Fantasy Football Preview - Week 4

So the bye weeks are here and that's always a fun time to be watching the waiver wire as teams cut their early season losses and part ways with players who are about to break out or see increased playing time because of injury. Or, more often than not, they're destined to rot away in the Free Agent pile, discarded hopes and expectations of break-out seasons or abandoned 1 man bandwagons - I'm looking at you Josh Morgan.

And in addition to all that, it's pretty tight at the top, with 3 undefeateds remaining and that number will decrease by at least one, as Any Given Sunday dances with the Fantasy Football Devil, Brees be his name. As for the other teams, everyone is trying to claw their way up the latter, fix and fine-tune their roster and navigate through the next 6 weeks of byes as best they can. So let's run down this week's games.

The New Good Ones (2-1) vs. Mr. Scott's F**kUps (0-3)

The New Good Ones lived up to their hype last week, knocking the defending champ from the ranks of the unbeaten, using a mostly aerial attack. QB Philip Rivers put in a solid 20 point performance, but it was the near triple 16s put up by the receivers (Reggie Wayne slacked and only scored 15.5) that is the story. Few teams can count on that sort of production from their pass catchers. Against a tough Titans defense RB Thomas Jones was held to minimal points, but if he can get things going, he and 1st round pick Matt Forte combine with the three wide receigos to make a dangerous opponent for anyone. Also to be noted, K Mason Crosby had double digit points. That said, he's still a kicker. This week the Good Ones will need to flip their formula with 2 of the three receigos on byes, and let Thomas Jones (against the Saints) and Matt Forte (against the Lions) do the majority of the scoring.
On the other side, the F**kUps are coming off a heartbreaking loss to LT Get Outta My Way, who last week squeaked by at the very end for a 3.5 point victory. It was a solid effort from the F**KUps but they'll need to replace injured players like WR Domenik Hixon and DP Brian Urlacher with guys who are going to play on Sunday to maximize their points. The team has made strides though, trading away QB Michael Vick (who I hear was a clubhouse cancer) for RB Cedric Benson, presumably to replace the banged up Ahmad Bradshaw, or the "we get it, you're a gimmick" Reggie Bush. While this doesn't address the aforementioned WR and defensive issues, it shows that the team is moving in the proper direction. QB Eli Manning will face a soft secondary in Kansas City tomorrow and looks to continue to put up, impressive and most importantly, consistent, numbers. If Wes Welker of the Patriots is able to play look for WR Randy Moss to become more lethal and the odds of Terrible Terrell Owens not catching a pass for 2 straight games, is really unlikely. Could the F**kUps up-end the upstart New Good Ones? They're probably just 1 guy short at this point.

Wandering Jews (0-3) vs. LT Get Outta My Way (1-2)

It's been a hard high holidays for the Wandering Jews, who have yet to find themselves a home in winsville. While a questionable decisions, the fact remains that playing Heath Evans was not what caused this team to lose last week. Rather than micromanaging blame on a few players who have suffered with their performance, the Jews need to do a team-wide, top-down, look-over to address their issues if they want to avoid being the last winless team. This week the running game gets re-energized with new and old blood - Glen Coffee, filling in for the injured Frank Gore and LaDanian Tomlinson, filling in for the injured LaDanian Tomlinson. WR Brandon Marshal finally showed up last week, which has to have the Jews breathing a sigh of relief. However, knowing that #1 receiver Marques Colston will likely be matched up with the Jets shut-down Derrell Revis can't inspire too much faith. It appears for the most part that the ground game will need to step up.
LT shocked many in the league last week with their late come from behind win despite 5 zeroes on the board. As much as I hate to say it, the kicker played a big role in the win. But that sort of gimmicky luck is over with. This week LT goes into the game with half a squad, BECAUSE HE STILL NEVER SIGNED UP FOR THE LEAGUE. So basically if the Jews lose this week, I'm seriously going to think about making them forfeit the rest of the season.

NY DAs Office (0-3) vs. Dogs and Guns (2-1)

Last week the DAs office put up more points than every team in the league. Every team except the one they were playing. How's that for a hard luck 0-3? This week they're holding nothing back, after the block buster trade for... Michael Vick? My guess it was more about RB Willis McGahee, but I could be wrong. As Peyton Manning is unlikely to duplicate his 40 point performance this week (I said unlikely, not that it won't happen. C'mon, the Seahawks are bad) the rest of the roster will need to pick up the pace. Giants RB Brandon Jacobs swore to the NY press that he'd increase his yards per carry from the 3.4 that it currently is, by the end of the year, or retire. So, uhm, look out Chiefs. Newly acquired and recently mentioned McGahee gets the sometimes confused looking Patriots defense, so the DAs office will have to hope that they're lost when he gets the carry and not Ray Rice. WR Johnny Knox has started to make a name for himself, and that name is Jackass. No, that's Drew Brees. Anyway, Knox has put together impressive back to back games and now get the Lions. It looks like third times the charm.
But hold on their little lady, the defending champ isn't a one L tool, or fool or stool. No sir, he plans on bouncing back this week, and has some prime matchups to do it with. QB Jay Cutler as earlier indicated with all of this talk about da Bears playing the Lions, will of course be playing against, you guessed it, the Lions. Pencil in 28-33 points. RB Chris Johnson, or my fantasy football man-crush, runs over Jacksonville for 15 - 23. 30 if they forget to cover him like the Texans did. And other than that, the matchups don't look that good. Ronnie Brown was always hard to predict because of the wildcat, but now the Dolphins are sans a real QB so will teams just work on stopping the Wildcat? The Colts don't give up passing touchdowns, and this season T.J. HowdoIgetridofyou doesn't catch them. Nate Burleson has had a good season so far, but is far from the guy you want to rely on. Could it be, back to back losses?

Wide Right (1-2) vs Beer Burgers & Blue (2-1)

Last week Wide Right faced the sting of Drew Brees, although with the sting. Still they were defeated despite Tom Brady putting up more acceptable numbers. RB Steve Slaton however is in the Danger Zone, and not the cool Kenny Loggins one. The one where he's about to become a fantasy bust. This week Slaton faces the Raiders in hopes of reclaiming some value and his pride. However, Wide Right will need to replace injured backfield mate Felix Jones who has been declared out for the game. In the past facing someone like the Ravens defense was little more than an inconvenience for Tom Brady. Perhaps his point total would dip slightly. But given the relatively inconsistent performances so far, Wide Right has to be anxiously watching the Brady Bunch's performance to get a fix on his starting QB. TE Kellen Winslow has done relatively little of late, but is expected to be a major contributor this week, and Wide Right will need him.
Last week most things were clicking for BBB, well except for WR Calvin Johnson still not getting into the endzone, WR Wes Welker still being injured, replacement WR Laurent Robinson getting injured and Bernard Berrian being mostly useless. However, decent games from RBs Steven Jackson and Ray Rice were overshadowed by the arc de triumf return of pre-season bandwagon master Pierre Thomas. With Rice falling more and more into a timeshare with Willis McGahee, Thomas assumes his rightful starting position this week alongside Steven Jackson. Matt Schaub has shaken off week 1 and looks to be all of the bargain QB that Beer Burgers & Blue was hoping he would be. If Welker can play this team show it's true form with recently acquired Frenchman Pierre Garcon replacing Bernard Berrian, and putting the band back together TE Todd Heap returns to do what Zach Miller couldn't.

And now, this week's game of the week. It's the battle of the unbeatens...

Any Given Sunday (3-0) vs The Breakfast Club (featuring Drew Brees) (3-0)

Despite being in Texas for the Austin City Limits festival, which people have improperly abbreviated to ACL - the 3 most feared letters in sports - Sunday has been up on her roster. Or at least that will be her first excuse if a loss results. Depending on mood this could reveal itself as a "damn, I should have paid more attention" or "Bob, why didn't you tell me that such and such was hurt" type of response. Or the much more kurt and typically out of nowhere, "whatever, I had the best time at [insert non-fantasy football thing here]. We saw all these awesome bands and were out all night so I didn't have time to check my team. You need to spend less time on your team and get out more." Which generally leaves the recipient scrathing his head in the familiar "what the hell just happened?" pose. Anyway, if Sunday wants to stake claim to the top of the mountain QB Aaron Rodgers and RB Adrian Peterson will have to conquer their common demon - Brett Favre. For the first time ever Rodgers lines up against the man who kept him under thumb, who was so loved in Green Bay that Packer fans actually booed Rodgers while Brett contemplated retirement/playing again. And Peterson has to contend with Favre likely wanting to whip the ball around the field and show off in front of the organization whose heart he literally pulled from their chest (a la Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom) and stomped on with his cleats. Of course, the question of whether or not they can do that makes the supporting cast all that much more crucial. RB Leon Washington does figure to get a decent number of touches as the Jets try to wear down or keep up with the high powered Saints offense. Really it could go either way. WR dartboard Santana Moss is in the lineup a week after having a good game, that usually means a disappointing one this week. TE Antonio Gates becomes a crucial weapon for Sunday as he may be able to roam free against the Steelers with all pro safety Troy "How's my hair?" Polamalu still sidelined.
Meanwhile the Breakfast Club looks to stay unbeaten and heavily favored this week, as Drew Brees tries to rebound from a human performance last week. However, he will get Rex Ryan's Jet's defense who blitzed Tom Brady like he was England in WWII. Will Brees be able to hold out? Or will he crumble like the French? RBs Ryan Grant and Darren Sproles each face tough rushing opponents this week, the Vikings and Steelers leaving things to the WRs. Chad Johnson (I'm officially done with the Ochocinco nonsense), Andre Johnson and Jerricho Cotchery - one of these things, doesn't belong here, now it's time to play our game. It's time to play our game. Cotchery has quickly become one of rookie QB Mark Sanchez's favorite targets and will likely need to pick up some production if the only Raider worth mentioning, Nnamdi Asomaghau (also it's fun to say his name) does his job on Andre Johnson. Recently acquired TE Vernon Davis will have his work cut-out for him, trying to go catch for catch and yard for yard with Gates, but Davis has emerged as the only real passing weapon for QB Shaun Hill, again, thank you Josh Morgan, and with Frank Gore out, Mike Singletary may be thinking about airing it out to the once and future phenomenal freak of the combine.

In the end, this one is going to be fun to watch. With most of the big names going on Monday night, be sure to get some popcorn, turn on the game and keep your laptop nearby as the scores update, and the tears fall.