VUFSA: Week Three

I’m too lazy to look it up, but I’m positive this is the highest scoring week in VUFSA history.

Eight of the ten teams in the league were over 100 points and two squads busted out for massive totals.

John Clayton is visiting Fred Lane’s wife in prison this weekend, so he won’t be here this week for a recap. Come to think of it ... there’s a good chance he won’t be here next week either.

On to this week’s HGH-fueled scoring.

==========

Madd Skillz: 159.75 points
Blaine Browns: 115.25 points

Madd Skillz (3-0): About the only thing that went wrong for Skillz this week is that Larry Johnson actually lost points on Monday night when the team was poised to make a run at the VUFSA record for points. But this is fantasy football –- we’re not concerned with personal stats. Anyway, Ed gets a win largely behind LDT’s absolutely profane week. I’m not going to bother recapping what he did, just go look it up for yourself. Steve Smith was equally ridiculous (28.50 points) and Fred Taylor’s knees carried the ball 37 times to put up 15 points. Skillz remains undefeated and more importantly, makes an intimidating statement to every other owner in the league with this showing.
Best move: Not that it was a gigantic risk, but drafting Smith off an injury has proven to be a great move. The comeback receiver looks headed for 1,200 yards and a 15-touchdown season.
Worst move: Matt Hasselback (9.00 points) over Tom Brady (11.75 points). Whatever.

Blaine Browns (0-3): Ouch. Most points of any loser. Again. It’s been a rough start for Drew, who loses (by a ton, if you can’t subtract too well) despite having a very solid week. Has to be pleased that Drew Brees finally put up a good week, as this should allay some quarterback fears. Got nice weeks from Terrell Owens (14.50) and Edgerrin James (18), but simply not enough production to overcome Skillz’s’s’s’ big output. He is now one of just two teams without a win, and faces two tall orders in Sex Panther and Fred Lane’s Wife the next two weeks.
Best move: Well, not that it’s much consolation, but Dwight Freeney is pretty good. Is this even a move?
Worst move: Hurt to have Keenan McCardell’s 18 points on the bench against a pass-defense-challenged Giants team. But once again, it might be better for BB’s sanity to not score so many points when losing.

==========

ChamPeons: 112.00 points
Fred Lane’s Wife: 109.75 points

ChamPeons: (2-1): Thunder rumbled early for Champ, and later broke in the form of Rod Smith. He snatches victory away in the closest matchup of the week, slightly easing the pain of sitting at Soldier Field for nine hours on Sunday watching the Bears. Champ managed to win without Clinton Portis and his decision to go with Drew Bledsoe (27 points) over Kerry Collins (24 points) was bold, but the three extra points were the difference in this matchup. Come to think of it, with Julius Jones (20 points) and Keyshawn Johnson (13.50 points) performing well, this was entirely a Cowboys-fueled win. Odd.
Best move: Matching up Bledsoe against San Francisco’s "defense."
Worst move: Nothing. Other than Collins, ChamPeons’ bench only totaled one lonely point.

Fred Lane’s Wife (1-2): Peyton Manning’s new team-oriented style may be great to shut up Bill Simmons, but it’s certainly not good news for his fantasy owners. 5.75 points in a week should never happen from someone who was considered by many to be the top fantasy player for this season. Making matters worse, FLW was thundered by 56-year-old Rod Smith of all players. All in all, a rough start for a team that was considered to be a top-3 team in the preseason. Plenty of time left to turn things around, and you have to figure that when Manning gets going (and he will), this team will follow.
Best move: Continued faith in Ronnie Brown (20.50) after a slow start. Big performances will become more common from this guy – even after Ricky Williams returns.
Worst move: Nothing really applies, as his seven bench players were all quiet.

==========

Sex Panther: 162.25 points
Big Fat Guys: 102.25 points

Sex Panther (1-2): After being forced by their owner to wear dresses for the past week following an 0-2 start, Sex Panther responded in a really big, really non-feminine way. Daunte Culpepper is going to keep wearing his dress after leading the charge with 32.25 point performance. Willis McGahee finally broke out (20 points) while Thomas Jones, Torry Holt, Cadillac Williams and newcomer Antonio Gates all landed in double-digits. Total could have been higher if Steven Jackson didn’t miss chunks of playing time with bruised ribs.
Best move: Sticking with Culpepper after whatever those first two weeks were.
Worst move: Not finding a way to get Mewelde Moore in the lineup against America’s Team.

Big Fat Guys (0-3): Not a bad week from BFG, but also not nearly enough to win. Baron’s team has done all right for itself so far despite a near dearth of running backs, and he did so again by getting big weeks his receivers (Chris Chambers, Terry Glenn and Joey Galloway: 38.50 points total). Things get more ugly moving down the lineup, with Mike Anderson being the only running back getting significant points and his tight end grabbing just one ball for four yards. Will have a difficult time choosing between Palmer and Bulger each week, but I guess that’s not a bad problem to have.
Best move: Terry Glenn is very involved in Dallas’ offense this year, so grabbing him off the scrap heap is looking like an astute pickup.
Worst move: Lamar Gordon, a backup running back, in the flex spot over Brandon Lloyd (21 points).

==========

Cellar Dwellers: 125.50 points
The Octagon: 107.25 points

Cellar Dwellers (3-0): Holy Shaun Alexander. Four touchdowns and 38 points from Stem’s star. This team looks very solid after three weeks, and has got to be feeling good about a resurgence. Besides Alexander, LaMont Jordan did well, and Marshall Faulk took advantage of some extra clock score 10.50 points. To score over 125 points while your RB2 and WR2 are on bye week is an impressive feat. A win next week over ChamPeons would go a long way in putting CD into the early playoff sketch.
Best move: Sitting Eric Moulds down and later dropping him. It hurts to drop a keeper, but JP Losman is the worst starting quarterback in the league right now. Justified.
Worst move: I guess I could say Leftwich over Delhomme, but that’d be terribly hypocritical of me after what I wrote the past two weeks. I still like Leftwich.

The Octagon (2-1): The Octagon has its best week of the season and loses. That seems to make sense, doesn’t it? Got some nice performances, but was really harmed by a couple of near no-shows with Atwaan Randle El, Lee Evans and Tony Gonzalez all being shut down. Did enjoy his first week of owning Brian Westbrook (28.00 points), who will be a major asset to this team in the VUFSA, a points-per-reception league. By the way, if anyone wants to open a dialogue in the thread below to discuss the trade that brought Westbrook to The Octagon, feel free. I’m not sure I’ve heard any opinions on it.
Best move: Trent Green followed the high-pick QB trend early and disappointed, but he did rebound to post a nice Week 3 effort. A good choice to be patient and not opt for Brett Favre.
Worst move: I keep saying this, but there were very few poor moves made around the league this week. JR is among those owners who had near optimum lineup production.

==========

Father Abraham: 91.50 points
Ken’s Anal Adventure: 80.75 points

Father Abraham (2-1): Also a thunder winner, though everyone saw this coming with Priest Holmes and others lined up to cover a 12-point deficit. His second best performance was actually from his kicker (13.00 points) and Holmes also did just enough running to secure a win. Donovan McNabb continues to play effectively while hurt, throwing up 365 yards and 23.50 points. Tight end Jason Witten (13.00 points) also came out of hiding to grab a touchdown pass, which has to make Lincoln happy after spending a fairly high draft pick on him. Gets to face off against an angry Peyton Manning next week for the chance to move to 3-1.
Best move: The design work on his website. It looks very nice, Lincoln. Oh, and uhh ... overcoming Jamal Lewis on bye week.
Worst move: NOTHING. No one did anything wrong this week and it’s bothering me. NOTHING.

Ken’s Anal Adventure (1-2): Didn’t back up their pregame trash talking, turning in a meek performance in what was ultimately a winnable match. Michael Vick (21.75) and TJ Duckett (13.00) points were good, but that was about all. Had two Vikings receivers available on the roster, but both were on the bench for the thrashing of the Saints. Brandon Stokley is really suffering this year, and doesn’t appear to be an every-week start anymore. However, the roster is actually fairly deep, for an expansion team, but it does force the owners to make good lineup choices. The management of the ballclub from here on out will go a long way in determining if they threaten this season.
Best move: Benching Justin McCareins, who still haunts Dave Tomke’s dreams every single night.
Worst move: Braylon Edwards against Indy’s defense over Travis Taylor (who was Daunte’s No. 1 WR with Burleson out). The extra 11.50 points would have allowed KAA to just barely edge out Abraham this week.