MKEFFB - Patch's Fantasy Football Blog

I'm Steve Ciesielski.  Currently, I am a Brand Ambassador for the Oak Creek Patch.  I've been in fantasy football leagues since AOL was still a relevant ISP.  Wait, AOL owns Patch... shhhhhhhhhhhh.  Basically, I've been in fantasy football (and baseball) leagues since roughly 1999. I've won some leagues, although, I don't believe I've ever seen a last-place finish. There have been standard, keeper, points per reception (PPR), and Individual Defensive Player (IDP) leagues in my experience. Recently, I've begun auction drafting, although, I'm far from a pro in that format. Right now, I'm in seven leagues... far too much, some would say, I make it work. This will be more on the news and insight side, less on the rankings. I'll leave the rankings to people like Matthew Berry and Andy Behrens.

Feel free to post questions in the comments and I will answer them the best I can.  Expect some insight and hopeful some of this information will be useful in your quest for a fantasy football title.

Since this is being posted after Thursday night's game, I'll leave the Jets and the Broncos out. As a Jets fan, I'd rather forget about the last few minutes of that game, anyway. I'm also a Bears fan too, for the record. This is the last week of bye weeks, as well.

I'm not going to touch on injuries since when you check out your team you have injury news right there in front of you.

BYE:  Houston, Indy, New Orleans, Pittsburgh

We'll start this off in a type of question/answer format. I'll develop some interesting questions and also take reader-submitted questions, as well.

I normally start (Big Ben/Schaub/Brees/Vick), is Vince Young worth a plug & play?

You should be able to expect a "decent" day from Vince Young. By decent I'd say roughly 200 yards, a TD, a pick, and maybe 20 yards rushing. But, there are a few concerns... The Giants defense is right near the middle of the league in terms of giving up yardage but have the most sacks, so Young should be fairly contained and the pressure could cause him some trouble. DeSean Jackson has had a tough season, so far and was deactivated last week due to missing a team meeting.  Jackson is back, but Maclin is out. So Young's options are limited. Overall, if you don't have a back-up QB that can get you around 10 points, it's worth a shot to start Vince Young. 

Are there any waiver wire players I should be looking for?

Laurent Robinson, WR, DAL (ESPN ownership:  43.3% and climbing) is a roller-coaster ride, I generally prefer a consistency. I would avoid him.

Earl Bennett, WR, CHI (ESPN ownership:  29.3%) is the only Bears receiver worth owning, could provide a decent flex-play, especially if the Bears are down against the Chargers.

Early Doucet, WR, ARI (ESPN ownership:  19.9%) has 3 TDs over the last four games, which is hard to argue with.  He isn't getting as many targets as I'd like, but you could do worse.

Kendall Hunter, RB, SF (ESPN ownership:  33.6%) would be the primary ball-carrier if Frank Gore does not play this week, either way he should still be in line for a fair amount of carries.

Dexter McCluster, RB/WR, KC (ESPN ownership:  20.5%) is a high-risk/high-reward type of play.  He is going against the Patriots who have a top 10 rush defense.  He is getting more carries than Thomas Jones lately.  Jackie Battle is still getting carries though, too.  It's a tough call.  I'd stay far away from it.

Reader questions:

From Andy Tisdel

Should I start Mike Williams (TB) or Mike Tolbert as my flex starter (the other two RBs and WRs are better)?

Mike Williams, the packers have given up a decent amount of points to opposing receivers. This is likely due to the fact that the Packers generally have a lead and the opponent is throwing the ball more-often, then. ESPN projects Williams to get 10 points this week, I would agree. A touchdown and 40-50 yards seems definitely attainable with pretty good certainty. Tolbert's production would seem likely to decrease with Ryan Matthews back now.  There's a chance that he would be in line for a few carries and a short-yardage touchdown. However, the Bears defense has been stellar in the red zone which could limit Tobert's short-yardage ability.  The better play this week would be Mike Williams, IMO.

Good luck this week!