Monday Night Meltdown in Fantasy Football

As I recap Monday Night football's primetime game, I am filled with mixed emotions. It was great to see the city of New Orleans get a break from the constant rebuilding effort. For about four hours, the city got to leave their temporary housing and witness an emotionally charged performance by the New Orleans Saints. Stuffing the vaunted Atlanta running attack and riding an emotional high from a blocked punt touchdown and a double reverse touchdown, the Saints beat the Falcons 23-3. Marques Colston, the third to last pick in the NFL draft out of Hofstra continued his amazing start to the season with 97 yards receiving. He has definitely supplanted Joe Horn in New Orleans and is Drew Brees' favorite target downfield. Reggie Bush had another solid outing(72 total yards on 17 touches) and Deuce McAllister ran hard for 81 yards. "From the moment I signed with the Saints, I was looking forward to this," said quarterback Drew Brees, who joined New Orleans during the offseason. "We couldn't have asked for it to go any better. It was a great night. It's something we'll never forget."

I needed Mike Vick to have a dynamite game light Brett Favre last week. Things started out well as Vick threw a 48 yard bomb to Ashle Lelie and Alge Crumpler dropped a sure TD in the end zone. That was as good as it got. Vick threw for 137 and rushed for 57 yards with no tds. This is the kind of inconsistancy I was hoping Vick put behind him. He still put up 13 points for me but I needed much more. I am now 1-2 in the league, but some interesting happenings occurred in week 3...

First Chris Simms had emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen and is out indefinitely. Then TE Vernon Davis broke his leg and RB Frank Gore strained his abdomin(after fumbling on the one yard line). Next Shaun Alexander broke a bone in his foot and is out 3-6 weeks depending on who you speak with. Next Arizona coach Denny Green benched fumbling, bumbling, stumbling quarterback Kurt Warner in favor of Matt Leinart. These injuries and coaches decisions are going to have a huge impact on fantasy football over the coming weeks. For those of you with Vernon Davis, look to pick up TE Eric Johnson. He was a stud TE two years ago before injuries derailed his 2005 season. If you have Shaun Alexander, Maurice Morris is his backup and performed well spelling Alexander in the past. Look for Seattle to turn toward Matt Hasselbeck and his receiving core to carry the load against the aggressive Chicago defense in week 4. If you own Kurt Warner, you may be tempted to pick up Leinart. I would first look to see if other QBs are available, like Losman, Pennington, Kitna, Roethlisberger, McNair before banking on a rookie QB. This will also affect Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, whose receiving numbers could drop and Edgerrin James, whose numbers could rise.

Posted in Fantasy Football,Monday Night Football,Saints,Falcons,Katrina,