Fantasy Football Failure: Week 11

Another sad week for my RB's- Chris Johnson and Kevin Faulk combined for a grand total of 1 point. Thankfully, the Jets D played St. Louis and scored 25 points to pick up the slack. Ralph had two guys put up 0 points and I still only won the week 83-70, which was considerably closer than I had imagined. Willis McGahee went from "questionable" to having a monster game, which was unexpected. But David Garrard had a decent game (18 points) and so did Reggie Wayne, again (17 points), which was good to see.

Down The Drain won big last week, so we're still tied for first at 8-2, but the "points scored" gap has increased to 839-783 (note: I'm 7th in "points scored" but I have the fewest "points against" at 600). Week 11 brings a serious challenge in Tina's 6-4 Eli's Coming team.

QB: Tyler Thigpen vs. Kurt Warner
RB: Marion Barber vs. Brandon Jacobs
RB: Chris Johnson vs. Matt Forte
RB/WR: Earnest Graham vs. Anthony Gonzales
WR: Reggie Wayne vs. Kevin Curtis
WR: Dwayne Bowe vs. Marvin Harrison
TE: Kevin Boss vs. Jason Witten
D/ST: Jets vs. Eagles
K: Jason Elam vs. John Carney

QB: I've made another change at QB; I'm going with Tyler Thigpen. Yes, Tyler Thigpen. Look, I love David Garrard, but I think Thigpen's the better play this week. Garrard is up against undefeated Tennessee and Thigpen, who's had 20+ fantasy points the past 3 weeks, is up against underachieving New Orleans. I think Thigpen gives me the best chance for point, which I'm going to need against MVP candidate Kurt Warner. Warner's having a John Travoltta in Pulp Fiction type comeback right now, and its mind boggling. He's at Seattle, which shouldn't be too hard for him to put up big numbers. I hope I can keep it close here.

RB: My RB's have been pretty disappointing lately. What I need is for Tony freakin'-Romo to come back and start throwing the ball downfield to establish that yes, the Cowboys having a passing game once more. If this happens, the field should open up for Marion Barber to be Marion Barber again. Also, I don't think the Titan's running game will be shut down again like it was last week, so Chris Johnson should be okay. Earnest Graham is currently "questionable" with a knee injury, so if it turns out he can't go, I'll have Vincent Jackson in at the flex position. Its pretty rare for me to be the underdog at RB, but I am to Tina. Barber and Johnson are currently the #8 and #9 fantasy RB's; Matt Forte and Brandon Jacobs are #3 and #7. Tina's guys have been more consistant than mine, so I don't expect either Forte or Jacobs to have an off week.

WR/TE: First off, welcome back Reggie Wayne. Three straight crappy weeks and I thought about benching Wayne; good think I didn't. I'm going with Dwayne Bowe over Laveranues Coles this week because a)I'm already riding the Tyler Thigpen bandwagon and b)tonight's Jets-Pats game is forcasted to be a rainly slop-fest. Besides, Coles has had only one good week in the past 5, so I'm feeling okay sitting him. And as long as Peyton Manning throws to Wayne and not to Anthony Gonzalez or Marvin Harrison, I should be okay here. Harrison is struggling big time right now, but he's still Marvin Harrison, so he could break out at any point, and Gonzalez is still the 4th option in that offense (behind Wayne, Dallas Clark, and Harrison), so I don't expect much from these guys. The Eagles have the Bengals this week, so I expect Kevin Curtis (along with the rest of the Eagles) to find the end zone at least once each. At TE, I picked up Kevin Boss because he's got a TD in 3 straight games, so hopefully Eli Manning wil continue to look his way in the red zone. Tina's got Jason Witten, who should be back to his usual self after a bye week and the return of Romo.

DEF/K: Like I mentioned above, the weather for tonight's Jets-Pats game is expected to be nasty. Nasty weather usually favors the defense (unless you're playing Gale Sayers), so I'm hoping for some decent points from the Jets D (though I surely don't expect another 25 point performance). Again, the Eagles are at Cincinnati, so they're sure to put up some fantasy points. And all I'll say about kickers is that Jason Elam (who scored a solid 10 points last week) is currently "questionable", so if he can't go, I'll drop Matt Prater (who's fallen off lately as the Broncos offense has faded).

On paper, I think I'm behind in this matchup and unlike the past three weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if my win streak (up to 6 right now) comes to an end. I think it'll come down to the RB's; if my guys (all of them, not just one) show and play to the level they're supposed to, I'll be in a good position to get the win (a few TD's from Thigpen to Bowe wouldn't hurt either). But we'll see, this week should be close.