Fantasy Football Rookie (Week 4)

Tuesday Morning - 

I'm in 3rd!

I had a pretty good week. Both of my new acquisitions paid off. And while not all my highest scoring guys were active (WR Colston had a marginally better week than Smith, QB Flacco had a marginally better week than Eli), if I'd had a crystal ball and made all the perfect decisions, the difference would have been less than 5 points on offense.

Defense, though . . . ouch. My starters, the 49ers, got 1 lousy point. The Baltimore Ravens, sitting on my bench, got 21. That hurts. Even that wouldn't have been enough to push me into 2nd place (it's still hard to believe I'm in 3rd!), but later in the season I might be wishing I had those extra 20 points.

Week 4 marks the first of the bye weeks, so I'll have fewer options when it comes to putting my roster together . . . but I'll worry about that later in the week. I DO have some guys playing Thursday night this week, so those decisions will need to be made early.

Wednesday Afternoon - 

I'm picking the Ravens for my defense/special teams this week. They seem to be favored on most ranking lists I see, and after the abysmal game the 49ers had last week (at least as it affects my fantasy team) I'm more than willing to take their advice.

The downside of the Thursday night game is that it's so far removed from the rest of them. If I put someone in, and they have a great game, that's great. If I leave someone out, and they have a lousy game, also great. But if the 49ers have a good game tomorrow night, I have to wait until Sunday to see if the Ravens have a better one. I think I would have liked fantasy a lot more back in the days when the only Thursday games were on Thanksgiving.

As for my defensive players, I'm leaving NaVorro Bowman (who plays on the 49ers) in. I'll probably go with him and Bobby Wagner again this week, with Lance Briggs on the bench (apparently linebackers haven't done well against Detroit so far this year), but Bowman's the one who's locked in.

I'll figure out the rest of my lineup later, although I have several players on bye this week, so my options are somewhat limited.

Friday Morning - 

Experts, you fail me! The 49ers' D/ST got 13 points sitting on my bench; I guess I'll have to wait and see how the Ravens do. Thankfully, NaVorro Bowman had a pretty good game; I would have been pretty annoyed if the team as a whole did great but the one player I had in didn't.

As for the rest of my lineup . . .

Quarterbacks: Cam Newton and the Panthers have a bye week, so (working with the roster I have, anyway) I have no choice but to start Eli Manning and Joe Flacco. C'mon, boys, get out there and have a great game!

Running Backs: I'm starting Matt Forte and Reggie Bush, who are actually playing against each other this week. Hopefully they both have great games (without Bush being good enough to help his team win). Knowshon Moreno and David Wilson will stay on my bench, and Eddie Lacy and the Packers have a bye week.

Wide Receivers: Steve Smith (Panthers again) is on bye, so again, my starters are set by default: Calvin Johnson, Pierre Garcon, and Marques Colston. (And, like Bush, I need Johnson to have a good game . . . but not TOO good . . .)

Tight End: Julius Thomas is in, Kyle Rudolph is out. No bye week here, but also not a terribly difficult decision.

Kicker: David Akers (once again, I have no backup). Now, when the Bears' defense forces the Lions to settle for a field goal, I'll have two reasons to cheer.