Fantasy Football: Play 'em or Bench 'em Discussion!

[Brill Weave]

To that guy in Tyche's league, WHY do you bench your stud RB Steven Jackson for Jonathan Stewart, who splits touches with DeAngelo Williams...?

Just kind of jumping on this real quickly. Given the fact that St. Louis's offense has been fucking grade A terrible, I may have done the same. Look at the stats. Up until last week, Stewart would have outscored Steven Jackson in most leagues. Even now, Jackson has 4 touchdowns on the season. He only has 508 rushing yards and 259 receiving. That's after week seven.

If his pace continues as it is now this is what he's going to end up with.
1016 rushing yards
518 receiving tyards
8 touchdowns

Until the Rams offense gets sorted out Steven Jackson is NOT a stud. He is nothing more than a 2nd starting running back on most teams. And the people who drafted him highly are kicking themselves in the ass for it.

Stewart is in the same boat, he's a 2nd starter. If his pace continues he's only going to end up with about 700 some yards and 10 touchdowns(I didn't feel like looking for his yardage totals, but I know he has 5 touchdowns already.)

If you're in a league that offers 6 for each touchdown it's a no-brainer to start Stewart(who seems to score every week) over Jackson who has only scored one time in the SIX weeks prior to last week.

[Akiyama]

Lendale White against Indy and Benson against Houston personally.

[Bebopaloo]

Just kind of jumping on this real quickly. Given the fact that St. Louis's offense has been fucking grade A terrible, I may have done the same. Look at the stats. Up until last week, Stewart would have outscored Steven Jackson in most leagues. Even now, Jackson has 4 touchdowns on the season. He only has 508 rushing yards and 259 receiving. That's after week seven.

If his pace continues as it is now this is what he's going to end up with.
1016 rushing yards
518 receiving tyards
8 touchdowns

Until the Rams offense gets sorted out Steven Jackson is NOT a stud. He is nothing more than a 2nd starting running back on most teams. And the people who drafted him highly are kicking themselves in the ass for it.

Stewart is in the same boat, he's a 2nd starter. If his pace continues he's only going to end up with about 700 some yards and 10 touchdowns(I didn't feel like looking for his yardage totals, but I know he has 5 touchdowns already.)

If you're in a league that offers 6 for each touchdown it's a no-brainer to start Stewart(who seems to score every week) over Jackson who has only scored one time in the SIX weeks prior to last week.

Stewart also had a much easier season, save Chicago, for the first seven games. The fact that he's splitting carries with Williams, who has been improving, and that Jackson has almost 90% of St. Louis' carries along with a new coaching staff that seems to be clicking would definitely warrant a start for Jackson IMO.

[Tyr]

Just kind of jumping on this real quickly. Given the fact that St. Louis's offense has been fucking grade A terrible, I may have done the same. Look at the stats. Up until last week, Stewart would have outscored Steven Jackson in most leagues. Even now, Jackson has 4 touchdowns on the season. He only has 508 rushing yards and 259 receiving. That's after week seven.

If his pace continues as it is now this is what he's going to end up with.
1016 rushing yards
518 receiving tyards
8 touchdowns

Until the Rams offense gets sorted out Steven Jackson is NOT a stud. He is nothing more than a 2nd starting running back on most teams. And the people who drafted him highly are kicking themselves in the ass for it.

Stewart is in the same boat, he's a 2nd starter. If his pace continues he's only going to end up with about 700 some yards and 10 touchdowns(I didn't feel like looking for his yardage totals, but I know he has 5 touchdowns already.)

If you're in a league that offers 6 for each touchdown it's a no-brainer to start Stewart(who seems to score every week) over Jackson who has only scored one time in the SIX weeks prior to last week.

I don't think you can even compare the two, but I'll bite. Let's look at some numbers

1) Steven Jackson has had tougher matchups
-Thus far, Jackson has faced three top-9 rush defenses in PHI, NYG, WAS, and of his seven games, six were against top-15 rush defenses.

-Jonathan Stewart has faced [B]three/B] top-10 rush defenses in MIN, CHI, TB, and of his eight games, only these three were the top-15 rush defenses. He faced #18 SDG, #20 ATL, #16 NOR, and #32 KC.

Let's take the stats from each RB in their toughest matchups:

Steven Jackson:
@PHI#9: 14-40-0 (2.9 YPC) // Receiving: 3-34 (11.3 YPR)
NYG#5: 13-53-0 (4.1 YPC) // Receiving: 7-37 (5.3 YPR)
WAS#7: 22-79-0 (3.6 YPC) // Receiving: 3-32 (10.7 YPR)
Total: 49-172-0 (3.5 YPC) // Receiving: 13-103 (7.9 YPR)

Jonathan Stewart:
CHI#6: 14-77-2 (5.5 YPC)
@MIN#3: 7-15-1 (2.1 YPC)
@TAM#10: 6-12-0 (2.0 YPC)
Total: 27-104-3 (3.9 YPC)

Stewart's game against Chicago was his best. He's not really a receiving threat (3 recs for 12 yards on the year), so I didn't feel the need to include those. Given Jackson clearly is a better receiver, or rather, is utilized more often as a receiver, let's forego those stats as well. Stewart had a better YPC than Jackson against stout opponents, but what of his other games?

Steven Jackson:
@SEA#21: 23-66-0 (2.9 YPC)
BUF#15: 24-110-1 (4.6 YPC)
DAL#13: 25-160-3 (6.4 YPC)
Total: 72-336-4 (4.7 YPC)

Jonathan Stewart:
@SDG#18: 10-53-0 (5.3 YPC)
ATL#20: 15-55-1 (3.7 YPC)
KAN#32: 19-72-0 (3.8 YPC)
NOR#16: 17-68-1 (4.0 YPC)
Total: 61-248-2 (4.0 YPC)

Against marginally better opponents, Jackson had a strikingly better YPC mark than Stewart. Of extreme fantasy relevance, is that Jackson had 11 more rushing attempts than Stewart did in one less game, which brings us to the next point.

2) Steven Jackson is the show in St. Louis
Jonathan Stewart has 91 touches in Carolina, DeAngelo Williams has 113. I will consider giving you a grand sum of money if you can tell me who the 2nd RB behind Jackson is, and how many touches he has on the season.

3) Steven Jackson has history of success
Chris Johnson has had an amazing season, but you don't jump and say "he's better than Tomlinson!" Despite his hot start, I still would keep LT on my roster if I was asked to get Johnson in his stead.

4) Steven Jackson is coming out of his shell
He had a hold-out to start the season, and he's a physical runner. We are all witnesses to what he can and will do now that he's got his legs under him.


Jonathan Stewart, in my opinion, was the most complete running back and the one most likely to succeed in the NFL in the 2008 draft. I still have little doubt this will come to fruition, but at this moment, and heading forward in the season, I can't at all say Stewart is within an earshot of Steven Jackson, especially after his amazing performance against Dallas.

[Daahan]

Ok I need your guys' help here.

My team is in trouble. Addai and Bush are injured and both Gore and Bush have a bye in week 9. Leaving me with my only running back being Sammy Morris.

So a person in my league wants the following players from me:

Reggie Wayne
Joe Addai
Greg Olsen

My roster:

QB: Cutler, Jeff Garcia
WR: Colston, Wayne, L. Coles, S. Holmes, I. Bruce
RB: Gore, Addai, Bush, Sammy Morris
TE: Tony Gonzalez, Greg Olsen
K: John Kasay
Def: Tampa Bay

Clearly you can see I have a pretty solid team but RB trouble is on the horizon. This guy has a lot of RBs on his team. His team is as follows:

QB: Romo, J. Campbell, Delhomme
WR: M. Muhammad, Lee Evans, Josh Morgan, Bernard Berrian
RB: Marion Barber, Thomas Jones, Steve Slayton, Jamal Lewis, Darren McFadden
TE: Anthony Fasano
K: Matt Prater
Def: Pittsburgh

So for Reggie Wayne, Addai, and Olsen I was thinking about asking for the following choices:

Thomas Jones
Steve Slayton
Lee Evans

Marion Barber
Steve Slayton

Berrian
Steve Slayton
Thomas Jones

The only different between the 1 and 3 obviously is the receiver. Obviously Evans is worth a lot more than Berrian (I think at least) but which do you guys think is the most reasonable?

Also looking at my roster and RB situation, can you come up with a better trade.

Me making the playoffs probably depends on this so I appreciate the help!

[Daahan]

Forgot to add:

More importantly he wants Wayne and Olsen; so it's ok if Addai isn't in the trade.

[Anyway]

Cedric Benson @ HOU
Dominic Rhodes @ TEN
Edgerrin James @ CAR

Pick 2.

My gut says Benson and Rhodes. I honestly still am not convinced the Titans D isn't incredibly overrated. I mean it's obviously good, but everyone's making them out to be like the Superbowl Ravens. They've played arguably 1 decent offense in Minnesota. The rest were against shit teams or teams that were playing like shit at the time (Houston). Convince me otherwise, please. I need a good week. lol



Also, I technically don't have Benson until tomorrow when waivers go through. I was debating between him or Torain. Honestly it's down to a coin toss for me.

[Tyche]

Think this is the optimal lineup going into this week? You'll notice 2 columns for the average. Left side is season average, right side is the average for the last 3 games.

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/4761/fflbr8.th.jpghttp://img49.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif

I think MJD is going to run all over the browns. I guess I'm not certain on Defense and QB lol. Rivers has been inconsistent, but they need a win so I think he'll perform.

[recuperi]

That looks like about the best you could do honestly. There's no way Pennington is going to outscore Rivers in that type of scoring vs. a team that just gave Rivers one of his worst games yet. I might change out that defense if Schobel comes back for the game though. Otherwise, stick with the Eagles

[Tyche]

Just worried about Rivers traveling 18,000 miles across 15 oceans.

[Brill Weave]

Chris Johnson was such a fantastic pick up for me. I snagged him in two different leagues after the eighth round each time. He's been my starting flex player every week. As to the trade offer you're getting hmm. He wants a number one receiver and and a number one back as well a tight end who has been coming on the last few weeks. I would probably make the following offer back.

Marion Barber(considering he wants a #1 back it only makes sense to get the same in return)
Jamal Lewis or Slayton(this would make up for the loss of Olsen)
Lee Evans(still a #1 receiver but not in the same tier as Wayne obviously)

[recuperi]

Don't sell Addai low, that's what the guy is trying to get you to do. I'd probably offer the Berrian/Slaton/Jones deal. Berrian has a lot of targets lately, and he's been catching them. Evans generally is a hit or miss because he's the home run guy for the Bills. More importantly though, you'll end up with an extra RB to possibly trade off later when your old ones return, possibly for a replacement for Wayne if you do a 2 for 1 thing

[recuperi]

oh, and this is a question I hate to ask but I have to anyway

LaDainian Tomlinson vs. NO
Steve Slaton vs. CIN
Thomas Jones vs. KC

the main reason I'm asking is, frankly, LT hasn't been doing much for me this year, and Thomas Jones is on a hot streak going up against a very soft and slow run defense. Evidence in LenDale's 80 yard run last week. Dominic Rhodes is also an option, but he's got a really bad matchup this week, so he's really not much of an option. I've been leaning toward Slaton and Tomlinson, but Jones has a chance at a career day on Sunday.

[volcanicweather]

oh, and this is a question I hate to ask but I have to anyway

LaDainian Tomlinson vs. NO
Steve Slaton vs. CIN
Thomas Jones vs. KC

the main reason I'm asking is, frankly, LT hasn't been doing much for me this year, and Thomas Jones is on a hot streak going up against a very soft and slow run defense. Evidence in LenDale's 80 yard run last week. Dominic Rhodes is also an option, but he's got a really bad matchup this week, so he's really not much of an option. I've been leaning toward Slaton and Tomlinson, but Jones has a chance at a career day on Sunday.

Start Jones and Slaton, the KC run D was horrific against the Titans. NO did a decent job keeping AP under wraps just a couple of weeks ago... as much as you probably don't want to bench LT, sometimes you have to even bench star players if there's simply better match-ups elsewhere.

[Anyway]

I still think Rhodes is scoring 2 TDs. You heard it here first.

[Bingbong]

Quick QB sit or start here.

Matt Ryan versus Philly
Jeff Garcia versus Dallas.

Dallas coming off two horrible games defensively
Philly also not playing as well as some thought.

[Melena]

so yea, Matt Ryan vs Philly or O'Sullivan vs Seattle. Freaking Romo and his broken pinkie

[recuperi]

Quick QB sit or start here.

Matt Ryan versus Philly
Jeff Garcia versus Dallas.

Dallas coming off two horrible games defensively
Philly also not playing as well as some thought.

I'd start Garcia in that situation. The Eagles have a fairly good secondary, and Dallas is obviously playing with an entire second string of defensive backs. You'd have to like any matchup like that.

so yea, Matt Ryan vs Philly or O'Sullivan vs Seattle. Freaking Romo and his broken pinkie

Honestly I think I'd pick Ryan here. Seattle has a good pass rush when it plays, and they'll probably play harder since it's a divisional game. Couple that with the O-line of the 49ers and Ryan just looks better here.

[Akiyama]

Santonio Holmes out this week I believe due to possible drug problems.

[sekaran]

QB start question for me too..

Eli Manning vs. PIT
Trent Edwards vs. MIA

No idea who.. Yahoo shows Trent projected at 19 and Eli at 16, but 4 stars for Eli and 3 for Trent.