Wahoo Wire

Photo courtesy of nfl.com and Jeff Roberson of the Associated Press

You know that sound that echoed throughout Cowboys Stadium the second Tony Romo hit the turf? That was the unmistakable sound of thousands of fantasy matchups going down the drain. Now, maybe your team was done before Monday night. Maybe you were playing against a few of the absurd players that went off this week like Carson Palmer, Lee Evans, Kenny Britt, Darren McFadden and ahem, DeAngelo Hall. Whatever the situation, it’s almost a rule in fantasy sports that you can spend hours researching matchups and still lose to your friend’s girlfriend who picked their team based on how cute the players are. Sorry, guys, it’s inevitable. My favorite absurd fantasy anecdote on this topic comes from ESPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck. He’s in a league with his brother, Matt Hasselbeck, the quarterback of the Seahawks. In Week 5 of last year, Matt decided to bench himself against the Jags in favor of Favre vs. the Rams based on match-ups, rankings, etc. Long story short, Favre had 11 points while Hasselbeck finished with 4 touchdowns and the most points of ANY other QB. Yeah, the guy who actually threw the 4 touchdowns couldn’t even get it right on his fantasy team. That’s the point though, you will make terrible calls and lose and you make good calls and lose. That’s the game.

A few notes on Week 7

Matt Ryan has finally proposed to Roddy White (11 receptions this past week for 2 scores and 201 yards). If you’re interested, the wedding is in June and they’re registered at Neiman Marcus.

Brett Favre (as of today) will probably, maybe, sort of play New England this Sunday. He’s got a stress fracture in his ankle, an avulsion fracture in his heel bone, a sore shoulder and a serious case of blue… you know. He is however “confident he can’t make the injury worse by playing”. Right, I forgot, ankle injuries usually do fantastically when you have to run, pivot and get squished by 300 pound men running at you full speed. My money is that he starts, throws a pick, gets sacked a few times and leaves the game early. Do NOT go there, I’m warning you.

Romo is essentially done for this season. If he’s on your team, you might as well drop him. If you’re really attached to Romo and have the roster space, you could wait it out and hope that he returns by the end of the season, but the way that the Cowboys are playing right now, I can’t see them risking re-injury for Romo in Week 16.

Some good options to replace Romo:

1. Ryan Fitzpatrick: He’s done very well fantasy-wise over the past 4 games, averaging at least 20 fantasy points. He also made Lee Evans look like a fantasy stud, which is not easy to do. You could do worse.

2. Matt Cassel: He’s starting to find some success with his receivers and the Jamaal Charles/Thomas Jones two-headed monster is taking pressure off the passing game, which is allowing Cassel to thrive. The rest of his schedule looks pretty good too.

3. Matthew Stafford: Stafford is worth a look as well. He’s a talented quarterback who has Calvin Johnson back and Jahvid Best starting in week 8. Oh and he’s not Shaun Hill.

4. John Kitna: If you’re not completely soured on Dallas, give Kitna a look.  No he’s not going to be a fantasy stud or get you any rushing yards, but he’s commanding a very talented Dallas offense (despite their record). He didn’t look terrible Monday against a tough Giants pass rush either.

Instead of giving traditional pick-up advice this week, I’m going to give you some names to keep in mind or pick-up if you’ve got roster space.

QB

See above.

WR

Davone Bess: Attention PPR league owners, Davone Bess gets 5-7 each week. He’s not as useful in regular leagues but has managed 3 touchdowns in the past 3 weeks against New England, Pittsburgh and Green Bay and that is nothing to sneeze at.

Dave Gettis: The rookie managed to grab everyone’s attention with his 8 for 125 day last week, but remains largely untouched due to playing for the fantasy dead zone in Carolina this year. If Matt Moore improves and Steve Smith continuing to draw the coverage, he could put up decent numbers.

RB

LeGarrette Blount: I don’t think the Bucs are really serious about Cadillac Williams being more than a third down back, which opens up the carries to a Mr. Blount.  He managed a respectable 7.20 points last week on 11 carries and should get more as the season progresses.

Darren Sproles: in the mess that is the Chargers offense, Darren Sproles is a lone bright spot. Matthews hasn’t gotten double digit carries since week 1 (except against the Rams) and Tolbert has been filching touchdowns, but hasn’t gotten close to a respectable carry number. Sproles on the other hand, has been looked to a lot for short pass attempts, which keeps him a potential flex play.

Cavalier of the Week:

Chris Long (CLAS ’08): Who in Charlottesville doesn’t know everything about Chris Long? Son of Raiders Hall of Fame defensive end, Howie Long, Chris lead the team in defensive play while racking up all-state, all-ACC and all-American honors during his tenure. Long graduated from UVA and was drafted second overall by the Rams in 2008. Long continued to standout in St. Louis and was voted to the All-Rookie team in 2008. He continues to be an integral part of the Rams defensive line.

The Rams D makes a good pickup for this week if you were forced to drop your D for the bye week. They put up decent numbers against Arizona, Seattle and San Diego and are playing the turnover machine that is the Carolina Panthers.

On another note, the Cavaliers play Miami this Saturday at noon in Scott Stadium. The game will also be televised on ESPN if you can’t manage to drag your Halloween costumed-self out of bed before noon and get to the stadium. Good luck this week and Happy Halloween!