The Hive - Week 4 edition Sep 26, 2008 | More

The Hive – Week 4 edition

Welcome back to The Hive!! Week 3 was much kinder to yours truly in IDP circles, as I got my first win of the season in my IDP only dynasty league. Thank you Antoine Winfield!

How we rank `em!

Giddyup! – YEEEHAW!!

SINS! – solid if not spectacular

Hellno! – Get it? Got it? Good.

Atlanta @ Carolina Sunday 10 a.m. PT

ATL

Giddyup! – Michael Boley, John Abraham

SINS! – Keith Brooking, Erik Coleman, Curtis Lofton, Chris Houston

Hellno! – Jamaal Anderson            

CAR

Giddyup! – Chris Harris, Chris Gamble, Jon Beason, Julius Peppers

SINS! – Thomas Davis

Hellno! – Ken Lucas

Game notes: Boley says the strained neck that has been bothering him for the last couple weeks is feeling better, so I look for his numbers to get to their normal high levels sooner rather than later. Lofton has been mediocre at best thus far, providing decent value in tackle-heavy leagues. If you have better options use them. For the Panthers I like the Chris’ (Harris and Gamble) to continue their outstanding play. Peppers finally showed signs of life this past week, and will either be facing tiny-armed rookie Sam Baker, or whoever the hell Baker’s backup is if he cant go. No matter how you slice it, Peppers has a good matchup.

Cleveland @ Cincinnati Sunday 10 a.m. PT

CLE

Giddyup! – D’Qwell Jackson, Mike Adams, Eric Wright

SINS! – Brandon McDonald, Andra Davis, Shaun Rogers (in DT-required leagues)

Hellno! – Leon Williams

CIN

Giddyup! – Keith Rivers, Dhani Jones

SINS! – Nedu Ndukwe, Leon Hall, Domata Peko (in DT required leagues)

Hellno! – Jonathan Joseph, Robert Geathers/Antwan Odom

Game notes: This game probably intrigues more people on the offensive side of things, with the Derek Anderson/Brady Quinn drama and the supreme disappointment known as Chad Ocho Cinco, but there is plenty of IDP goodness to be had here. For the Browns Adams and the corners, Wright and McDonald, all look like good plays this week. Jackson is growing up before our eyes and is likely a must start on your IDP team. Davis showed signs of life as well, and he may be taking control of that job over Leon Williams. Keith Rivers owners, fret not, even the best LB’s put up stinkers like Rivers did last week. Don’t lose faith. I also like Hall, who should be on Braylon Edwards this week.

Houston @ Jacksonville Sunday 10 a.m. PT

HOU

Giddyup! – Demeco Ryans, Mario Williams

SINS! – Zach Diles

Hellno! – Morlon Greenwood

JAX

Giddyup! – Brian Williams, Mike Peterson

SINS! – Rashean Mathis, Daryl Smith

Hellno! – Justin Durant, Reggie Nelson

Game notes: For the Texans waiver wire wonder Diles came through with another solid week of production, and Greenwood seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. If you are in a deep IDP league it is probably too late, but those of you in shallow leagues needing LB help should give Diles a look. For the Jags, Williams continues his solid production at SS and Peterson looks to rebound from a poor Week 3. Nelson seems to be worthless as an IDP and Durant is injured.

Denver @ Kansas City Sunday 10 a.m. PT

DEN

Giddyup! – D.J. Williams, Nate Webster, Champ Bailey

SINS! – John Engelberger, Marquand Manuel

Hellno! – Jarvis Moss

KC

Giddyup! – Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr, Bernard Pollard

SINS! – Pat Thomas, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Demorrio Williams

Hellno! – Donnie Edwards

Game notes: For Denver Williams’ value goes up if Denver continues to use 3-4 formations. When they did this last week D.J. kicked inside to ILB along with Webster, and the two made a lot of their IDP owners very happy. For KC, the pathetic offense is producing a ton of IDP opportunities. Flowers and Carr, the Chiefs two starting rookie corners, should be golden this week against Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal. Avoid Edwards like the plague, as he will be out this week, and keep an eye on Williams, who will start in his place. Edwards has obviously gone downhill, and really shouldn’t be starting anymore. Perhaps a studly outing from Williams will cement that into Herm Edwards’ peanut-sized brain.

San Francisco @ New Orleans Sunday 10 a.m. PT

SF

Giddyup! – Pat Willis, Nate Clements, Justin Smith, Michael Lewis

SINS! – Parys Haralson (if DE eligible), Walt Harris

Hellno! – Takeo Spikes

NO

Giddyup! – Jonathan Vilma, Roman Harper

SINS! – Tracy Porter, Will Smith, Mike McKenzie

Hellno! – Randall Gay

Game notes: The Niners DB’s should all be useful to some extent this week against the high-powered Saints passing attack. On the Saints side of things, you have to like the production thus far of rookie CB Porter. While I don’t expect him to be quite as busy as he was against Denver, his tackle totals are impressive thus far. I think Vilma has a great game against Frank Gore here, and Harper suffered no ill effects coming back from injury last week, so he should be in your lineup.

Arizona @ New York Jets Sunday 10am PT

AZ

Giddyup! – Karlos Dansby, Gerald Hayes, Adrian Wilson

SINS! – Travis LaBoy

Hellno! – Antrel Rolle, Bert Berry

NYJ

Giddyup! – David Harris

SINS! – Calvin Pace, Bryan Thomas, Kerry Rhodes, Swipe Lowery

Hellno! – Justin Miller

Game notes: The Cards D suffered a blow this week as it was revealed that Bert Berry has a torn groin and is done for the year. Berry was thriving as a 3^rd down pass rushing specialist, and the hope was that the reduced snaps would allow him to get through a full season for once. Not to be. LaBoy picks up additional snaps now. For the Jets, Harris had his first big game of the season with nine solos. I can no longer recommend Rhodes with confidence, though if there was a matchup that could assist a DB in digging up a breakout IDP total, it’s the pass-happy Cardinals. Pace has been productive each week thus far, and will likely make a nice bye week filler/LB4 this season.

Green Bay @ Tampa Bay Sunday 10 a.m. PT

GB

Giddyup! – Nick Barnett, Aaron Kampman, A.J. Hawk

SINS! – Aaron Rouse/Atari Bigby/Nick Collins (check the injury reports to see who starts)

Hellno! – Al Harris

TB

Giddyup! – Barrett Ruud

SINS! – Ronde Barber, Gaines Adams, Greg White, Jermaine Phillips

Hellno! – Derrick Brooks

Game notes: As of now it is looking as though Bigby will sit out for another week. Rouse had a big game last week, and he may get the chance to follow it up. For the Bucs, I’ll recommend Ruud with confidence, outside of him it’s a crapshoot. Adams had a big game last week, but I would not expect a repeat against Chad Clifton.

Minnesota @ Tennessee Sunday 10 a.m. PT

MIN

Giddyup! – Jared Allen, Antoine Winfield, E.J. Henderson

SINS! – Kevin Williams, Chad Greenway

Hellno! – Madieu Williams

TEN

Giddyup! – Cortland Finnegan, David Thornton, Keith Bulluck

SINS! – Chris Hope/Michael Griffin, Kyle Vanden Bosch/Albert Haynesworth/Jevon Kearse, Stephen Tulloch

Hellno! – Nick Harper (battling quad issue, check injury reports), Ryan Fowler

Game notes: For the Vikes, Allen is warming up, and Williams, much like I said last week, had his blow up game right about when I gave up on him. I should just give up on a different player on my IDP teams each week just to see if that works ... I hereby give up on Kerry Rhodes. But back to this game: lots of IDP fun to be had here, from the Vikings front seven and Winfield, to the new Winfield in Finnegan and the Titans front seven, there are points to be had here people!! One note for the Titans, third-year man Tulloch has been promoted over roid boy Fowler. Tulloch is a favorite of mine; he reminds me of a poor man’s London Fletcher, so I am excited to see what he can do. Fowler has been an extreme disappointment in my eyes, as with a defensive line like the Titans the MLB should be putting up 90+ solos a season. Tulloch has that kind of potential, and at 23 years old is younger than a lot of third-year players. Buy low on this kid in dynasty leagues and see what happens.

San Diego @ Oakland Sunday 1:05 p.m. PT

SD

Giddyup! – Antonio Cromartie, Eric Weddle

SINS! – Jyles Tucker, Shaun Phillips, Clinton Hart

Hellno! – Luis Castillo

OAK

Giddyup! – Kirk Morrison, Gibril Wilson, DeAngelo Hall

SINS! – Thomas Howard, Michael Huff, Derrick Burgess

Hellno! – Kalimba Edwards, Gerard Warren

Game notes: Holy Jyles Tucker! The second-year undrafted free agent from Wake Forest blew up big time last week, and this week he gets the improved, but still vulnerable Raiders OL. I rarely recommend LB’s that require sacks to be productive, so I will only put Tucker and fellow sack man Phillips on the SINS list this week, though they could easily put up LB1 numbers this week. Cromartie had a big week last week, and I will recommend him against the terrible passing game of Oakland. For the Raiders, Morrison is looking fantastic and Wilson will put up nice numbers as long as he doesn’t get ejected this week. Hall will be victimized again, resulting in excellent IDP numbers, and Huff usually puts up good numbers against San Diego as the Raiders often put him on Gates, so Huff is worth a rare look this week if you are hurting at DB.

Buffalo @ St Louis Sunday 1:05 p.m. PT

BUF

Giddyup! – Aaron Schobel, Marcus Stroud/Kyle Williams (in DT required leagues), Terrance McGee

SINS! – Ko Simpson, Donte Whitner, Paul Posluszny

Hellno! – Keith Ellison

STL

Giddyup! – Will Witherspoon, OJ Atogwe

SINS! – Chris Long

Hellno! – Leonard Little

Game notes: The Bills defense is on fire and so are their IDP’s. Poz has been decent, but much like Curtis Lofton I need to see a huge game or two before I can recommend him. I much prefer the Bills DL, which has lots of potential this week. Stroud and Schobel especially should be able to get theirs against a pathetic Rams offensive line. For the Rams, Long is starting to put it together, but the only Rams IDP’s I would start would be `Spoon and Atogwe.

Washington @ Dallas Sunday 1:15 p.m. PT

WAS

Giddyup! – London Fletcher, Rocky McIntosh

SINS! – Andre Carter, Carlos Rogers, LaRon Landry, Marcus Washington

Hellno! – Jason Taylor

DAL

Giddyup! – Demarcus Ware

SINS! – Bradie James, Zach Thomas, Dallas DB’s

Hellno! – Roy Williams

Game notes: Big NFC matchup, but not a lot of IDP studs in this one. Fletcher and McIntosh for the Skins and Ware from the Cowboys are about all I am willing to promote here. Thomas and James aren’t even in the Top 40 in most formats, so you probably shouldn’t be using them as more than a bye week fill-in.

Philadelphia @ Chicago Sunday 5:15 p.m. PT

PHI

Giddyup! – Stewart Bradley, Quentin Mikell

SINS! – Omar Gaither, Brian Dawkins, Trent Cole/Juqua Parker, Broderick Bunkley (in DT required leagues), Asante Samuel

Hellno! – Darren Howard, Lito Sheppard

CHI

Giddyup! – Charles Tillman, Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs

SINS! – Mike Brown, Kevin Payne, Adewale Ogunleye

Hellno! – Mark Anderson

Game notes: For the Eagles, Mikell and Bradley should be starting for most IDP teams and Gaither showed big signs of life last week, so don’t give up on him. Dawkins pretended it was 2002 again last week with a dominant performance. The Bears have had excellent IDP performances thus far from Urlacher and Briggs as well as CB Tillman, who is leading DB’s in scoring in many formats. A disappointment for Chicago and his IDP owners has been Anderson, who has become a complete non factor. Drop him if you own him.

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh Monday 5:30 p.m. PT

BAL

Giddyup! – Ray Ray, Terrell Suggs

SINS! – Haloti Ngata (in DT required leagues), Bart Scott, Ed Reed, Jim Leonhard

Hellno! – Dawan Landry, Kelly Gregg

PIT

Giddyup! – James Harrison, James Farrior, Troy Polamalu

SINS! – LaMarr Woodley, Steelers CB’s?

Hellno! – Casey Hampton, Lawrence Timmons/Larry Foote

Game notes: This is going to be, as they say, a slobberknocker. Two mean defenses with lots of IDP goodness to be had. For the Ravens keep an eye on former Buffalo Bill Leonhard, who takes over for injured Landry at SS. I wont recommend starting him this week, but if he plays well and can hold of rookie Tom Zbikowski he could be an IDP asset. For the Steelers, Harrison hasn’t done squat since week one, but I’d roll with him on MNF. As of right now it is unclear who will be starting at CB for the Steelers, as Deshea Townsend returns from injury. Bryant McFadden has played well enough to keep the job, so at this moment I do not know if Townsend will move to nickel, if McFadden moves back to nickel, or, as some Pittsburgh beat writers seem to think, Ike Taylor moves to nickel and McFadden/Townsend are the starters. Confused yet? Best to avoid this group this week unless some clear information between now and then.

9/26 UPDATE!! - Reports indicate Townsend will come off the bench this week. so McFadden remains a solid start again on MNF.

That about wraps it up for this week! Good luck in all your IDP matchups and we will see you next week!