Who Sharks Are Starting - Week 3 Sep 24, 2009 | More

Just in time for your mid-week lineup, here’s a quick review of Who Sharks Are Starting, the live-updating player rankings that help you decide who to start in your fantasy football team’s lineup. This week, Peyton Manning, Steve Smith ( Carolina) and Jon Beason top the rankings of the Shark Tank’s collective brain.

At the helm, Manning at Arizona - no-brainer. The T.O.-less Tony Romo seems precariously high against Carolina, who are much better than their 0-2 and fourth-place standing behind Tampa Bay. To the seven-plus Matt Hasselbeck owners starting him: make other plans.

In the backfield, the Chargers aren’t scaring anyone, least of all Ronnie Brown owners. Ryan Grant should continue a strong run in St. Louis. Felix Jones is a mistake - even if you don’t agree that Carolina is a sleeping giant. The status of Marion Barber is still uncertain and they’re playing on Monday night, which means your last-minute options are slim-to-none. Don’t make this play.

Carolina ’s Steve Smith at Dallas atop the rankings? Fine, but I know a bunch of you are just chasing last week’s points after you benched him. Wes Welker? No. Lee Evans versus the Saints is somewhere between a sneaky play and a leap of faith. Steve Breaston owners can hoot and holler this week having bounced back from injury. He’s sagged into the middle of the list for now, but as more lineups come in, more sharks will look for some plump numbers and give his ranking a good lift.

Defensive ends look mostly on the up-and-up, but Justin Tuck should probably be on the bench on account of injury and ongoing competition with Mathias Kiwanuka. The Indianapolis-Arizona game is probably not going to be a good one for DEs. Justin Smith owners, your patience is rewarded this week.

Behind the line, don’t chase Ray Lewis’ points from last week. The Cleveland running backs can’t reach him. Demarcus Ware and Bradie James are nice starts against Carolina. Barely even on the list, Dhani Jones seems like a sneaky start on a bad team facing a running game that can barely run forward nine feet. Put him in the place of Rey Maualuga on the list (why do Hawaiians always start on defense? No offense, Tui.) Finally, as if you needed an excuse, this week Patrick Willis gets to play tag with Adrian Peterson, who was limited in practice due to some back problem. Back problem? I’m no physician, but my money says his back hurts from the brick he passed when he heard Willis landed in Minneapolis.

In the secondary, you’ve got -you know what?  Screw ‘em. I hate these guys anyway. Apart from the few true playmakers, they’re all just scrubs who couldn’t make the cut at wideout. Your goal is to get the guys who suck enough to get picked on, but are still marginally better than the rest of the stone-handed special teams misfits on the team so they keep their jobs. You then start the guys who face teams that pass a lot. Just do that. Want help? I’m sick of these bums, you’ll just have to see for yourself  Who Sharks Are Starting now.