Fantasy Focus

Due to the Ravens bye week, I'll be making my picks tomorrow morning instead of today. Usually I make my picks on saturday and utilize Sunday to break down the Ravens game and give my pick for that game. However, today, I'll focus on my fantasy football team, the Wonder Dogs (get it- Rexx, the Wonder Dog!?). Occasionally throughout the season, I'll touch on fantasy football and how my team is shaping up and the roster decisions I am looking at for the upcoming week.

This week, my biggest quandry is who to start at QB between Jon Kitna and Marc Bulger. While it looks to be an easy decision to pencil in Kitna, I'm not leaning that way. Kitna's numbers are down as Detroit has rediscovered the run, and besides this game is at Chicago, who actually think they might be ready to make a playoff run at the other teams in the NFC North. Bulger has been not only injured, but horrible when he was healthy. Even though his offensive line is in shambles, the Rams are at home against Cleveland and I like this matchup for him and the Rams. Me thinks Bulger goes off on the Browns as St. Louis finally gets their first victory in front of their fans.

At running back, I had the first pick in the draft and have LT. 'Nuff said there. My second RB will probably be the Steelers Najeh Davenport. I also have DeShaun Foster and Michael Bennett, but while Foster faces the Colts and Bennett is still not the starter in Tampa, Davenport looks to get some touches near the goal line and should end up with at least one TD for Pittsburgh in their game at Cincy.

Wide receiver options are open. My roster includes Donald Driver, Lee Evans, Calvin Johnson, Dallas Clark and Antwaan Randle-El. Since Washington is at the Pats, Randle-El is out. I'm not convinced that Calvin Johnson is a full-time option for Detroit, which leaves Driver, Evans and Clark as my three starters at receiver.

My team defenses are Seattle and Minnesota. While the Vikings have been great with their takeaways, Seattle's numbers are deceiving. They have a poorly ranked pass defense but I picked them off of the waiver wire specifically to go against the poor Rams offense at home in Marc Bulger's first game back from injury. The Seahawks defense paid off handsomely as they trounced St. Louis on both sides of the ball, with their defense leading my fantasy team to a victory in week 7. The Seahawks, however, have abye this seek. Besides, the Vikings defense is drooling while awaiting an Eagles team that has been relatively poor on the road. I look for Minnesota's defense to shut down Phiily's ability to run and take advantage of their opportunities when McNabb goes to the air.

However, all this doesn't matter too much if my opponents' team has a great day. They have Peyton Manning and if he goes off against the Panthers, it'll be a tough matchup. However, with LT at home in an emotional game in front of the Charger faithful against the Houston Texans, I'll take my chances.