Blood Makes The Grass Grow

It's that time of year, babycakes!

The 2008 NFL season begins next week, so of course that means Fantasy Football is back in full swing, and that means it's the return of everyone's favorite FF franchise, the beloved Winona Rough Ryders...

Man, it seems like it was just seven months ago that the Rough Ryders took second place in the APFL...

Which reminds me - the league has been renamed this year to the Fantasy Inner Circle League, or the FICL, and yeah, there's a part of me that thinks Wino is being fickle with this league re-christening, but he's a good commissioner, and our beloved Rough Ryders are going to win it all this year no matter what the league is called...

So, as you can see from the graphic above, the FICL had our draft on Monday night, and that would be this year's Winona Rough Ryders! All in all, I was quite happy with my draft this year, although in hindsight I do have to second guess myself a couple times...

Eighth pick in the draft, and going into it, I had seriously considered grabbing QB Tom Brady or WR Randy Moss with a later pick like mine, but both of those players got nabbed right in front of me, so that decision was essentially made for me...Conventional wisdom is to draft an RB in the first round, and with Brady and Moss off the table, Frank Gore was my highest pre-ranked RB, so I grabbed him...My thinking that he'll become a formidable and prolific receiving RB in Mike Martz's new offensive scheme in San Francisco, making him a fantasy stud...

It was a tough draft this year in terms of RB...There are a few that are still young and unproven (Adrian Peterson, Ryan Grant, Marshawn Lynch), and there are even more that are starting to age, losing a step or two, being more prone to injury (LT, Steven Jackson, Brian Westbrook, Rudi Johnson, Jamal Lewis)...

And then there are the rookies...I drafted the two best rookie RB prospects this year, and it's one of those gambits that will either blow up in my face, or make me look like a fucking genius and wish the FICL was a keeper league...Darren McFadden finds himself one of four potential starters out in Oakland, though I suspect he'll rise to the top of the depth chart by mid-season, so grabbing him in the fourth round as my 2nd RB looks fairly foolish in hindsight...At the moment, anyways...

Meanwhile, rookie RB Jonathan Stewart is running like an All-Pro this pre-season down in Carolina...The problem there is, DeAngelo Williams (a back I've drafted and championed the past two seasons) is running like an All-Pro as well...Having said that, I was able to draft the first (or second) best rookie RB prospect in the eleventh round, which is fucking sweet no matter how ya look at it...Even considering that I took McFadden in the fourth...(Why?)

Anyways, I did the conventional thing and took Gore with my first pick, and my strategy has always been to grab WRs with the next two picks, which I obviously did...Terrell Owens was a great pick for me, I believe, and there's really nothing else to say about it...Barring injury, he may very well be my leading fantasy scorer this season...

In the third round, I grabbed WR Marques Colston of the New Orleans Saints...He was the ninth WR drafted, and in a rare stroke of insight, I had him pencilled-in as my #3 pick in the days leading up to the draft...And here he is, a proud Winona Rough Ryder! I expect a huge year from the young man...

I usually grab my QB within the first three rounds, but this year I waited until the fifth round, and ended up taking Ben Roethlisberger...As a die-hard Steeler fan, it was an easy choice, perhaps too easy, because in reality, the Steeler's O-line is a porous mess, and the receiving corp, quite honestly, could be better....Hines Ward is a fucking champ, but he is getting old, there's no denying that...With rookie Mendenhall joining Willie Parker in the backfield, the Steelers might be content to just grind it out on the ground this year...

It might not matter, because looking at my team right now, I think I'm going to be starting my other QB, Jay Cutler of the Denver Broncos...He's young, he's smart, and he's got promising receivers, including my 2nd TE, Tony Scheffler, who might also end up starting for me instead of Owen Daniels...

Usually, I draft my starting TE within the first five rounds, but this year I ended up waiting until the seventh round to grab Owen Daniels of Houston...In Round 5 of our draft, both Antonio Gates and Jason Witten were grabbed ahead of my pick, and frankly, those were the only two TEs I considered good enough to take that early, so when they were gone, my decision was once again made for me...I briefly considered grabbing Tony Gonzalez with that 5th pick, but he's now the oldest active TE in the NFL, and he's playing for a KC offense that may very well be a mess this year...He served me well last year, but that was last year...

So I grabbed another WR with my fifth pick, Greg Jennings of my own beloved Green Bay Packers...It may have been a risky pick considering that Aaron Rodgers is now the Packers' QB, but Jennings has proven to me that he's got the potential to be a truly elite NFL receiver, and if nothing else, he's the best Packer receiver, and wouldn't ya know it, he grabbed a 60 yard TD pass on the first drive of tonight's pre-season game against the Titans...

Yeah, add Anthony Gonzalez, my 10th pick, into the mix, and I believe I've got a dynamite receiving situation this year...TE and QB, maybe not so much, but ya can't always have it all...

Elsewhere...

New York Jets' RB Thomas Jones in the 8th round? It was absurd when I saw he was still available with the 73rd pick, and it's absurd even now...With Brett Favre at QB in NYC, and future Hall-Of-Fame guard Alan Faneca on their line this year, Thomas Jones could bounce back and have a stellar season...Could...And if he does, I don't see any reason why our beloved Rough Ryders won't be charging hard towards the FICL title...

In Pittsburgh and Jacksonville I have two of the best six defensive units in the NFL...Plus, as I've mentioned many times before, the Steelers are my second most beloved NFL team after the Packers...Having said that, Jacksonville might very well win out in the long run...It will likely come down to which team faces the most inept offense each weekend, and the Jaguars definitely have a much easier schedule than the Steelers do...

I definitely wanted Packer LB Nick Barnett on my team again this year, although taking him in the 12th round was silliness...He would have lasted until near the end, I reckon...

Patriot K Stephen Gostkowski was shockingly available for my 13th pick...I always draft my K in the 13th round, but I still can't believe Gostkowski, potentially the most valuable kicker in the NFL, was the eighth kicker taken when I grabbed him with my #13...Plus, he's a fellow Polack...I like most Polacks...

Marcus Trufant led the NFL in interceptions last season, if I'm not mistaken...Atari Bigby is a Green Bay Packer, he plays a bit recklessly, and has my favorite name in the NFL, although if fellow Packer DB, Scorpio Babers makes the team, I may have to rethink it...In any event, I've got a solid DB tandem...

I've also got a decent DL tandem as well...James Harrison of the Steelers, and Brian Posluszny of the Bills...Another tough Polack...

And that's about it...A blathering rundown of our beloved Winona Rough Ryders...Stay tuned to HOT POOP for weekly recaps...

HINES WARD!

Hotcha! Hank