Showboat

Par for the course for me this season.

Although he's done nothing to give you any optimism, Stevenson may be the best option. BB usually does well against his disciples and the Raiders just made AJ Dillon look like a decent RB. Further, I don't see how the Pats dial up a game-plan that features Mac Jones slinging the ball all over the place. Palmer might be okay and probably gives the best floor, but I think the Cowboys come back strong after the 49ers debacle.

I think Goff is the percentage play, but if you buy into the road-Goff blues you could do worse than going with Geno.

Agree that Sutton and Higgins are probably your best options. Gotta figure that the Colts will be ramping up JT usage and Watson isn't practicing (if he was healthy I'd fire up Ford against the 49ers for a noon game in Cleveland). Fair warning that I have Sutton going tonight as well as Russ (with Richardson down), but I have been a bit snake-bit all season - maybe that starts to turn around tonight with Broncos breakout powered by Russ-to-Sutton.

Judon has been out for the Pats and he seems to be a key cog in making that D click.

I always see these types of threads in the context of misery loves company (or trying to work a reverse jinx). Sure Cousins has been a great fantasy QB so far this season, but with JJ going down there could certainly be a dip in production going forward. Waddle was out for one game, but even when playing has probably performed below expectations. I don't recall Pollard missing any time, but his last two games have not been great. In my case it came across as "any moron would have started LaPorta over Sutton" - I already know that I screwed up so I don't need any Monday morning quarterbacking. Sure, you are free to comment, and hopefully those comments are constructive and put things in perspective. At the same time, I am free to respond to your comments. BTW, I'm plenty relaxed. Thx.

Definitely drop Cook - I'm assuming you have enough other RBs to not have to be starting Cook.

Dillon hadn't reached double digit points at all this season (even when Jones was out). All sit/start decisions are based on guessing whether a past trend will continue or a new trend will be started and sometimes it's good to throw in an illogical hunch. Anyways, a vent thread is no place for an "I told you so" response (unless you actually did tell us before the games started). Maybe you can hang out on the "Little Help" board more often to offer your sage advice before the games are played.

I'll own the LaPorta benching, but hindsight is 20/20. Before the games, nobody on the "Little Help" board suggested that LaPorta was a slam dunk over Sutton. "Expert" flex rankings had Sutton over LaPorta by about 75%-25%. Sutton had been operating as the #1 WR for Denver (and other #1 WR like Lamb and Diggs did just fine against the Jets). Up to week 5, LaPorta had been a consistent 5-50 (aside from a busted coverage play where he scored) and not really utilized as a red-zone target - plus the Panthers have one of the worst rushing Ds in the league (not unreasonable to think the Lions would lean on Monty again at the stripe) and had not given up much to other TEs (including Hockenson). It was way more of a coin-flip decision than you suggest, so let me vent a little when I make the wrong choice. I suppose you didn't mention the others because you knew that Dillon and Spears were the obvious plays.

I need to start playing best-ball leagues, because my bench is out-scoring my starters. I mean who knew I should start Dillon (or Allgeier) over Stevenson, Spears over Herbert, Laporta over Sutton (or McLaurin).

And what if the Broncos actually win? They may actually benefit from getting away from Denver (and knocking off the mighty Chiefs in KC might be like their Super Bowl - which they obviously are not getting to this year). My Bold Prediction: Broncos 31 Chiefs 28

Haha - not quite, but compared to his craptastic previous games he was running like the second coming of Walter Payton.

Nah - the Raiders coaches are implementing a brilliant idea to copy Washington on how to utilize a #1 WR.

One more: a preemptive FU to AJ Dillon. Now that he is glued to my bench, he'll probably go off for 200 yards and 3 TDs.

Well, this is a bit overstated. While certainly not one of the elite QBs anymore, he is certainly a serviceable starter. I doubt that the Broncos would have more than two wins with any other QB.

Assuming you can start 3, I'd still keep Cook on the bench. The Bills still seem to work in Harris and Murray regularly and Allen will vulture some goal line carries, too.

Well, in that case Pollard was your best option and no one else did squat. Pollard might salvage a TD yet.

If only I could make calls like this for my own team:

My players get injured and they are out for the game. My opponent's players get injured and they come back to score touchdowns. Maybe this belongs in the FU thread.

FU to C. Sutton. Literally, thanks for nothing.

FU to week 5 where Laporta, Spears and Allgeier outscore McLaurin, Herbert and Stevenson.

FU to Anthony Richardson - I'm 2 for 2 now. Every time I start him he only plays 1 quarter. WTF?

Well, the NFL wants to move Jax to England - you don't build a fan-base by showing a losing team.

I would not bench Pollard for Gus.

This is a corollary to the cancel-out theory. Start the players (and D) you think will score the most points for you.