ROUGH RYDERS 2008: Week Nine

I'm having a hard time deciding if our beloved WINONA ROUGH RYDERS' victory this week over the WINOS can be chalked up to LUCK or GENIUS.

If there's genius involved, it would be making a couple of quick, last minute dips into the Free Agency pool to grab Leon Washington and Kevin Smith off the wires...Because of BYES and injuries, I had no choice but to make some changes if I even stood a chance this week.

Now, Leon Washington is Thomas Jones' backup for the NY Jets, and second stringers typically don't put up great fantasy numbers, but if I had to use a backup, it only made sense to use the backup to one of my own players. Washington ended up contributing pretty much exactly what I expected him to, which wasn't earthshaking, but was better than the alternative, which was starting Darren McFadden and hoping beyond hope that he'd actually play with not one, but TWO, turf toe injuries. McFadden didn't play. GENIUS!

Then there's the rookie Kevin Smith, the best running back on the Detroit Lions, but not actually starting, because washed up veteran Rudi Johnson gets the nod for being, um, a veteran, I guess. You see, in Detroit, that kind of logic is often employed, which is why they are arguably the worst team in the NFL. The Lions were playing the Chicago Bears, who have one of the better defenses in the league, so pulling the trigger on Kevin Smith was doubly risky - not a starter, going against a staunch run defense - but he put up as many FP in my team's flex position as anybody else this season, and I consider that GENIUS.

On the other hand, LUCK played a major part in this week's victory. The WINOS' starting QB, Kyle Orton, only played about half a game because of an ankle injury, and if he had stayed healthy and finished his game, we definitely would have lost. Definitely.

Otherwise, most everything else went as planned. Greg "Brillo" Camarillo far exceeding expectations, and that certainly played a part. And then there's the Pittsburgh Defense, which had a huge game against the Redskins last night, and nearly doubled their projected score...

Consider this - I was trailing by 50 FP going into Monday night's game between the Redskins and Steelers, and I didn't really think I had a shot of actually winning. I had Chris Cooley, Pittsburgh's Defense, and James Harrison left on my team, and the WINOS had Troy Polamalu, and I knew I'd close that 50 point gap, but I never thought I'd pull out a victory...

But here we are...For me, it may have been the single greatest comeback (and unexpected victory) in my fantasy football life...

Having said that, I'm going to cut this week's recap short, because it's election night in the United States, and I'd like to watch Barack Obama bring it home.

Hotcha! Hank