Ten for Tuesday: Week 9 Fantasy Football Review

Unfortunately, this is the Wednesday version of 10 for Tuesday, this one took a back seat to some other articles I had to throw up for Tuesday’s publishing, but don’t you worry, like cheese and Barry Bonds, it only got better with time….

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6 to 7 coaches need to watch Peyton Manning and the Colts execute a game plan on any given week. Maybe then guys like John Fox, whomever is calling plays in Buffalo, Jack Del Rio, Tom Coughlin and company, and a couple other team decision makers can see what it’s like to stick to a plan. If anything, the Colts know who they are and they go after it. Watching Peyton break out into a no-huddle, so a linebacker would have to continue guarding Dallas Clark, was awesome. What a smart team….    The Giants use of Brandon Jacobs pissed me off more than anything else. How can you be at the end of a close game and looking at a box score that shows Jacobs has just 11 carries for 67 yards? Who is the tool shed that decided Jacobs’ 6 yards per carry were just too damn efficient to be used 15 more times? I just don’t get it…..   How about the Cowboys forcing the ball to Roy Williams all day in Philly? I wish that had backfired. That kind of middle school, make everybody happy by giving them the ball, get everyone in, type of crap, especially in the freaking NFL, is a joke. Fortunately, Miles Austin didn’t mind one bit and when the game was on the line, Austin did work and won the game for Dallas. It’s still clown work…..

Vince Young is a winner, sorry if you don’t like it. You have to give a guy his credit, and Vince, from the very start, came in and won football games. Sure, he’s had his troubles, he might not be the most mentally tough player in the league, and he might feel as entitled as a spoiled little rich kid, but when it comes to football, VY wins games. Even his accuracy has been solid. He’ll never blow you away with numbers, but he is a threat to run and teams have to be aware of that. That’s one more thing to think about, and so far, it’s one too many things for opponents to think about…. The Green Bay Packers offensive line is good at run-blocking. They are bad at pass blocking. Aaron Rodgers is an accurate missile thrower but he holds the ball too long. What does all that add up to? Run the damn ball. If the Packers ran to set up the pass, or at least ran the ball consistently early in games, Aaron would be able to use the play action pass to his advantage. He could hold the ball long and probably live a long productive life. The way it’s going now, he’s going to be in a cast or two watching Matt Flynn running the show….   That whole Chad Johnson business is ridiculous. That’s right, I’m just going to call him Chad Johnson like I’d call Drew Bledsoe, chump – because it makes me feel better than typing incorrect Spanish mashed together into one awkward name. He probably knew he’d get fined. He definitely didn’t think a dollar was getting him anywhere. He obviously was just having a good time with it. But this is the no fun league. What really gets my taco-loving-goat is that it’s his interview afterward, using the word “BRIBE” that is the main reason why he’s going to be disciplined. Holy shit. What the hell do you call what he was pretending to do? The fact that grown men can be so butt-tossed over the use of a no-no word sounds a little too much like “The Village” to me, or if you’re looking for a good move, “Harry Potter” will do. So if he had said, “I just wanted to hand the official a dollar to see what I could get for a dollar” he’d be okay? The fine would be cut in half? Dumb….

If Vernon Davis walked up to me and said “Click, Clack” I might pull out my wallet and “See what I could get for a dollar”. The guy is nasty. He takes hits like it’s his job to prove how much bigger and badder he is then the next guy. And you know what, that is his job. And you know what, he is probably bigger and badder than the next guy. It has been refreshing to see his transformation into a big time NFL player. People always gave him a really hard time, but the kid has always been super competitive and a very hard worker, he just needed a little help with directing his attitude. Done and done…. Mike Sellers was the Redskins leading receiver against the Falcons. You heard me. A team that has traded, drafted, and signed receiver after receiver went to Mike Sellers enough to make him the leading receiver. What else, Jason Cambell probably attempted one pass over fifteen yards. The kid has a big arm, they have a speed demon that is known for making big plays down-field in Santana Moss. They have Devin Thomas who is one big, fast, s.o.b. They have Malcom Kelly who can make some plays in single coverage. And Randle El has been known to make a thing or two happen down field. This team has no idea what they are….. I’m pretty sure JaMarcus Russell and Derek Anderson had a QB competition during the bye and Russell lost. Anderson’s reward? He doesn’t have to play in front of people anymore. JaMarcus Russell’s response, “I did pretty good, completed a couple passes, I really can’t ask for more than finishing second, second is pretty solid. You know, it’s hard when you have to look through a tunnel.” True…..  Cedric Benson, I’m sorry for anything bad I ever said about you. You win. Just before the season, some schmuck in my Dynasty Fantasy Football league traded Steve Slaton away to get Cedric Benson. That was it. Benson for Slaton. I was outraged. “How could you be so dumb?” I asked again and again. Well, I think Slaton is a stud, and I’m sorry that Gary Kubiak has gone all Mike “Splinter” Shanahan on the poor kid, but even if Slaton wasn’t being benched for the elite services of Ryan Moats and Chris Brown, I think I would take back the whole, “How stupid can you be?” question. The question I’m asking now is, “How did you know? And what else do you see in that crystal ball?”

Fantasy Focus Review: Week 9 Fantasy Football

Uh oh, could it be? Heading into Monday Night’s game, it’s looking like la familia might take their first loss in Week 9 – Calling Josh to let him know, and in a sneaky way, try to jinx him, I get this message. “I’m probably here, looking at my phone, seeing you’re calling to try and jinx me. But I won’t let it happen you sneaky S.O.B. If the stars align, I’ll be calling you later tonight to gloat. Oh, and if this is someone that has no idea what I’m talking about, sorry, leave a message for Josh and I’ll get back to you.” Awesome. Aside from that, I made some solid fantasy calls this week, hopefully helping you out on your way to Week 9 glory. Here’s how the week went down.

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Elite Starters: Guys picked early that I love this week…

1. Maurice Jones Drew –MJD was only 8th amongst backs, 21 fantasy points weren’t bad, but KC did well. B
2. Tom Brady – Brady was 7th overall, not bad, but not Kurt Warner or anything. B-
3. Larry Fitzgerald – Larry finished as the Top Fantasy player in Week 9. That’s good enough for me! A+
4. Reggie Wayne– He was only 19th in the WR race, his interception wounded duck dropped him a notch. C
5. Pierre Thomas– Thomas finished 9th, which was pretty good for a time share back. Good work in Week 9. B+

Solid Starters: Guys picked in middle rounds that should outplay their ranking/draft position this week…

1. Matt Hasselbeck – He was the 8th rated QB of Week 9, not a great week, but solid. I expected more. B
2. Steve Smith (NYG) – 10th WR this week for Smith, a nice go around, back to being solid. B+
3. Ryan Grant – 96 yards and a score for Grant, but the Packers still needed to run the ball more. B+
4. Mike Sims-Walker – Mike shined in the Jaguars win, catching 6 balls and rocking them for 140+ yards. A
5. Ahmad Bradshaw –27th running back overall this week, Bradshaw was shut down. D

Sleeper Starters: Guys ranked low, drafted low or not at all, but I still like them this week…

1. Nate Burleson – Outscored by Housh, but by just a single point. Burleson was Top 20 in Week 9. B+
2. Julius Jones – 7th running back this week, that’s what I’m talking about. A
3. Steve Breaston – Breast was tied for 10th amongst WRs for Week 9, a great play. A
4. Alex Smith – Tied for 8th amongst QBs, a nice play in Week 9. Smith has nice confidence this time around. A-
5. Jamal Charles – 24th running back this week, Charles didn’t get the touches I expected, but decent flex play. C+

Sit ‘Em Son: I don’t care where they were drafted, I don’t like these guys starting this week…

1. LaDainian Tomlinson– 22 yards rushing for LT, no scores, you’re welcome! A
2. Antonio Bryant– Late scratch, hopefully you took my advice and were sitting him anyway. A
3. Roy Williams – Best yardage game in some times, 5 catches for 75 wasn’t great, but better than I expected. D+
4. Steve Smith (CAR)– 33rd receiver this week, I feel bad for Steve his talent is elite, his QB not so much. B+
5. Matt Forte– Matt had a decent day in a PPR league, like these rankings, he finished 11th amongst fantasy backs in Week 9, but it was his 5 grabs and 75 receiving yards that moved him up the list, not his 33 rushing yards. C-

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Week 9 Fantasy Rankings

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Well, that’s that, Josh takes the crown this week and he’d like to dedicate his performance to a couple things. A – The Kyle Orton-Arm Strength Surgery fund (That’s KO-ASS), and B- the Darkness. I finished second, but Josh rocked three #1 spots this week and took the crown easily. We had some close match-ups, he got me by a point a couple times, but he had the right stuff in Week 9 – doing work in the darkness!

Who did we miss this week? For TEs, Greg Olsen busted out a career week with 3 touchdowns, 5 catches and 71 yards taking the top spot. Brandon Petitgrew made his first appearance in the Top 5, as the 4th TE this time around. Nobody thought the Bucs would stick it to the Packers, and even fewer people thought Tampa would rock Aaron Rodgers early and often and put up big time defensive points. But they did, and they took the top D spot. The Titans finished 3rd. People gave up on Mike Sims-Walker after a bad performance last week, but he was 3rd this time around. Hines Ward was 4th. And ready for this, Chris Chambers walked into Kansas City and put up 70 yards and 2 touchdowns on 3 catches for the Chiefs, good for 5th amongst WRs in Week 9. We had everybody in the Top 5 RB rankings besides Joseph Addai, who caught and rushed for a TD in a tight Colts win over Houston. As for QBs, nobody had the balls to go with Josh Freeman, the Tampa rookie that torched the Packers for 3 touchdowns in his first career start. Matt Cassel also did work, finishing 4th amongst QBs. Big Ben also got into the Top 5 with his Monday Night performance.

Big ups to Josh Arsenault, somebody had to steal the crown, his performance did the job admirably!

Ask Papa Weimer: Week 9 Fantasy Football Advice

It’s been a long week already, and this damn thing is only Thursday -when will Sunday get here? A smart ass might tell me that it will be here right after Thursday and Friday get done with their business, but the nice thing about being old is you can swing and or throw things at people who are being smart asses and you basically get the “he’s old, he can get away with being a rowdy-rabble-rouser” free pass. So that three times fast. It’s a nice card to have, the “I’m old” card, it works for some many instances and really means so many things. Flirting with any good looking girl in any situation, no problem, I’m old. Yeah, it’s not all bad. But it’s true, I mean, I’ve made it this far, give a guy some credit. Plus, my memory isn’t what it once was, I can’t beat people at as many things, and not everything works all the time. But that still does. Keep it up, see if I don’t use my old person card on a left jab freebie. Okay, so you know the deal, already I’ve spent too much time polluting your eyes and minds with oldness extreme. Write in your questions to… papaweimer50@hotmail.com. I’ll answer them as promptly as possible, and if it’s useful to the masses I’ll put them up here in my weekly column. Dream big, penguins!

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David from the Midwest asks, “Should I try to get M Floyd or James Jones as a WR? What about this Moats thing? I have Slaton. Should I try to get Moats? I can’t believe they will bench Slaton especially after they lost Daniels. Is he trying to send a message? What have you been hearing?”

Boy tough deal, I’m also a Slaton owner and it’s hard to say. You’d think they wouldn’t completely give up on their second most explosive playmaker – especially after all he meant to this team going down the stretch last season – and I think he was definitely sending a message, obviously he doesn’t think Slaton is a poor player, but then again, Ryan Moats made the most of his opportunity, and it’s not like Slaton has been a stud running the ball this year. I think you and I are looking at a semi-running back by committee unless Moats’ success was due mainly to playing one of the worst defenses in the league. Obviously Slaton is a talented cat, and I agree, I couldn’t imagine he doesn’t get more than an equal share. But coaches have done crazier poop, and this Kubiak cat is from the Shanahan tree, we all know how easily that guy killed fantasy running backs. That being said, if you have an extra roster spot, Moats might be a safe play for you. I know my team is too good to get him off waivers, lots of people are ahead of me and I think he’ll be gone. As for Floyd or Jones, I actually like Jones as a player a lot more, but Floyd should be the surefire #2 in San Diego, and he has produced when given the chances. I think he’s the better option moving forward, though there’s a better player with a better skill-set that possesses all the things Floyd has (size, hands, etc) starting opposite him, in Vincent Jackson. I don’t think the Packers will use James Jones to his talents, so I’d go with Floyd and hope his increased playing time makes him a startable option.

Mike in Los Angeles types, “I have Ronnie Brown and DeAngelo Williams starting, but in my flex spot, should I start Clinton Portis, Kevin Smith, or Beanie Wells? The second flex spot is occupied by Alex Smith (with Favre on bye) – good idea to bench A. Smith and start two of the three RBs (I think not, with A. Smith vs. league’s worst pass D)?”

Thanks for the email. Thought the Titans secondary played pretty well last week in shutting down what had been a pretty efficient passing attack in Jacksonville, I’m just going to write that off as Jack Del Rio having too much input in the Jaguars offense, and continue to expect Tennessee to have trouble stopping the pass. I think Alex Smith is a good play there, especially considering the fact that quarterbacks are more of a sure thing than any other position. As for your other flex spot, I think Kevin Smith has the best match-up because the Hawks seem to struggle against physical runners, and Smith is physical. The Hawks have struggled a lot, especially with injuries, so beating them up on the ground seems like the best move. But you have to make sure Kevin Smith is playing. He got dinged up a bit last week, so check back later in the week to make sure he’s good to go. If he’s healthy, he’s the play. If not, I think I’d go with Clinton Portis and just hope and hope that the Redskins got it together during the bye week and will come out and feed their best player the ball. I don’t think Bennie Wells is a bad play, he could be solid, I just think he’s risky because with the Cardinals he could rush for 7 yards a carry but only get 5 carries – you know – because they run a circus offense. At the very least you know Washington wants to run the ball, and Atlanta’s rush defense is ranked in the bottom of the league. Hope that helps, good luck this weekend!

Bill Stanley (CUP) from Canada says, “I know I’m in Canada rocking a maple leaf and all, but I still have love for good old NFL Football – nothing quite like it. Anyway, I haven’t gotten into fantasy football yet, but I do rock a couple survivor pools. Now I’ve already gotten rid of Baltimore, Washington (crazy, eh), Green Bay, Indianapolis, Eagles, Steelers, Patriots, and Chargers – what do you think about taking Seattle at home against Detroit? Thanks in advance!”

Oh the maple leaf. You know, I can dig Canada. The universal health care, good people, hockey fools crushing skulls, even that mayonaise thing on random foods doesn’t gross me out too much – but nothing is worse than your world travelers. If there was ever a more annoying group of proud maple leaf Canadian flag representing guys, I haven’t found them. Now, you are good people, no doubt, but goodness, I’ve seen more maple leafs on 10 Canadian traveler’s bags than I’ve seen other flags on the hundreds of back-packs I’ve seen from all other countries. I got it, you guys are proud to be Canadian, you’re not from America, okay – but goodness, they’re running out of maple leaf patches! Okay, rant over, sorry, once again, appreciate hockey, good people, nice movie theaters, pretty hot girls, free health care – I can deal with the flag thing I guess. As for your answer, I think the Hawks are a ballsy pick, but they should win. I would probably go with Atlanta at home against Washington. I know the Falcons can play up and down, but they need this win bad, and they played really well against the Saints on Monday Night. This is a short week’s rest for Atlanta, but Washington is too icky to figure it out coming off a bye. Another option would be Jaguars – but again, that’s just as ballsy as Seattle, and I actually think the Chiefs could wheel an upset here if the stars align right. You can stick with Seattle, a decent choice and probably a team you won’t feel comfortable taking too often as the season moves forward – but I think Hot-Lanta is the safer pick in Week 9.

Fantasy Focus: Week 9 NFL Fantasy Football Rankings

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The Fantasy Title stayed in house last week, Papa took the top spot but I finished way down at the bottom, and we all know there’s no room for that moving forward. There are some pretty stark differences in our rankings this week, so check them out and see if you can’t find something good to grab at. First thing’s first, you won’t find Jake Delhomme in anybody’s Top 5 – as for the rest, check it out below!

Elite Starters: Guys picked early that I love this week…

1. Maurice Jones Drew – He obviously needs to touch the ball more, KC wishes he wouldn’t.
2. Tom Brady – The Dolphins have a solid front 7, but Tom will be picking on that back four…
3. Larry Fitzgerald – WRs are often tough to predict, but hard not to see Fitz having a big day against the Bears.
4. Reggie Wayne– His awesome routes and great hands, Peyton’s elite accuracy, Reg is basically unstoppable.
5. Pierre Thomas– PT wasn’t a high draft pick, but the guy is a flat out stud and should have a big day against Carolina.

Solid Starters: Guys picked in middle rounds that should outplay their ranking/draft position this week…

1. Matt Hasselbeck – Had surprisingly good numbers last week for how bad the Hawks played. Enter Detroit….
2. Steve Smith (NYG) – Has lost some of that early season luster, but I bet he’s back in action against San Diego.
3. Ryan Grant – Grant should have a big time day against the Bucs, but you’re relying on the Packers actually running the ball.
4. Mike Sims-Walker – After a disappointing Week 8 against a shady pass defense, I think Mike steps back up in Week 9.
5. Ahmad Bradshaw –I like Bradshaw’s chances for big plays against San Diego’s porous defense.

Sleeper Starters: Guys ranked low, drafted low or not at all, but I still like them this week…

1. Nate Burleson – It’s killing me in a couple leagues, but Nate is a better play than T.J. Housh…
2. Julius Jones – He’s not consistent, but he’s the best option the Hawks have, and they will run on Detroit.
3. Steve Breaston – Boobs should be a great play against the Bears, I think Boldin might sit this one out.
4. Alex Smith – Risky? Maybe, but Alex should have some room to throw against the Titans secondary.
5. Jamal Charles – Here come the Jaguars and their run defense, Charles finally gets his shot with LJ out.

Sit ‘Em Son: I don’t care where they were drafted, I don’t like these guys starting this week…

1. LaDainian Tomlinson– I think Sproles will get a little more play in this one, the Giants should be tough on LT.
2. Antonio Bryant– Rookie quarterback, tough corners that play physical, bad day for Bryant.
3. Roy Williams – Still the number one receiver? Not on my fantasy team, that’s for sure.
4. Steve Smith (CAR)– Saints are smart enough to role all coverage to Steve, he should struggle for fantasy points in NO.
5. Matt Forte– Oh Matt, how do you like Jay Cutler now? Arizona’s run D is tough sledding.

***Another Big Bye in Week 9: don’t play Bills, Browns, Raiders (not that you would), Rams, Vikings, or Jets! Mind the mighty Gap!!!

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Week 9 Fantasy Rankings

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