Week 9 Preview

Game of the Week

Madd Skillz vs. Naj Davenport's Poop (+16)

Two winningest franchises in league history do battle (26 wins vs. 23)...This week's game of the week features the 2nd greatest combined win percentage of any two teams in a regular season game (81.3%)...It's Viano's worst historical week, however- racking up just 84.38 in those games, including a loss to expansion Baron in Week 9 of last season...Schillinger fares better in week 9s, his 2nd best week, with an average of 153.50 in 2 wins through two seasons...After this game, SKL has just one and NDP just two games left against teams with winning records...Viano is 2-1 against Schillinger lifetime, the only owner with a winning record against him.

News and Notes, SKL

Both LaDanian Tomlinson and Larry Johnson went crazy last week, combining for 80.50 points. While it would be equally crazy to expect that again, both are set up for big games against Cleveland and St. Louis, resp...Chester Taylor looks to rebound from a nightmarish Monday Night showing against the 49ers, and should get a big workload since Brad Johnson has again proven himself a barely mediocre QB...On the other side of the matchup spectrum the Bengals Johnson take on Baltimore, and neither has had any sort of consistent success against that franchise through their careers...Very thin at WR, potentially, with Joe Horn and Terry Glenn on the injury report and Steve Smith on a bye. May force last second pickup Eric Parker into the lineup, the 3rd such offensive Charger if that happens...Key Byes: Steve Smith...Key Injuries: Joe Horn (Questionable), Matt Hassellbeck (Out)

News and Notes, NDP

Peyton Manning's recent spurt of 687 yards and 7 TDs in the last two weeks will be put to the test against a New England team that has been excellent defensively this year. In the distant past, Manning has struggled with the Patriots, and his struggles were magnified on the road. Last year, however, Peyton went into Foxboro and racked up 321 yards and 3 TDs en route to a handy Colts win. While the Colts are not as good as they were last year, the win isn't a certainty, but the numbers should be there for NDP in one of the season's biggest games...A tough week in matchups, all things considered for Viano, employing 3 studs from both PIT and DEN, who play each other this week. Willie Parker takes on a ferocious Bronco front seven and Hines Ward has to deal with Champ Bailey. Javon Walker takes on the normally good Pittsburgh Defense, but still has a chance to break out against a Steeler team that saw 4 Michael Vick TDs two weeks ago...Viano's most talented running back takes on the best defense in the NFL, it'll be hard to expect a ton from Ronnie Brown- although double digits are within range if he makes a couple catches...Cedric Benson and Marion Barber both have good chances to score well with their team's playing very well on offense...Todd Heap's injury won't be a problem, he's been upgraded to probable...Key Byes: Bryant Johnson...Key Injuries: Greg Jennings (Questionable), Todd Heap (Probable)

On Deck

The Nihilist Marmot vs. Fresh Legs (+5)

A lot of luster is gone from this matchup thanks to the Thursday Thunder, knocking FL to 3-5. On the other hand, every week is pretty much a must win for them now, so pay a little closer attention...After two straight losses, TNM has won 3 straight, and has increased their point total nearly 10 whole points each of the last 3 weeks, climbing from 120 to 130.50 to 140. All the while, his opponents are getting better than 108 in each of those matchups...Brendel, on the other hand, has hit no lower than 116.25 the last two weeks and has lost both games...Baron is 1-0 against JR, lifetime.

News and Notes, TNM

A pretty bad bye week leaves TNM vulnerable against the talented FL squad. New RB Edgerrin James takes a seat, as does DeShaun Foster, leaving the often inactive Ron Dayne in at RB and the often overlooked Isaac Bruce in their place at RB and Flex...Travis Henry can't duplicate his two point week eight for Radcliffe to be successful..Tony Gonzlez has had a sensational last two weeks, but St. Louis has had good success against the TE; they held Antonio Gates in check for a good part of last week...Darrell Jackson only had three catches with Seneca Wallace under center for a full game, but one of those was for a TD. Jackson should continue to be a viable weapon even with Wallace as his QB...Can I make a small prediction? I say Tiki Barber finds the end zone against the Texans and has his best game of the year. He has to break off a big play at some point this season...Key Byes: Edgerrin James, DeShaun Foster...Key Injuries: Darrell Jackson (Probable), Ron Dayne (Probable)

News and Notes, FL

The league's most despondent owner also has a horrible bye week this week as he misses his best player and 2 starting WRs...Dominic Rhodes is thrust back into the starting lineup, despite proving himself to be Indianapolis' inferior back carry after carry. He plays a stifling Patriot defense on a team that will probably throw about 75 times. I don't forsee good things from Dominic...The other three backs, while no sensational matchups, should be good for a double digit average between them...2 bright spots for Chris Chambers against the Bears: 1) they'll probably have to throw 62 times again and 2) The possibility for Big Play Peanut Tillman to cover him for at least one play means he has a good chance to score...Since coming off the bye, Doug Gabriel has been a solid WR3 in this league, and with the Patriot pass game ever-improving, his stock should only rise from here...Through his career, Carson Palmer has been very good against the Ravens, averaging 312 yards and 2 TDs against them. He picked them apart to the tune of a 128.4 QB rating last time they met, as well...Key Byes: Brian Westbrook, Laverneus Coles, Reggie Brown...Key Injuries: Dominic Rhodes (Questionable), Ahman Green (Probable)

The Three Spot

Who is Ron Mexico vs. ChamPeons (+1.5)

Week 9 is Champ's best scoring week- netting 118 points during these games. It's also his worst week, the only week he hasn't won a game. Weird...Tomke on the other hand, remembers week 9 for the worst loss in VUFSA history, when he put up just 47.50 en route to a 117.50 point loss...WIRM and CHM have finished in the top 5 or a given week once each...Before the season, I ranked Champ's schedule the 2nd hardest in the league, and that hasn't really changed; 4 of the top 5 scorers await after this week...Champ and Dave split their 2 games last season.

News and Notes, WIRM

Willis McGahee will suit up for his first new team in 3 VUFSA seasons, taking the field for Dave after coming over in exchange for Warrick Dunn last week. Dave has done an excellent job of continuing to upgrade his team, starting with underused and now-injured RB DeAngelo Williams and free-agent pickup Maurice Jones Drew and turning them into Warrick Dunn. He then turned that into a younger player with good upside in McGahee. It's really unknown to any of us if Willis will turn his talent into anything in his career, but it's a worthy gamble for Tomke...Michael Jenkins is an interesting start this week as WIRM tries to capitalize on the recent success of the Falcon pass attack. The other WRs look good this week as well...As long as Reggie Bush is healthy, he's worth at least a flex spot in our league, but as a 1 or 2 he's not as strong of an asset...Key Byes: Kevan Barlow...Key Injuries: Reggie Bush (Questionable)

News and Notes, CHM

The great thing for CHM this week is the Patriot-Colt matchup. It wouldn't be unsound to start both Maroney and Dillon because Indy can't stop anybody on the ground. If NE proved anything last week, it's that they'll go at your weakness, or at least against your strenght. Each back could get 20 touches...Frank Gore, despite his superhuman powers, plays a very good run defense in Minnesota this week. Gore was still able to rack up 111 garbage rush yards against the Bears last week, but that may be different in a more controlled game...Damon Huard gets his chance to show his stuff in his VUFSA debut, taking over for the recently benched David Carr. Mario Williams looks worse and worse every single week for that franchise...I like the potential for Lee Evans against Green Bay...Key Byes: None...Key Injuries: Joseph Addai (Questionable), Laurence Maroney (Questionable)- but both of those are because the Tony Dungy and Bill Belichick are acting like fucking children with their injury reports and the NFL lets them get away with it.

Batting Cleanup

Tice's Partyboat vs. Celler Dwellers (+13)

The 2nd benefactor of Thursday Thunder in league history, Wolfman finds himself one game up on Stem and on the edge of the playoff race; a win here not only keeps them in it, but all but knocks out a CD team who would probably need to win out to get in...Stem and Drew are 2-2 against one another splitting their series each of the first two seasons.

News and Notes, TPB

Michael Vick has been on fire and has a pathetic Lion offense to contend with this week. It's going to be a good day for the Mexican...A weak WR corps gets a boost from Reggie Williams- well, not so much him as the fact that he's playing the Titans- even though David Garrard may be the starter until the end of the season...Ruben Droughns is still a Partyboater, and his trade window may have passed now that he's had one good game, and he's due to be shut down by San Diego's defense this week...Brandon Jacobs is probably going to score 48 points against Texans...Adam Vinateri averages more points per game than Tiki Barber, Steven Jackson and every WR in our league...Key Byes: Keyshawn Johnson, DeAngelo Williams...Key Injuries: Byron Leftwich (Questionable), Kellen Winslow (Questionable), Maurice Jones-Drew (Probable)

News and Notes, CD

Honestly, this is as sound as this squad has looked in some time. Mewelde Moore is a decent fill-in at RB3, and LaMont Jordan should be starting again this week...Tom Brady's best game of the year went to waste last week, and it's a shame as New England probably won't throw the ball that much (if at all) this weekend, when CD really needs it...Bitchass Burress is, like all other NY Giants, set up for a big game...Keenan McCardell has yet to hit 7 catches or 70 yards in a single game- his starting spot should be in jeopardy for CD...Eric Johnson has been extremely consistent since Vernon Davis went down: 3 catches each game he's played...Key Byes: Larry Fitzgerald, LJ Smith, Donte Stallworth...Key Injuries: LaMont Jordan (Questionable), Plaxico Burress (Questionable), Shaun Alexander (Out)

The 5 Hole

Father Abraham vs. The Slumpbusters (-39.5)

Even historically, this is a mismatch, with Gieryna averaging 136.88 in Week 9s and Souzek coming in with 69.63 during this frame...From week 9 until the end of the season, Souzek has won just one game in 2 years...This is the first of 3 very winnable games in a row for SLM, with the two lowest scoring teams followed by a very bad 5 win team...Eli is 3-0 against Lincoln lifetime.

News and Notes, FA

Souzek is missing four offensive starters and 2 defenders this weekend, and as of Saturday hasn't yet replaced them. I'll go under the assumption that those spots will soon be filled...No one on the wire will match Donovan McNabb's production, but there are at least 3 (by my count) juicy matchups for serviceable QBs to man the helm during this week's bloodbath...Guys like Samkon Gado and LenDale White may get starting nods in the lineup, while Amani Toomer and Drew Bennett get thrust into the WR spotlight...Desmond Clark has been a great pickup for FA, outperforming keeper Jason Witten by 16 points over the season...The resurgance (and health) of Fred Taylor has been great for FA, and Freddy looked awesome last week just shredding the Eagles...Jamal Lewis got 31 carries last week, far and away his season high, and did something with them- a respectable 109 yards against the Saints...Key Byes: Donovan McNabb, Anquan Boldin, Jerricho Crotchitch, Leon Washington...Key Injuries: Fred Taylor (Probable)

News and Notes, SLM

Back to full strength after two consecutive rough weeks, but is short Tatum Bell. Bell could be down for just a week, maybe two, or he could never carry the ball in Denver again. It's impossible to predict what will happen in that backfield...The Kansas City defense has been maligned for years and hasn't been much better this season, leading to the very predictable note that the Rams have a good matchup for Eli this week...the enduring image of Randy Moss, for me, will not be that of the faux-moon at Lambeau (though I'll never forget it) but rather how dominating he was in his very first season, punctuated by my first firsthand viewing of his talents on Monday Night Football against the Packers. As a result, the cliche on Moss used to be that he "always saved his best for the big stage" but now that he's on a crappy team, I'm not sure that's a valid statement anymore- as he's been on primetime 2x this season and done nothing...Key Byes: None...Key Injuries: Santana Moss (Doubtful), Tatum Bell (Probable), Clinton Portis (Probable)