Week Three: Proactive Sep 18, 2007 | More

If in week one you tested your squad and in week two you evaluated your first week then in week three you need to be proactive and make moves to improve your team or fix any wholes you have. After week three you will know what players you can count on, what players are not living up to expectation and the dreaded injury bug. Injuries are a part of football. They are unavoidable and just like in real football, it is sometimes hard to replace a key player that is injured with another quality player. The good news is that unlike real football where the waivers are thinner than Nicole Richie, Fantasy stars do emerge from nowhere. Just make sure you’re on top of things and snatch up the best available player.

Quarterbacks should always be a position to keep an eye on. If you did not have the luxury of grabbing a top 5 QB then you need to stock pile at least 3 quality starters or 3 starters you can rotate depending on your match-ups. I have 3 QBs in almost all of my leagues where I don’t trust the starter like Donovan McNabb or I may have inconsistent play such as my Jon Kitna/ Rex Grossman combo. Many owners know that injuries hit RB, but a lot of owners neglect the depth of their QB position. Last year, of the 32 teams, 15 of them had injuries to their QB or changed their starter. That’s a big 42% of the starting QBs. Also about 20 back ups saw the field in 2006. Already in week 1 we had Eli Manning, Chad Pennington, Steve McNair, Josh McCown and Jeff Garcia suffering injuries. Jon Kitna had a concussion in week 2 but returned to the game. Charlie Frye was benched then traded to the Seahawks. Even Byron Leftwich was benched and dropped before the 1^st game. In smaller leagues, these guys are your QB2 in most cases, but in larger leagues these guys are starters and let’s not forget the bye weeks start in week 4 with weeks 6 and 8 having six teams on byes. Don’t hesitate to grab a QB and drop a WR5 or WR6. After the bye weeks drop your KR and maybe your back up TE if you don’t need the second TE. Load up with QBs, RBs & WRs.

The Golden Mug Award

Awarded to the fantasy player who came through for their team.

Carson Palmer - Some believe he is the #1 QB in fantasy this year and he made a statement in week 2. 401 yds and 6TDs should have won plenty of fantasy games. Honorable Mention: Derek Anderson- 328 yds and 5TDs in his 1^st start of the season. Now in Fantasy leagues, unless you play in a very deep league you probably didn’t have him in your line up. CBS Sportline shows 2% owned him and 0 of his owners started him. I’ve already seen the waiver scramble for him.

The Urinal Cake Award

Awarded to the fantasy player who you would like to, well you know.

This goes to the Jacksonville running game, in particular Maurice Jones-Drew and his 31.5 yds a game through week 2. I’m a little bitter because I have him in both my money leagues and he’s slacking.

Note: Injured players never make this list.

MATCH-UPS

The match-ups I like this week for QB’s:

Tavaras Jackson against the Chiefs. KC is in big trouble this season and is out of rhythm. Minnesota however is a team that is putting it together and although you can’t expect big bombs from Tavaras Jackson, You can expect screen passes and dump offs to the RB’s that can go for scores. The Vikings defense will provide good field position as well. Now I don’t expect many fantasy teams to start Jackson but if for some reason your in a bind due to injury, give this match-up some thought.

        Josh McCown/ Daunte Culpepper against the Browns. I know last week I picked them as a match-up I didn’t like and that was against the Broncos but this week they get a break and play the lowly Browns. I wish JaMarcus Russell was starting in this one against Brady Quinn. That would be a fun match up. Instead we have a match-up that most people will probably catch the scores during a half-time recap.

The match-ups I like this week for RB’s:

        Steven Jackson against the Buccaneers. Jackson was on my list last week and he returns simply because his match up this week is even sweeter. If he can take advantage of it, it will be a nice day for Senor Jackson and his owners.

         Chris Brown/ LenDale White against the Saints. The Saints are off to a rough start and are giving up points in bunches. The Titans played well against the Colts and will use the start of the season as momentum going into this game. Be cautious as this is now a RBBC and you don’t know which RB will be more productive.

        Brett Favre against the Chargers. Just like the Oakland match-up where they were underdogs one week and heroes the next, the same rings true for Favre. Last week he enjoyed a banged up Giants defense. This week he runs from Shawn Merriman all day.

        Matt Schaub against the Colts. Now, most people were impressed in week one when the Colts shut down the Saints but they came back in week 2 to limit the Titains. After playing well against the Panthers last week, Schab faces a tougher match up with the Colts this week. Also Keep an eye on Andre Johnson's Knee, it will be a big blow if he was not able to play.

The match-ups I don’t like this week for RB’s:

        Kevin Jones/ Tatum Bell against the Eagles. This is Kevin Jones' first taste of action and it is against a very tough match-up for him. Jones will have some rust. We will also have to see if he is really at full speed. Bell will have the same tough match-up and having Jones back only further hurts his touches.

        Reggie Bush/ Deuce McAllister against the Titans. Can the Saints RB duo really have a down game against the Titans? Well if you look at the inconsistent running they’ve displaced so far you have to start to wonder how effective they will be. The Titans held the Jags RB’s to just 59 yards on the ground in week 1.

Week two’s brew of choice was Yuengling. I had some tough match-ups this week and needed to go back to ole’ reliable. As always drink responsibly and don’t drink and drive.