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Advice for the 0-3 to the 3-0 teams

I'm still on the lookout for an awesome sports bar in walking distance from my Brooklyn home, so last night we checked out a place in the DUMBO neighborhood (yup, neighborhood acronyms have gone too far) that offered up a basement with a few massive tv screens, loungey seating, large glittery pillars (we discussed at length whether or not they were load bearing), a disco ball, and a somewhat odd clientele. The real draw was the $2 Coors Light to be honest, and it certainly wasn't a bad place to watch the MNF game...but I think my quest continues. New Yorkers, I'm still taking suggestions.

A reader recently asked me for my philosophy on playing his starting QB (Aaron Rodgers) against his starting D/ST (Minnesota) and I'm wondering what you all think about this. It depends a bit on your scoring system (and of course the quality of your other options) but personally, I'd play them both since they're each one of the best in their position and are likely to outplay his other options by a large enough margin to make it worth it. But what do the rest of you do when your fantasy QB and D/ST meet in real life?

Moving on to today's expert advice...first up, a slew of waiver wire articles:
  • FFGeekBlog's The Wire - Week 4: Time to wake up and smell the coffee is up with waiver wire advice for all. Not to toot my own horn here too much but at my advice my husband drafted Brent Celek as his TE in the final round of one of his drafts. Every week I swear he looks at me adoringly with gratitude for the Celek advice. Celek has 245 yards on the season so far, which is the 10th most of all WRs and TEs - amazing.
  • Hatty is rocking a suit in his latest waiver wire advice video - Hatty Waiver Wire Guru Week 4.
  • Another video to scope out for waiver advice is Yahoo's Fantasy Football: Waiver Wire Gems, Week 4 with one of my faves at Yahoo, Andy Behrens. A reminder here that bye weeks are starting with Week 4!
  • The Sports Outlaw's Waiver Wire Week 4 has some great suggestions if you need to fill in for an injury or an underperformer. I'm on the fence about Caldwell still; I'd be willing to make that gamble in a deep league but I think he might be more of a flash in a pan dude.
  • Fantasy Football.com's Wire Me This is also a solid place to go for advice - I'm just not ready to roll the dice on Keenan Burton yet. Must be my deep-seated distrust that any Rams not named Steven Jackson could possibly have a roll in fantasy football. 
  • I like the rating system that Fantasy Football Jungle uses in their Week Four Waiver Wire article.
And the best of the rest:

Comments

Melvil said…
Dear FF Librarian,

I don't know exactly where you are in Brooklyn or how far you consider walkable. I'm in Park Slope.

200 5th (5th Ave and Union) has a million TVs, a pretty good menu, and a diverse beer selection. When my rabbit ears don't pull in a Steelers game, I go there.

Ocean's 8/Brownstone Billiards (7th Ave and Flatbush) has better food, but fewer beers and TVs. What it does have is a cavernous hall full of pool tables. Bonus for you: it's a short walk from the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.

I hope you find a place that suits. Keep up the great work!
Christy said…
I also have Aaron Rodgers AND the Vikings D, so I am very interested to hear what people say. But I don't really see a conflict -- yes, the success of one will hurt the other, but if you play another QB or D, they will only have another opponent against them. Let the QB do what the QB does (my alternative is Jason Campbell but I am leaning towards Rodgers) and the D do what it does. Anyone disagree? This is an important week for me because I am 3-0, and this week I am playing the only other team in my league that is also 3-0. Yikes!
Anonymous said…
I like to play the two. It's a pretty good way to hedge bets and get at least average scoring out of those two positions.
Unknown said…
I don't really agree with starting a QB and the DST he's playing against. Your points will largely cancel out either way. Why not pick up a waiver DST that's playing against an inept offensive team to allow for more points? I'm assuming that Rodgers will still put up decent numbers against MN, so you'll want to swap out DST, not QB.
Unknown said…
The answer is, it depends how your league scores team defense. If you score for points allowed AND yardage allowed (i.e. CBS), I would say no and go with Nate's plan above.

If your team defense scores more points for individual events (sacks, turnovers, interceptions i.e. Yahoo), then I would roll with your first option. It's entirely possible for both the QB and DEF to score highly in that scenario.
Justin! said…
I ALSO have both Rodgers and the Vikings defense. Quite frankly, I root more for the quarterback than the defense, because they'll end up with more points in the end. You can always cheer for sacks or a pick six. Pick six is best case scenario, because you make points on the deal, and then your QB has the ball right back! If you have the tops at either position, it would be foolish to bench them just to cancel out. You wouldn't bench Randy Moss just because you were playing Tom Brady, and this shouldn't be any different.
Jacob said…
I always go with my best roster every week. If my best start at defense happens to face my best start at quarterback, I still start them both. We can't predict how any one game is going to play out. If your quarterback goes down in the first quarter or forgets what color his team is wearing, you'll be made at yourself for benching your defense.

It's better just to hope that the two balance each other out. In many of my leagues, the penalties against a defense if the quarterbacks do run all over them aren't so bad.
Ryan said…
Well, my team in that 96 team FFlibrarian Leauge has 1 win, 2 losses =o(

One limitation of that league is the sheer lack of RBs on the waive wire. I have had two RBs go down, so far L.T. and J. Norwood by main backup RB in the 1st three weeks.

Likewise, my backup QB just hit I.R. for the season a week before I need him! Groan...and who's on the waive available? A rookie QB in Miami, Derek Anderson for the Browns, a backup QB in Seattle, and a rookie starter Josh Johnson in Tampa, all in all the waive wire stinks for QBs too.

Even in the WR category I've been hit by two injuries, though those are less damaging overall, because the Waive Wire at least has ample selections available for once.

In retrospect, I now have a better understanding why the standard league has few people per league or division if your looking at it from a 96 person league point of view.

And oh, yeah using the Waive Wire last year I was able to win savage a horrible start to go 9-0 in the last nine week of 2008. Wonder if that's even possible in our 96 person league, or not?
Thanks all for your input on the QB/DST question. And Melvil, a special thanks for the sports bar suggestions. I'm in The Heights (oh yeah, I'm going there with the nickname) so Park Slope is an option though more of a subway ride. I'll have to scope these out...

Ryan, I absolutely agree on the 96-team waiver wire feedback. To be honest, it's not as much fun when your options are awful so I think next year one of the many changes I'll make is reducing it down to 12 teams per conference. Until then, enjoy the waiver madness. :)
Christy said…
In my league, a defense has several ways to score, suggesting that I should play the Vikings anyway. But I have Denver sitting on my bench and Washington available on the waivers, so I'm still torn.

(By the way, last week was AWESOME when I was playing the MN defense and Percy Harvin at WR -- when he returned that kick for a TD, I got points for D/ST AND WR. Double points!!)

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