Crystal Ballin’ Week Thirteen

So what’s going on this week in the world of IDP Football?
The hits keep on comin’. Not only the hits on the football field, but the IDP players hitting the IR. It really has been an incredible year, and since we are just in week 13, there will be more to come. This year above all others you should have a plan in place in case you lose your stud LB. Which Lofa Tatupu owner wouldn’t like to roll back the clock and nab David Hawthorne? There are countless other examples, but now as we roll into playoff time, you should look less at depth and more at backing up your studs somehow.

This week we saw the loss of Giants MLB Antonio Pierce, although if you read the early reports that bulging disc sounded bad, and I really didn’t expect to see him again this year. Pierce owners and other owners looking to snag a starter raced to waivers to grab Chase Blackburn. A smart move in deep leagues, although his 4-3 and 6-1 in the last two games has not been up to snuff. Last week may have been understandable seeing that the Giants LBs as a whole collected just 15 total tackles, but in week 11 he was clearly the understudy to WLB Lance Briggs, who racked up 11 solos.

Cleveland NT Shaun Rogers hit the pine for the year as well, and that was really a devastating loss for players in IDP League. Rogers allowed teams to play a 3-4 defense every week, and they could count on solid production, assuming you were in a tackle-based scoring league. Trying to find a replacement at this point in the season for a warm body in the middle is impossible.
The merry-go round in Carolina took another stop last week. After losing WLB Thomas Davis for the year, his replacement (Landon Johnson) hit the IR as well. That led to another round of waiver wire moves to snap up James Anderson. Yuck. Anderson did have a nice debut with a solid 6-4, but I’m not sold he’s the short-term, much less long-term answer there. But with Na’il Diggs seemingly on the doubtful side every week, he may stick. I know Dan Connor has been a bust so far, but he’s literally inches away from displacing Anderson.
On the DB side, there were a few losses, but all were backups, so they really didn’t affect any fantasy rosters.

So heading into Lucky week Thirteen, what to look for?
Cleveland’s Brodney Pool is likely to hit IR before the ink dries on this article, and danged if I can figure out who’s going to replace him. The only “true” safety on the bench in Nick Sorenson, but Mike Adams has been filling in, and he looks to be the one getting the nod. Adams has started three games this season, but all at CB. He did, however hang up a 6-4 two weeks ago.

Dallas’ Ken Hamlin is probably out again, and Alan Ball will likely start again, but if you need either one to fill out your lineup you are in deep, deep do, do.

Jax’ Rashean Mathis will be MIA again this week, Tyrone Brackenridge replaces him, and he actually has a very nice matchup against the Texans. Houston has allowed an average of 8.0 tackles a week to opposing CBs, and has thrown six interceptions in four weeks. Of course, if you are in a shallow league, Derek Cox would be the Jacksonville corner you want to nab.
Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield is healthy, but still not playing. This makes seven weeks since he’s been on the field, and he’s making me think he’s like Anthony Gonzales. Every week he sounds close, but never plays. I wouldn’t play him even if he starts this week. And if you snapped up Benny Sapp thinking he could score, well…no.

How good are the Saints? They were missing their two starting corners (Tracy Porter and Jabrari Greer), and they still manhandled Tom Brady and the Patriots. Wow. Porter and Greer may both be in the lineup this weekend, just adding to the Redskins woes. Over-under on Redskins scoring should be “8”.
But if one of those guys misses again and you need a temp filler, look at Michael Jenkins. 13-2 and an interception in two week. Sweet.

Uber-stud Eric Weddle may be MIA this weekend, and that sobbing you hear are fantasy players around the nation just learning that on their playoff weekend. So do you grab up Paul Oliver, plug him in and cross your fingers and pray. Or grab some other schmuck off waivers and do the same? I’d say grab some other schmuck. FS’s facing the Browns this season have averaged just 4.27 tackles a game, and just 4 and 5 the last two.

Washington CB DeAngelo Hall will likely miss another week of action, just in time for the Saints to roll into town with that QB and receiving crew. Fred “toast” Smoot will be chasing after Saints WRs all day.

Da Bear’s Lance Briggs could be out this week, and that would make this Bears LB corps the worst they have fielded since….ever. Hunter Hillenmeyer in the middle, Nick Roach at SLB and Jamar Williams at WLB? Yikes and yuck! Who are they playing this week? Where’s my bookies number? Oh yeah, no way in hell the Rams Steven Jackson misses this game now.

Will he or won’t he? Keith Rivers is questionable to doubtful again this week, but does it really matter? He was close to ww fodder before going down anyway. Heck, Brandon Johnson is scoring better as his replacement, although that ain’t saying much.

What happened in Cleveland? Kaluka Maiiiaavaadakjdksjdksj had everyone and their dog fist-fighting trying to snap him up on waivers after the Brownies lost both starting ILBs, and he puts up 10-2-.5 in two weeks before unceremoniously being shelved in favor of Jason Trusnik. Hey, I’m a happy camper, since I bet on Trusnik before hand, and thought I screwed the pooch by passing on Kaluka. Apparently, Maiava can rack up points, but mostly downfield after he has been blow back off the line of scrimmage five yards. So the Browns decided Trusnik’s 250-pounds was a better fit that Maiava’s 229 in the middle. Imagine that, and imagine why the Browns stink so badly. Hey, on the good side, my man Trusnik racked up an 8-2 last week, while riding the pine on my bench of course.

Detroit’s Ernie Sims is baaackkk. Ho-hum. All I can say is if the Lions decide to start Sims and sit DeAndre Levy..they are clearly delusional. Oh wait; we are talking about the Lions aren’t we? So they will probably sit Levy until Sims gets hurt in the second quarter. Yeah, the future of the Lions sitting so the Lions can try to tack on another win. Tell my why they just don’t sit Foote, insert Levy and get on with it? Sheesh.

Mike Vrabel of the Chiefs should be back in the lineup this week, so for all you guys that ran out and paid heavily for Andy Studebaker (lol), sorry.

So what will the Iggles do this week? WLB Akeem Jordan should be back. He will start at WLB, no question. Now who’s the MLB? Will “Spoon” slide back over, or will the Eagles let Joey Mays stay? I figure that Witherspoon will now stay at WLB. That poor guy can not catch a break. He has been switched from MLB to WLB so many times..I can’t even work up a good comparison.

Seattle’s David Hawthorne had just 6-0-1 last week. What the hell? Where was my double-digit tackles? Off with his head.

Rams’ MLB James Laurinaitas has 25-0-1 in his last two games. Boom.

Houston SLB Brian Cushing outscored MLB Jonathan Vilma again this past week. Vilma last outscored his SLB teammate sometime back in ’08.

Zona’s Darnell Dockett has six sacks in four weeks.

Saints’ Will Smith now has eight sacks in his last five games. He has just nine sacks on the year, so congrats for all who held onto him through the early parts of the season. I actually picked him in week five in an IDP League myself.

Tennessee’s Kyle Vandenbosch FINALLY picked up a couple of sacks in the last two games, his first two of the year.

That’s all folks! Go Saints!!

Tags: antonio pierce, brian cushing, chase blackburn, David Hawthorne, Ernie Sims, Fantasy football, IDP, injured reserve, ir, james anderson, jason trusnik, Jonathan Vilma, kaluka maiava, kyle vandenbosch, Lance Briggs, Shaun Rogers, waive wire, will smith