The Hive - Week Four Edition Oct 2, 2009 | More

The Hive – Week 3 Edition

Welcome back to The Hive! Bye weeks are upon us! Can you believe that? The season goes too fast for my taste. Maybe I just love me some football. I tend to not pay attention to bye weeks much when I draft, as I think what bye week a player has is a terrible reason to pass on a player you want. I’d rather scramble for a week to find bye week replacements than miss out on my guy. Week 9 will be an interesting one for me in my dynasty league, as 9 of my IDP’s are off that week. I can’t wait. Overcoming things like that makes fantasy football entertaining to me. Yes I am insane. So for those of you looking to replace bye week stallions like Curtis Lofton, Jon Beason, Trent Cole, or Karlos Dansby, The Hive will provide you with some replacement options. Let’s get to it!

How we rank `em-

Giddyup! – start with confidence

SINS! – Solid If Not Spectacular

Hellno! – HELL. NO.

Bye weeks: Arizona, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Carolina

Early Sunday Games – Start time: 10AM Pacific

Seattle @ Indianapolis

SEA

Giddyup! – Aaron Curry

SINS! – Pat Kerney, Lawrence Jackson, Lofa Tatupu (check @TheHiveIDP Friday afternoon for the latest on his status)

Hellno! – David Hawthorne (will jump to a Giddyup! if Tatupu has a setback, and should be a target for Tatupu’s deep/dynasty league owners.), Josh Wilson

IND

Giddyup! – Antoine Bethea

SINS! – Robert Mathis (no Freeney = mad double teams on Mathis), Colts LB’s, Melvin Bullitt

Hellno! – Gary Brackett, Dwight Freeney (out 2-3 weeks)

Baltimore @ New England

BAL

Giddyup! – Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Dawan Landry

SINS! – Ed Reed, Brandon Ayanbadejo, Kelly Gregg

Hellno! – no one you would normally consider

NE

Giddyup! – Gary Guyton, Adalius Thomas (Baltimore O > Atlanta O, I expect these two to have much better games this week)

SINS! – Ty Warren, Brandon Merriweather, Leigh Bodden

Hellno! – Vince Wilfork

Cincinnati @ Cleveland

CIN

Giddyup! – none

SINS! – Roy Williams, Hall/Joseph (nice upside plays against the terrible Derek Anderson), Keith Rivers, Antwan Odom, Robert Geathers, Rey Maualuga

Hellno! – Dhani Jones

CLE

Giddyup! – D`Qwell Jackson, Abram Elam, Shaun Rogers (in DT required leagues, SINS in DL leagues)

SINS! – Brodney Pool, Kamerion Wimbley, Eric Barton, Mike Adams

Hellno! – Eric Wright

Tennessee @ Jacksonville

TEN

Giddyup! – Stephen Tulloch, Chris Hope, Nick Harper

SINS! – Keith Bulluck, Michael Griffin

Hellno! – Cortland Finnegan (Fisher claims there is “a chance” he could play, but I’d bet he will be listed as doubtful by Friday afternoon)

JAX

Giddyup! – Justin Durant, Daryl Smith

SINS! – Rashean Mathis, Derek Cox, Reggie Nelson

Hellno! – Jags DL’s

New York Giants @ Kansas City

NYG

Giddyup! – Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck (reports indicate he is a go this week)

SINS! – Giants DB’s (if pressed I’d play CC Brown in a pinch)

Hellno! – Giants LB’s

KC

Giddyup! – Brandon Flowers, Mike Brown (bounce back game this week)

SINS! – Mike Vrabel, Demorrio Williams, Tank Tyler, Jarrad Page

Hellno! – Corey Mays

Tampa Bay @ Washington

TB

Giddyup! – Barrett Ruud, Sabby Piscatelli

SINS! – Ronde Barber, Geno Hayes

Hellno! – Gaines Adams

WAS

Giddyup! – London Fletcher, Andre Carter

SINS! – Reed Doughty

Hellno! – Chris Horton

Detroit @ Chicago

DET

Giddyup! – Larry Foote, Louis Delmas

SINS! – Anthony Henry, Jason Hunter, Marquand Manuel, DeAndre Levy (if Sims sits again this week)

Hellno! – Ernie Sims, Dewayne White

CHI

Giddyup! – Lance Briggs, Peanut Tillman, Danieal Manning, Adewale Ogunleye

SINS! – Nick Roach, Alex Brown

Hellno! – no one you would normally consider

Oakland @ Houston

OAK

Giddyup! – Kirk Morrison, Tyvon Branch, Greg Ellis, Thomas Howard

SINS! – Richard Seymour, Chris Johnson, Ricky Brown

Hellno! – no one you would normally consider

HOU

Giddyup! – Mario Williams (HUGE week for Super Mario), Bernard Pollard (going out on a limb here, deep league special), Brian Cushing

SINS! – Demeco Ryans, Zach Diles

Hellno! – Texans CB’s

Sunday Afternoon Games (start time in parentheses)

Buffalo @ Miami – 1:05pm Pacific

BUF

Giddyup! – Marcus Buggs (I like him as a bye week filler against a dominant run game), Keith Ellison, Marcus Stroud (in DT required leagues)

SINS! – Aaron Schobel, Ryan Denney, Jarius Byrd (GO DUCKS!), Terrance McGee

Hellno! – Donte Whitner, Bryan Scott, Leodis McKelvin

MIA

Giddyup! – Yeremiah Bell

SINS! – Gibril Wilson (might get benched if he has another bad game), Phillip Merling, Will Allen

Hellno! – Channing Crowder (should be benched until he shows something), Joey Porter (iffy with the bad hammy)

New York Jets @ New Orleans – 1:05pm Pacific

NYJ

Giddyup! – David Harris, Jim Leonhard, Darrelle Revis

SINS! – Shaun Ellis, Bart Scott, Kerry Rhodes (if he is going to have a good game this season, it should be against the high powered Saints passing game)

Hellno! – Lito Sheppard

NO

Giddyup! – Jonathan Vilma (has been mediocre so far this year, I like him for a bounce back game against his old team), Roman Harper, Scott Shanle

SINS! – Tracy Porter, Jabari Greer

Hellno! – Saints DL’s

Dallas @ Denver – 1:15pm Pacific

DAL

Giddyup! – Terrance Newman, Keith Brooking

SINS! – Ken Hamlin, Mike Jenkins (no more week to week nonsense with him and Scandrick), Bradie James

Hellno! – Demarcus Ware (I don’t think this is the break out week, Clady is too good), Anthony Spencer (about to lose his job to Victor Butler)

DEN

Giddyup! – Elvis Dumervil (is going to be up and down, but unless you are stacked you have to start him when he is this hot), Andra Davis, Brian Dawkins

SINS! – DJ Williams

Hellno! – Champ Bailey

St. Louis @ San Francisco – 1:15pm Pacific

STL

Giddyup! – James Laurinaitis, OJ Atogwe

SINS! – Ronald Bartell, Will Witherspoon

Hellno! – Rams DL’s

SF

Giddyup! – Pat Willis, Nate Clements

SINS! – Ray McDonald, Justin Smith, Michael Lewis

Hellno! – no one you would normally consider

Sunday Night Football – Start time: 5:20PM Pacific

San Diego @ Pittsburgh

SD

Giddyup! – Stephen Cooper, Kevin Burnett (should be enough love for both ILB’s, and after last week Burnett shouldn’t be in a time share with Dobbins going forward), Eric Weddle

SINS! – Jammer/Cromartie

Hellno! – Shawne Merriman

PIT

Giddyup! – James Harrison, Ryan Clark, Timmons/Farrior

SINS! – Lamar Woodley (break out against an injury plagued OL?), William Gay

Hellno! – Troy Polamalu (even if they let him go, with a late start and his injury issues you can definitely find a more reliable guy this week)

Monday Night Football – Start time 5:30PM Pacific

Green Bay @ Minnesota

GB

Giddyup! – Charles Woodson (RED HOT, missed practice Thursday but word is he should be ready for MNF), Brandon Chillar, Nick Collins

SINS! – Aaron Kampman, Al Harris, Cullen Jenkins, Johnny Jolly, AJ Hawk (woke up last week, might repeat against All Day)

Hellno! – Nick Barnett/Desmond Bishop (LBBC? Ugh.)

MIN

Giddyup! – Jared Allen, Ray Edwards, EJ Henderson

SINS! – Antoine Winfield, Tyrell Johnson, Ced Griffin, Chad Greenway

Hellno! – The Williams Wall (GB’s OL is more prone to giving up big points to DE’s, not DT’s)

Before I leave you this week I would like to touch on a topic that has been asked of me countless times this week: “Should I drop (insert name of underperforming IDP ‘stud’ here)” for __________?”

In my mind, that question comes down to what type of IDP league you play in. If you owns say Demarcus Ware or Antonio Pierce in the average league with IDP players where you start 1-4 IDP’s, your waiver wire options should be ridiculously good. One of my readers emailed me this week asking if he should drop Ware for Barrett Ruud. HELL YES. Another reader asked if he should drop Ware for Justin Durant. Again, HELL YES. The big exception to this rule is stud defensive ends. The defensive end position is streaky to begin with, and every year some flavor of the month DE pops up (this year its Antwan Odom) and people cut guys like Osi or Julus Peppers after a bad game or two, and inevitably this will bite you down the road. Keep in mind that in most formats guys like James Hall and Fred Robbins were in the top 10 DL’s at this time last season. Neither was even in the top 30 DL’s by the end of 2008. Jared Allen was barely in the top 50 at this point in 2008. `Nuff said.

For those of us who play in deeper IDP leagues where you start 2-3 players at each IDP position (DL, LB, DB) or for those who play in IDP only leagues, I don’t think it is wise to cut say Adrian Wilson (who is off to a slow start) for Danieal Manning or Anthony Henry. In deep leagues you have to think big picture, and in dynasty leagues especially cutting a guy too soon can bite you for years. Always be on the lookout for frustrated owners who jettison top IDP’s due to poor early season performance. I just picked up Keith Rivers off the wire in my dynasty league, and I think he has a very bright future on an up and coming Bengals D.

That about wraps it up for The Hive! Don’t forget to check out The Hive’s Twitter feed, where I post matchup thoughts, updated injury analysis after Friday’s practices, as well as IDP waiver wire picks for shallow and deep IDP leagues after each week’s games. Check it out at http://twitter.com/thehiveIDP! Good luck in week four and I hope to see you back here next week, when we will talk about some guys who are more name than game and why they shouldn't be on your roster! Good luck in week four!