This past week we finally saw the elimination of Priest Holmes from the competition. Priest has been involved in several close votes since he was injured, and finally the voters had enough. As the consensus top drafted Runningback in redraft leagues, the expectations were high for this season. But he left many of his owners scrambling for other RB options as the fantasy playoffs approach. With 61% of the vote this week, Priest Holmes has been eliminated.
Rookie Julius Jones continues had his second huge week in a row since finally becoming healthy enough to play this season. This week he leads his Cowboys on Monday night with 198 YDs rushing and 3 TDs. Jones is probably going to get some consideration for ROY, but he has played enough this season to really warrant any real shot at the award.
Brian Westbrook got caught up in the Donovan McNabb Machine this past week. The Eagles are on a serious roll, and Westbrook is starting to get hot at the right time. He didn’t run the ball much but didn’t need to with the way McNabb was tossing it around. He caught 11 passes for 156 YDs and scored 3 times. If you held on to Westbrook through the lean weeks, you are finally being rewarded.
One last mention this week goes to Larry Johnson. The much maligned #1 pick of the KC Chiefs from last season was given an opportunity to see what he could do. What he did was rush for 118 YDs, catch 3 balls for 56 YDs and score 2 TDs. He has had his detractors who have said he will never make it in the league, but he took advantage of his first real opportunity and made a statement. Maybe he is just another Blair Thomas, but it looks like Vermeil and the Chiefs will be giving him a chance as the season winds down to see what he can do.
Now onto the nominees for this week’s Ultimate Fantasy voting.
Current contestant list:
Shaun Alexander Tiki Barber Kevan Barlow
Domanick Davis Stephen Davis Corey Dillon
Marshall Faulk Ahman Green Travis Henry
Priest Holmes Edgerrin James Rudi Johnson
Jamal Lewis Deuce McAllister Clinton Portis
Fred Taylor Ladainian Tomlinson Brian Westbrook
Each week we’ll take the lowest fantasy producers based on the Fantasy Sharks scoring system and put them up for an elimination vote.
Ahman Green returns to the voting block this week. He played some in a miserable loss to the Eagles, but only rushed 11 times for 37 YDs and 4 fantasy points. Once it was obvious that the Eagles were not stoppable, he was pulled for Najeh Davenport who also could do nothing running the ball for the Pack.
Tiki Barber finally showed that he is human. He carried the ball 15 times for 38 YDs and just 3 fantasy points. Barber has had a great season so far amassing over 1100 YDs rushing and scoring 10 TDs. But one has to wonder if this is the sign that the magical season is over for him and the Giants.
It is now time to vote. Who will be the next player eliminated from the competition, Ahman Green or Tiki Barber?