This Week’s Top Team: 129 points… This is the best week of the season – the whole Tom Brady thing is where I went right, but there was still one donkey puncher out there… Check out my sleepers – I put out one hell of a fantasy performance there. Also, I killed it in my “bench em” section, as even the high scoring Giant receiver didn’t put much up.QB: Tom Brady vs. Miami: 50 points for Brady. Yes, it’s possible. Rare for a quarterback, but in a 6 point TD league, with a bonus here and there for long passes to amazingly good receivers, Tom did the dirty half-century mark right in. Tom’s 354 yards, flawless passing, and 6 TDs were a fantasy quarterback’s best this season. So it’s only down hill from here.
RB: Thomas Jones vs. Cincinnati: Thomas Jones, on the other hand, was a pile in Week 7, despite going head to head versus a terrible Bengals defense. New York scored a lot, and needed to pound the clock to keep Palmer and company off the field, but Jones couldn’t get going for what seems like the 6th week this season. Ugh. 67 yards, 6 points.
RB: Larry Johnson vs. Oakland: LJ finished with 19 fantasy points, good for 2nd in the league this weekend. He had 112 yards rushing, 20+ receiving, and a touchdown on the ground. Not a big day for running backs, but I’ll take the #2 guy any week.
WR: T.J Houshmandzadeh vs. N.Y. Jets: Housh had one of his least productive days of the season, but still put up 40 yards and another touchdown. 10 points from my receiver, I’ve had worse.
WR: Chad Johnson vs. NY Jets: Chad had 11 points, reeling in a bunch of yards without a score. The Bengals didn’t torch the Jets through the air as much as I thought they’d have to, because Kenny Watson was doing work, he went for 3 TDs, stealing TD dance thunder from Chad.
TE: Jason Witten vs. Minnesota: “I think Witten will go for about 100 yards, and maybe even a score.” (Me) Well, he had the most yards amongst tight ends, going for 86, just under my prediction, but Witten disappointed fantasy owners by not bringing in a touchdown. He’s a TE, 8 points is a nice day for this group.
K: Matt Bryant vs. Detroit: Bryant only had 1 FG and an extra point – his 40+ yarder made it a 5 point day for my kicker. These padded soccer players are killing me this year, go ahead and fade me on kickers…
D: Redskins vs. Cardinals: The Skins didn’t get to tear Tim Rattay a new one, as Kurt Warner elected to start. That didn’t make me too happy, but the Skins still finished 5th amongst defenses, putting up 20 points in my league that rewards solid defensive play.
LUCKY’S Week 7 SLEEPERS
Chad Pennington: Say what you will about Chad Pennington, but I put him up as a sleeper, and sure enough, he came through in fine fashion. Chad dealt out the 5th best days amongst fantasy quarterbacks, can’t say much bad about that. 26 pts and an A+ for me.
Jeff Garcia: Sticking with my A+ theme in the sleeper quarterback zone, Garcia finished 6th amongst signal callers and hooked me up with 21 fantasy points. That’s better than either of the Mannings or a Brees….
Maurice Jones-Drew: JD had 12 fantasy points, good for 13th overall – but the Jaguars fell behind early, and despite getting a fair amount of touches, Drew fell short of my expectations. Still, 12 points, and a Top 15 RB finish is pretty solid for a sleeper – so I’ll take a B-.
Brandon Jacobs: Jacobs finished 6th overall this week, as he reached the century mark for the 2nd straight week. He also tacked on a touchdown, making those who listened to me a smart group. A+
LenDale White: The guy they call “Chubs” was putting in work on Sunday. Talk about grinding it out, White had 27 carries to get him 104 yards (the yards were tough to come by when the Titans were running out the clock) and his 4 catches netted him 22 yards as well. The goal-line back grabbed a touchdown to boot, and he nabbed a #4 spot in this week’s running back rankings. A+
Laurence Maroney: Maroney didn’t get starter’s carries, and I was once again fooled by the Patriot running situation. LM did take 6 carries for 31 yards, and looked good in his limited action, but if you were fooled like I was, I’m sincerely sorry. F
Roddy White: White was clicking on some deep balls from Byron Leftwich, catching all 8 balls thrown his way, for 110 yards and a touchdown. Good for #5 amongst wide receivers. That’s what I’m talking about – A+
Greg Olsen: Olsen reeled in a couple passes for 46 yards, which wasn’t bad for TE’s but not the big sleeper stats I was looking for, really. C
Seattle’s DST: My sleeper pick was #1 overall – that’s a good thing, and that’s worth an A++ – championship. And wow, those Rams are even worse offensively than I thought.
LUCKY’S Week 7 Splinter-Butts (bench him, son)
Cleo Lemon: Lemon had just 12 fantasy points, and that was because of a big rushing touchdown that netted him half his stats. He played a little better than I thought, but he ranked 19th overall, making him not worth a start. Give me a B for this one.
Ahman Green: Green had 30+ rushing and 30+ receiving, but didn’t do much else. He got 6 fantasy points this week, finishing out of the Top 20. B+
Cedric Benson: Benson had 46 rushing yards and 5 total fantasy points – if you sat him like I suggested, you did the smart thing. B+
Javon Walker: Walker didn’t play, so this was an easy win for me. Apparently, the former Packer will be out of his Bronco digs for about another month. A
Plaxico Burress: “Either Plax has been playing too well or Nate Clements will be on him all day long. Either way, Plax is ready to bring it down a notch, those 8 touchdowns are a little out of the ordinary. Plus, the Giants will run the ball a lot against SF.” (Me) What can I say, when I call ’em good, I call ’em good. I was suggesting a benching of one of the hottest receivers in the game, and if you did, it paid off, Burress had 40 yards, and that’s it. A+