Crushing Dreams: Week 2

Drew's Dream Team. Such a clever name for my roommate to use for his sub-par band of misfits. There's some alliteration. Dream and Team rhyme, so that's fun. And also THEY GOT WHOOPED BY HOWARD'S HEROES! Whew...good times. And I really do mean whooped. Game wasn't even close. I kind of feel bad putting the score up on here actually. I heard some employers do internet searches of their prospective hires before they can get the job so this could literally ruin his life...

Anywho, here's the lineup!

Starting Lineup (Howard's Heroes)
QB- Cam Newton 253 Pass Yds, 1 Pass TD, 71 Rush Yds, 1 Rush TD 42.4
QB- Robert Griffin III 206 Pass Yds, 1 Pass TD, 1 Int, 82 Rush Yds, 2 Rush TDs 50.8
RB- Darren McFadden 22 Rush Yds, 19 Rec Yds 4.1
RB- Reggie Bush 172 Rush Yds, 2 Rush TDs, 25 Rec Yds 48.7
WR- Victor Cruz 179 Rec Yds, 1 Rec TD 40.9
WR- Eric Decker MNF
WR- Brandon LaFell 90 Rec Yds, 25 Rush Yds 11.5
TE- Brandon Pettigrew 18 Rec Yds, 1 Rec TD 7.8
TE- Fred Davis 14 Rec Yds, 1 Rush Yd 1.5
FLEX- Darren Sproles 128 Rec Yds 22.8
K- David Akers 3 PAT, 1 30-39, 1 40-49 12.0
Defense- Packers 10 Pts, 7 Scks, 4 Ints 19.0

This week was really a thing of beauty. I didn't make any huge changes besides the acquisition of McFadden (who really just crapped the bed this week). Even though he didn't put up the numbers I was expecting, it makes me feel better just to have another big name back on the team next to Bush. Bush and the Miami offense that looked so terrible last week against the Texans posted 35 on the Raiders. The Raiders don't have near as good a defense as the Texans, but it was good to know Bush can put up ridiculous numbers when he is expected to do so.

Besides putting McFadden into the mix I made a couple of waiver wire pickups. One I was happy about, the other didn't pan out so well. Steve Smith was questionable this week for the Panthers and Brandon LaFell was a waiver wire pickup that no one even glanced at (in my league). He isn't the deep threat that Smith is, but I think he'll continue to put up big numbers with Newton. At TE, I picked up Fred Davis. My thinking was that RGIII would need a new favorite target in Pierre Garcon's absence. As you can see by the 14 yards Davis posted, Griffin didn't feel like utilizing his talents.

Dexter's Screw Up Of The Week

I decided that every week I will probably have one pretty big flaw in my lineup that you guys will want to know about. It probably gets frustrating feeling like you're reading a blog of this genius of the game. "Is he a real person?" you probably ask yourself. "Maybe he's just some robot who calculates statistics and the human psyche at the same time." Let me assure you I am a real person. I'm just cursed with this uncanny ability to make good judgement calls when it comes to beating both my roommates at Fantasy Football.

That being said, we all make mistakes. Here was mine this week...

Danny Amendola - He rode my bench. He tied Reggie Wayne for the first-half receptions record (with 12) and he rode my bench. I had a good feeling about the guy when I drafted him in the late rounds but I was treating him as a "wait and see" situation. I didn't know I'd only be waiting two weeks to watch him become weaponized in St. Louis. He finished the day with 160 Rec Yds and 1 Rec TD for 30.0 POINTS!!! I do pat myself on the back for recognizing the up-and-coming LaFell, but I immediately kick myself in the ass for benching the up-and-coming Amendola.

Now to the losers...

The Bad Guys (Drew's Dream Team)
QB- Drew Brees 325 Pass Yds, 1 Pass TD, 2 Int, 1 Rush TD 48.5
QB- Alex Smith 226 Pass Yds, 2 Pass TD, 7 Rush Yds 35.3
RB- Michael Bush 54 Rush Yds 5.4
RB- Adrian Peterson 60 Rush Yds, 20 Rec Yds 8.0
WR- Anquan Boldin 7 Rec Yds 0.7
WR- Brandon Lloyd 60 Rec Yds 6.0
WR- Lance Moore 30 Rec Yds 3.0
TE- Aaron Hernandez 0 Anything 0.0
TE- Kyle Rudolph 35 Rec Yds, 1 Rec TD 9.5
FLEX- Frank Gore 89 Rush Yds, 1 Rush TD, 16 Rec Yds 16.5
K- Matt Prater MNF
Defense- Bears 23 Pts, 5 Scks, 1 Int, 1 Fum 9.0

Isn't it cool how the name "Drew's Dream Team" could refer to my roommate Drew or his imaginary QB Drew Brees?!! Yea I agree, it isn't. I came into this matchup thinking I would definitely win but there were a few guys on his team that scared me.

First off, Drew Brees. The Saints are now 0-2 and their prolific offense has been looking out of sorts. But that doesn't take away the very real threat Brees has every game to put up huge numbers. I put Sproles at my FLEX this week for the sole purpose of taking away some of those yards. It worked out (Sproles accounted for 128 of Brees' 325 yards) but the Saint's signal-caller still had the most points on "Drew's Dream Team". I'll stick with my dynamic QBs, but that guy can sling the ball around.

Another guy I kind of expected to go off was Adrian Peterson. His match-up was against a Colts defense filled with older guys, with the exception of inside backers Conner and Freeman. I'm not sure if having younger guys in the middle was a good or bad thing when it came to Peterson, who is on his 6th season in the NFL. At the end of the day it turned out OK and both the Vikings TDs came through the air.

And now for Drew's Screw Up Of The Week...

The last guy that made me a little nervous was rookie running back Trent Richardson. He had a pretty rough outing in his NFL debut against the Eagles. With 39 yards on 19 carries, many fantasy owners, including my poor roommate, were second-guessing his talents. Drew even talked about trading away the 'Bama recruit after Week 1 ended! Just a despicable lack of faith! I kind of wish I would've made him follow through on that trade threat because Richardson came up big time this week. With 109 rush yards, 38 receiving yards, and a touchdown from each, ol' Trent racked up 36.5 points in our league. And he did it all....while riding Drew's bench! I have this conspiracy that Richardson knew about Drew's lack of faith, knew about being prematurely sat on a fantasy bench, and went off just to spite his manager.

The Sunday Sauce can be brutal, kids. I hope your Dream Team is able to wake up from this nightmare soon, Drew. Until next week...

Howard's Heroes: 261.5 (Decker Left)  Drew's Dream Team: 141.9 (Prater Left)

Howard's Heroes 2-0