And now, football. 🙂 Leading into the weekend, I dropped Brian Calhoun (backup RB, Detroit) for New England’s new kicker, Stephen Gostkowski. Jason Elam only slightly impressed me in week one, and I felt like New England is much more likely to get their kicker in range than Denver seems to be… This will clearly require further shuffling, but Calhoun wasn’t helping anything and so after the Patriots released Gramatica, I considered it worth a tryout. (Plus, my other NE rookie is doing great, so why not??)
I won this week 73-69, and so I’m 2-0. 🙂 The players, and their points:
| QB | ||
|---|---|---|
| Daunte Culpepper, Mia | 5 | |
| RUNNING BACKS | ||
| RB Shaun Alexander, Sea | 14 | |
| RB/WR Laurence Maroney, NE | 12 | |
| RECEIVERS | ||
| WR Terrell Owens, Dal | 1 | |
| WR Santana Moss, Was | 7 | |
| TE L.J. Smith, Phi | 12 | |
| DEFENSE | ||
| D/ST Seahawks | 13 | |
| KICKER | ||
| K Jason Elam, Den | 9 | |
| BENCH | ||
| WR Deion Branch, Sea | 0 | |
| RB T.J. Duckett, Was | 2 | |
| RB Marion Barber, Dal | 11 | |
| WR Reggie Brown, Phi | 8 | |
| WR Keyshawn Johnson, Car | 11 | |
| K Stephen Gostkowski, NE | 5 | |
| D/ST Patriots | 7 | |
| QB Kerry Collins, Ten | -2 | |
The utter loser of the week was TO, who earned one point before he broke his finger (requiring surgery and a multi-week break — at least they have a bye next week). I really don’t mean to sound cold hearted, but I was hoping he’d make it through a lot more of the season before he managed to take himself out. :-/ At least I have Deion Branch ready to come in next week for Seattle. L.J. Smith did great, but now he’s injured, too. The Seattle D and Laurence Maroney were both solid again, which is awesome, and Elam rose to the challenge and gets to keep his spot next week, though I’m holding on to Gostkowski. Quarterbacks are a major issue for me right now. Culpepper is seriously underperforming, and Kerry Collins on the bench isn’t looking like a good option at all. I’m trading Collins in so that I can pick Alex Smith up from waivers, who’s been getting much better numbers… we’ll see? I also decided to trade Santana Moss (8 fantasy pts last week, 7 points this week) in for Jerricho Cotchery (NYJ) — a pity since I like Santana Moss, but with TO hurt, and Deion Branch still sharing a position, I need a stronger WR for next week.
I want to be in your league. Santana only net me 4 points this week.
And not to scare you about Alex Smith, but he did put up -8 points one week last season and made it into our League’s record book with that one.
Unbelievable. I’ve watched football for 45 years, and you know more about personnel around the league than I do. I’m enjoying your commentary, trades and success.