It’s that time again. Week 4 has drawn to a close. We’re a quarter of the way through the 2009 season, and a few quick questions have been posed that I want to answer so you’ll be ready to face your next fantasy opponent in Week 5.
1. Is it time to bench the Dallas Cowboys defense?
For now, yes. Thus far I have only seen one half of good, solid play from the Dallas defense. In nearly every format, the deference between the starting defenses and those on your bench is how many sacks and turnovers they can cause (along with defensive TDs as well). While the second half effort of Carolina was good, it isn’t enough to keep them in your starting lineup.
Jake Delhomme is a turnover machine and Carolina isn’t one of the better teams in the league to say the least. The sacks, turnovers and defensive TD from that game is likely to be the exception and not the norm at this point. If you have doubts, watch the first half of Monday night’s game and watch the Cowboys whiff on easy tackles and look lost all through the first half and then flash back to how many yards they had given up the past two weeks ranking them 30th in the NFL before Monday.
You have to ask yourself which defense will show up, and with this recent history, it won’t be one that will put up fantasy points for you.
2. Based on what you’ve seen from the first three weeks, who would you rather start for the rest of the season? Drew Brees or Tom Brady?
Likely, you won’t find yourself in this situation anyways, if you are having to choose between Brees and Brady, you are likely winning your league by a landslide and are the luckiest fantasy football player ever (unless of course, you just drafted crazy!). Anyways, I digress. Right now, give me Brees; however, I’m hesitant to say I’d start him the rest of the season over Brady. As of now, New Orleans has the most consistent high-powered offense in the league, and you have to ride that horse unless you run into a brick wall of a defense. However, I simply can’t write off Brady for the rest of the season.
Right now, Wes Welker is injured and that is hurting the passing attack quite a bit. You also have to remember that Brady is a year removed from the game. Think of it this way: remember last season when Matt Cassell fell flat on his face for a few weeks and then starting putting up some nice numbers — well this is similar except Brady is a much better QB. NE simply has too many potent weapons to ignore for much longer and when they start clicking they will light the scoreboard up again.
3. Surprised that Dallas Clark leads the pack of tight ends in most leagues? Will he keep it up
Never surprised Clark is a top TE, not when your QB is Peyton Manning. Now, I’m not sure he’ll be able to remain in the number one slot for the entire season. Most of that success has been on the back of some rather large gains that aren’t the norm for him at all. However, one thing that is the norm for him is that he is a great target for Manning and will likely see TD receptions very often in the red zone.
Remember, Marvin Harrison is out and while Reggie Wayne is now the top WR, Clark’s production will also step up to cover that void.
