over Kenton Keith yesterday. Part of the 'problem' is that I wasn't going to have PC access around 3:30 when the word on Addai should've come down and I wanted to be safe.

Instead, I should've realized that I made the same mistake before and started a visting player going into the hostile environment only a primetime game can bring. Barber didn't have a BAD game, but he didn't have a great one, either.

Last year it was starting Mark Clayton in Cincinatti on a Thursday night rather than TJ. This year, at least, it didn't cost me the win (although the extra points could be needed for tiebreakers later).

Pet Peeve and best... Yahoo!... article... ever

Anyone else sick of Yahoo! having the little icon next to a player that means 'new news', only to click on it merely to learn that "x has been nominated for y award"?

Yeah, me too.

They make up for it with this edition of East Coast Offense, which I couldn't find a link to and instead had to Google it. Best line:

when you get things totally wrong, (as you no doubt will) you should doubt yourself. Don't immediately substitute another set of stupid assumptions for your previous mistaken ones. The process by which you choose your new assumptions is the same flawed one. Keep a very loose grip on what you think.

Sit of the Week: Frank Gore?

Frank Gore is CBS Sportsline's 'Sit of the Week'. They point to his numbers not being where they were a year ago at this time and to the downgrade in QB.

The way I see it, though, if you drafted Gore, your 2nd RB is probably someone like MoJo Drew, Thomas Jones, Cedric Benson (all underachievers), Reggie Bush (ditto BUT will get more carries), Rudi Johnson (bye), Willis McGahee (has the yds but few TDs) or maybe even a Marion Barber III. MBIII is the only one I'd start over Gore.

Yes, the 49ers are playing the Ravens, but their D isn't elite as in the past. Baltimore doesn't have a great offense, so the 49ers should find themselves with the ball often. SOMEONE has to carry the offense and it's not Trent Dilfer. I can definitely see Gore putting the team on his back with 75+ yds rushing, 40+ yds receiving and 1 or 2 total TDs.

Justal Pittgas

I simply do not have the time to link to every article stating that you need need NEED to go out and claim either Michael Pittman or, to a lesser extent, Justin Fargas.

As you can probably guess from the title, I'm not really all that impressed with either. Pittman has burned me a number of times over my short FFB career, either as a waiver wire pickup or as a draftee. I seem to recall a game where he ended up benched in favor of someone named Jamel Cook (correct me if I'm wrong).

Fargas, well, give the experts credit for having a little common sense. They'll acknowledge that Dominic Rhodes is due back in Week 6, but they're still a little too high on Huggy Bear's son. Fargas has done this for a couple of years now - take over in the fourth quarter and run well (after the primary back wore down the D for 3+ quarters). He never looks as good again.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go put a waiver claim in on Kenton Keith to backup Joseph Addai *sigh*.

Lesson Learned (the hard way)

Learned about an hour ago that Yahoo! won't let you add a player for the current day's game. When I learned that Maroney wasn't going to play, I tried to add Sammy Morris for tonight and couldn't.

Memo to self: be pro-active and add him the night before.