Dave's Place - Fantasy football genius

By: David Cordill

Posted: 10/6/08

Four weeks into the NFL season, my fantasy football team holds the top spot among the ten teams within the Yahoo! Public League #819746.

I know you probably don't care but it sure surprised the hell out of me, so please forgive this small indulgence and let me gloat.

Only fifth in the league in scoring, the Tirebiters have typically relied on mediocre player performances from the opposing team and plain dumb luck to post a 3-0-1 record. But last week, they were able to overcome Team Hokie for a 115-90 upset, a win which propelled them into first place in the standings.

Bea Arthur in a tango dress could have scored more times than my team did over their first three outings.

Going into week four, the Tirebiters were averaging a mere 68 points per game with their highest point total being a modest 74, they laid on the Bamachowderheads the week before.

I started three different quarterbacks (Seattle's Matt Hassebeck, Cleveland's Derek Anderson, and New England's Matt Cassel, a lethargic bunch that combined for an embarrassing 22 points in their starts.

My running backs weren't exactly tearing up the turf either.

I benched Larry Johnson after I saw the junior varsity effort of the Chief's offensive line during their first two games - of course, the week I put him on the pine he busted loose for 121 yards and a touchdown. Arizona's Edgerrin James' contributions were modest at best, and Cleveland's Jamal Lewis … well let's just not talk about him right now.

Aside from Green Bay's Greg Jennings, my receiving corps couldn't get open against a statue. The Browns' Braylon Edwards, whom I thought was my smartest pick overall in the draft, had been asleep since week one. Detroit's Shaun McDonald - well, I must have been craving a Big Mac when I picked him. What's worse is my tight end Dallas Clark (a real fantasy point machine in 2007), got hurt early on with Indianapolis, so I had to replace him with the Steelers' Heath Miller.

So how was I able to engineer an improbable win over a team whose quarterback, the Jets' Brett Favre, threw for six touchdowns and 289 yards?

Well, I began by dropping Anderson and picking up Washington's Jason Campbell and starting him at quarterback on a hunch. I've never really bought into the whole second coming of the Cowboy dynasty thing and I thought there were plenty of holes in the Dallas secondary.

I also got rid of McDonald and added the Forty-Niners' Isaac Bruce to the squad. And I knew that Denver's (K.C.'s opponent last week) running defense was suspect, so I took Larry Johnson off the bench and put him back into the lineup.

And that was it. I'm a temporary genius.

Campbell had a decent outing in a victory over Dallas and Johnson went wild at Arrowhead, racking up 198 yards and a couple of touchdowns against the Broncos. I also got the usual stellar effort from Jennings, who caught six passes for 109 yards and two TDs.

Edgerrin James finally got on the stick and got me 19 points in the Cardinal's 56-35 loss to the Jets. Miller tanked on me, as did my Baltimore Ravens defense, but I got acceptable performances from Bruce and Edwards.

This week I face the team of Boss Hog18, whom the league projects to score 101 points. The same prognosticators have my team only tallying 88. I'm planning to sit Edwards and start Denver's Eddie Royal. I'm also putting Dallas Clark back in at the tight end slot.

Contrary to the fantasy pundits that be, I think I'm going to have a hell of a week. What do those guys know anyway? That's why we play the game, or pretend to anyway.

dcordill@unews.com