Monday Morning Quarterback

Each week we give you our fantasy football start 'em and sit 'em picks to make your team the best it can be. As you know, though, nothing is an exact scientist, even for a fantasy expert dubbed "The Mad Scientist."  We're right more often than not, and we're proud of it. But we'll be the first to admit that we were wrong.

So, introducing a new feature of the 360 Sports Network's unparalleled coverage of fantasy football: The Monday Morning Quarterback. In this weekly post, we'll analyze the things we predicted correctly and discuss what went wrong in our previews. This analysis will help us become better prognosticators to allow us to give you even better advice in the future. Also, this will allow you to see into our thought processes, thus making you an even better fantasy player as well.



I told you so!

Tom Brady (32.0 points) - After a couple of lack-luster weeks, many wondered if Brady was worth a start when there are so many quality QBs out there in fantasy. Dellavsaid have no fear, that Brady would return finding Gronk and Welker with ease. 340 passing yards and 4 TDs (one rushing) later, it's again obvious that Brady is a must start each and every week.

Start Peyton Manning (25.4 points) - Greg called Peyton a sleeper this week against Oakland, as many were forgetting about him. Needless to say, the Oakland secondary is pretty bad. Roethlisberger tore them up last week, and Manning followed suit with 338 yards and 3 TDs. Peyton is always worth consideration, and any QB playing against the Raiders ought to be in your lineup.

Sit Darren McFadden (3.8 points) - Dellav warned you to sit him, we sure hope you listened! He told you that Denver had yet to give up a TD on the ground this year, and that sure continued as DMC only had 38 total yards. He had one good run in weeks one and three. Take those two runs away, he's averaging about six points per game. Continue to use him as a flex position AT BEST until he shows more.

Start Marshawn Lynch (21.5 points) - 155 total yards and a touchdown. What a great day for Lynch, one that Dot expected, and one that we should continue to expect from the Seattle RB. Pete Carroll is going to get Lynch the ball. Count on that.

Start Willis McGahee (19.5 points) - TheLostCause made the bold pick by saying to start McGahee (coming off of an injury) against the Raiders, who allowed less than 100 yards on the ground the prior week. 135 total yards and a touchdown later, have we realized that his advice is not a lost cause? Now will this continue? He's still a flex play week-to-week, but he's quickly becoming the new Joseph Addai.

Start Eric Decker (13.9 points) - He had struggled through the early weeks, but Dot said don't fear since he was playing the Raiders. Not a huge performance, but 79 yards and getting into the endzone is as solid as you can ask for. The future for Decker still remains unclear, but he's much more lucrative now than the first two weeks.

Start Torrey Smith (15.7 points) - Greg said it was a short, emotional week and would play into Smith's favor. 97 yards and a touchdown later, the Mad Scientist strikes again! Torrey Smith has become a more consistent play each week for sure, but there still is the fear of his being too one-dimensional. He's a flex play for now, on the verge of being a definite starter each week.

Start Owen Daniels (13.2 points) - With 6 catches on 6 targets and a touchdown, Daniels has moved himself into a weekly starter and on the edge of being in the elite category. Good call, Greg!

What were we thinking?

Sit Cam Newton (31.2 points) - Yes. Dot said sit Cam Newton. After a terrible performance against the Giants, and actually ranked outside of the top 20 in QBs through the first three weeks. Then against the Falcons defense who was top ten against the pass...He said there were too many great fantasy QBs out there to warrant starting Newton this week. Oops. 215 yards, 2 TDs, 85 rush yards and a rush TD. He still says don't make him an automatic start each week (for the same reason) but it's tough to keep him on your bench. Analyze matchups week-to-week.

Sleeper Christian Ponder (4.9 points) - Dot actually had this one, too. In fact, he gave his father the great advice to straight up start Ponder over Newton. He backs up that decision, even though Newton went off and Ponder had only 111 yards and didn't score a TD. The Vikings scored two special teams TDs and was in the lead from the opening kickoff (thanks Harvin). He backs up that decision against a terrible Lions secondary, and says to continue each week to look at Ponder and look at anybody playing Detroit's pathetic excuse for a pass D.

Sleeper Ben Tate (1.4 points) - Seven touches for a total of 14 yards. This certainly isn't the Ben Tate we expected this year, especially not against the Titans 30th ranked rush defense. TheLostCause got this one wrong, but he wasn't alone in thinking both Tate and Foster could eclipse the 100 yard mark. The offense is so balanced right now that you'd think Tate would get more chances, but until Foster misses time due to an injury we're afraid it's bench only for Tate. Still worth handcuffing though.

Sleepers Kyle Rudolph (0.8 points) and Jerome Simpson (5.0 points) - Dot again with poor Vikings picks...Simpson showed promise for the future, while Rudolph showed that his week three performance of 2 TDs may not be the norm.

Start Santonio Holmes (0.9 points) - Dellav heard nothing from the 49ers conference except how big Holmes was going to be for the Jets offense. He took it as Holmes would be a stud. Others may have taken that as a ploy that they were going to shut down Santonio. The latter happened, and a 4th quarter fumble and injury certainly didn't help his production either in the shutout. In this Jets offense, he is to be benched.

Sleeper Randy Moss (0.0 points) - Greg thought with Revis Island no longer a factor, the big guy would be a great red zone target. Well, not only did Moss not record a catch, he only had one target all game. Time to release the Freak.



Well that wraps up the first installment of the Monday Morning Quarterback. Hopefully this makes you better and makes us better for you at the same time! Check back (near) daily for the Daily Pigskin Blink, and be ready for next week's start/sit/sleeper picks coming out on Thursday. Until next time, always remember, failure is the best way to learn and find perfection. Don't be afraid if you made a poor pick. Learn from it and do better next week!