ROUGH RYDERS: Week Five

According to the braintrust at Yahoo!, our beloved Winona Rough Ryders should have destroyed the 100% Fleece Fighters by approximately 60 points. Instead, we went into Monday nights game between the Cowboys and the Bills with a 20 point deficit. Now, despite that 20 point deficit, I was confident that a victory was still imminent, as I still had Romo, Crayton, and Lynch to play in that game, and Romo himself was more than capable of closing that gap and leading us to victory all by himself.

Instead, Tony Romo threw FIVE interceptions and gave up a fumble and the Cowboys almost lost to the lowly Bills. Instead of 20+ fantasy points, Romo was only good for 5, and thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster Patrick Crayton had one of his good games instead of one of his non-existent games. And hell, thanks also that Marshawn Lynch turned in one of his solid, dependable, better-than-average-but-not-stellar performances.

What else we got?

We got Megatron (Calvin Johnson), returning from a back injury that forced him out of his game in Week Three. I didn't see the Detroit-Washington game, but his 1.3 fantasy points (which reflects a single 3 yard reception) suggests that he hardly played, re-injured himself, or Washington's defense really is better than most people think. Certainly not solid, and thus far this season, Megatron has hardly been consistent or dependable. He's a rookie, and he's got shitloads of potential, but the problem appears to be a Lions offense with FOUR very good recievers and a QB (Jon Kitna) who's gotta share his love with all of 'em, in addition to his usual 2-4 turnovers a game. I've seen enough of Megatron already to say that he's going to be an elite WR in the NFL, if he can stay healthy, and if he can become an undeniable target for Kitna. On the plus side, Detroit's defense is pretty rancid, and the Lions are gonna be throwing a ton all season...

Then we've got Bernard Berrian. Green Bay's secondary held BB in check, and he went to the bench with a toe injury in the third quarter with a single catch for ten yards. Dude was averaging 14 fp per game previously. And let me just say that toe injuries piss me off. Chris Brown of the Titans had turf toe through most of the 2005 season, and was a big reason why our beloved Rough Ryders finished 6th in the APFL that year. Numb the fucker up and play, I say.

And then we've got Patrick Crayton. When Romo wasn't throwing interceptions, he managed to find Crayton six times for a bunch of yards and most importantly, a crucial touchdown late in the game, when the Bills melted down in an absurdly impressive fashion, even for them.

LaDainlian Tomlinson had an average game by his standards...No touchdowns and thankfully I didn't need 'em. LT's gotta explode one of these weeks. Hopefully next week against Oakland, cuz our beloved Rough Ryders matchup with The Vocal Removers, who are loaded with Patriots and currently tied for 2nd place with us in the APFL. C'mon LT - just one HUGE game this year...

Marshawn Lynch was his typically solid-but-not-stellar self against the Cowboys, so this rookie makes me mostly happy, considering all the doom and woe in Buffalo.

Tony Gonzalez has picked up his game in the past couple weeks, and I see no reason why that won't continue. On the other side of the matchup, 100% Fleece Fighters had Ben Watson in their TE slot, and he went off for 29 fantasy points to their team to defeat.

Back on my side of this week's matchup, the Chicago Bears defense led the Rough Ryders with 19.9 fantasy points. This is bittersweet, of course, because the Bears defense had a huge hand in the Green Bay Packers' defeat. 2 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries. Twas a sad day in Packerland...

Speaking of the Bears' defense, I dropped Lance Briggs this week because both Yahoo and ESPN were telling me that he was gonna sit on the bench because of his groin. Naturally, he went on to make 16 tackles, while his replacement on the Rough Ryders, Keith Bulluck, had 3 tackles. I will not drop Lance Briggs during his Week Nine BYE. Unless he injures himself in a Lambourghini accident. Meanwhile, Nick Barnett was his usual unsung goodness, going for 9 quiet, but important, fantasy points.

Both of my DBs, Asante Samuel and Ike Taylor, had interceptions this week, plus they knocked down a bunch of balls. Neither of 'em made many tackles.

Finally, Neil "The Rack" Rackers was good for a rock solid dozen fantasy points. He may be a kicker, but he's a kicker with a nickname, and that's just one more reason why our beloved Rough Ryders are gonna win the APFL crown this season.

Right now, we're 4-1, and we would have been 5-0 if I had put 100% of my faith in Tony Romo against Chicago in Week Three, but whatcha gonna do?

Onward to Week Six, and the toughest matchup of the season against the Vocal Removers. It's all gonna ride on the Cowboys-Patriots game, a possible preview of this year's Super Bowl.

Please stand by.

Hotcha!
Hank