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Fantasy Football Week 4 Preview

LA Redskins (Yahoo PB.com league—PPR PPC scoring)

Main change this week was picking up Pierre Thomas from the waiver pool to cover Joseph Addai’s bye week. I dropped Ray Rice to make room for Thomas. With the Saints using Thomas so much in the red zone, he figures to get minimal yards but have a decent chance of putting up 6.

QB Philip Rivers (SD - QB)
WR Braylon Edwards (Cle - WR)
WR Anquan Boldin (Ari - WR)
RB Pierre Thomas (NO RB)
RB Thomas Jones (NYJ - RB)
TE Owen Daniels (Hou - TE)
W/R Jerricho Cotchery (NYJ - WR)
K Matt Prater (Den-K)
DST Tennessee (Ten-D)

BN Marvin Harrison (Ind - WR) BYE
BN David Patten (NO-WR)
BN Ray Rice (Bal-RB) Joseph Addai (Ind - RB) BYE
BN Baltimore (Bal - DEF)
BN Brett Favre (NYJ - QB)
BN Randy McMichael (StL - TE)

We’ve climbed from 8th to 4th. If Edwards finally gets untracked, Rivers stays hot against a banged up Oakland defense, and Thomas gets enough red zone touches, we could have another big week. With Harrison out for Indy’s bye week and Patten dinged up, there really are no viable alternatives to the projected starting lineup given my existing bench. So no big questions here this week.

Redbruins (Yahoo public league—standard scoring)

QB Carson Palmer (Cin - QB)
WR Eddie Royal (Den - WR)
WR Chris Chambers (SD - WR)
WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Cin - WR)
RB Darren McFadden (Oak - RB)
RB Marion Barber (Dal - RB)
TE Randy McMichael (StL - TE)
K Martin Gramatica (NO – K)
DEF Chicago (Chi - DEF)

BN Eli Manning (NYG - QB) BYE
BN LJ Smith (Phi-TE) John Carlson (Sea-TE) BYE
BN Joseph Addai (Ind - RB) BYE
BN Felix Jones (Dal - RB)
BN Bobby Engram (Sea - WR)
BN Matt Schaub (Hou - QB) Brandon Lloyd (Chi- WR)

I needed major lineup surgery this week as three of my starters are on their bye week. Cincinnati sort of bounced back last week, so starting Palmer and, especially, Houshmandzadeh (20 fantasy points last week) was an easy call. In fact, I decided to drop under-performing Houston QB Matt Schaub and replace him with Bobby Engram. Engram should be back in week 5 and, at the least, should give me some nice bye week protection. I also climbed on the Brandon Lloyd bandwagon, dropping Roy Williams to make room for Lloyd. Williams has under performed, plays for a team that looks good only in comparison to the Rams and Chiefs, and is a whiner. With my luck, he’ll bounce back big, but I like Engram and Lloyd to out perform him going forward. In any case, I’ve finally got a solid bench at the WR spot where I have to start 3 guys every week.

In light of Carlson’s bye week and Smith’s back injury, I went back to Randy McMichael as the best available TE. Once Seattle comes off the bye, however, he goes straight back to the bench.

I thought about starting Lloyd over Chambers or Royal, but Chambers has been gold in the red zone despite having surprisingly few touches and I like both the Chambers v. Oakland secondary and the Royal v. KC secondary matchups better than the Lloyd v. Philadelphia matchup.

As of late Friday afternoon, the opposition’s starting line up consists of David Garrard (Jac - QB), Terrell Owens (Dal - WR), Vincent Jackson (SD - WR), Braylon Edwards (Cle - WR), Willie Parker (Pit - RB), Jamal Lewis (Cle - RB), Jason Witten (Dal - TE), Neil Rackers (Ari - K), and Buffalo (Buf - DEF). My most (only?) significant advantage is at RB. His backup RBs are both on their bye week, so the question is whether he’ll drop somebody to pick up a replacement for Parker.

So here’s the big question: Darren McFadden or Felix Jones? Last week McFadden had 17 touches, while Jones had only 7. OTOH, the Raiders have announced that McFadden will be a game time decision in light of his continuing turf toe problems.

Bruinskins (Fox—Standard scoring)

QB Drew Brees (NO-QB)
RB Steven Jackson (St L-RB)
RB Maurice Jones-Drew (Jac-RB)
R/W Pierre Thomas (NO-RB)
WR Andre Johnson (Hou-WR)
WR Bryant Johnson (SF-WR)
TE Chris Cooley (Wash-TE)
K Jon Kasay (Car-K)
DST Tampa Bay Philadelphia

BN Jason Campbell (Wash-QB)
BN Matt Cassel (NE-QB)
BN Julius Jones (Sea-RB) BYE
BN Wes Welker (NE-WR) BYE
BN Matt Jones (Jac-WR) Brandon Lloyd (Chi-WR)
BN Jerome Shockey (NO-TE) INJ

Notice that the Lloyd bandwagon rolled into Bruinskins land too, sending Jones onto the waiver wire.

I have a feeling I’m going to miss Julius Jones this week. (I also can’t help worrying that he may already have had his best games of the season, with Engram, Branch, and maybe Morris coming back when Seattle returns from its bye week.)

The big question: Thomas or Lloyd at the flex R/W? If this were a PPR league, that would be easy. If Thomas hadn’t racked up 3 TDs and established himself as the Saint’s red zone guy, it would be an easy decision. If Lloyd weren’t going up against a solid Eagles defense, it would be an easy decision. As it is, I lean Thomas, but may end up flipping a coin.

The opposition’s current lineup is B. Favre (NYJ-QB), J. Norwood (Atl-RB), L. McClain (Bal-RB), H. Baskett (Phi-WR), L. Fitzgerald (Ari-WR), D. Henderson (NO-WR), J. Witten (Dal-TE), R. Gould (Chi-PK), San Diego (SD-DST).

If my two Johnsons have big weeks at WR and my RBs perform up to the form book, I should be in pretty good shape.

So how do you like my chances?