Welcome back for week 3 of The Hive!
Last week saw the possible resurgence of Keith Bulluck, as well as the continuing poor production from such IDP mainstays as Julius Peppers and Jared Allen. We’ve also seen some injuries to some big name IDP’s in the last week, including Bob Sanders, Atari Bigby and Roy Williams. Tough week to be a DB I guess. Without further ado let’s examine these situations and many more in the week 3 roundup of IDP goodness!
How we rank `em!
Giddyup! – YEEEHAW!!
SINS! – solid if not spectacular
Hellno! – Get it? Got it? Good.
Kansas City
@
Atlanta
Sunday 10am PT
KC
Giddyup! – Bernard Pollard,
Brandon
Flowers
SINS! – Brandon Carr, Pat Thomas, Jarrad Page, Tamba Hali
Hellno! – Donnie Edwards, Demorrio Williams
ATL
Giddyup! – Michael Boley, Curtis Lofton, John Abraham
SINS! – Thomas DeCoud, Keith Brooking, Chris Houston, Erik Coleman
Hellno! – Jamaal Anderson, Lawyer Milloy
Game notes: KC will be starting 2 rookie CB’s this week, and possibly from here on out, as
Grand
Valley
State
’s very own Brandon Carr will start opposite
Brandon
Flowers. Carr came in for an injured Pat Surtain last week and did what he could to stop the awesome onslaught of the
Oakland
Raiders (let me have my moment). Carr is an interesting IDP dynasty prospect, as he has displayed nice tackling skills and it looks as though the Chiefs defense may not come off the field until 2011. For
Atlanta
I am really liking John Abraham this week, and I think all of the LB’s will put up nice totals.
Oakland
@
Buffalo
Sunday 10am PT
OAK
Giddyup! – Kirk Morrison, Thomas Howard, Gibril Wilson, Deangelo Hall
SINS! – Derrick Burgess
Hellno! – Richardson/Edwards, Michael Huff
BUF
Giddyup! – Terrance McGee, Paul Posluszny, Aaron Schobel, Kyle Williams & Marcus Stroud (in DT required leagues)
SINS! – Donte Whitner, Kawicka Mitchell
Hellno! – Keith Ellison
Game notes: Behold the mighty, mighty
Oakland
Raiders juggernaut!! Expect such outlandish behavior from yours truly for the other 3 or 4 Raiders wins this season. One of which will NOT be this week. If I could start every
Buffalo
DL on their roster I would do it. I might start Bruce Smith this week.
Tampa
Bay
@
Chicago
Sunday
10am PT
TB
Giddyup! – Barrett Ruud
SINS! – Phillip Buchanon, Gaines Adams, Ronde Barber, Jermaine Phillips, Tanard Jackson, Greg White
Hellno! – Kevin Carter, Cato June, Derrick Brooks
CHI
Giddyup! – Brian Urlacher, Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs
SINS! – Adewale Ogunleye, Kevin Payne, Mike Brown
Hellno! – Mike Anderson, Brandon McGowan
Game notes: For the Bucs you gotta like the start Barrett Ruud is off to, and I expect the onslaught to continue. Don’t look now, but Tanard Jackson just might be developing into an IDP starter. Greg White is outproducing starter Kevin Carter as the 3rd DE, and I expect that to continue. White is roster worthy in DL required leagues. For
Chicago
Brandon
McGowan, one of my sleepers going into the season after a great preseason, is done for the year with an ankle injury. Kevin Payne takes his place and is roster worthy in deep leagues.
Carolina
@
Minnesota
Sunday 10am PT
CAR
Giddyup! – Chris Harris, Chris Gamble, Jon Beason, Julius Peppers
SINS! – Thomas Davis
Hellno! – Tyler Brayton, Ken Lucas
MIN
Giddyup! – EJ Henderson, Antoine Winfield, Jared Allen
SINS! –
Chad
Greenway, Cedric Griffin
Hellno! – Kevin Williams
Game notes: With Frerotte starting for Minny at QB, I personally will be starting Chris Gamble and Chris Harris in my dynasty league this week. They should go off. I’d give Peppers one more week unless I had a great option ahead of him. If he doesn’t do something this week I’ll jump right off the bandwagon with the rest of you. I haven’t yet because after watching the entirety of last weeks game I can say that Peppers has been extremely disruptive, it just hasn’t shown up in the stat sheet yet. He’s close. For Minny Jared Allen showed signs of life last week, you need to stick with him. I’ve given up on Kevin Williams, even in my DT required league, as Kyle Williams was on the wire. He’ll blow up eventually, but if there are better options on your wire I’d grab one.
Miami
@
New England
Sunday 10am PT
MIA
Giddyup! – Channing Crowder, Yeremiah Bell
SINS! – Matt Roth, Akin Ayodele, Kendall Langford
Hellno! – Jason Allen
NE
Giddyup! – Jerod Mayo, Rodney Harrison, Ellis Hobbs
SINS! – Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Ty Warren
Hellno! – Richard Seymour
Game notes:
Miami
is going to get slaughtered, Tom Brady or no Tom Brady. I like pretty much all of the starting LB’s on both sides, as we may not see both teams combine for 300 yards passing. Lots of running and short passes, lots of Crowder and Mayo etc. Richard Seymour is back and disruptive as hell again, and he’s no more of an IDP option now than he was in his previous incarnation. He’ll have one or two big statistical games a year, but his impact is not measured in IDP stats.
Cincinnati
@
New York
Giants Sunday 10am PT
CIN
Giddyup! – Keith Rivers, Dhani Jones
SINS! –
Rashad Jeanty
,
Leon
Hall, Nedu Ndukwe, Domata Peko (in DT required leagues)
Hellno! – Jonathan Joseph
NYG
Giddyup! – Justin Tuck, Aaron Ross
SINS! – Mathias Kiwanuka, Fred Robbins (in DT required leagues), Antonio Pierce
Hellno! – Wilkinson/Kehl
Game notes: This should be another bloodbath. For Cincy you have to think Rivers, Jones and to a lesser extent Jeanty will be very busy with the three headed NYG running attack. Joseph will likely sit this week, keep him benched if he’s on your squad. For the Giants the entire defense could be in for a big play field day versus the thus-far inept Bengals. I wouldn’t put too much stock into Kiwanuka’s zero last week, old
Orlando
Pace still has some skills. Kiwanuka faces much lesser competition this week and is also another seven days removed from the ankle injury that was still bothering him against the Rams.
Houston
@
Tennessee
Sunday 10am PT
HOU
Giddyup! – Demeco Ryans, Mario Williams
SINS! – Morlon Greenwood, Zach Diles
Hellno! – Jacques Reeves
TEN
Giddyup! – Kyle VandenBosch,
Cortland
Finnegan
SINS! – Keith Bulluck, David Thornton, Michael Griffin, Nick Harper
Hellno! – Ryan Fowler
Game notes: For the Texans we had to wait a week, but now we get to see if Zach Diles is for real or not. There should be opportunities for all the LB’s against a Titans team that loves to run. For
Tennessee
it figures that as soon as I say bench Bulluck he blows up. I benched him in my dynasty league for Rocky McIntosh. FAIL. We’ll give him a go this week, but he hasn’t earned his way back into the top tier until he strings a few old school Bulluck games like week two in a row.
Arizona
@
Washington
Sunday 10am PT
AZ
Giddyup! – Karlos Dansby, Adrian Wilson
SINS! – Rod Hood, Gerald Hayes, Travis LaBoy, Bert Berry
Hellno! – Eric Green
WAS
Giddyup! –
London
Fletcher, Carlos Rogers, LaRon Landry
SINS! – Rocky McIntosh, Jason Taylor, Fred Smoot
Hellno! – Chris Horton, HB Blades
Game notes: This should be an interesting game. For the Cards start the usual suspects, and as far as the `Skins go be careful when looking at last week’s stats. Blades and Horton, while they probably outperformed the people ahead of them on the depth chart, were only playing due to injury. Look for Horton to join Landry at safety again sometime this season, the rookie from UCLA can play. He’s just a dynasty stash for now, as is Blades, who played for an injured Marcus Washington.
New Orleans
@
Denver
Sunday
1:05pm PT
NO
Giddyup! – Jonathan Vilma, Roman Harper (double check injury reports)
SINS! – Will Smith, Tracy Porter
Hellno! – Mike McKenzie
DEN
Giddyup! – DJ Williams, Champ Bailey
SINS! – Nate Webster, John Engelberger
Hellno! – Jarvis Moss, Boss Bailey
Game notes: This could be a big time shoot out. Lots of IDP goodness to be had here if you know where to look. Sleeper alert, Tracy Porter will be getting abused by Marshall or Royal all day, and is coming off an 8 solo game last week. Yoink! For Denver I like the LB’s, except Boss Bailey, who is more of a TS/TG than an LB. Get back at me, I’ll flip you for real.
St. Louis
@
Seattle
Sunday
1:05pm PT
STL
Giddyup! – Will Witherspoon, OJ Atogwe
SINS! – Tye Hill, Chris Long, James Hall
Hellno! – Leonard Little
SEA
Giddyup! – Lofa Tatupu, Pat Kerney, Laurence Jackson, Marcus Trufant
SINS! – Julian Peterson, Leroy Hill
Hellno! – Kelly Jennings
Game notes: Living in
Oregon
I can bet you I will be stuck with this monstrosity of a game. Shoot me. Bonus points for the fact that Laurence Jackson or Pat Kerney might do some sort of Mortal Kombat
FATALITY maneuver on Marc Bulger. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Detroit
@
San Francisco
Sunday
1:05pm PT
DET
Giddyup! – Ernie Sims, Daniel Bullocks
SINS! –
Paris
Lenon, DeWayne White
Hellno! – Jordan Dizon
SF
Giddyup! – Pat Willis, Nate Clements, Michael Lewis
SINS! –Walt Harris, Manny Lawson, Justin Smith
Hellno! – Dashon Goldson
Game notes: As a frustrated Gerald Alexander owner, may I will now express my severe displeasure with Rod Marinelli with a haiku:
Why you bench Gerald?
Dynasty pick is wasted
Mediocrity!
I’ve also created a Daniel Bullocks voodoo doll and I’ve been stabbing it in the knees and groin. That’s right, the groin. I used a DYNASTY PICK on Alexander. Serious stuff. For the Niners play Pat Willis and then thank God he is on your roster this season. I like the DB’s as well against a Lions team that is most comfortable being down 20 or more points and airing things out.
Cleveland
@
Baltimore
Sunday
1:15pm PT
CLE
Giddyup! – Mike Adams, D’Qwell
Jackson
SINS! – Eric Wright, Brandon McDonald
Hellno! –
Andra Davis
,
Leon
Williams
BAL
Giddyup! – Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs
SINS! – Bart Scott, Chris McCallister
Hellno! – Kelly Gregg
Game notes: For the Browns ride Mike
Adams
for as long as you can. As soon as Sean Jones comes back
Adams
will likely be useless again, but for now ride the wave. For the Ravens the early bye week didn’t help stud DT Kelly Gregg at all, he is likely out this week. The words “injured reserve” and Gregg have also been mentioned together, which would be bad news for this front seven.
Jacksonville
@
Indianapolis
Sunday
1:15pm PT
JAX
Giddyup! – Mike Peterson, Brian Williams
SINS! – John Henderson, Daryl Smith
Hellno! – Derrick Harvey, Quentin Groves
IND
Giddyup! – Freddy Keiaho, Robert Mathis, Gary Brackett
SINS! – Dwight Freeney, Colts DB’s, Clint Sessions
Hellno! – Raheem Brock
Game notes: This game should be a good one, as both teams are fighting to stay relevant behind the 2-0 Titans. For the Jags Brian Williams is on fire and Mike Peterson should be in your lineup as well after a false alarm about him being hurt was posted on another site that wont be named here. EPIC FAIL. I listed
Harvey
and
Groves
this week not to taunt them or their families, but because both are nice dynasty prospects. They wont stick with turds like Reggie Hayward forever, and the Harvey/Groves duo could be devastating. The Colts will be without Bob Sanders, who will be replaced by UDFA 2nd year man Melvin Bullitt. Don’t know much about the kid, so we will see how he does this week.
Pittsburgh
@
Philadelphia
Sunday
1:15pm PT
PIT
Giddyup! – James Harrison,
Troy
Polamalu, James Farrior
SINS! – Ike Taylor, Aaron Smith
Hellno! – Bryant McFadden
PHI
Giddyup! – Stewart Bradley, Quentin Mikell, Trent Cole
SINS! – Omar Gaither, Brian Dawkins, Sheldon Brown
Hellno! – Lito Sheppard
Game notes: The battle of
Pennsylvania
is a HUGE game this time around, and I for one cant wait. For the Steelers roll with Farrior and Harrison at LB and Polamalu, who is making a nice comeback after an injury plagued 07, at DB. For the Eagles you better be loving you some Stewart Bradley, I know I am. Quentin Mikell is a bust out IDP this season and has earned stud DB status.
Dallas
@
Green Bay
Sunday
5:15pm PT
DAL
Giddyup! – Demarcus Ware
SINS! – Bradie James, Zach Thomas, Ken Hamlin
Hellno! – Roy Williams
GB
Giddyup! – AJ Hawk, Nick Barnett, Aaron Kampman
SINS! – KGB, Aaron Rouse, Nick Collins
Hellno! – Atari Bigby
Game notes: This is a game with 2 injured safeties, Atari Bigby for the Pack and
Roy
“I coulda been a contendah” Williams. Aaron Rouse takes over for Bigby and is a nice injury fill-in, Pat Watkins takes over for Williams and is still a complete turd.
New York
Jets @ San Diego Monday
5:30pm PT
NYJ
Giddyup! – David Harris, Kerry Rhodes, Bryan Thomas
SINS! – Calvin Pace, Swipe Lowery, Darrelle Revis, Eric Smith, Eric Barton
Hellno! –
Vernon
Gholston
SD
Giddyup! – Eric Weddle,
San Diego
CB’s
SINS! – Shaun Phillips, Matt Wilhelm
Hellno! –
San Diego
DL’s
Game notes: Lots of IDP fun to have here, all 4 LB’s in New York’s 3-4 are start worthy this week, and I’d say the top 3 CB’s along with Weddle are all worth a shot for the Chargers. Favre doesn’t care about Cromartie, he will throw picks to anyone, so maybe Antonio gets some action on MNF. This game will have a real hard time living up to last week, but as long as the Chargers come out on the short end of the stick I can live with that.
Well that about wraps it up for week 3! Thanks for taking a moment to stop by, and good luck in all your IDP matchups this week!